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Playing for Keeps: Production Notes

February 1, 2012 | Playing for Keeps News

About the Production

Playing For Keeps is a romantic comedy about a charming, down-on-his luck former soccer star (Gerard Butler) who returns home to put his life back together. Looking for a way to rebuild his relationship with his son, he gets roped into coaching the boy’s soccer team. But his attempts to finally become an “adult” are met with hilarious challenges from the attractive “soccer moms” who pursue him at every turn.

Playing For Keeps, directed by Gabriele Muccino (“Pursuit Of Happyness”) and written by Robbie Fox. The producers are Kevin Misher (“Public Enemies”), Jonathan Mostow (“Hancock”), Alan Siegel (“Law Abiding Citizen,” “Machine Gun Preacher”), Gerard Butler, Heidi Jo Markel (“Trust,” “Solitary Man,”) and John Thompson (“The Expendables,” “Brooklyn’s Finest”), Andrea Leone and Rafaella Leone serve as co-producers. Nu Image/Millennium Films’ Danny Dimbort, Trevor Short & Avi Lerner, who are responsible for such hits as “The Expendables,” “The Mechanic” and “Trust,” serve as executive producers along with Ed Cathell III (“Drive Angry 3D,” “Trust”) and Peter Schlessel.

The film’s ensemble cast features Gerard Butler (“Coriolanus,” “The Bounty Hunter,” “The Ugly Truth”) Jessica Biel (upcoming “Hitchcock”), Uma Thurman (“Smash,” “Bel Ami,” “Kill Bill”), Academy Award’ winner Catherine Zeta-Jones (“Chicago”), Judy Greer (“The Descendants,” “Mad Love”) and Dennis Quaid (“The Words”) – and introduces newcomer Noah Lomax, the 9 year-old boy who teaches his dad about what truly matters.

The Story

In the heartwarming romantic comedy Playing For Keeps, George Dryer (Gerard Butler), is an ex-soccer superstar who relocates to suburban Virginia to start over – and establish a relationship with his son, who he barely knows. An amateur at life, George indulged himself with all the perks of stardom and lost the two things that had any real value: his wife and son.

While trying to land a job as a sportscaster for ESPN, George grudgingly agrees to coach his kid’s youth soccer team. But suddenly, George is thrust right back into the spotlight when he is confronted with the suburban version of adoring female fans – flirtatious soccer moms! But befuddled as he may be by all the distractions, including that of a pushy soccer dad determined to make him his new best bud, George does his best to keep his focus on what he really wants – to be a good father to his son and to prove to his ex-wife that despite his penchant for having a wandering eye, she is the only woman he ever loved.

Director Gabriele Muccino, who first came to Hollywood’s attention with the hit father-son drama “The Pursuit of Happyness,” found George’s transformation from all-over-the-field playboy to reasonably reliable family man to be funny, human and relatable. He was drawn to the comic potential of a man faced with attractive women chasing him just at the point in his life when he’s decided to settle down. At the same time, Muccino loved idea of an adult, who was an amateur at love, responsibility and commitment, needing to make choices that still find him in vulnerable situations and test his true self.

“Playing For Keeps is a fun story that I think we all can relate to – a man who has a chance to figure out what he really wants,” sums up the director. “It is the journey of a man who is finally growing up.”

Appropriately, Playing for Keeps began on a playing field — a local baseball field in Encino, California. This is where assistant Little League coach Jonathan Mostow, the accomplished filmmaker who had just come off the success of directing “Terminator 3: Rise Of The Machines,” met screenwriter Robbie Fox, who happened to be the team’s head coach.

Fox had an idea to pitch to Mostow based on his own experiences handling the unsolicited attentions of several team members’ moms. “The inspiration began one night at two in the morning, when I sent an email to the team’s parents, all 24 or 25 of them, and wrote, ‘Hey, guys, tomorrow is practice—be there or be square,'” explains Fox.

He continues, “At 2:01am, I got a ‘ding’ back on my computer. It was from one of the moms, and she wrote back—and this line is now typed by Catherine Zeta-Jones’s character — ‘Hi, Coach! Gee, you’re up late tonight…’ I didn’t respond but then I got another one a couple of minutes later, and it said, ‘I know you’re there, Coach. You can run, but you can’t hide!’ That was the start of thinking about this story.”

That same night, Fox began to imagine a lead character: a seemingly washed-up former sports hero who is finally trying to be a responsible, reliable father for his son by becoming his team’s coach – only to wind up in being chased all over the field and beyond by his teammates’ mothers who find him irresistible. Fox was intrigued by how a guy who has never been able to say no to the opposite sex suddenly must figure out, in order to get what he truly wants, a way to do just that . . . repeatedly.

Upon hearing the premise Mostow recalls: “I loved the core central idea. Right away, I got the essence of who this character was, the comedic complications that were going to ensue, and the possibility for it to be both touching and funny at the same time. Within a day we had a deal to start developing the film.”

The Team

As Robbie Fox put the finishing touches on the screenplay, he began to wonder which leading actor could bring to life George’s boyish charm and increasing panic as he tries to shed his man candy reputation just when he’s trying to be taken seriously. It had to be someone with real comic chops, but also someone who could get under the skin of a guy who wants more than anything just to have a second chance.

“I was also thinking about which leading actors would have the ability to inspire moms to start showing up at soccer practice in lipstick and high heels,” Fox laughs.

Fox knew, too, it would have to be an actor with some serious athletic skills – someone who could scissor-kick as well as he could seduce. There was one actor with the whole combination who kept coming to mind: Gerard Butler, the Scottish star renowned for his dashing magnetism since he first hit the screen in the Oscar®-nominated “Mrs. Brown” and soon after took the lead in the screen adaptation of “Phantom of the Opera.” Since then, a diverse career has taken Butler from action hits (“Lara Croft Tomb Raider,” “300,” “The Bounty Hunter”) to romantic films (“P.S. I Love You,” “The Ugly Truth”) to animation (“How To Train Your Dragon.”) Fox immediately knew that Butler would be the perfect George Dryer.

When the screenplay was complete, he and Mostow sent it to producer Alan Siegel, Butler’s manager and business partner, who produced the thrillers “Law Abiding Citizen” and “Machine Gun Preacher,” both starring Butler.

Siegel says he instantly saw the match between Butler and Dryer. “Robbie Fox had done an amazing job of writing a character who jumps off the page, who you love and care for, and who you want to see win. I thought, ‘Oh my God, I see myself in this, I see my friends in this, I see Gerry in this.'”

Butler, too, was instantly enthusiastic about the script. “I knew straight away this was something I wanted to get involved with,” says the actor. “I thought: we can move people with these characters and we can definitely make them laugh. I felt a lot of emotional attachment to it and I could really identify with George and the journey he takes – unraveling and then putting his life back together.”

For Butler, Dryer is a fish out of water, but the funny part is that he doesn’t yet realize that everything he needs to be happy is right in front of him. “He’s this guy from Scotland who was at the peak of his career, playing in front of 100,000 fans as a footballer and suddenly he’s in a small town in America with no money – and then he gets roped into coaching his son’s soccer team, which is the last thing he thinks he wants to do,” Butler explains. “He’s a guy who seems to bring chaos wherever he goes, because women like him and men want to be him, but he’s not very centered and he doesn’t necessarily know how to handle all that. So a lot of funny situations happen just because of who he is.”

He continues: “Like the best romantic comedies, I think it’s a funny, emotional story that makes you reflect on real life. And then we ended up with the most incredible cast— Jessica Biel, Uma Thurman, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Judy Greer and Dennis Quaid – which was great for me, because George is sort of stuck in the center of this whirlwind around him. He has to react to all these little tornados – the Uma Thurman tornado, the Catherine Zeta-Jones tornado, the Dennis Quaid tornado— blowing at him and try to hold himself together in the middle of all that. I could not imagine having a better cast to do that with than this one.”

Right away, Butler started training daily to beef up his soccer skills. “It was a lot of work,” he admits. “I did what I love to do, which is get obsessed by it. Every time I saw a ball, I would start messing around with it. I had the best time and I just want to play soccer all the time now.”

In turn, everyone around Butler was thrilled to see the way he took to the role with an energy and sense of humor that were refreshing and also, as George begins to see what really counts to him, touching. Says Mostow: “I am so thrilled with the performance Gerard delivers in this movie. I think it shows a whole new side of him that audiences have not seen. It’s funny, it’s honest and at the same time, it’s heartwarming.”

Sums up producer Kevin Misher: “Gerard Butler is Playing For Keeps. It was his passion and his commitment to the movie that elevated it and brought everyone else into it. A lot of the cast was drawn to working with our director, Gabriele Muccino, but Gerard was the glue that made everybody stick to this movie.”

With Butler aboard, the search for a director began. It was Butler who first suggested Gabriele Muccino, having loved his romantic comedy “The Last Kiss” and his two subsequent films, “The Pursuit of Happyness” and “Seven Pounds.”

“I’ve known Gabriele for a while and I love his movies,” says Butler. “They have such an incredible energy behind them. They are fast flowing and you really get to know his characters, who all wear their hearts on their sleeves. That’s why I imagined him for this script. I thought it had all the things in it that he does well. He has an incredible sense of pace and keeps things flowing from emotion to emotion and action to action.”

Adds Jonathan Mostow: “Gabriele was able to deliver not only on the comedy but on the heart in the script. He’s someone with a track record of reaching into the cauldron of real emotions and fusing that with humor.”

The lure for Muccino lay in George Dryer’s attempts to turn himself around. “He’s a father who is looking to be a better father, a better man, a better person – and those are the elements that connected with me,” explains the director. “This is the kind of story that can pull the audience in and let them forget they are watching a movie because they see some part of their own lives mirrored on the screen, but in a very entertaining way.”

Soon, Kevin Misher of Misher Films, Heidi Jo Merkel of Eclectic Pictures and John Thompson of Millennium, joined the producing team, quickly taking the project forward. “I invited Kevin, a tremendous producer, to produce this movie with me so I could work on my directorial projects at the same time. Kevin took the ball—no pun intended—and really ran with it,” says Mostow.

Misher worked with the team on further developing the script. “Once we were all happy with it, Alan Siegel gave it to Heidi Jo, who gave it to Millennium and they were instantly interested,” Misher continues.

Markel, who has produced “Trust,” starring Clive Owen, Catherine Keener and Viola Davis, and “Solitary Man” with Michael Douglas, also jumped in with both feet. “I had been begging for this project for a while from Alan Siegel because I wanted to work with him and Gerry so badly,” she recalls. “He kept alluding to it, so I said, ‘Give it to me, give it to me!'”

She goes on, “When I read it, I thought, this is a great fantasy—to have a classically handsome male protagonist who has his life upturned by gorgeous women – which turns out to be a hilarious nightmare. I thought it was so much fun.”

Markel brought the package to executive producers Avi Lerner, Danny Dimbort & Trevor Short of Millennium Films who instantly agreed to finance the movie. Producer John Thompson, who is responsible for making many films for Millennium, including “The Expendables,” also joined in.

Like many, Thompson was drawn by the father-son story at the heart of the romantic hi-jinks. He sums up: “I think this is really a love story between a father and a son,” he observes, “peppered with romance and comic circumstances.”

That mix would soon draw some of the today’s hottest stars to join the production alongside Butler. “Even with Gerard’s broad shoulders, we knew we needed a roster of really talented people to fill these amazing character roles around him that are so well-written and fun,” says Markel.

Supporting Cast

Of all the women in George Dryer’s life, one keeps throwing him for a loop: his ex Stacie, who has moved on with her life after ending things with George, raising their son on her own and now getting ready to marry her longtime boyfriend. Playing the role of a woman who adores her ex’s boyishness but wishes he would finally grow up, is one of today’s more sought-after leading ladies, Jessica Biel, who will next be seen as Vera Miles in “Hitchcock.”

Biel was immediately excited about the role and the entire project. “For me it was the whole package. I was really interested in working with Gabriele and I was interested in playing a woman who has a child which is something I’d never done before,” she says. “Plus, to play opposite Gerry, Uma, Catherine, and Dennis was like a dream. All those elements combined made me excited to do this.”

On the set, she found she had potent chemistry with Butler – as Stacie and George dance around their suppressed feelings for each other. “Their relationship is filled with things unsaid, things wanting to be said and things afraid to be said,” she observes. “Gerry is incredibly giving as an actor and was always asking ‘how can we make this more real and better?’ It was wonderful to work with him.”

Another draw for Biel was how relatable the film’s characters and situations were. “What’s nice about this movie is the story is so real— and real life can be hilarious, embarrassing, humiliating, surprising and crazy. I like that the comedy in the film comes out of these very organic situations. These are flawed characters making decisions from the heart and sometimes making mistakes. I think a lot of people will relate to that,” Biel says.

Seen in a change-of-pace role is Uma Thurman, widely celebrated for her femme fatale performance in “Kill Bill,” who here plays Patti King, a bored trophy wife who is among the many women who has her sights set on George. Thurman was drawn by the chance to do something light-hearted.

“I thought ‘Playing For Keeps’ was such a sweet story about family and marriage — and I don’t always make a lot of those,” she confesses. “I also like Gabriele’s films and I knew I’d have fun playing a colorful character in a comedy with him.”

Most of all, Thurman was drawn to the love story that plays out within the screwball antics. “Underneath the comedy and silliness of all these ladies going after George, there’s something very moving about a story that is, at heart, about a broken family getting healed,” she observes.

Another woman who knows what she wants – former sportscaster Denise – is brought sexily to life by Catherine Zeta-Jones, winner of the Academy Award® for her performance in “Chicago.” Zeta-Jones also found the story irresistible. “To work with Gabriele coupled with a cast of this caliber in a piece that is charming, poignant, funny, well-written and has lots of different layers to it—it was a slam-dunk for me,” she says. “I’m also a huge sports fan and kind of a frustrated sports anchor, so getting to actually play one was a lot of fun.”

Once on the set, another part of the fun, says Zeta-Jones, was watching Gerard Butler bounce between these very different, but equally determined, women, all the while trying to figure out what he truly desires. “I love the fact that George is having all these relationships, but nobody in them knows what’s going on,” she says. “Every woman thinks she is the only one, and unbeknownst to all of them, he has the whole soccer mom league team all googly-eyed.”

As for one of the things she thinks audiences might enjoy most, Zeta-Jones names a high point for her as well. “I think people will really enjoy seeing Gerry in shorts,” she laughs.

Perhaps the most obsessive of all of George’s soccer mom suitors is Barb, a newly single mom who has the hilarious tendency to spontaneously burst into tears. Diving into the role with comic abandon is Judy Greer, who many know from the television series, “Mad Love” and who starred with George Clooney in last year’s acclaimed comedy-drama “The Descendants.”

Like many, Greer has long been a fan of Muccino. “I’ve been wanting to work with him since I saw his Italian ‘Last Kiss,’ and then I fell in love with ‘Pursuit Of Happyness’ and ‘Seven Pounds.’ He tells these stories of redemption for the common man that I find interesting. His passion for these ‘every man’ characters is what makes his story telling so beautiful and elevates the story from your run-of-the-mill romantic comedy or drama. This particular story is timeless, but told in an original, comedic way.”

Amidst all the new women creating havoc in George Dryer’s life is Carl King, Patti’s jealous husband who wants nothing more than to have a former soccer pro as a best buddy. Having fun with the role is Dennis Quaid, the diverse and award-winning actor last seen starring opposite Bradley Cooper in “The Words.”

He says the project offered the best of both worlds. “What I look for in a movie is a really good story or a really good time – and preferably both,” Quaid muses. “This script was funny and had great people involved. With Gerard as my competitor and Uma Thurman as my wife, it seemed like a very fun time would be had.”

As for his character, Quaid says of Carl King: “I think he’s a guy who always wanted to be a sports star. He wasn’t one, though, so now that he has a chance, he essentially buys one!”

Butler loved creating a comic rivalry with Quaid. “Dennis is wickedly funny and he brings so much energy to his scenes,” sums up Butler.

But within the fun, Quaid also notes that there is a strong story of father’s transformation. “This is a great ‘date night’ comedy, but it’s also the story of a guy who is out of his element and has got to figure out what’s meaningful in his life.”

The final role – and one that had to be cast just right because it lies at the heart of the movie – was that of George’s young soccer-playing son Lewis, who is both suspicious of a father who always finds a way to screw things up and in awe of a coach who can literally do things no one else can.

After an extensive search, the production landed on a talented newcomer: 9-year-old Georgia native Noah Lomax, who has had small parts in a few television shows, including AMC’s “Walking Dead.”

Gabriele Muccino notes that the search seemed against-the-odds until Lomax appeared. “Searching for the right kid was not an easy thing, and finding Noah was quite lucky,” says the director. “What we needed was a kid who would be relatable, who would remind us all of our own children in a way. He had to be able to talk in a way that was sweet, real and funny, but never sentimental. He had to act in a way that feels natural trained, and most of all, he had to be really, really likeable, so that you are rooting for him and for George to be together. Noah was able to give us all of those things.”

Gerard Butler was especially impressed with his pre-teen co-star and comic foil. “Noah’s incredibly energetic, creative and positive and it’s been fun watching him grow and our relationship grow over the course of the movie. I mean you can’t not be moved by this kid. A lot of my favorite scenes in this movie are with Noah,” he points out. “He’s a difficult character to play because he’s trying to protect himself from my character. I’m his hero, yet I’ve let him down time after time, and now I’m trying to make things work but without really knowing how. It’s a great relationship to watch develop as an audience, but it was a tricky one to do. You need a talented little actor to do it with and Noah was that guy. I think there’s a big future ahead of him. I felt blessed just to have had the chance to work with him.”

With such a stellar cast, the emphasis behind the camera was on keeping the focus on all the comical ways the film’s characters collide, and ultimately connect, with one another. Muccino’s accomplished crew – including cinematographer Peter Menzies Jr. (“Clash Of The Titans”), production designer Daniel T. Dorrance (“Max Payne”) and Italian costume designer Angelica Russo – kept the visuals vivid and colorful, allowing the stars to shine.

It all added up to a romantic comedy that everyone felt was, in a word, universal. Summarizes Alan Siegel: “In some ways Playing for Keeps is a throwback to those classic romantic comedies about real people who just happen to find themselves in crazy situations, with a cast of characters who make you laugh even as you root for them.”

ABOUT THE CAST

A gifted actor with a striking charm and humor, GERARD BUTLER (George) has impressed audiences in roles that cross all ends of the spectrum. Butler will be next be seen in in the multi-director, ensemble comedy “Movie 43” with an all-star cast; and in Antoine Fuqua’s White House-set action thriller “Olympus Has Fallen,” where he stars opposite Aaron Eckhart, Angela Bassett and Melissa Leo. The actor is also presently reprising the role of Stoick for the second installment of “How To Train Your Dragon.” Earlier this year, Butler starred in “Chasing Mavericks” directed by Curtis Hanson, based on the true story of Santa Cruz surfer Jay Moriarity and his quest to ride the treacherous Northern California breaks known as ‘Mavericks.’

Butler solidified himself as a leading man when he starred as the bold and heroic King Leonidas in Zack Snyder’s blockbuster film “300.” The film broke box office records in its opening weekend and went on to earn more than $450 million worldwide. In 2011, Butler starred in “Machine Gun Preacher” directed by Marc Forster. Butler also starred in the critically acclaimed film “Coriolanus,” based on the Shakespearean play, alongside Ralph Fiennes who also directed the film.In 2010 Butler was the voice to the lead character, “Stoick,” in the Dreamworks Oscar® nominated animated film, “How to Train Your Dragon.”

Butler has appeared in films spanning all genres including “The Bounty Hunter” opposite Jennifer Aniston, Robert Luketic’s “The Ugly Truth” opposite Katherine Heigl, Lionsgate’s “Gamer,” Guy Ritchie’s “Rocknrolla,” “Nim’s Island” with Jodie Foster and Abigail Breslin, “P.S. I Love You” with Hilary Swank, “Beowulf & Grendel,” “The Game of Their Lives,” Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “The Phantom Of The Opera,” the independent feature “Dear Frankie” opposite Emily Mortimer, “Timeline,” “Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle Of Life,” “Reign Of Fire” and John Madden’s award-winning d “Her Majesty, Mrs. Brown,” starring Judi Dench. His early film work includes roles in “Harrison’s Flowers,” “One More Kiss,” “Fast Food” and the screen adaptation of Chekhov’s “The Cherry Orchard.”

In addition to acting, Butler launched the production shingle with his longtime manager Alan Siegel in March 2008. Their debut project starring Butler, “Law Abiding Citizen” grossed over $100 million worldwide and became Overture Films’ most lucrative opening to date.

Butler is a board member of Artists for Peace and Justice, established in 2009 and is a fundraising effort founded by Paul Haggis that encourages peace and social justice and addresses issues of poverty and enfranchisement in communities around the world.

Born in Scotland, Butler made his stage debut at age twelve in “Oliver,” at Glasgow’s famous Kings Theatre. As a young man, his dreams of acting were temporarily deterred and he went on to study law for seven years before returning to the stage. In 1996, he landed the lead role in the acclaimed stage production of “Trainspotting.” He later starred on the London Stage in such plays as “Snatch” and the Donmar Warehouse production of Tennessee Williams, “Suddenly Last Summer” opposite Rachel Weisz.

JESSICA BIEL (Stacie) has become one of Hollywood’s most coveted leading women. Biel was most noted for her critically acclaimed performance in film “The Illusionist” alongside Oscar® nominated actors Edward Norton and Paul Giamatti. Biel will be seen next in the Fox Searchlight drama “Hitchcock” alongside Anthony Hopkins, Helen Mirren, Toni Collette and Scarlett Johansson.

This past summer she was seen starring in “Total Recall” alongside Colin Farrell, Kate Beckinsale and Bryan Cranston. Last year Biel was seen in Garry Marshall’s star-studded “New Year’s Eve,” starring alongside Halle Berry, Lea Michelle, Ashton Kutcher, Robert De Niro, Michelle Pfeiffer, Hilary Swank, Sofia Vergara and Zac Efron, among others.

In 2010 Biel was seen in “The A-Team” alongside Bradley Cooper and Liam Neeson. Biel was also seen in the Garry Marshall romantic comedy “Valentine’s Day” along with Jennifer Garner, Julia Roberts, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Alba and Bradley Cooper, which grossed $212,949,019 worldwide.

Biel starred in the romantic dramedy, “Easy Virtue” opposite Colin Firth, Ben Barnes and Kristin Scott Thomas. The film premiered at the 2008 Toronto Film Festival to rave reviews and received an overwhelming positive response at the prestigious Rome, London and Tribeca Film Festivals. In 2007 Biel was seen in the comedy, “I Now Pronounce You Chuck And Larry,” opposite Adam Sandler and Kevin James, which opened #1 at the box office and grossed well over $100 million domestically.

For her work in “The Illuisonist,” Biel received numerous awards including Hollywood Life’s Annual “Breakthrough Award,” the “Shining Star Award” at both the Giffoni Film Festival and the Maui Film Festival, as well as the “Breakthrough Performance Award” at the 18th Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival.

Starting at age nine, Biel starred in productions such as “Annie,” “The Sound of Music” and “Beauty and the Beast.” A natural beauty, she soon turned to modeling and commercial work by competing in The International Modeling and Talent Association’s Annual Conference in 1994.

In her feature film debut at age fourteen, Biel garnered acclaim for her portrayal as the rebellious daughter in Victor Nunez’s acclaimed “Ulee’s Gold,” starring Oscar® nominee Peter Fonda. She then went on to appear in such films as “I’ll Be Home For Christmas,” “Summer Catch,” “The Rules Of Attraction” for director Roger Avary, the hit remake of “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre,” “Blade: Trinity,” Cameron Crowe’s “Elizabethtown” with Orlando Bloom, Kirsten Dunst and Susan Sarandon, and “Stealth,” starring alongside Josh Lucas and Jamie Foxx.

Biel is involved in such charities as Serving Those Who Serve, Best Friends Animal Sanctuary and PETA. She was honored with the “National Impact Award” at the 2008 Heart of Los Angeles Gala and with the “Young Philanthropist of the Year” Award at the 2006 Golden Karma Awards.

With every role he plays, DENNIS QUAID (Carl King) upholds his place as one of the most charismatic actors of our time. In his first television series, Quaid stars in the new CBS drama series “Vegas.” Directed by James Mangold, Quaid plays ‘Ralph Lamb,’ a former cowboy who becomes the sheriff of Las Vegas, bringing law and order to a town run by mobsters and small time crooks.

This Fall, Quaid was seen in “The Words” opposite Bradley Cooper and Jeremy Irons. He also attended the Telluride and Toronto Film Festival on behalf of Ramin Bahrani’s “At Any Price,” in which she stars alongside Zac Efron. Sony Classics will release the film in Spring 2013. His recent films “Soul Surfer” and “Footloose” were both released in 2011.

In 2010, Dennis starred in the Sony Screen Gems fantasy-thriller, “Legion,” alongside Paul Bettany. He also portrayed President Bill Clinton in the HBO movie, “The Special Relationship,” directed by Richard Loncraine, for which Dennis received Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild and Emmy Award nominations.

Soon after his arrival in Hollywood, Quaid landed the plum role of a working-class tough in “Breaking Away.” Since that time, his list of starring roles crosses genres and decades, reaffirming his place as one of the most versatile and magnetic actors on the screen today. Quaid received honors from the New York Film Critics Circle and The Independent Spirit Awards as Best Supporting Actor of the Year and also garnered nominations for a Golden Globe Award and Screen Actor’s Guild Award for his performance in the critically acclaimed 2002 film, “Far From Heaven.”

Quaid has worked with the best directors, including Stephen Sommers, Paul Weitz, Roland Emmerich, Mike Figgis, Todd Haynes, Steven Soderbergh, Oliver Stone, Nancy Meyers, Lasse Hallstrom, Lawrence Kasdan, Steve Kloves, Herbert Ross, Mike Nichols, Alan Parker, Taylor Hackford, Joe Dante, Wolfgang Petersen, Ivan Reitman, Walter Hill and Peter Yates.

His list of onscreen collaborations includes the names of the industry’s brightest stars: Forest Whitaker, Sigourney Weaver, William Hurt, Sarah Jessica Parker, Hugh Grant, Scarlett Johansson, Jake Gyllenhaal, Billy Bob Thornton, Sharon Stone, Julianne Moore, Benicio del Toro, Michael Douglas, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Al Pacino, Cameron Diaz, Jamie Foxx, Sean Connery, Julia Roberts, Kevin Costner, Gene Hackman, Meryl Streep, Meg Ryan, Kathleen Turner, Jessica Lange, Sam Shepard, Ed Harris, Scott Glenn and Bill Murray, among many others.

UMA THURMAN (Patti King) has proven herself to be one of the most versatile actresses by playing a variety of compelling characters. Born in Massachusetts, she attended a preparatory school in New England, where at fifteen she was discovered by two New York agents. At sixteen she transferred to the Professional Children’s School in New York City in order to pursue an acting career.

Thurman’s entrance into mainstream film really began after her role as the goddess Venus in Terry Gilliam’s “The Adventures Of Baron Munchausen,” which brought her international attention. She went on to receive critical acclaim for her portrayal of the virginal 18th century convent girl, Cecile de Volanges, in Stephen Frears’ “Dangerous Liaisons.” The following year she starred opposite Fred Ward and Maria de Medeiros in Philip Kaufman’s “Henry & June,” playing the neurotic and exotic bisexual spouse of Henry Miller. She then played Daphne McBain, one of a trio of Dabney Coleman’s spoiled children, in the comedy “Where The Heart Is,” direted by John Boorman.

In 1991, Thurman starred opposite Richard Gere and Kim Basinger in Phil Joanou’s thriller “Final Analysis.” She then reunited with Malkovich in the thriller “Jennifer 8.” In “Mad Dog And Glory,” she played a barmaid who becomes an indentured servant to Robert De Niro for saving Bill Murray’s life. Her most eccentric movie to date is Gus Van Sant’s film, “Even Cowgirls Get The Blues,” in which she played Sissy Hankshaw, a big-thumbed, bisexual hippie hitchhiker.

Thurman received an Academy Award® nomination for Quentin Tarantino’s critically lauded “Pulp Fiction,” in which she played Mia Wallace, a sexy and comedic mobster’s wife. Later that year, “A Month By The Lake” with Vanessa Redgrave and “Beautiful Girls,” directed by Ted Demme. Thurman next appeared in “The Truth About Cats And Dogs,” “Batman & Robin,” “Gattaca,” “Les Miserables” and “The Avengers.” In the spring of 1999, she made her stage debut in an updated version of

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