Robert Altman
(Director/idea for story/Producer)
Robert Altman's extraordinary career has surprised, entertained and challenged audiences with vibrant, freewheeling films that stretch the boundaries of the medium.
In the 1950s in his native Kansas City, he began making industrial and documentary films at the Calvin Company. His feature directorial debut, made in Kansas City, was the teenage gang drama The Delinquents (1957). He next co-directed the documentary feature The James Dean Story (1957).
Altman then spent several years directing episodes of top television series, including Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The Millionaire, Bonanza, and Kraft Suspense Theatre. His 1964 episode of the latter anthology series, about a serial killer, was expanded to the feature-length Nightmare in Chicago.
Returning his focus to feature films, he directed the taut space drama Countdown (1968) and the enigmatic thriller That Cold Day in the Park (1969). His next film, M*A*S*H (1970), was an irreverent black comedy about surgeons in a Korean War medical unit. It won the coveted Palme d'Or at the Cannes International Film Festival; was a global boxoffice smash; and firmly established Altman as a major American director.
He next helmed the quirky fantasy Brewster McCloud (1970), followed by a ground-breaking reinvention of the American Western, McCabe & Mrs Miller (1971). The story hinged on the building of a frontier bordello, while Altman's filmmaking boldly synthesized overlapping dialogue, distinctive cinematography, and a soundtrack of Leonard Cohen songs.
In the years that followed, his films successfully explored such diverse themes as pulp noir (by inventively reworking Raymond Chandler in The Long Goodbye [1973]); The Depression (Thieves Like Us [1974]); the communion of two male gamblers on a spree (California Split [1974]); and haunting explorations of the interior lives of women (Images [1972] and 3 Women [1977]).
With the unforgettable Nashville (1975), Altman first displayed his unique talent for braiding the stories of a large ensemble cast, set in and around the burgeoning country-music scene in Nashville. This approach has also characterized a number of his other films, including the nuptials-themed A Wedding (1978); Short Cuts (1993), the biting vision of love and death in L.A.; the Paris-based haute-couture farce Pret-a-Porter/Ready to Wear (1994); and now the U.K. period mystery Gosford Park.
Unpredictable and versatile, his other films include biopics of Buffalo Bill (Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull's History Lesson [1976]) and the brothers Van Gogh (Vincent and Theo [1990]); a fictionalized private history of Richard M. Nixon (in Secret Honor [1984]); a romantic comedy (A Perfect Couple [1979]); a social satire (HEALTH [1979]); a comic-book adaptation (Popeye [1980]); the popular film-industry odyssey The Player (1992); cinematic homages to music (the gangster-themed Kansas City [1996] and its documentary companion piece, Robert Altman's Jazz '34: Remembrances of Kansas City Swing [1997]); and, most recently, contemporary comedies of Southern manners (Cookie's Fortune [1999] and Dr. T and the Women [2000]).
Altman has also successfully adapted several stage works into different mediums. Among these are film versions of David Rabe's Streamers (1983), Sam Shepard's Fool for Love (1985), and Christopher Durang's Beyond Therapy (1987); telefilm versions of Harold Pinter's The Dumb Waiter and The Room (both 1987); and, from Herman Wouk's original play, a television staging of The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial (1988).
He won an Emmy Award for directing the bold HBO series Tanner '88, which placed a fictional candidate (played by Michael Murphy) among actual politicians in the real-life 1988 elections.
In addition to most of his own films, Altman's producing credits include five films directed by Alan Rudolph: Welcome to L.A. (1977), Remember My Name (1978), Mrs Parker and the Vicious Circle (1994), Afterglow (1997), and Trixie (2000); Robert Benton's The Late Show (1977); and Robert M. Young's Rich Kids (1979).
While continually experimenting with music in his filmmaking, he has also staged successful productions of Stravinsky's opera The Rake's Progress (at the University of Michigan and the Opéra du Nord at Lille, France) and William Bolcom's opera McTeague for Chicago's Lyric Opera; and filmed Black and Blue for PBS' Great Performances series. He also co-authored the 1970s country music hit song "Black Sheep of the Family."
Julian Fellowes
(Writer)
Julian Fellowes was recently named one of Variety's "10 Screenwriters to Watch." Gosford Park is his first feature film screenplay to have been produced.
Born in Egypt and later raised in England, Fellowes attended Cambridge University as well as the Webber Douglas School of Drama. After graduation, he performed in stage repertory. He soon began acting in movies. His films include B.W.L. Norton's Baby... Secret of the Lost Legend, Philip Saville's Fellow Traveler, Louis Malle's Damage, Richard Attenborough's Shadowlands, Gillies Mackinnon's Regeneration (with Gosford Park star James Wilby), Roger Spottiswoode's Tomorrow Never Dies, and Nicole Garcia's Place Vendome.
His many television credits include Don Boyd's telefilm Goldeneye: The Secret Life of Ian Fleming (in which he portrayed Noel Coward, and which toplined Gosford Park star Charles Dance in the title role); Mike Vardy's miniseries The Final Cut (with Ian Richardson); Danny Boyle's telefilm For the Greater Good; David Caffrey's miniseries Aristocrats (with Gosford Park star Geraldine Somerville); and, most recently, a recurring role on the BBC series Monarch of the Glen.
Fellowes began writing while in Hollywood in the mid-1980s, but his screenwriting career began in earnest in 1990 once he was back in England, resulting in his successful adaptation of Little Lord Fauntleroy (from Frances Hodgson Burnett's classic novel of the same name). The 1994 BBC miniseries, directed by Andrew Morgan, was honored with an International Emmy Award as well as a Banff Festival Award. Fellowes subsequently adapted and produced for the BBC The Prince and the Pauper (from Mark Twain's classic story), which was directed by Andrew Morgan and nominated for a BAFTA Award.
He is working on, among other projects, two screenplay adaptations: of Kate O'Riordan's novel The Angel in the House, the film version of which will be produced by Tiger Aspect Films; and of P.G. Wodehouse's Piccadilly Jim, the film version of which will be produced by Mission Pictures.
Bob Balaban
([role of] Morris Weissman/idea for story/Producer)
Bob Balaban's acting career of over 30 years has continued to surprise critics and audiences alike. He has also established second and third careers behind the camera, as film director and producer (through his production company, Chicagofilms).
The Chicago native's roots are in the entertainment world: his uncle was a longtime president of Paramount Pictures, and his grandfather headed production at MGM for many years. While attending NYU, Balaban originated the role of Linus in the off-Broadway production of You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown. He went on to appear in such Broadway productions as The Inspector General (for which he was nominated for a Tony Award) and Speed-the-Plow.
He made his film debut in John Schlesinger's Academy Award-winning Midnight Cowboy, and has since appeared in such features as Mike Nichols' Catch-22, Steven Spielberg's Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Ken Russell's Altered States, Sidney Lumet's Prince of the City, Sydney Pollack's Absence of Malice, John Badham's Whose Life Is It Anyway?, Peter Hyams' 2010, Woody Allen's Alice and Deconstructing Harry, Christopher Guest's Waiting for Guffman and Best in Show, Tim Robbins' Cradle Will Rock, Gore Verbinski's The Mexican, Terry Zwigoff's Ghost World, and Frank Darabont's The Majestic.
Balaban's television acting work includes Betty Thomas' HBO telefilm The Late Shift; and a memorable recurring role on NBC's Seinfeld. In addition, he has directed episodes of HBO's Oz; NBC's Amazing Stories, Lateline, and Deadline; CBS' Now and Again; and a segment of the HBO omnibus telefilm Subway Stories.
His feature work as director includes The Last Good Time, starring Armin Mueller-Stahl and Olivia d''Abo (which earned the Best Film and Best Director awards at the Hamptons International Film Festival); and Parents, starring Randy Quaid, Mary Beth Hurt, and Sandy Dennis.
In addition to Gosford Park, Balaban is working with USA Films as producer and director of the film version of the Tony Horwitz novel Confederates in the Attic. Chicagofilms is also developing the romantic comedy Kiss the Bride with Jonathan Demme; and a half-hour TV series for Imagine Entertainment.
He will be directing The Exonerated in the spring of 2002, off-Broadway.
