Future Films USA and Velvet Octopus present Directed by Emily Young
Credits Directed by: Based on the Novel by: Produced by: Written by: Director of Photography: Production Designer: Editor: Costume Designer: Casting By: Music By: Music Supervisor: Line Producer: Co- Producer: Executive Producers: Emily Young Paulo Coelho Chris Hanley Sriram P. Das Jonathan Bross Roberta Hanley Larry Gross Seamus Tierney John Nyomarkay Una Ni Dhonghaile Frank Fleming Sig De Miguel and Steven Vincent Murray Gold Michael Whalen Steve Shapiro Mitchell Goldman Kevin Scott Frakes Stephan Paternot Robert Ogden Barnum Lisette Bross Ravi Dattatreya Roberta Hanley Corinne Tatiana Nordmann Paris Latsis Terry Dougas Simon Crowe Michael Cowan Simon M.J Horsman Stephen Margolis
Twenty-eight-year-old Veronika Deklava appears to have it all -- good looks, a well-paying job, and a nice apartment in New York City. But there s something lacking. She feels powerless to add meaning to her life, and one evening, Veronika decides to die. Two weeks later, she wakes up from a coma in a private mental institution and is told that she has damaged her heart beyond repair. With only a week left to live, Veronika begins experiencing life like never before and exerting a transformative effect on those around her. Synopsis
Emily Young (Director) Emily s critically acclaimed feature film Kiss of Life starred Peter Mullan and Ingeborga Dapkunaite. It was in official selection in Un Certain Regard at Cannes, was nominated for the Best Directorial Debut Prize at the British Independent Film Awards and also won for Emily the prestigious Carl Foreman BAFTA for Special Achievement by a Director, Screenwriter or Producer in their first feature film at the 2004 BAFTA awards. She has also adapted and will direct Andrea Ashworth s bestselling memoir, Once in a House on Fire to be produced by Kevin Loader (Venus, Enduring Love, The Mother). Emily also made a short and emotionally powerful film for a charity called Rosetta Life. A graduate of the directors programme at the internationally renowned Polish National Film School, a course for which Emily had to learn Polish, Emily won the prestigious Cannes Cinéfondation Competition with her graduation film, Second Hand (co-produced with the National Film and Television School). It also won the Golden Lion at the Taipei Film Festival, Taiwan and the Special Jury Prize at the Buenos Aires Independent Film Festival. Emily s The Tower of Babel is an extraordinary (short) documentary about Henryk Kowalczyk, a deaf-blind sculptor living in eastern Poland.
Paulo Coelho (Author) Paulo Coelho was born in Rio de Janeiro in August 1947. Before he became a world-renowned author he had various other occupations: journalist, hippie, rock star, actor, playwright, theatre director and television producer. He loves reading, walking, computers, the Internet, football, music, and travelling. Every day, he wakes up early, goes for a two-hour walk and then practises Kyudo a kind of meditative archery. He and his wife Christina Oiticica divide their lives between Rio de Janeiro and Europe. FACTS & FIGURES: More than 100 million copies sold worldwide 18 books published: 12 novels; 4 short stories; 2 adaptations Books published in 67 languages in 160 countries 655 editions of Coelho's works 2009 Guinness World Record for the most translated author for the same book (The Alchemist, 67 languages) 32 international prizes and awards Member of the Brazilian Academy of Letters since 2002 United Nations Messenger of Peace Ambassador for the European Year of Intercultural Dialogue 2008 A street in Santiago de Compostela is named after him Paulo Coelho Institute founded in 1996 to support about 400 underprivileged Brazilian children 51 theatre adaptations of his works
Sarah Michelle Gellar (Veronika) Determined and accomplished are two words that best describe Golden Globe nominee Sarah Michelle Gellar. Beginning her career as a child actress, Gellar has remained a leader on the road of success. She recently completed filming Das Films Veronika Decides To Die in New York City. The film is about a girl, Veronika (Gellar), who wakes up in a mental institution after a failed suicide attempt and find finds out she has a weakened heart and only days to live. The film is slated for release in 2009. No stranger to the world of voice over, Gellar recently lent her voice in Liongate s Happily N Ever After, opposite Sigourney Weaver and Freddie Prinze, Jr. Currently, Gellar can be heard as the voice of April O Neil in Warner Brothers Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Gellar s other film credits include The Air I Breathe, Southland Tales, The Grudge, The Grudge 2, Scooby Doo and Scooby Doo: Monsters Unleashed, I Know What You Did Last Summmer, Scream 2, Cruel Intentions, and Harvard Man. Gellar is best known for her role as Buffy Summers in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. She wrapped her seventh and final season of the critically acclaimed drama in May of 2003. She won an Emmy in 1994 for her role on the ABC daytime drama All My Children and completed classes at PCS in New York one year ahead of schedule. A New York native, Gellar resides on both coasts.
Throughout his impressive career, actor Jonathan Tucker has had the good fortune of working with some of today s most talented filmmakers. He just lead the cast of director Carter Smith s Dreamworks thriller THE RUINS which was based upon the best-selling novel, and will next star opposite John Hurt in the Quentin Crisp biopic, AN ENGLISHMAN IN NEW YORK. Jonathan Tucker (Edward) In advance of that, Tucker starred for Academy Awardwinner Paul Haggis as the central role in NBC s highly acclaimed drama THE BLACK DONNELLYS. The series was followed by another Haggis collaboration, Warner Independent Pictures Iraqi War drama IN THE VALLEY OF ELAH in which he starred as an AWOL soldier. Audiences and critics alike first took notice of Tucker when he portrayed Tilda Swinton s sensitive teenage son in Fox Searchlight s critically lauded THE DEEP END from director s Scott McGehee and David Siegel. He transitioned the acclaim into a diverse string of roles including director Marcus Nispel s remake of the horror classic TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE for New Line Cinema, Samuel Goldwyn s STATESIDE with Val Kilmer, the role as younger sibling to John C. Reilly in the Soderbergh/Clooney-produced con-themed feature CRIMINAL, Miramax s thriller HOSTAGE in which he starred opposite Bruce Willis, and more recently, in Weinstein Co. s PULSE, a remake of Kiyoshi Kurosawa s Japanese horror classic.
Melissa Leo (Mari) Melissa Leo has received universal critical adulation for her tour-de-force performance in FROZEN RIVER which premiered at Sundance in 2008 where it won the grand-jury prize for best drama and was acquired by Sony Pictures Classics. Melissa received the San Sebastian International Film Festival's 'Silver Shell' best actress award for her performance, has been nominated for a Gotham Independent Film Award for "Breakthrough Actor" for her performance and was named one of Variety's "10 Actor's To Watch" in October. As a working actor for more than 20 years Melissa Leo is also known for her genius portrayal of Detective Kay Howard on HOMICIDE: LIFE ON THE STREETS and for her performances in THE YOUNG RIDERS, 21 GRAMS, and THREE BURIALS OF MELQUIADES ESTRADA. Leo studied Drama at Mount View Theatre School in London, England and later at the SUNY Purchase Acting Program.
David Thewlis (Dr. Blake) David Thewlis is undoubtedly one of the most versatile of British actors. He first shot to critical and public acclaim for his powerful performance in Mike Leigh s Naked. His other, most recent credits include Mark Herman s The Boy in the Striped Pyjama s, David s reprisal of the role of Professor Lupin in David Yate s Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Paul Auster s The Inner Life of Martin Frost, John Moore s The Omen, Jordan Scott s All the Invisible Children, Terrence Malick s The New World, Ridley Scott s The Kingdom of Heaven, Alfonso Cuaron s Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Richard Donner s Timeline, Paul McGuigan s Gangster No. 1, Peter Hewitt s Whatever Happened to Harold Smith?, Bernardo Bertolucci s Besieged, the Cohen Brother s The Big Lebowski,, Jean Jaques Annaud s Seven Years in Tibet and John Frankenheimer s The Island of Dr Moreau. In addition to his film and television work, Thewlis has also starred in Sam Mendes The Sea at the Royal National Theatre, Max Stafford-Clark s Ice Cream at the Royal Court, Buddy Holly at the Regal in Greenwich, Ruffian on the Stairs/The Woolley at Farnham and Lady and the Clarinet at the Kings Head. In 2008, David was awarded the prestigious Richard Harris Award at the British Independent Film Awards for his performance as the father in The Boy in the Striped Pyjama s.
Erika Christensen (Claire) This year Erika has completed three feature films. In Veronika Decides to Die, Mercy, written and starring Scott Caan, she plays a gentle soul who represents the possibility of new love. And in The Tortured, she plays Elise Landry, a young mother whose perfect family life is shattered when her son is abducted and murdered. Erika is also well remembered as the rebellious daughter of ex-groupie, Susan Sarandon, in Fox Searchlight s, The Banger Sisters costarring Goldie Hawn and Geoffrey Rush and in Twentieth Century Fox s Swimfan, where Erika reprises a classic femme fatale role in a love triangle. Erika stunned audiences as Michael Douglas drug addicted daughter in Steven Soderbergh s Oscar and Golden Globe winning film, Traffic. She, along with the rest of the cast, also received the prestigious Screen Actor s Guild Award for their work and Erika individually received the Movieline Award for Standout Performance and MTV s Breakthrough Performance Female Award for her role. Erika has gravitated to dramatic roles, playing in award winning television dramas such as: The Practice, Touched by an Angel, The Pretender and Nothing Sacred, for which she was nominated by The Hollywood Reporter for the Young Star Award: Best Performance by a Young Actress in a Drama TV Series.
Florencia Lozano s career spans the realms of television, film and stage. Born in Princeton, NJ and raised in Newton, MA, Florencia has earned her BA from Brown University and her MFA in acting from New York University. She played the tough as nails attorney Téa Delgado on the daytime drama ONE LIFE TO LIVE. Due to Florencia s dynamic portrayal, this character became one of daytime television s most popular characters. Her television work continues in hit shows such as LAW & ORDER: CRIMINAL INTENT, LAW & ORDER: SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT, LIPSTICK JUNGLE, UGLY BETTY and the GOSSIP GIRL pilot. Florencia has also appeared in numerous films. She played opposite Halle Berry and Bruce Willis in the film PERFECT STRANGER, and recently starred in Franc. Reyes THE MINISTERS with Harvey Keitel and John Leguizamo. Some of Florencia s other film credits include BITTERSWEET PLACE, DECEPTION, TRANSBEMAN and VERONIKA DECIDES TO DIE. In addition to her film and television work, Florencia is also an accomplished stage actress and playwright. She is an associate artist director at the acclaimed LAByrinth Theater Company, where she is also a company member. Florencia Lozano (Dr. Thompson)
Roberta Hanley and Larry Gross (Writers) Roberta Hanley is the cofounder and Chief Executive Officer of Muse Productions. In 1998, she made her debut as writerdirector with Woundings, adapted from the play by Jeff Noon and starring Guy Pearce, Ray Winstone, and Noah Taylor. She produced the 2005 film The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things, based on the novel by J.T. Leroy and directed by and starring Asia Argento. She is at work on her next film London Fields, cowritten with Martin Amis and David Cronenberg and to be directed by David Mackenzie (Young Adam). Larry Gross projects include the adaptation of Hunger for Producer and Star Keanu Reeves and Protection a thriller feature he wrote for Fox and John Davis Prods. Additionally in 2006 he completed his screenplay based on Richard Ford s prize-winning novels The Sportswriter and Independence Day for HBO and director/producer James Mangold. Prior to those he completed work in late 2004 on Movieland, an original screenplay about the true-life William Desmond Taylor murder mystery in 1920 s Hollywood for producer Irwin Winkler and Columbia Pictures. He won the Waldo Salt Screenwriting award at Sundance 2004 for his work as the writer and a producer of We Don t Live Here Anymore starring Mark Ruffalo, Naomi Watts, Laura Dern and Peter Krause. He also co-produced and wrote with Edward Pressman and Terrence Malick on Beautiful Country (2004) starring Nick Nolte and Tim Roth after he co-wrote Prozac Nation (released in 2005) starring Christina Ricci.
Muse Productions is an independent film production company responsible for the breakout hits American Psycho, Buffalo '66, and The Virgin Suicides. Founded in 1991 by producer Chris Hanley and Roberta Hanley, Muse made its debut in 1992 with the futuristic actioner Split Second, starring Rutger Hauer and co-directed by Tony Maylam (The Burning). Since then, Muse has carved out its own niche working with a who s who list of actors and directors including Christian Bale, Reese Witherspoon, Larry Clark, Vincent Gallo, and Sofia Coppola. In production is The Killer Inside Me, based on the Jim Thompson book, starring Casey Affleck, Jessica Alba, and Kate Hudson and directed by Michael Winterbottom. Das Films is a feature film production company established by Sriram Das in 2006. The company acquires exceptional literary properties, develops them in concert with acclaimed screenwriters, attaches the industry s foremost actors and directors, and finances the production of films of high artistic and commercial value. Velvet Steamroller is a dynamic entertainment company focused on bringing quality films to worldwide audiences. Through its own committed fund and its alliances with Radar Pictures and distributor Anywhere Road, Velvet Steamroller is able to finance, produce, acquire and distribute films with production budgets up to $50 million across genres. Velvet Steamroller creates value for investors and stakeholders by mitigating downside risk and maximizing upside opportunity through a combination of thoroughly understanding the current film marketplace and sophisticated financial structuring of film investments. PalmStar Entertainment is an independent film company based in New York and Los Angeles. Founded in 2004 by Kevin Frakes, PalmStar is focused on developing literary driven films using financing from its own private equity fund.