Movie reviews, production notes, and more! - "Kangaroo Jack"

Movie : Kangaroo Jack

Notes provided by Warner Bros. ~ Final Production Information ~ Best friends Charlie Carbone [JERRY O'CONNELL] and Louis Fucci [ANTHONY ANDERSON] are both struggling to get ahead in life but their approaches couldn't be more different. Louis is an eternal optimist, which is a good thing considering he's also a magnet for bad luck. Ever since he saved Charlie's life 20 years ago, Louis has embroiled them in a series of shady get-rich-quick schemes, which has only compounded Charlie's reputation as the ultimate loser in the eyes of his intimidating stepfather, mob boss Sal Maggio [CHRISTOPHER WALKEN]. More skeptical and low-profile than Louis, Charlie just wants to play by the rules, meet the right girl and make a success of his new business, which is tough with Sal skimming all the profits. But when Louis recruits Charlie to help him escort a truckload of stolen TVs across town, they inadvertently lead police straight to Sal's warehouse, jam-packed with hot property. Just when it looks like the guys might wind up sleeping with the fishes, Sal decides to give Charlie and his bumbling sidekick one last chance for redemption. All they have to do is deliver $50,000 cash to one of Sal's associates in a remote outpost the Australian Outback. Goodbye Brooklyn, G'day Sydney! After an adventurous plane flight and a scary brush with Customs, Charlie and Louis find themselves barrelling down a dusty road in the Aussie wilderness with the 50 grand stuffed in Louis' lucky red jacket. Looks like things are finally starting to go their way whenTHUMP! Their jeep hits a large kangaroo. As the guys try in vain to revive the lifeless roo, they realize he resembles their buddy "Jackie Legs" back home in Brooklyn. Louis impulsively insists on dressing "Jackie" in his lucky red jacket and snapping a few photos. Problem isthis kangaroo has a plan of his own. Before Charlie and Louis can react, the feisty beast springs to life and bounces off across the desert at lightning speed wearing what has just become the most valuable jacket in Australia. To their horror, the kangaroo disappears into the vast scrubland, leaving them with no money, no car and no clue. Enlisting the aid of Jessie [ESTELLA WARREN], a resourceful American wildlife conservationist, along with a drunken bush pilot and a herd of the most ill-mannered camels that ever lived, Charlie and Louis attempt to track the wily kangaroo across the dense Outback, capture him and retrieve the cash before Sal's henchmen send them "down under"permanently. * * * Castle Rock Entertainment presents a Jerry Bruckheimer production, the family action adventure comedy Kangaroo Jack, starring JERRY O'CONNELL and ANTHONY ANDERSON. Directed by DAVID McNALLY and produced by JERRY BRUCKHEIMER from a screenplay by STEVE BING & SCOTT ROSENBERG, and story by STEVE BING & BARRY O'BRIEN, Kangaroo Jack also stars ESTELLA WARREN, MICHAEL SHANNON, CHRISTOPHER WALKEN, BILL HUNTER, MARTON CSOKAS and DAVID NGOOMBUJARRA. MIKE STENSON, CHAD OMAN, BARRY WALDMAN and ANDREW MASON are the executive producers. PETER MENZIES, JR., A. C. S. is the director of photography; GEORGE LIDDLE is the production designer; JOHN MURRAY, WILLIAM GOLDENBERG, A. C. E. and JIM MAY are the editors; the costumes are designed by DANIEL ORLANDI and GEORGE LIDDLE; the music supervisors are KATHY NELSON & BOB BADAMI; and the music is composed by TREVOR RABIN. Kangaroo Jack will be distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures, an AOL Time Warner Company. Castle Rock Entertainment is an AOL Time Warner Company. This film has been rated PG by the Motion Picture Association of America for "language, crude humor, sensuality and violence." www.kangaroojack.com / AOL Keyword: Kangaroo Jack * * * An Action Adventure Comedy for Kids Award-winning producer Jerry Bruckheimer, an industry legend whose name is synonymous with the kind of breathtaking action moviegoers have come to expect from such blockbuster films as Black Hawk Down, Pearl Harbor, Armageddon, The Rock, Top Gun and Beverly Hills Cop, was looking to produce a satisfying comic action adventure for a younger audience and Kangaroo Jack fit the bill perfectly. "I like to bring entertainment to audiences; that's what it's all about," says Bruckheimer of his filmmaking philosophy. "Kangaroo Jack is good entertainment, but unlike some of my other films, it's not only for adults, it's for the entire family." Fans of the producer's dynamic style will find their adrenalin levels similarly ignited by Kangaroo Jack. The adventure begins with a high-speed police pursuit through tight city streets, moves on to a plane crash in the Australian Outback and ends with Charlie, Louis and their new friend Jessie racing frantically on camel-back after a clever kangaroo while dodging bullets from a posse of gangsters. As star Anthony Anderson wryly attests, "If you've never been on the back of a camel, you haven't experienced action." Bruckheimer cites the humor and pacing of the Kangaroo Jack script for capturing his initial interest in the project. "Here we have two characters thrown into a desperate situation without many resources to draw upon except their own wits such as they are," he says with a laugh. "Those circumstances make for an inherently intriguing storyline, full of comic possibilities. Charlie and Louis are the quintessential strangers in a strange land, and when you add the unpredictability of an untamed animal to the mix, the stakes are raised even higher. The more over-the-top their predicament, the more hilarious the comedy." Screenwriters Steve Bing, a writer on the long-running television hit MarriedWith Children, and Scott Rosenberg, whose credits include two previous high-octane collaborations with Bruckheimer, Con Air and Gone in 60 Seconds, prepared the script which is partly inspired, notes Bruckheimer, "on a number of Australian tall tales about rogue kangaroos making off with things and disappearing into the underbrush." Together, the writers infused the story with equal parts comedy and action, precisely the balance that the producer was looking for. "Scott's very innovative and fun-loving, with a talent for snappy dialogue," Bruckheimer says of his colleague, "and Steve is an excellent storyteller with a great sense of humor." Bing and Rosenberg submitted a draft around the time that Bruckheimer was wrapping production on the comedy drama Coyote Ugly with director David McNally. He approached McNally with the script. "I read it and laughed out loud, so I was hooked right away," McNally recalls. "I'm a sucker for fish-out-of-water stories. With these two city boys lost in the Outback it was like Crocodile Dundee in reverse. Also, I liked the fact that it's a comedy on one level, but it also has heart, which is a bonus. It's a crazy adventure but also a journey of discovery for these two characters, who learn something about themselves and their friendship." Casting Out for Adventure Bruckheimer and McNally, along with casting director Ronna Kress, C. S. A., approached the casting process knowing that they needed a pair of actors who could not only develop the individual characters of Charlie and Louis but also establish the genuine rapport of two guys who have been buddies since grade school. Their interaction is the heart and funny bone of the story. Additionally, as McNally explains, "It was very important to find actors who were not only funny, but also really quick, so they could ad-lib and play off each other as the action unfolded. We were impressed with Jerry O'Connell straightaway. He made us laugh he's naturally funny and when he first read the lines he made Charlie come alive." "Jerry's a fresh comedian as well as a wonderful actor," says Bruckheimer, who remembered O'Connell from his first feature role as a youngster in the acclaimed coming-of-age film Stand By Me, as well as from his portrayal of Cush, the highly sought-after quarterback in Jerry Maguire. "He has a twinkle in his eye and a great cherubic smile that makes him instantly likeable." Born and raised in New York, O'Connell relied upon his roots to hone some aspects of his character. "I called up my cousins and uncles and asked, 'How would you say this line?'" the actor reveals. "And they'd answer, 'I'd say it like dis.'" O'Connell's delivery was perfect for the part of Charlie Carbone, a genuinely nice guy trying to eke out a living in his old neighborhood by cutting hair in a modest salon, while most of his profits are being siphoned off by his Mafioso stepfather, with whom he has an uneasy relationship at best. For O'Connell, who most recently starred in the comedy Tomcats, getting a call from Jerry Bruckheimer was "a career highlight." As he describes: "It was like if you played for the Minnesota Twins and you got a call from the Yankees saying 'Come play on our team.' Jerry makes great films and they're big films. Really big. And they're a lot of fun. When you work on a Bruckheimer film you know that everything is going to be done better than right. Then, when I heard that Anthony Anderson was on board, I knew it was going to be really funny as well." The filmmakers were familiar with Anderson's work in both the action and comedy genres, most notably Andrzej Bartkowiak's action drama Romeo Must Die and the comedy Life, in which he starred with Eddie Murphy and Martin Lawrence. "I heard he had fantastic comic abilities and timing, and his performance was one of the funniest things about Me, Myself & Irene," McNally comments. "He came in to read with Jerry O'Connell and immediately they bounced off each other. It was great." "He just nailed the part," Bruckheimer attests. "Anthony is very engaging. He's just got that spark, that infectious personality that only one in a million of us is lucky enough to possess. And Jerry and Anthony together make it impossible not to laugh. When they read together, I believed they had known each other for years." Anderson's character, Louis Fucci, attracts disaster, which he ironically brings upon himself in his efforts to improve his life. Bruckheimer compares him to another lovable loser made famous by legendary comedian Jackie Gleason in the classic 1950s series The Honeymooners. "Louis is the Ralph Cramden of his day," affirms the producer. "He's someone who can always figure an angle, who is always looking for the shortcut in an effort to make a buck, but it never works out. Unfortunately, his ideas are flawed. He'd be much better off applying himself in a real job instead of concocting fantastic schemes, but he can't help thinking that he's always on the brink of striking it rich. He never gives up." Anderson was drawn to the project for a number of reasons, perhaps the strongest being "the chance to work with Jerry Bruckheimer, one of the foremost producers in the industry." In addition, he says, "When you look at the cast, the great script, the relationships between the characters and everything fun that's going on, plus the chance to live in Australia for five months, come on it can't get any better than that." "Jerry and Anthony had such strong chemistry together," McNally reports. "They'd do things that weren't scripted that brought so much to the film. One day when they were in the van waiting for a shot, Jerry started doing this beat-box thing and Anthony started rapping. Everyone stopped what they were doing to listen. I thought, 'We have to have this in the movie!' So they busted out a little impromptu Kangaroo Jack rap." "I met Jerry O'Connell once before, but he probably doesn't remember," Anderson jokes. "But that's okay. I've stolen most of the scenes from him in this movie, so now we're even. Seriously, Jerry's a great guy. We've become good friends and we make each other laugh a lot he knows my rhythm and I know his timing we even finish each other's sentences now. We had a lot of fun together." "Filmmakers always take a bit of a gamble when they cast a buddy movie," adds executive producer Barry Waldman, "but we were extraordinarily lucky with Jerry and Anthony. It's cliché to say, but they do have genuine chemistry. You can see they became great friends off screen, and the movie really benefits from their camaraderie." Once you establish a rapport between your two lead actors, the best thing to do is toss in a variable like a beautiful woman to stir things up, right? Enter Estella Warren. "Estella Warren lit up the screen when we auditioned her," Bruckheimer recalls. "There was no contest. She has an approachable elegance that's attractive to both men and women. Estella also exudes the same warmth and disarming charm that Jerry and Anthony do. They made for a great team." "She's beautiful and genuinely talented," McNally agrees. Warren plays the role of Jessie, a dedicated American naturalist working with endangered species in the Outback. Of course, when Charlie and Louis solicit her expertise in tracking down their rogue kangaroo, they don't give her the whole story. They kind of leave out the part about the money. And the mobsters. "Jessie gives the guys a hard time because she's only been in Australia for a few months and she already knows how to pitch a tent, ride a camel and sling a bolo, but they have no wilderness skills whatsoever and just can't get it together," Warren says. "They're helpless, but she likes them. Overall, she introduces a new dynamic to their relationship." As with Bruckheimer and McNally, it was the script that first attracted Warren to the project. "It was just so funny," she says. "I was in stitches laughing when I read it. Then when we all started working together it just got funnier as we all ad-libbed. We had such a good time." Warren won't get an argument on that from co-star O'Connell, who quips, "I have a scene with Estella where we kiss in a lagoon. Filming that scene was without a doubt the most enjoyable day of my entire life." Inimitable Oscar-winning actor Christopher Walken joined the cast as Charlie's formidable stepfather, mob boss Sal Maggio, who sends the hapless pair to Australia to make good on one of their numerous screw-ups back home in Brooklyn. His affection for Charlie's mother notwithstanding, Sal would like nothing better than for Charlie and Louis to get lost in the Outback permanently. As Walken sees it, "Sal has invested a lot of money in his stepson. He's more or less lost all of it, so Sal sends the kid on a mission to Australia to redeem himself and he disappears. I suspect he's kind of a comic figure. It's more of a fun gangster than I usually play." "It was a real thrill for me to work with Christopher Walken, whom I've admired ever since seeing his unforgettable work in The Deer Hunter," says McNally. "I immediately envisioned him in the role of Sal because he has that wicked sense of humor that works so well for this kind of character. He was a joy to work with. He always came in with good ideas and delivered a wickedly nuanced performance." "When you walk onto the set for a scene with Christopher, you'd better have your lines down because he is super-prepared," O'Connell says of Walken's polished technique. Playing on the acclaimed actor's well-known repertoire of menacing characters, O'Connell later adds, "When I first met him, I was intimidated. He looked at me with that icy blue-eyed stare and I was just scared. But now, after having so much fun making this movie with him, I'm not scared of him at all anymore. Well, maybe just a little." By the end of the shoot, both O'Connell and Anderson had refined their Christopher Walken impressions, which they readily performed during downtime on the set, and which no one appeared to enjoy more than Walken himself. Rounding out the cast are Pearl Harbor's Michael Shannon as Maggio's ruthless right-hand man, Frankie; veteran Australian actor Bill Hunter, winner of the AFI Award for Galipoli, in the role of drunken bush pilot Blue, who deposits Charlie and Louis rather abruptly in the middle of nowhere; New Zealand native Marton Csokas, star of the recent blockbuster XXX, who plays the humorless Mr. Smith, to whom the kangaroo-jacked mob money is supposed to be delivered and David Ngoombuarra, who appeared in Rabbit-Proof Fence, plays Mr. Jimmy, the first-rate Outback guide. When is a Kangaroo Not a Kangaroo? Kangaroos are so plentiful in Australia that they are widely considered "the rodents of the Outback," Bruckheimer notes. Of the more than 40 different types that inhabit the area, the producer selected a Red Kangaroo to star in the film. Red Kangaroos are the largest marsupials in the world, with adult males easily standing taller than a man and weighing approximately 100 pounds some as much as 150 pounds or more. Several look-alike kangaroos were trained in Australia for the role of the film's rambunctious four-footed star, dubbed "Jackie Legs" by Charlie and Louis because he resembles one of their Brooklyn buddies. Named One, Two, Three, Four and so on, each kangaroo performer had a turn playing the lead character depending upon their particular strengths. Additional roos were trained to appear as part of the area's general kangaroo population as well as Jackie's own little cluster of pals. As for the animal actors' ability to hit their marks on cue, McNally offers this local witticism: "We were told that you could get a kangaroo to go from Point A to Point B, so long as you didn't much care where Point B was." To supplement the animal's physical movements and to develop the subtleties of the star kangaroo's personality, Bruckheimer and McNally relied heavily on the newest computer technology. Digital Effects Supervisor Hoyt Yeatman, A. S. C. supervised an animation team of more than 70 artisans who brought to life the filmmakers' vision of a virtual kangaroo that would be indistinguishable from a live kangaroo and, most importantly, be capable of expressing a wide range of attitude and emotion. As Yeatman describes it, "We were walking a fine line between photo realism and imagination. Ultimately, I wanted it to be real enough so that audiences might wonder, 'How did they get that kangaroo to do that?' or think it's an especially well-trained animal, without considering that it might be a computer image." To achieve this, the team began with an intense study of the real animal, courtesy of biologists from the San Diego Zoo, who not only offered valuable information about musculature and facial features, but even provided pieces of a kangaroo skeleton for use as a model. Photos of the animal actors also served as models, which were then digitally scanned. Yeatman's "Skin and Muscle" specialty departments worked to ensure that the kangaroo's flesh "moves and ripples over the bone, stretches and squashes and jiggles as it should," right down to the tips of the fur. Realistically rendering fur is an intense process, more so than what is done to replicate skin or scales. "There are about six million individual hairs that we had to grow on our kangaroo, so computationally it's a very heavy process that required our largest computers working up to 24 hours just to generate a single frame," Yeatman explains. There was also the animal's wardrobe to consider specifically the vivid red jacket that Louis foolishly places on him during their impromptu photo shoot. This proved to be one of the more difficult challenges for the digital effects team, resulting in, as Yeatman says, "a whole crew that did nothing but deal with the jacket, making sure it moves correctly in response to the animal's movements and ensuring that the hood flops up and down as he runs, as well as making sure that the hair on his arm looks realistic as the arm pushes through the sleeve." Great care was also taken to create a sense of weight for the virtual kangaroo. "He's very physically active," Yeatman continues, noting that the animal "has to be able to run, jump and move with the natural posture and physical makeup of a kangaroo." Lighting is key to achieving this illusion. Each digital creation must cast a proper shadow. For this, the effects crew worked with director of photography Peter Menzies, Jr., A. C. S. whose task it was to light thin air into which digital images could later be placed. Yeatman also worked closely with director McNally on the film's storyboards, in an "animax" or visualization process that allows them to place real objects and locations into a computer and manipulate them so that the director can work out the mechanics of each scene, select his shooting angles and so on. "David has a lot of experience directing commercials so he has refined the ability to define his shots very specifically," Yeatman says of McNally's technique, which he found very helpful to their creative collaboration. "He embraced the technology as part of the production process itself." According to Bruckheimer, Yeatman's virtual Jackie Legs so impeccably matched its flesh-and-fur model that he confidently states, "I'd be shocked if anyone can tell the difference. Hoyt is one of the best CGI men in the business. He and his team make you believe that what you're looking at in every scene is a real kangaroo, not a computer-generated image." Yeatman, whose visual effects artistry can be seen in more than 40 films, has previously collaborated with Bruckheimer on the hits The Rock, Crimson Tide, Con Air, and Armageddon. "So often we'll get ideas from Jerry as to what will improve an element we're working on, and every single time he's spot on," Yeatman observes. "For example, we began with an idea of the kangaroo as a very large specimen, an alpha male, so the scale of our initial images was large. When Jerry first saw the sequence where the animal bounces on the tailgate of the guys' truck, he felt its size was too intimidating so we scaled it down a bit." The digital effects supervisor has nothing but praise for the actors, who were required to react to an invisible kangaroo throughout production, saying, "Jerry and Anthony did a tremendous job. It's always tricky when you're working with comedic actors who are doing a lot of ad-lib and goofing around and you're trying to make sure that they're not going to suddenly sit down or roll over a kangaroo that isn't there yet but will be. It requires a lot of imagination and focus on the part of the actors." Executive producer Barry Waldman agrees. "More often than not, Anthony and Jerry were forced to work with a stuffed kangaroo or a puppet, or sometimes with nothing at all. It was a little tough, but they mastered the technique." In several instances, audiences will see O'Connell or Anderson fleetingly catch up with Jackie Legs and reach for the precious cash-laden envelope resting inside Louis' "lucky" red jacket but the actors never actually laid a hand on a real kangaroo for these shots. "When you see either of them touch the kangaroo," Yeatman explains, "it's a CGI hand that has been created to look like their own, so that the physical contact between them is perfectly smooth." Never Ride Behind a Camel Physical contact between the actors and their all-too-real camel costars, however, proved far from smooth. The intricacies of kangaroo wrangling, whether live or CGI, paled in comparison to handling camels. Camels, the cast and crew soon learned, can be docile, reliable and tireless when they feel like it. Most of the time they're temperamental and obstinate. But it wasn't their personalities that were the problem. Unanimously, the cast and crew had the same complaint about these beasts of burden: they smell. Boy, do they smell! Casting all subtlety aside, Jerry O'Connell states, "Camels are the worst-smelling animals on the face of the earth. They are disgusting. People talk about how filthy the New York City subway system is. Well, the New York City subway smells like a dozen roses compared to what camels smell like. It's unbelievable." Of course, O'Connell might be a bit biased since the particular camel assigned as his mount during production, a charming creature named K.B., spat copiously on him at their first introduction. Anthony Anderson fared little better. "Baby, which was my camel, tried to buck me off a couple of times. Fortunately, they had trained us prior to shooting so I was able to handle him. One thing I did learn, though, was that camels kick in all directions at any given moment." Anderson's advice to those considering an Australian Outback holiday? "Never ride behind a camel. You will inhale fumes that are just unimaginably inhumane. That's all I'm going to say." In addition to the working camels that O'Connell, Anderson and Warren rode most days, the production also utilized animatronic camels, and some highly prized racing camels trained in Alice Springs and sold to the royal family in Saudi Arabia. "We were very fortunate to find those racing camels," remarks Waldman. "The trained camels we used every day didn't really go very fast but they were the right speed for our cast. So they and the animatronic camels enabled us to get some great close-ups, but the racing camels ridden by body doubles we used actual camel jockeys were vital for the big wide shots where we can really see the camels sprinting along the terrain." Crafted by Neal Scanlan Studio Limited, the animatronic camels are life-sized legless replicas that were mounted to a vehicle, which then bumped and raced across the desert. Crew members lying on a truck bed beneath the actors manipulated dollies to move the mechanical creatures back and forth in a credible loping motion that flawlessly mimicked the movements of the actors riding live camels. Anderson jokes that ten guys were needed to rock him back and forth on the phony camel, compared to only six who worked with O'Connell. "Those guys got quite a workout, so I had to buy them all drinks that night." Filming In the Outback "The Outback is the perfect setting for a Jerry Bruckheimer film," says Jerry O'Connell. "You can really go crazy with stunts out there. Anything goes." Kangaroo Jack filmed on location in metropolitan Sydney, picturesque frontier capital Alice Springs as well as in the rustic opal-mining center, Coober Pedy. Once a remote outpost, Alice Springs is the homeland of the Arrernte Aboriginal people and boasts a population of approximately 28,000. Arrernte people continue to live in Alice Springs and observe traditional law, look after the land, and teach children the Arrernte language along with the importance of their culture. Coober Pedy, a small town some 690 kilometers south of Alice Springs, produces an estimated 70% of the world's precious opal. The mining town was originally known as the Stuart Range Opal Field, named after John McDouall Stuart, who in 1858 was the first European explorer in the area. In 1920 it was re-named Coober Pedy, an anglicized version of Aboriginal words "kupa piti," commonly assumed to mean, "white man in a hole." From Canadian-born McNally's perspective, "Coober Pedy is a pretty strange place. It's reminiscent of the Wild West in some ways, where people like to do their own thing. Most of the homes are built underground to escape the heat of the summer, which can get up to well over 100 degrees. It's a very interesting place, and the landscape where we filmed was breathtaking in its beauty." A number of aerial shots highlight this beauty dramatically, scanning a landscape of vivid, rich colors and fantastic natural rock formations. From the start, McNally considered the rugged Outback landscape to be another character in the movie. "During our location surveys I was very impressed by the unique terrain. I wanted to show the rest of the world that the geography out there is really quite fantastic." Anthony Anderson particularly enjoyed his stay in both locations, where he was able to learn about the aboriginal culture. "I formed some very real friendships with the people there, some of whom had never seen a black American before. Meeting and spending time with some of the Aboriginal tribes and elders was a very special experience," he says in a rare serious moment. For admitted city boy O'Connell, the Outback adventure was an interesting dose of culture shock. "I'm from New York," he offers. "The most rural I get is Central Park. The way I see it, any time you leave New York, you're pretty much camping out. But this was really camping out. They have a lot of crazy animals out there scorpions, snakes, and spiders the size of your hand. We were told that nine of the ten most deadly snakes in the world can be found in the Australian Outback. The tenth is probably there too they just haven't found it yet." "Jerry and Anthony have incredible careers ahead of them," Bruckheimer predicts. "Not only are they gifted actors, but they were totally professional despite some of the more grueling physical aspects of the shoot. Working in the Outback was not the most glamorous; we really put them to the test and they kept everyone laughing." Joking aside, poisonous snakes were a definite danger, and the production often relied upon local guides to scout out suitable areas for filming. "In order to walk to set, you'd clap your hands to scare the snakes away," Waldman recalls. "And the weather was constantly inconsistent. It would be freezing when we started shooting in the morning; by eleven o'clock we'd all change into shorts and by four we'd have to bundle up again. Then there was the dilemma of the location itself. Most film crews don't have to build a road just to get to their location." McNally, who recalls a number of scorpion sightings as well as a great many "strange-looking bugs," describes the precautions observed by the crew: "We'd comb the ground where the actors were going to stand, doing a pass-through for snakes. At one point, in King's Canyon, we were being looked after by an Aboriginal ranger who told us that not many people had visited this particular spot. So off we went, walking and exploring, with him calmly sitting there sipping a coffee. After about 25 minutes of this, he happened to mention that this was a prime habitat for death-adders, which might be lurking around any rock, so we should probably be careful." Canadian native Estella Warren was enchanted by the location, and used the opportunity to indulge in a little open-air exercise. "I did a lot of mountain-climbing in Alice Springs and also learned to surf," she says. "It was overwhelming to be there and experience the most beautiful views I've ever seen in my life. There's nothing like it. Overall, it was a very relaxed atmosphere and a nice change from the hectic pace of Los Angeles." Production designer George Liddle's biggest challenge was to create a rocky gorge in an old quarry near Alice Springs, to be utilized in filming a key chase scene. "We couldn't find a suitable gorge to film in, so we built one to our own dimensions," Liddle reports. "We took molds from actual rock faces and then assembled the molds into the shapes we wanted. The rocks in the new gorge were made up of different detachable modules so the rock face could change as filming progressed. Transporting the rock models back to the studio in Sydney took 22 semi-trailers." Liddle then tackled the task of recreating the Alice Springs and the McDonnell Range locations back at Twentieth Century Fox Studios in Sydney for interior sequences. "The biggest set was the water hole," says Liddle, "which used a water tank built into one of the stages." The production hadn't been able to find a water hole suitable for another scene while on location, so the production designer and his team created a beautiful Outback lagoon in the studio, meticulously matching the rock, sand and vegetation from their original remote site. Another major effort for Liddle's team was recreating in Sydney a number of Brooklyn streets where Charlie and Louis first get into trouble trying to outrun New York's finest with a truckload of stolen televisions. For that purpose, eight New York yellow cabs and several police cars were shipped from the States, as well as some vital street signage. Other significant props, such as New York hot dog stands, were carefully constructed in Sydney. "George met each challenge as it came and did an excellent job," McNally enthuses. "We had to orchestrate camel chases, plane crashes, you name it! To make it all happen out there in the middle of nowhere was physically challenging for everyone involved. But I'm pleased to say that we survived with our humor intact. The Australian crew was fantastic they worked incredibly hard and I'm very grateful to them all." About the Cast JERRY O'CONNELL (Charlie Carbone) made his screen debut at the tender age of 11 in Rob Reiner's Stand By Me. Born in New York City, O'Connell continued acting as a teenager, starring in the ABC series Camp Wilder. He then graduated from New York University's Film School. In 1995, O'Connell was cast as the parallel universe-traveling Quinn Mallory in Fox's hit series Sliders. He starred in the series for four seasons and, in his final year, served as a producer and writer, and directed several episodes. His other television appearances include the Hallmark Hall of Fame presentations The Room Upstairs and The Hole in the Sky, as well as the epic NBC miniseries The '60s. O'Connell's feature films include Tomcats, Mission to Mars, Calendar Girl, Joe's Apartment, Wes Craven's Scream 2 and Body Shots. O'Connell can currently be seen on the NBC series Crossing Jordan. ANTHONY ANDERSON (Louis Fucci) is a hot new star who's taking Hollywood by storm. In addition to starring in a string of films that have grossed nearly half a billion dollars domestically, he was recently nominated for an NAACP Image Award for his work in the Sony Screen Gems battle-of-the-sexes comedy Two Can Play That Game. Upcoming, Anderson plays the lead role opposite Jet Li and DMX in blockbuster producer Joel Silver's next action film for Warner Bros. Pictures, Cradle 2 the Grave; joins Jamie Kennedy in the Warner Bros. Pictures comedy Malibu's Most Wanted; and stars with Eddie Griffin in Miramax Films My Baby's Mama. In addition, comedy maestro Bob Simonds has tapped Anderson to executive produce a starring vehicle for himself that Simonds will shepherd at Disney. Anderson was most recently seen in the comedy hit, Barbershop, opposite Ice Cube and Cedric the Entertainer. Anderson is well prepared for the attention. Raised near Los Angeles, he is the son of a career film extra and her entrepreneur husband. As a toddler he accompanied his mother to several film sets and by the time he was four he knew acting was his destiny. While attending the High School for the Performing Arts, Anderson earned first place in the NAACP's ACTSO Awards by performing the classic monologue from The Great White Hope. His dedication and talent earned him a dramatic arts scholarship to Howard University. Then he headed home for Hollywood. In early 1996, Anderson landed his first gig as a series regular in NBC's long-running kids' series Hang Time. That was followed by guest star turns in primetime shows JAG and NYPD Blue. His breakout feature film roles include Life, with Eddie Murphy; Big Momma's House, with Martin Lawrence; Me, Myself and Irene, with Jim Carrey; and Romeo Must Die, with Jet Li. He also starred in Fox Searchlight's Kingdom Come and Warner Bros. Pictures' Exit Wounds. David E. Kelley was so impressed with Anderson that he tailor-made a two-episode arc for him on the hit series Ally McBeal. Anderson is married to his college sweetheart and is a father of two. He lives with his family in Los Angeles. ESTELLA WARREN (Jessie) made her starring feature film debut opposite Sylvester Stallone in Driven, directed by Renny Harlin. Warren has starred in Tim Burton's Planet of the Apes, opposite Mark Wahlberg; Michael Rymer's independent feature Perfume, starring Jeff Goldblum and Omar Epps; and starred with Rachael Leigh Cook in Tapestry Films' Tangled. She has just completed production on the independent feature The Cooler, opposite William H. Macy and Alec Baldwin. Since being discovered at a high school fashion show in Etobicoke, Canada, Warren has exploded on the modeling circuit with several spectacular campaigns, including Perry Ellis and Cartier, and has appeared on numerous magazine covers over the last two years, including GQ, Mademoiselle and Talk. She appears as the face for Chanel No. 5 in a commercial directed by filmmaker Luc Besson, as well as in their print campaign. Before entering the field of high fashion modeling, Warren achieved recognition as Canada's National Champion in synchronized swimming and is a World Bronze Medalist. MICHAEL SHANNON (Frankie the Vermin) grew up in Lexington, Kentucky, and began his professional stage career in Chicago. His first acting role was in Winterset at the Illinois Theatre Center. Over the next several years, he continued working on the stage with such companies as Steppenwolf, The Next Lab and the Red Orchid Theatre. He subsequently relocated to London for a year, and performed on stage in London's West End in such productions as Woyzeck, Killer Joe and Bug. While in Chicago, Shannon also kept busy in front of movie and television cameras, most notably in the big screen project Chicago Cab, based on the long-running stage play, Hellcab. Kangaroo Jack marks the third Bruckheimer production in which Shannon has appeared. He will soon be seen in the upcoming Bad Boys II, directed by Michael Bay and starring Will Smith and Martin Lawrence, and in Grand Theft Parsons, with Johnny Knoxville and Christina Applegate. Shannon appeared in Pearl Harbor, directed by Michael Bay. His film credits also include Curtis Hanson's 8 Mile; Cameron Crowe's Vanilla Sky, with Tom Cruise; Carl Franklin's High Crimes, with Morgan Freeman; John Waters' Cecil B. DeMented, and in Joel Schumacher's war drama Tigerland. CHRISTOPHER WALKEN (Sal) won the 1978 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his astonishing performance in Michael Cimino's The Deer Hunter, a role that also earned him the New York Film Critic's Circle Award and a Golden Globe nomination. Walken was recently seen starring with Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hanks in Steven Spielberg's Catch Me If You Can. In the film, based on a true story, Walken plays the father of a young con artist who successfully impersonates an airline pilot, doctor, assistant attorney general and history professor, cashing more than $2.5 million in fraudulent checks in 26 countries. DreamWorks released the film in December 2002. Walken's film career skyrocketed after his unforgettable role as Duane Hall, brother to Diane Keaton's title character in Woody Allen's Oscar-winning Best Picture, Annie Hall. Since then, Walken has appeared in more than 50 feature films including Herbert Ross' Oscar-nominated Pennies From Heaven; David Cronenberg's adaptation of Stephen King's The Dead Zone; James Foley's At Close Range, opposite Sean Penn; Mike Nichols' Biloxi Blues, based on the Neil Simon play; Abel Ferrara's gritty crime-drama King of New York; and Joe Roth's comedy, America's Sweethearts, co-starring Julia Roberts, Billy Crystal, and John Cusack. In recent years, Walken has succeeded in creating some of the most memorable characters in film history, appearing in supporting and cameo roles such as Vincent Coccotti in Tony Scott's True Romance, Captain Koons in Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction, Carlo Bartolucci in Suicide Kings, The Headless Horseman in Tim Burton's Sleepy Hollow, and crooked businessman Max Shreck, in Burton's Batman Returns. Walken began acting and dancing at the age of ten. He trained to be a dancer at the Professional Children's School in Manhattan and eventually went on to appear in numerous stage plays and musicals. He received the Clarence Derwent Award for his performance in the Broadway production of The Lion in Winter, an Obie Award for his role in The Seagull, a Theatre World Award for The Rose Tattoo, and the 1997 Susan Stein Shiva Award for his work with Joseph Papp's Public Theatre. In the summer of 2001, Walken again appeared in a revival of Chekhov's The Seagull for the New York Shakespeare Festival, directed by Mike Nichols, opposite Meryl Streep and Kevin Kline. In the Fall of 1999 he co-starred in the stage adaptation of James Joyce's The Dead. On television, Walken has hilariously and memorably hosted Saturday Night Live a total of 5 times since 1990, contributed a mesmerizing dance performance to the Spike Jonze-directed music video for Fat Boy Slim's Weapon of Choice, and wrote and directed the short film Popcorn Shrimp, which premiered on Showtime in 2001. Upcoming, Walken will be seen with Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez in Martin Brest's Gigli, and in Barry Levinson's Envy, with Ben Stiller and Jack Black. BILL HUNTER (Blue) appeared in the box-office hit Muriel's Wedding, directed by P. J. Hogan and starring Toni Collette; The Adventures of Priscilla: Queen of the Desert, directed by Stephan Elliot and starring Guy Pearce; The Last Days of Chez Nous, directed by Gillian Armstrong; Strictly Ballroom, directed by Baz Luhrmann; and Gallipoli, directed by Peter Weir and starring Mel Gibson. More recently, he lent his voice to Pixar's upcoming film Finding Nemo. Hunter's numerous television credits include On the Beach, starring Armand Assante, and the mini-series Moby Dick, executive produced by Francis Ford Coppola. MARTON CSOKAS (Mr. Smith) recently appeared in several films, including Peter Jackson's critically acclaimed epic The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Rings, in which he played the role of Celeborn, Lord of the Elves; the box office hit XXX; and Alex Proyas' Garage Days. Born in New Zealand to a Hungarian father (family name pronounced Cho-karsh) and a New Zealander mother, Csokas graduated from the New Zealand Drama School. He embarked on a celebrated career on stage, the first of which was the Taki Rua/Depot's Te Whanau a Tuanui Jones. Audiences soon saw him portraying the erudite Byronesque Septimus in Tom Stoppard's Arcadia, the ambiguous Joe Pitt in Tony Kushner's Angels in America, as well as in productions of Brian Friels' Dancing at Lughnasa, David Hare's Amy's View, Patrick Marber's Closer (Chapman Tripp Theatre Award for Production of the Year) and Steven Berkoff's Kvetch. Csokas also co-founded his own experimental company, Stronghold Theatre, which built a reputation for challenging and expansive work. His talent for classical work was seen in numerous productions of Shakespeare, Chekhov and Brecht, including roles as Falstaff in The Merry Wives of Windsor, Brutus in Julius Caesar and Orsino in Twelfth Night, as well as performing in Three Sisters, The Cherry Orchard and Happy End. After appearing in numerous short films, Csokas acted in the acclaimed 1996 film Broken English, which brought him a New Zealand Film Institute nomination. He also starred in the coming-of-age drama Rain, which garnered fine reviews when it opened in New York and Los Angeles in May 2002. For an episode of the popular series G.P., Csokas was nominated for an Australian Film Institute award for Best Performance in a Television Drama. U.S. audiences also saw him portray Ted Healy, the man who created The Three Stooges, in the highly rated television movie The Three Stooges in 2000. DAVID NGOOMBUJARRA's (Mr. Jimmy) film credits include Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles, starring Paul Hogan; Serenades, directed by Mojan Khadem; Rabbit-Proof Fence, directed by Phillip Noyce; Black and White, directed by Craig Lahiff and starring Robert Carlyle; and The Missing, directed by Manuela Alberti. Nogoombujarra's television credits include the mini-series The Potato Factory, Harry's War and Heartland, starring Cate Blanchett. About the Filmmakers DAVID McNALLY (Director) made his motion picture directorial debut with Jerry Bruckheimer's Coyote Ugly. McNally was previously known in the world of television commercials as a much sought-after director, whose work (which includes the USA Today Poll-topping, Super Bowl Budweiser "Lobster" spot) has garnered almost every international advertising award: Cannes, Clios, One Show, London International, D & AD, Andy's, New York Festival, International Monitor, Bessie, Telly, and many more. McNally started his career in Canada, directing award-winning music videos. STEVE BING (Screenplay / Story) was the producer of Night at the Golden Eagle which won Best Cinematography and a Best Supporting Actor award for Vinnie Jones at the New York Independent Film Festival. Currently, Bing is producing and financing The Big Bounce, starring Owen Wilson, Morgan Freeman, Gary Sinise and Sara Foster with worldwide distribution by Warner Bros. Pictures. SCOTT ROSENBERG's (Screenplay) first feature film to go before cameras was the independent movie Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead, on which he also served as associate producer. His second feature, Beautiful Girls, was directed by Ted Demme and starred Uma Thurman and Matt Dillon, and Rosenberg was one of several writers on Touchstone Pictures' High Fidelity, starring John Cusack. Rosenberg's association with Jerry Bruckheimer Films began when he wrote the script for Simon West's Con Air, based on his original idea detailing the exploits of the federal prison transfer system. In addition, Rosenberg wrote Gone in 60 Seconds for Jerry Bruckheimer Films. Born and raised in Boston, he began writing at a young age, intending to become a novelist. Uncertain of how to make a living after graduating from Boston University in 1985, he chanced fate and came to Los Angeles with a friend. He landed a job as a production assistant and began writing scripts. He applied and was accepted to the University of California at Los Angeles' film school, and, as a result of winning a screenwriting contest, signed with his first agent. His big break came when producer Joel Silver bought one of his projects. Rosenberg then sold another screenplay, Disturbing Behavior, completed a book adaptation, The Black Ice, for Paramount Pictures, and wrote two Tales from the Crypt episodes: Forever Ambergris and Seance. Rosenberg created and executive produced Going to California for Showtime. He wrote and produced his newest film, Highway, for New Line Cinema. BARRY O'BRIEN (Story) has contributed to many television series. More recently he has served as a writer on Judging Amy, for CBS, starring Amy Brenneman; as a writer on Gary & Mike for UPN; and writer and co-producer on Aaron Spelling's Titans, for NBC. O'Brien created the series Between Brothers, for Fox, along with numerous pilots. JERRY BRUCKHEIMER (Producer), one of the most successful producers of all time, is a filmmaker who loves telling a story. His films take us on incredible adventures and, when we leave the theater, we are enriched by the unforgettable characters, excited by the great stories and intrigued by the new experiences. So we go back, and keep going back, to the films that begin with the lightning bolt. With worldwide revenues of over $12.5 billion in box office, video and recording receipts, Bruckheimer has earned the acclaim and respect of his industry and the devotion of moviegoers worldwide. Bruckheimer has always been a storyteller. He started out with short ones: the 60-second tales he created as an award-winning commercial producer in his native Detroit. One of those mini-films, a parody of Bonnie and Clyde he created for Pontiac, was noted for its brilliance in Time magazine. It also brought the 23-year-old producer to the attention of world-renowned ad agency BBD&O, which lured him to New York. Four years on Madison Avenue gave him the experience and confidence to tackle Hollywood and, not yet 30, he was at the helm of memorable films like Farewell, My Lovely and American Gigolo. Also among these early projects was 1983's Flashdance. It made Jennifer Beals a box office star and retired the jumping jack forever, turning us all into aerobic dancers. It changed Bruckheimer's life by becoming a sleeper hit (grossing $100 million in the U.S. alone) and pairing him with an old acquaintance, producer Don Simpson, who would be his partner for the next 14 years. One of the most prolific partnerships in recent motion picture history, Bruckheimer and Simpson produced films that were honored with 15 Academy Award nominations, two Oscars for Best Song, four Grammys, three Golden Globes, two People's Choice Awards for Best Picture and the MTV Award for Best Picture of the Decade. Industry acclaim followed box office success. In both 1985 and 1988, the National Association of Theater Owners (NATO) named Bruckheimer Producer of the Year and, along with Simpson, he was chosen as 1988's Motion Picture Showman of the Year by the Publicists Guild of America. By 1995, the team was producing one hit after another. In that year alone, Bruckheimer was responsible for Bad Boys, the Will Smith/Martin Lawrence film that was Columbia Pictures' highest grossing movie of the year; Michelle Pfeiffer's acclaimed Dangerous Minds; and Crimson Tide, the Denzel Washington/Gene Hackman adventure that, with Dangerous Minds, topped Hollywood Pictures' box office slate. In 1996 Bruckheimer produced The Rock, starring Sean Connery and Nicolas Cage. The film broke new ground and continued established Bruckheimer traditions with a box office gross of nearly $350 million worldwide. It also set the video rental record as the most-ordered film in history. Its casting re-established Connery as an action star and created that same image for the intellectual Cage. The Rock, named Favorite Movie of the Year by NATO, was Bruckheimer's last movie with Simpson, who died during production. Now on his own, Bruckheimer followed in 1997 with Con Air, a film that placed Cage in the stratosphere of international action heroes and grossed over $230 million. It also earned a Grammy and two Oscar nominations and brought its producer once more to the attention of the international industry when, in 1999, he was awarded the ShoWest International Box Office Achievement Award for unmatched foreign grosses. In 1998 Touchstone Pictures released Armageddon, starring Bruce Willis, Billy Bob Thornton, Ben Affleck, Liv Tyler and Steve Buscemi. The outer space adventure, directed by Michael Bay, was the biggest movie of 1998 with combined revenues of nearly $560 million worldwide. Its soundtrack album reached multi-platinum status and spawned Aerosmith's first #1 single, "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing," which was honored with an Academy Award nomination. Bruckheimer's second 1998 hit was the psychological thriller Enemy of the State, starring Will Smith and Gene Hackman. Both a critical and box office hit, Enemy earned over $225 million worldwide. The year 2000 began with an acknowledgment of the highest order from his own peers as Bruckheimer received the David O. Selznick Award for Lifetime Achievement in Motion Pictures from the Producers Guild of America. On the heels of this accolade, Bruckheimer released three films. The first, Gone in 60 Seconds, starring Nicolas Cage, Angelina Jolie, Giovanni Ribisi, Delroy Lindo and Robert Duvall, was released in June and brought Bruckheimer his biggest non-holiday opening ever. This update of the 1974 cult classic went on to blockbuster status, grossing over $230 million worldwide. Later that summer came Coyote Ugly, a romantic comedy from Touchstone Pictures about a young songwriter's wild adventures in Manhattan. Its hit soundtrack album, with songs written by Diane Warren and performed by LeAnn Rimes, has spent over two years on the Billboard chart. The single "Can't Fight the Moonlight" has sold over 500,000 copies and the album went triple platinum in 2002. In fall 2000, Walt Disney Pictures released Remember the Titans, starring Denzel Washington. Inspired by the true story of the integration of a Virginia high school football team, the film touched audiences with its sensitive portrayals and moving story and earned the film the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Motion Picture, and Washington the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture. It also won nominations for People's Choice Awards as Favorite Dramatic Film, Favorite Movie and Best Actor, and grossed over $115 million in domestic box office receipts. Over Memorial Day Weekend 2001, Disney opened the eagerly anticipated Pearl Harbor, directed by Michael Bay and starring Ben Affleck, Josh Hartnett, Kate Beckinsale and Alec Baldwin. Hailed by World War II veterans and scholars as a worthy re-creation of the shock and horror of the surprise attack that brought the United States into the war, the film was nominated for three Academy Awards including Best Original Song for "There You'll Be," Best Visual Effects and Best Sound, and was the recipient of the Academy Award for Best Sound Editing. Pearl Harbor amassed over $450 million dollars in worldwide box office receipts and over $250 million in DVD and video sales. Black Hawk Down, the story of the 1993 Somalian Battle of Mogadishu adapted from the best-selling book by Mark Bowden and starring Josh Hartnett, Eric Bana, Ewan McGregor, Tom Sizemore and Sam Shepard opened to rave reviews and multiple award nominations. Director Ridley Scott was not only nominated for an Academy Award for his work, but also received nominations for a Golden Globe Award, a Directors Guild Award and an AFI Award. The film itself garnered nominations from the AFI, the National Board of Review and the History Channel. Editor Pietro Scalia won the Academy Award after being nominated for a BAFTA Award and an AFI Award, among others. The picture was honored with the Best Sound Oscar as well as an Oscar nomination for Cinematographer Slawomir Idziak. On June 7th, 2002 Touchstone Pictures released Bad Company starring Anthony Hopkins and Chris Rock. The action comedy, directed by Joel Schumacher, chronicles the efforts of a veteran CIA agent to transform a sarcastic, street-wise punk into a sophisticated and savvy spy in order to replace his murdered twin brother for a highly dangerous mission. Recently, Bruckheimer brought the power of the lightning bolt to television with C.S.I.: Crime Scene Investigation, starring William Petersen and Marg Helgenberger as members of an elite forensic crime scene investigation unit in Las Vegas. C.S.I. quickly won the loyalty of both critics and viewers and is currently the number one show on television. In 2001, C.S.I. was honored with the TV Guide Award for Best New Drama, nominations for a Golden Globe and People's Choice Award for Best Dramatic Series, as well as four Emmy nominations. In 2002, C.S.I. was honored with six Emmy nominations including Outstanding Drama as well as a Golden Globe nomination. In addition to mega-hit C.S.I., JBTV introduced two new dramas on CBS in the Fall of 2002. The first, C.S.I.: Miami, is a spin-off of C.S.I. Crime Scene Investigation, starring David Caruso and Kim Delaney. The second is Without a Trace starring Anthony LaPaglia as the leader of the FBI Missing Person's Unit in New York City. C.S.I.: Miami and Without a Trace are the number one and two new dramas this season. Also produced by JBTV and currently picked up for a fourth season on CBS, The Amazing Race, a reality show in which twelve couples are sent around the world, has developed a loyal following on Wednesday nights. Bruckheimer continues to find and develop the films that will be his signature in this millennium. Kangaroo Jack is Bruckheimer's first collaboration with Castle Rock Pictures and reunites him with director David McNally. In post-production is Veronica Guerin, a biography of the heroic Irish journalist gunned down by Dublin crime lords, starring Cate Blanchett and directed by Joel Schumacher. Touchstone Pictures will premiere the film in 2003. Bad Boys 2, currently in production, re-teams Will Smith and Martin Lawrence with director Michael Bay. The action comedy is set for release in Summer 2003. Also in production is Pirates of the Caribbean, the swashbuckling tale of a daring rescue mission aimed at reversing an ancient curse. An irreverent wink at the famous Disney theme park attraction, the film stars Johnny Depp, Geoffrey Rush and Orlando Bloom and is directed by Gore Verbinski. Beyond these are projects in development, including the comedy Affirmative Action, starring Will Smith and Ben Affleck (from an original idea by Affleck) as a cop and an undercover FBI agent reluctantly teamed to put away a drug kingpin, and King Arthur, a gritty revisionist take on the King Arthur legend penned by David Franzoni. What these and the other projects on Bruckheimer's slate have in common is what his concepts have always shared: great characters playing out great stories. When the films reach the screen, they will embody what his films have always given us: stories told with visual style and passion, cinematic adventures that engage and hold us until Jerry Bruckheimer himself says it's a wrap. MIKE STENSON (Executive Producer) is president of Jerry Bruckheimer Films for which he supervises all aspects of film development and production. Before joining the company he was an executive in charge of production at Disney, responsible for many Bruckheimer films including Armageddon, The Rock, Crimson Tide, and Dangerous Minds. More recently, Stenson served as producer on Bad Company, Gone in 60 Seconds and as executive producer on Veronica Guerin, Black Hawk Down, Pearl Harbor, Coyote Ugly and Remember the Titans. Born and raised in Boston, Stenson graduated from Harvard University with a bachelor's degree in economics and a master of business administration. After his undergraduate stint, he started as a production assistant in New York and worked for two years in independent film and television as an assistant director and production manager before returning to Boston to complete his graduate education. After completing business school, Stenson moved to Los Angeles where he began his tenure at Walt Disney Studios in Special Projects for two years before moving into the production department at Hollywood Pictures as a creative executive. He was promoted to vice president and subsequently executive vice president during his eight years with the company, overseeing development and production for Hollywood Pictures as well as for Touchstone Pictures. In addition to the many Bruckheimer films, Stenson also developed and nurtured through production and release Instinct, Six Days, Seven Nights and Mr. Holland's Opus under his aegis. While at Disney, many filmmakers attempted to woo Stenson away from the studio, but not until 1998 did he entertain leaving. With his newest position at the helm of Jerry Bruckheimer Films, Stenson is spearheading Bruckheimer's plan to expand the company's production schedule of film and television projects. Projects currently in production that Stenson is executive producing include the action-adventure Pirates of the Caribbean, directed by Gore Verbinski and starring Johnny Depp, Geoffrey Rush and Orlando Bloom, and Bad Boys II, directed by Michael Bay and starring Will Smith and Martin Lawrence. CHAD OMAN (Executive Producer) is the president of production for Jerry Bruckheimer Films for which he oversees all aspects of film development and production. Oman produced, along with Bruckheimer, Remember the Titans, starring Denzel Washington and Will Patton for Walt Disney Pictures and Coyote Ugly, starring Piper Perabo, Maria Bello and John Goodman for Touchstone Pictures. His resume also includes credits as executive producer on Jerry Bruckheimer Films' Black Hawk Down, directed by Ridley Scott and starring Josh Hartnett and Ewan McGregor; Pearl Harbor, starring Ben Affleck, Kate Beckinsale and Josh Hartnett; Gone in 60 Seconds, starring Nicolas Cage, Angelina Jolie and Giovanni Ribisi; Enemy of the State, starring Will Smith and Gene Hackman; Armageddon, starring Bruce Willis; and Con Air, starring Nicolas Cage. Projects currently in production that Oman is executive producing include the action-adventure Pirates of the Caribbean, directed by Gore Verbinski and starring Johnny Depp, Geoffrey Rush and Orlando Bloom and Bad Boys II, directed by Michael Bay and starring Will Smith and Martin Lawrence. In addition to his work on JBF's many motion picture projects, Oman also supervised production on several television projects including the Soldier of Fortune series starring Brad Johnson for Rysher Entertainment, ABC's drama Dangerous Minds, starring Annie Potts, and the ABC drama Swing Vote, written by Ron Bass and starring Andy Garcia. Prior to joining Simpson Bruckheimer in the spring of 1995, Oman was a founding employee of the Motion Picture Corporation of America. After six years, he left the independent production company as senior vice president of production. Oman served as an associate producer on Dumb and Dumber, starring Jim Carrey, executive produced Touchstone Pictures' The War at Home, starring Emilio Estevez, Kathy Bates and Martin Sheen and was a co-producer on The Desperate Trail, with Sam Elliot, and on The Sketch Artist, with Drew Barrymore and Sean Young. Oman produced Hands That See, with Courteney Cox and Jeff Fahey, and Love, Cheat and Steal, with John Lithgow and Eric Roberts. Oman graduated from Southern Methodist University with a degree in finance. He also attended the University of California at Los Angeles, where he studied screenwriting, and New York University, where he participated in the undergraduate film production program. He was born and raised in Wichita Falls, Texas. Kangaroo Jack marks BARRY WALDMAN's (Executive Producer) fifth project for Jerry Bruckheimer Films. His previous credits include Bruckheimer's Pearl Harbor, Gone in 60 Seconds, Armageddon and The Rock. He also served as production manager on Batman & Robin and The Craft. Born and raised in New York, Waldman moved to Florida to complete his studies at the University of Miami. Upon graduation, he paid his dues as a production assistant before quickly moving up the ranks to become the assistant director for various independent films and television programs. Waldman realized his ambition as he soon progressed to producing and production managing such popular television shows as Key West and Dead at 21, which garnered a Genesis Award and a CableAce nomination. Another highlight included producing a documentary shot on location in Nicaragua, Honduras and Costa Rica, depicting the war between the Sandanistas and Contras. Waldman decided to make a transition to feature films and relocated to Los Angeles. He produced Zooman, starring Lou Gossett Jr., for Showtime before beginning his association with Jerry Bruckheimer Films. ANDREW MASON (Executive Producer) executive produced the Warner Bros. Pictures summer 2002 hit Scooby-Doo, the live-action adaptation starring Matthew Lillard, Freddie Prinze Jr., Sarah Michelle Gellar and Linda Cardellini; the Warner Bros. Pictures/Village Roadshow film Queen of the Damned, based on the Vampire Chronicles by Anne Rice, starring Stuart Townsend and Aaliyah; the Warner Bros. Pictures/Village Roadshow 1999 smash hit The Matrix; and is currently executive producing the next two installments of The Matrix trilogy, starring Keanu Reeves. In 1998, Mason produced the science fiction thriller Dark City for New Line Cinema, and produced for Crusader Entertainment the Australian drama Swimming Upstream, starring Geoffrey Rush and Judy Davis. Beginning his career in the early 1970's, Mason has been a film editor for documentaries and commercials, headed a highly successful commercial production company, ran a film laboratory and formed Australia's first visual-effects company. In 1990 he joined forces with Alex Proyas to produce music videos and commercials. In 1993, Mason served as visual-effects supervisor and second-unit director on Proyas' The Crow. Mason's Sydney-based company, City Productions, is developing and producing Australian and international pictures with the upcoming Danny Deckchair, starring Rhys Ifans and Miranda Otto currently in post production and scheduled for release in 2003. Recent film credits for Australian cinematographer PETER MENZIES, JR., A. C. S. (Director of Photography) include Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, starring Angelina Jolie, and The General's Daughter, starring John Travolta, both directed by Simon West; and The Kid, starring Bruce Willis and directed by Jon Turteltaub. His other film credits include White Sands, Posse, The Getaway, Die Hard: With a Vengeance, A Time to Kill, Bless the Child, Hard Rain and The 13th Warrior. GEORGE LIDDLE's (Production Designer/Costume Designer) production designer credits include the films Darkness Falling, directed by John Liebesman, Dark City, directed by Alex Proyas and starring Rufus Sewell, Jennifer Connelly and Kiefer Sutherland, and Rapa Nui, directed by Kevin Reynolds and starring Esai Morales and Jason Scott Lee. Liddle also served as production designer in the critically acclaimed film A Cry in the Dark, directed by Fred Schepisi and starring Meryl Streep and Sam Neill. His television credits as a production designer include Which Way Home and Trouble in Paradise. JOHN MURRAY (Editor) makes his feature film editorial debut with Kangaroo Jack. His editorial career has spanned 24 years and has included a vast assortment of projects, including over 150 commercials, more than 200 music videos, a variety of television programs and various long form projects. Early in his career, Murray's television work included production and editorial for shows such as PM Magazine, Front Row Video (for which he won an Emmy Award), MTV's The Cutting Edge, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Walt Disney specials, movie trailers and promotional material for ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox networks. In 1990, Murray made the transition to freelance editing so he could concentrate on off-line editing of music videos. He has worked with illustrious clients such as Michael Jackson, Madonna, Don Henley and George Michael. The relationship he built editing videos for Madonna then brought about the opportunity to edit the concert sequences for her film Truth or Dare. In 1993 Murray, along with Tom Muldoon and Jim Haygood, founded Superior Assembly, which quickly became a major force in the commercial editorial business. In order to expand their creative horizons, Murray and Muldoon left Superior Assembly in late 1995 to start NOMAD. Over the past seven years, NOMAD has dominated a major portion of the high-profile commercial work in Los Angeles, collaborating with major ad agencies, production companies and directors such as Michael Bay, Joe Pytka and Michel Gondry. More recently, Murray has worked on high-end commercials for clients such as Pepsi and Mountain Dew and music videos for the Red Hot Chili Peppers. WILLIAM GOLDENBERG, A. C. E. (Editor) worked as editor for director David McNally on Coyote Ugly. He has worked as editor for director Michael Mann three times, on Ali, Heat and The Insider, for which he earned both an Oscar® and American Cinema Editors nomination. His other feature credits include Pleasantville, The Long Kiss Goodnight, The Puppet Masters and Alive. Goldenberg also edited the Academy Award®-nominated short Kangaroo Court for Sean Astin and was nominated for an Emmy for his work on the tele-feature Citizen X. He began his career as an apprentice editor on The Breakfast Club. JIM MAY (Editor) worked with both director Michael Bay and producer Jerry Bruckheimer as an editor on Pearl Harbor and as the Visual Effects Editor on Armageddon. May's Assistant Editor, Visual Effects Editor and Visual Effects Producer credits include Titan A.E., directed by Don Bluth and Gary Goldman; The Mummy and Deep Rising, both directed by Stephen Sommers; Kazaam, directed by Paul Michael Glaser; The Indian in the Cupboard, directed by Frank Oz; and Hideaway, directed by Brett Leonard. Emmy Award-winner DANIEL ORLANDI (Costume Designer) is currently designing The Alamo. He most recently designed for Down with Love, directed by Peyton Reed and starring Renée Zellweger and Ewan McGregor; as well as Tribeca's Flawless, starring Robert De Niro, and Phone Booth, starring Colin Farrell, both directed by Joel Schumacher; and the NBC series Ed. His additional feature film credits as costume designer include Meet the Parents, directed by Jay Roach and starring Ben Stiller and Robert De Niro, Rocket Man and Tony Scott's thriller The Fan, starring Robert De Niro. He was associate designer on Apollo 13 and Mr. Jones. His numerous credits as an assistant designer include Only You, Sister Act, Class Action, An Innocent Man, Max Dugan Returns and Pennies From Heaven. Orlandi won the Emmy for costume design in 1989 for his work on The Magic of David Copperfield and subsequently designed the next four Copperfield specials. His many television credits include Tribeca's mini-series for NBC, Witness to the Mob, as well as the telefilms Marilyn and Me, Fatal Friendship, Crazy from the Heart and Cab to Canada, starring Maureen O'Hara. He also designed costumes for the pilots Putting it Together, directed by Nora Ephron, Courthouse, Texarkana and Knight Life. From 1982 through 1988, Orlandi served as an executive with Bob Mackie Originals, having started with the company at its inception. He holds a BFA degree in Drama from Pittsburgh's esteemed Carnegie Mellon University. With an enviable list of more than 150 film and television soundtracks to her credit, KATHY NELSON (Music Supervisor) has emerged as one of the most prominent film and TV music executives in the entertainment industry today. During her career as both music supervisor and executive album producer, Nelson's projects have amassed nearly 40 million units in sales. With her involvement in such notable soundtrack projects as XXX, Armageddon, Coyote Ugly, Dangerous Minds, The Commitments, Pulp Fiction, Phenomenon, Grosse Pointe Blank, High Fidelity and Runaway Bride, she has played a significant role in defining the importance of music to the filmmaking process and has helped make the soundtrack album a staple of popular culture. As the president of film music for Universal Pictures and Universal Music Group, Nelson is responsible for all aspects of development and production of feature film music for the studio and all soundtracks released by record labels in the Universal Music Group. In her first year with the company, Nelson oversaw several commercial and critical hits, including the certified-platinum The Fast and The Furious, the gold-certified volumes from American Pie 2 and The Scorpion King, and the critically lauded soundtrack companions to A Beautiful Mind and Black Hawk Down. She also served as Executive Album Producer on the Bridget Jones's Diary soundtrack, which has sold more than 3 million copies worldwide. Her most recent Universal projects include the double-album soundtrack for XXX, which shipped gold and became a Top 10 record on the strength of cuts from Nelly, Moby and the radio hit "Adrenaline" by Gavin Rossdale, and the albums for Frida, Red Dragon and C.S.I.: Crime Scene Investigation. Nelson's 2003 slate at Universal Pictures alone includes The Fast and the Furious 2, American Pie 3, The Hulk, The Cat in the Hat and Honey. Prior to joining Universal, Nelson helmed the music department at Walt Disney Motion Pictures, where she oversaw several high-profile projects. Last year, Nelson paired Faith Hill with Diane Warren's Pearl Harbor love theme "I'll Be There", and the resulting single dominated the radio charts for months. That song drove the soundtrack album to gold status and received several honors, including an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song. In 2000, Nelson oversaw the film music and soundtrack album for Coyote Ugly, which yielded a smash hit for Leann Rimes ("Can't Find The Moonlight") and a soundtrack album that has spent two years on the charts with over 3.2 million units scanned in the U.S. alone. In 1999, she supervised the albums for Michael Mann's The Insider and Garry Marshall's Runaway Bride, which spawned radio hits for Eric Clapton, The Dixie Chicks and Martina McBride. Nelson had a virtual stranglehold on the charts in 1997 and 1998, with the smash hit albums from Armageddon and Con Air. Trisha Yearwood's recording of "How Do I Live" from Con Air became one of the biggest singles of the year and received Grammy nominations for Sony Of The Year, Best Song Written Specifically for a Motion Picture or for Television and a Best Female Country Vocal Performance nod for Yearwood. The seven-times-platinum Armageddon soundtrack featured Aerosmith's "I Don't Want To Miss A Thing", which dominated radio playlists and went on to garner a slew of honors including Grammy nominations for Song Of The Year, Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal, and Best Song Written for a Motion Picture or Television. The track even earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song, which culminated with Aerosmith's performance at the Oscar ceremony. Nelson's Disney tenure also included the release of the platinum-selling Up Close & Personal, which was anchored by Celine Dion's Grammy and Academy Award nominated cut "Because You Loved Me." Eric Clapton took home Record of The Year, Song Of the Year and Best Male Vocal Performance Grammys for "Change The World," his collaboration with Babyface from Nelson's Phenomenon soundtrack. Her other successes at the studio include Grosse Pointe Blank, Romy & Michelle's High School Reunion, George Of The Jungle, G.I. Jane, Rushmore, The Preacher's Wife, High Fidelity, Gone in 60 Seconds, Remember the Titans and the Public Enemy soundtrack album from Spike Lee's He Got Game. Prior to joining Disney, Nelson spent over 10 years at MCA Records where she established and expanded the label's soundtrack division, enjoying success across all genres. As the senior vice president/general manager of MCA Soundtracks, she oversaw the double-platinum Beverly Hills Cop soundtrack, and co-produced the Grammy Award-winning Rhythm, Country and Blues project. She also supervised The Commitments, which, despite a roster of virtual unknowns, managed to achieve double-platinum status. She also co-executive produced the multi-platinum classics Pulp Fiction and Dangerous Minds, with the #1 smash hit single "Gangsta's Paradise" by Coolio powering the album to the top of the sales charts for four weeks. Throughout her celebrated career, she has worked with such distinguished filmmakers as Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer (Pearl Harbor, Gone in 60 Seconds, Coyote Ugly, Remember the Titans, Armageddon, Con Air, The Rock, Dangerous Minds, Beverly Hills Cop 1 and 2), Jon Avnet (Up Close & Personal, Fried Green Tomatoes), Stephen Frears (High Fidelity), John Cusack (America's Sweethearts, High Fidelity, Grosse Point Blank), Ron Howard (A Beautiful Mind, Ransom, Apollo 13), Ridley Scott (Black Hawk Down, G.I. Jane, Thelma & Louise), Tony Scott (Enemy of The State, Days of Thunder, Beverly Hills Cop 2), Rob Cohen (XXX, The Fast and the Furious), Alan Parker (The Life of David Gale, Evita, The Commitments), Steven Spielberg (Schindler's List, Jurassic Park), Martin Scorsese (Bringing Out the Dead, Kundun, Casino, The Color of Money), Jonathan Demme (The Truth About Charlie, Beloved, The Silence of the Lambs, Something Wild), Garry Marshall (Runaway Bride, The Other Sister), John Singleton (The Fast and the Furious 2, Baby Boy), Adrian Lyne (Indecent Proposal), Spike Lee (Summer of Sam, He Got Game, Clockers, Crooklyn), Edward Norton (Keeping the Faith), John Waters (Hairspray, Cry Baby, Serial Mom), Quentin Tarantino and Lawrence Bender (Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs) and Michael Mann (Ali, The Insider, Miami Vice). BOB BADAMI (Music Supervisor) has enjoyed a long and distinguished career in Hollywood as a motion picture music supervisor and music editor. His previous films for producer Jerry Bruckheimer include Pearl Harbor, Remember the Titans, Coyote Ugly, Gone in 60 Seconds, Enemy of the State, Armageddon, Con Air, The Rock, Dangerous Minds, Crimson Tide, Beverly Hills Cop, Beverly Hills Cop 2, Top Gun and American Gigolo. In addition, he worked on many films with Tim Burton including Mars Attacks!, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Batman, Batman Returns, Edward Scissorhands and Beetlejuice. Among his other feature film credits are XXX, Riding in Cars with Boys, The Insider, Bulworth, Instinct, Mighty Joe Young, Grosse Pointe Blank and Michael. Upcoming films include Pirates of the Caribbean, Tears of the Sun and Gigli. Badami's numerous contributions to film music over more than two decades include James and the Giant Peach, Grumpier Old Men, Darkman, Love Affair, Sommersby, Scent of a Woman, Dick Tracy, Midnight Run, Broadcast News, Pee-wee's Big Adventure, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Kahn, Star Trek III, Thief of Hearts, Terms of Endearment, The Outsiders, Wolfen, Boulevard Nights and Thief. TREVOR RABIN (Music) wrote the music for the Jerry Bruckheimer blockbuster Armageddon and provided an intricate, unnerving electronic score for Bruckheimer's techno-thriller Enemy of the State and composed the music for Gone in 60 Seconds. At the opposite end of the spectrum was a lyrical orchestration for the Michael Keaton family movie Jack Frost. In 1999, Rabin also wrote a pulsating composition for Deep Blue Sea and the haunting melodic score for Remember the Titans. Rabin returned to his roots for Whispers: An Elephant's Tale, drawing on traditional African instrumentation, vocal performances and powerful rhythms to create his atmospheric score. His first film work was composing the score for Steven Seagal's The Glimmer Man. His other scores include The Banger Sisters, American Outlaws, The 6th Day, The One, Homegrown and Rock Star. Rabin is part of a new generation of film composers who hail from the world of rock music. As a member of the rock band phenomenon YES for over a decade beginning in 1983, he played guitar and wrote most of the music on the group's best-selling album 90125 including the number one single "Owner of a Lonely Heart." He also penned the majority of the songs and co-produced YES's next album, Big Generator. For his solo albums, Rabin wrote or co-wrote all the songs, played every instrument but drums and engineered most of the recordings. A native of Johannesburg, South Africa, Trevor studied classical piano and trained as a conductor and arranger. His first professional band performed original anti-apartheid songs. He later founded Rabbit, which became the most popular rock band in South African history. After moving to London and co-producing Manfred Mann's Chance album, Rabin released three albums on Chrysalis Records. He moved to Los Angeles in 1981 and two years later joined YES. Official Web Site: http://kangaroojack.warnerbros.com/ Back to main movie page Showing Today at: Click here for other showings