Smokin' Aces Golf Weekend

Lake Tahoe, NV

This one's about as simple as a golf weekend can get, but it won't be cheap.  Reserve the top-floor "Lynx" penthouse suite at the MontBleu Resort & Casino (formerly Caesar's Tahoe), which posed as Buddy Israel's Nomad Casino digs in the film.  Then get a bunch of hookers and as many illicit substances as one man (or four) could do in a weekend, a few decks of cards for card tricks, grab your clubs (as a weapon, or for actual golf), and head out for Tahoe.

I thought about pitching the idea of setting up some kind of twisted little game where you designate one of your crew as Buddy Israel, put him in the penthouse suite, designate one foursome as bodygaurds/FBI protection, then assign another foursome or two to "assasinate" him.  The first implement that jumped to mind for such a game was paintball guns, but that would rack up a hotel damage bill nobody could afford.  The next thought was maybe something like laser tag guns and vests, but that would look pretty damn dorky riding up in the elevator, even if you did have a hooker on your arm.  So basically, umm...  Never mind.

From Tahoe.com:

While the name of the casino was Caesar's when they shot the movie in 2006, not much else has changed on the roof top level of what is now the MontBleu Resort & Casino (www.montbleuresort.com) parking garage. In this scene, one of the Tremor Brothers is shot and killed by Henderson.

Getting there: MontBleu is located at 55 Highway 50 in South Lake Tahoe, NV. Enter in the parking garage and drive up six levels to the top.

Want to hob nob with the likes of movie mafia moguls? Many of the the Smokin' Aces cast found themselves checking in at the front desk of the Horizon Casino lobby at Stateline, NV.

Getting there: On Highway 50, Stateline, NV at the intersection of Kingsbury Grade. (800) 648-3322

Where To Play:  Drive along the eastern shore to Edgewood Tahoe Golf Course. The only Tahoe course that sits hard by the lake, Edgewood has serious chops: It has hosted both the U.S. Amateur Public Links Championship and the U.S. Senior Open. The closing three holes provide a rousing waterfront finish. Edgewood's on-site Brooks' Bar & Deck got named to Golf Digest's 50 Best 19th Holes in 2008.

Before leaving town, squeeze in a morning round at Old Greenwood golf course in Truckee, a Jack Nicklaus Signature design that debuted in 2004 and promptly made several lists of the country's best new courses. It's a good walk amid unspoiled nature, a seamless routing through stately pines and blue sagebrush. If not for the lakefront finishing stretch at Edgewood, Old Greenwood would be the area's course to play if you could play only one. Just be careful to choose the right tees: Even from the third set of markers—one in from the tips—the course plays a hefty 6,944 yards.

When To Go:  Don't forget Tahoe is mountainous country, and winters are for real despite the proximity to the desert.  Go between May and September for the best golf weather.

Best Bars:  The on-site bars at MontBleu include HQ, a great gathering spot with an indoor/outdoor feel and an ice-fire pit; Opal ultra lounge is bongo drums, dancing on tables, hookah pipes, VIP areas, regional DJs, and a Bar Chef; Blu is the house "world class" nightclub with VIP and bottle service; Cafe Del Sol is tequila and margaritas; or  get in The Zone sports bar and grill.

You gotta import your penthouse talent from somewhere.  An hour away in Reno, check out Fantasy Girls Gentlemen's club, ranked #10 in North America by readers reviews on the Ultimate Strip Club List.

Grub:  Movie Location:  Life-long musician and 11-time Grammy winner Alicia Keys made her feature film debut at South Lake Tahoe's Shoreline Cafe as "lethal lady" Georgia Sykes in several scenes which she and Taraji Henson (Sharice Watters) are contracted to kill Buddy Israel before the mobsters do.

Getting there: 3310 Lake Tahoe Blvd. South Lake Tahoe, CA 96150

On-Site at MontBleu:  Ciera Steak & Chop House

Off-Site:  Big Water Grille (American), 775-833-0606. $$$$
Gar Woods Grill & Pier (Californian), 530-546-3366. $$$$
Log Cabin Café (Breakfast and lunch), 530-546-7109. $
Lone Eagle Grille (Steak and seafood), 775-886-6899. $$$$
Rosie's Cafe (Eclectic), 530-583-8504. $$

Tunes:  The original Smokin' Aces soundtrack release included the following track listing:

"First Warning" – The Prodigy
"Big White Cloud" – John Cale (U.S. release only)
"Ace of Spades" – Motörhead
"Down on the Street" – The Stooges
"Play Your Cards Right" – Common
"Trespassing" – Skull Snaps c&p Ten12 Records
"Segura o Sambura" – Nilton Castro
"Touch Me Again" – Bernard "Pretty" Purdie
"Under the Street Lamp" – Joe Bataan
"I Gotcha' Back" – GZA
"I Love You" – The Bees
"Morte di un Soldato" – Ennio Morricone
"Save Yourself" – Make-Up
"Like Light to the Flies" – Trivium
"FBI" – Clint Mansell
"Shell Shock" – Clint Mansell
"Dead Reckoning'" – Clint Mansell

[Fat Guy Note: I have not taken this trip or explored any of these courses/locations. As always, proper research and reservations are required. I'm just the idea guy on this one.]



Here's a cool article I found on TheCIA.com with everything you'd ever want to know about Smokin' Aces (but it's loooonngg...):

Smokin' Aces

"He (Buddy) also drinks, self-medicates, the whole cliché, y' know? The strung out has-been jerk-off snitch drunk. The seven-layer loser. I'm praying he puts up a fight - please, please, please..." - Rupert "Rip" Reed, Showbiz/Mob Attorney

An incendiary array of stars - including BEN AFFLECK (Hollywoodland), ANDY GARCIA (Ocean's 12), RAY LIOTTA (Identity), JEREMY PIVEN (Entourage), RYAN REYNOLDS (The Amityville Horror), PETER BERG (Collateral), TARAJI HENSON (Hustle & Flow), CHRIS PINE (Just My Luck), MARTIN HENDERSON (The Ring), JASON BATEMAN (The Break-Up) and, in their motion-picture debuts, Grammy-winning singer ALICIA KEYS and hip-hop artist COMMON - star in Smokin' Aces, the new dark action-comedy from writer/director JOE CARNAHAN, the creator of Narc.

Welcome to Lake Tahoe, Nevada, where everyone is zeroing in on Buddy "Aces" Israel.

Sleaze personified, illusionist Aces (Jeremy Piven) grew up in a world full of card sharks, gamblers, killers and thugs. By 21, he was keeping company with major criminal muscle - headlining sold-out shows at MGM's main room. After becoming the unofficial mascot for the Vegas mob, Aces started believing his own press and buying into the hype. He decides to showcase his showbiz power and parlay it into a life of crime. He wants to be his own mob boss... the movies make it look so easy. What Aces winds up doing is running afoul of the very organization that had taken him in, and his one-time benefactor, mob power broker Primo Sparazza, becomes his mortal enemy.

Rumour of a $1,000,000 hit fee, fronted by Sparazza, hits the streets and spreads far and wide, attracting an assortment of degenerate psychopaths and assassins - all gunning for the bounty on his head. Apparently, Aces has agreed to turn state's evidence against his criminal cronies in Vegas... in order to save himself from life in prison. The FBI, sensing a chance to use this small-time con to bring down big-time target Sparazza, places Aces into protective custody, under the supervision of two agents dispatched to Aces' hideout.

With all eyes on Lake Tahoe, a rogues' gallery of killers collides in a mad race to the Nomad Casino penthouse suite, where they hope to hit the jackpot and rub out Aces.

Joining Carnahan behind the scenes are the creative team of cinematographer MAURO FIORE (The Island, Training Day), production designer MARTIN WHIST (Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny, upcoming Quebec), costume designer MARY ZOPHRES (Catch Me If You Can, O Brother, Where Art Thou?) and editor ROBERT FRAZEN (Friends with Money, Lovely & Amazing, The Great New Wonderful). Music for the film is by CLINT MANSELL (Requiem for a Dream, The Fountain). Working Title's TIM BEVAN and ERIC FELLNER (The Interpreter, United 93) produce the film, with ROBERT GRAF (O Brother, Where Art Thou?, Intolerable Cruelty) and LIZA CHASIN (Nanny McPhee, The Interpreter) executive producing.

Synopsis
"He said the shit could get hot, could get heavy. I say cool. 'Cause I got two of the hottest, heaviest bitches alive." - Loretta Wyman, Assassin Booker

FBI Deputy Director Stanley Locke (Andy Garcia) has just dispatched his top agent, Richard Messner (Ryan Reynolds), and Messner's veteran partner, Donald Carruthers (Ray Liotta), to Buddy "Aces" Israel's (Jeremy Piven) not-so-secret hiding spot in Lake Tahoe. Their mission: protect the sleazy Vegas magician from mob boss Primo Sparazza - said to have performed over 130 contract murders - upon whom Aces has agreed to turn state's evidence to save his own skin.

As the mob learns of his betrayal, they put a million-dollar bounty on Aces' head. They don't care who does him, just as long as he gets dead quick. Now, a wild menagerie of mercenaries, mass murderers and gorgeous guns-for-hire descend on Tahoe to locate Aces and collect that money... no matter who gets in their way.

Thugs from Sparazza's tight inner circle have bought their own insurance policy in the form of ghetto-fab-glam assassins Georgia Sykes (Alicia Keys) and her partner, sniper Sharice Watters (Taraji Henson). A psychopathic trio neo-Nazi inbreeds known as the Tremor brothers sniff cash like bloodhounds and have made haste to Tahoe as well. Darwin (Chris Pine), Jeeves (Kevin Durand) and Lestor Tremor (Maury Serling) have nothing resembling a conscience, and they use their limited brainpower to murder anyone who stands in the way of a big payday. Additionally, international hit men - including ruthless torture specialist Pasquale Acosta (Nestor Carbonell) and master of disguise Lazlo Soot (Tommy Flanagan) - are bringing their uniquely twisted blend of skills to Tahoe.

To complicate matters, bottom-of-the-barrel Vegas bail bondsman Jack Dupree (Ben Affleck) accepts a $50,000 retainer from attorney Rupert "Rip" Reed (Jason Bateman) to find the bail-jumping Aces before he gets handed over to the FBI... and the quarry is gone for good. Dupree recruits disillusioned ex-vice cop "Pistol" Pete Deeks (Peter Berg) and his former partner, Hollis Elmore (Martin Henderson), to help wrangle Aces. The good news is they're only a short, three-hour drive from Tahoe.

The question is: who is going to get to Aces first?

In the eye of the storm - trying to stay one step ahead of their boss' trouble - are Sir Ivy (Common), Ace's steadfast second-in-command, and his thick-headed bodyguard, Hugo Croop (Joel Edgerton). But while the magician's henchmen try to protect him from the onslaught of killers, Agents Messner and Carruthers begin to uncover the truth behind Aces' real role in bringing down the mob.

And nothing that surrounds Buddy Israel has ever been what it appears to be...

About the production
Murder and mayhem: Smokin' Aces gets dealt
"What do you see right now? You see exactly, and only, what I choose to show you. That's illusion, Ivy. That's the lie I tell your eyes." - Buddy "Aces" Israel

When writer/director Joe Carnahan came onto the indie-film scene at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival with a sobering, raw cop drama entitled Narc, he left audiences a bit shocked. The complex drama, which earned Carnahan a best director Independent Spirit Award nomination, was recognized as a film that didn't fit the typical pattern for the genre. It was deemed "explosive stuff" full of "seething passion" (Susan Stark, The Detroit News), "... an ambitious picture that recognizes no limits" (David Denby, The New Yorker) with "... the velocity of a hot slug from the barrel of a gun" (Elvis Mitchell, The New York Times).

Entertainment journalists had predictions about Carnahan's next project, but it was one of his original screenplays that would next see the light of day. Under his direction, nurtured by the team at Working Title Films who were willing to gamble on a volatile mix of eccentric characters, dark humour, unorthodox form and raw violence, all twisted in a jigsaw of a plot - pure Carnahan - Smokin' Aces was greenlit.

"I've always wanted to make a film like this," states Eric Fellner, producer and co-chairman of Working Title Films. "One that has murder and mayhem... for want of better words."

"I met Joe after Narc," recalls executive producer Liza Chasin, who as president of production for Working Title Films was largely responsible for developing the project. Her first lunch with Carnahan would prove memorable. "He gave me 30 pages of Smokin' Aces, and that was it. He said, 'Just read these, and tell me what you think.' Of course, it was the biggest tease you could give someone because it was the set-up of these unbelievably interesting characters in this crazy world he'd painted."

"I called him and I said, 'That was so mean,'" Chasin continues, "and he replied, 'Well, buy it, and I'll write the rest.'"

Chasin sent the pages to Fellner in London. "I read it, and I loved it," says Fellner. "So we commissioned him to develop it further. A year later, we received a screenplay of 186 pages, and it was fantastic," he continues. "It was so dense with the most vibrant, vivid characters, impossible scenarios and wonderful set-ups. And we thought, 'Wow, this is great, but it's a novel. It's not a film.'"

"It was unmakeable, and it was also fantastic," agrees Chasin. "It was the most original piece of writing any of us had read in a long time."

"I thought it would be nice to write something that was fun to read," recalls Carnahan. "In trying to connect these disparate events and characters so they coalesce and feel that they're intrinsically linked, I wanted to write it on the page the way it would be cut together - so it would have a real snap to the pace and not let up. It's also very, very black comedy."

Carnahan winnowed the story and delivered a version that, as Fellner puts it, "suddenly started to resemble a movie," although it was still over 135 pages long.

"The page count has always been long," admits executive producer Robert Graf. "Joe tends to write like a novelist. He's very descriptive and writes florid passages about blood and guys flying through the air in bits. Some of it he means literally, and some of it is flavour to help the reader understand the nature of the movie."

In his script, Carnahan had created a larger-than-life, hyper-real world crammed with human drama, tough emotion and ambiguous boundaries against a backdrop of mayhem and destruction. The inhabitants of his mind included characters from uptight FBI agents and washed-up magicians to the mobster old guard, sleazy bail bondsmen, tarnished vice cops, street assassins, torture experts, bottom-feeding lawyers and three demented mercenaries who all converge on Lake Tahoe at the Nomad Casino penthouse suite. And that was just in the first 30 pages.

"This wide array of characters and all the sundry freak shows they meet along the way are the spine of Smokin' Aces," offers Carnahan. His story picks up three days before his protagonist, Buddy "Aces" Israel "is going to meet with federal prosecutors and give up the whole racket in a move the FBI believes will dismantle what's left of the mob in this country. You catch him on the dying gasp of his criminal career, about to enter the witness protection program and disappear."

"There isn't any common theme in Working Title material. It's not necessary that it's a comedy or it's a romantic comedy or a drama," relates Fellner. "It's that it has good characters and good storytelling and a good script. The genius of Joe's writing is that he can create in very small bites an enormous tableau. There is so much texture that it allows the actors to create something quite special with each of the roles."

With the production team (much more) comfortable with the script size and (very much) assured of the director's vision for the film, it was time to start casting the players of Carnahan's topsy-turvy world.

Thuggish guys & smokin' hot vixens: casting Aces
"Close your eyes. Think of something wonderful. Don't make this face the last thing you ever see. Heaven may hold it against you." - Pasquale Acosta, Blood Money Mercenary
A production of the size and scope of Smokin' Aces would require creative casting... bringing unknown actors together with seasoned professionals. For the filmmakers, securing the right actor for the correct role was more important than star-fuelled billing.
Executive producer Chasin comments, "Joe has written this massive ensemble, with more meaningful speaking parts than almost any movie I've been involved in, and yet each of them are truly individualized and characterized in a way that stands alone."

The seemingly daunting process of finding the appropriate actor for each character in Carnahan's script was not terribly difficult. As producer Fellner explains, "It was a pleasurable experience because lots of people wanted to do it. We were able to pick the people that we really wanted to have."

"Ultimately, it's the best people for the job," states Carnahan. "If that means unknowns, then it's unknowns; if that means all major stars, then it's all major stars. I was really lucky to get an eclectic cast."

Discussing his star illusionist, Carnahan relates, "Buddy is based on my fascination with two things: Las Vegas - particularly a schmaltzy Vegas of the 60s and 70s - and Frank Sinatra's quasi-association with the mob. I always thought if Sinatra ever decided to parlay his entertainment status into a completely different venue and become a thug, that would be a fascinating character to follow. I thought that he'd wind up tracking mud all over the place and screwing everybody up."

Jeremy Piven was interested in working with Carnahan since he saw the filmmaker's Narc. He found it to be "visceral. It's totally authentic, and I was blown away," the actor notes. "To me, there are very few guys where you hear their name and you're there. But I heard Joe Carnahan's name, and I said, 'Sign me up.'"

"An actor can complete a role you wrote, and it becomes something wholly other than what you intended," notes Carnahan, "which is where I get the big charge as the director. Watching Jeremy transform himself into Buddy Israel and making that character whole was a joy."

On one side of the law, Carnahan wanted to cast a trio of men who could bring their signature styles to the FBI suits who aim to pull Aces into protective custody. He found that in Ryan Reynolds, Ray Liotta and Andy Garcia.

The intensely patriotic FBI Agent Richard Messner would prove to be the heart of the Smokin' Aces script. "Messner is a noble character," reflects Carnahan, "and Messner is who I think audiences will attach themselves to."

For the role, filmmakers approached actor Ryan Reynolds, who responded to the fact that Aces wasn't "a paint-by-numbers script. Every character has a secret and has a surprise. Joe allows his characters to govern themselves by their own code of ethics, and that line between protagonist and antagonist is very, very blurred."

Best known for his wide range of performances - in films such as the comedy Just Friends, actioner Blade: Trinity and thriller The Amityville Horror - Reynolds comments on his role: "Playing Richard Messner was something very different for me... but also just exciting to play an FBI agent who isn't the cowboy, but who is very good at what he does and has conviction in what he's doing."

Messner's closest relationship in the film is to his fellow agent/partner, Donald Carruthers, a veteran G-man whom Reynolds feels his character sees as "a friend, brother and father figure all at once. It's a fine line between a fraternal relationship and a paternal one. My character is very attached to him."

The role of Carruthers went to veteran actor Ray Liotta. "I've played cops before," says Liotta, "and it was really a great chance to work with Joe again." Liotta both produced Narc and turned in a blistering performance in one of the film's lead roles, as renegade cop Henry Oak. "Having worked with him in Narc, I feel an allegiance to him, and I think he has an allegiance to me."

The man running the investigation, who sends them on the mission to take Aces into custody, is their superior, FBI Deputy Director Stanley Locke, played by Oscar and Golden Globe nominee Andy Garcia. "Andy loved the script," notes Chasin. "He met with Joe and quickly signed on."

"The movie ultimately seems like a black comedy to me," relates Garcia. "There's an absurdity to everything that's going on, which is what's attractive about the material. Locke is the man running the investigation, and there is a twist in the plot. At times, he is the only person aware of it."

Carnahan needed to cast three more actors to play men who, while possessing the same dedication to country as the federal agents, were also (barely) on the good side of the law. He found the perfect guys to play a trio of bounty hunters and ex-cops - who were looking for a quick buck by snatching Aces out from under the FBI and thugs' hands - in actors Ben Affleck, Peter Berg and Martin Henderson.

Affleck, readily agreeing to the role of bail bondsman Jack Dupree, found the unorthodox casting admirable. "Joe has singularly gone through and cast unknowns who are great and people who are stars, but in ways you haven't seen them. It's a compliment to his sense of creative integrity that he doesn't try to follow trends." He adds slyly, "Any character that wears a pinkie ring is one well worth playing.

"Some writer/directors write in one voice and it has various faces," continues the actor. "Joe has distinctive voices, and they're interesting and weird. He's definitely got noir, out-there dialogue, and it inspires everyone who comes in to work."

"The man clearly loves language," contributes Peter Berg, who plays "Pistol" Pete Deeks, a disillusioned ex-vice cop who is recruited by Affleck's bondsman Jack Dupree for this bail skip. "It's challenging, almost like doing a play. He clearly believes that there are no small characters. That's why everybody's has so much fun - they are treated like their character is really the star of the film." Coincidentally, Joe's brother, Matthew Michael Carnahan, wrote the screenplay for Berg's next film, The Kingdom.

Martin Henderson, who plays reticent ex-cop (and frequent sparring partner of Deeks) Hollis Elmore, read the script and responded to the fact that his character was the only one of the hapless trio who found the scheme to get Aces not only harebrained from the get-go, but insanely dangerous. "The film is obviously very, very violent and perverted, but it's funny," he comments.

To play his bad guys, Carnahan wanted actors who could literally take the copy off the page and easily make it their own. Of his style in creating an ensemble cast, Carnahan confesses, "I think every writer's greatest fear is that your characters all sound exactly like you. What I thought would be a good challenge was to develop an ear and write, for instance, dialogue for two young black women and make it sound legitimate."

It sounded quite realistic to Grammy-winning singer/songwriter Alicia Keys. Keys, in her inaugural role in film, plays bad girl/street assassin Georgia Sykes. On approaching her for the part, Chasin recalls, "I'm not sure Alicia ever thought she'd make her film debut playing a girl packing a gun, dressed like a hooker. I credit her for flying in the face of that and saying, 'My audience knows me for who I am as a singer, but I'm going to give them something unexpected for my turn as an actress.'"

Says Keys of her initial reaction to the script: "The more I read it, the more intrigued I became. It was not only so interesting that each character had its own life, but I loved the way that every story combined into the next story. Everything you thought that it was, it was not. By the time I got to the end, I was enamoured."

Keys is paired by her booker - big pimpin' Loretta Wyman - with an equally ruthless partner to smoke Aces. Sharice Watters, played by Taraji Henson, is a little woman with a big gun. Henson, who received acclaim for her role as Shug in Hustle & Flow, found playing Watters a fun exercise in style and attitude. She was not only required to physically transform herself from a naturally striking, petite actress - putting on no make-up, wearing her hair in cornrows and developing a badass attitude - she found herself using language that was brutally street and crazy smooth. Of her attraction to the script, Henson reflects, "The most amazing writers to me are the ones who write dialogue well. Joe is writing for mobsters, girls from the hood, straight-laced people. It was just brilliant."
Keys also spends screen time with another newcomer to the world of film, hip hop artist and Grammy nominee Common - who won the role of Buddy's steadfast, right-hand man, Sir Ivy. The bodyguard has some hard choices to make when it all starts going down for his boss, and Carnahan was looking for an actor who could portray "the calm centre of the storm and a man who has great nobility - understanding that the 11th hour is upon them."
About his first acting role, Common says, "I've been writing songs for 20 years. This was new to me. The words become yours, but you're saying somebody else's words, hitting certain marks, learning where your light is. This is such a good way to express yourself: a way to tap into yourself and do things that you don't do as a music performer."

From bad-ass to just completely crazy-ass, Carnahan's villains take a psychotic turn with the Tremor brothers - three of the ugliest, most soulless neo-Nazis the bucolic lakefront of Tahoe has ever seen. Once they hear of the bounty on Aces' head, Darwin, Jeeves and Lester Tremor hop in their 66 Bonneville - painted primer black with flames and Luftwaffe insignia - and hit the road for murder and mayhem. Quirky, complicated and startling to say the least, the brothers were brought to life by three fresh faces: Chris Pine, Kevin Durand and Maury Sterling.

No amount of describing their singular wardrobe and boots, haircuts, tattoos, distinct speech patterns and brotherly camaraderie can do them justice. "They're the kind of guys that'll wipe out the whole cafeteria to get one guy - and enjoy doing it," laughs Carnahan of his "three-headed hydra from hell."

"I think it's the combination of the make-up and the outfits," says Chris Pine, who nailed the audition and assumed the role of Darwin. "Without a doubt, once you put all that stuff on and get the teeth done, it's no problem slipping into that character. All I have to do is look at my brothers. We're so maniacal."

As if there weren't enough menacing firepower aimed at obliterating Aces... in Carnahan's world there are even more shadowy figures who come out of the woodwork to make a bid for Israel's million-dollar price tag. First up... chilling torture expert Pasqual Acosta is played with clinical precision by actor Nestor Carbonell. Second, master of disguise Lazlo Soot - replete with masks, prosthetics and concomitant torture devices - is played in two permutations. International actors Tommy Flanagan and Joel Edgerton both spend times as the wordless slayer and organ extractor.

Got them all straight? An added bonus for audiences is the appearance of some very well-known actors in some of the smaller roles. "In the casting process, there were a few roles where it was clear that they were going to be one-day parts or at most two-day parts," says Chasin, "and that's where Jason Bateman and M*^&#$! F*%^ (look for a certain security guard) come in." The actors' time was at a premium, but after reading the script, they both wanted to be part of the film.

Carnahan acknowledges his gratitude to this diverse mix of talent for their participation in his massive ensemble piece as he says, "I will be forever thankful that they decided to make my madness theirs for a while."

Becoming experienced killers: Carnahan gets his cast fightin' ready
"Once I get inside, I'ma gonna put m'Nina to Israel's head and back out hot." - Georgia Sykes, Street Assassin

Training the assorted players of Carnahan's ensemble cast would require dedication and discipline from even those with the smallest of roles. CGI aside, chainsaws, monster-sized 50-calibre sniper rifles and nun-chuks do not operate themselves. Neither do 52 cards, effortlessly arcing through the air.

To prepare for the role of lecherous illusionist Aces, Jeremy Piven found it necessary to learn how to handle the decks of cards he would be asked to constantly flip throughout the shoot. "Joe made it clear that we need to see this guy doing it, otherwise we're in trouble," notes Piven. To get to the level where he would look like a man who knew his way around a deck, Piven trained with Scottish sleight-of-hand artist R. Paul Wilson.

"He had to start from scratch with me," says Piven, "and it was all hard to do. I grew up doing mime. I play drums. I work with my hands, but working with cards is totally different. I have a scene where I have to pull off three tricks within this monologue. It was incredibly challenging."

Cards require a certain kind of coordination, but illusion is something else. "The real test with magic is not doing the trick; it's working with the audience and making them a part of it," points out Wilson. To give Piven a feel for what it would be like to be Buddy on stage in Vegas, Piven (introduced as Buddy Israel) appeared one night as a special guest performer at Hollywood's famed magic club The Magic Castle.

"It's one thing to theorize about what it would be like to be in that arena, but to actually navigate successfully - even just for a moment - gives you immense confidence," says Piven of the experience. "The feeling of pulling the trick off, seeing the look on people's faces was amazing. I don't think I will be challenging Paul or David Copperfield, but..."
Magic wasn't the only trick required of cast and crew. Although none of the actors had before put themselves in the action-hero category - save Reynolds, due to his gruelling training regimen for Blade: Trinity - the entire cast was called upon to do some very demanding physical scenes.

The Tremor brothers had the lion's share of physical preparation for Smokin' Aces. "I have a huge new respect for actors doing action sequences where they're handling weapons and timing and mechanics of guns," remarks Maury Sterling (Lester Tremor). "I had to get two shotgun rounds, fire the shotgun, unload two rounds, get two more shells in and then pull out my pistol and shoot the burning stuntman. I think that's the most nervous I've ever been."

"The big challenge for me came in the last few days of shooting," recalls Kevin Durand (Jeeves Tremor). "I was carrying Darwin and Lester with my three guns and all this Kevlar, which is so stiff and heavy. With all that, plus their guns, I was walking with 400 pounds while shooting a gun."

"I fire a machine gun and handle machetes; it's awesome," raves Chris Pine (Darwin Tremor). "Before, I never had the drive or a passion to do these kind of movies, but getting Joe's script, full of guns shooting and blood spurting - plus the character-driven material - it's the best of both worlds."

While Piven was learning parlour tricks and the Tremor boys were studying how to delve into psychosis, Taraji Henson and Ryan Reynolds were trained on the art of loading firearms and dodging bullets. Also, Ben Affleck and Peter Berg were getting acquainted with the finer points of mock, exploding bullet "squibs" and special effects blood.
"This gun is now an extension of my hand," says Reynolds. "It's pretty weird for a young Canadian man to be working with guns this much. We had to learn in such a way that the most practiced of marksmen could watch it and say, 'Wow. That guy really knows what he's doing.'"

Reynolds also had to learn how to think like an FBI agent in a tight spot. Regarding the film's climatic shoot-out at the Nomad, Reynolds recalls, "Our trainer said to us, 'This is the worst-case scenario for you to walk into, getting off an elevator and stepping into a hallway with three different blind hallways.' He taught us how to get out, move across a room, carry yourself, shoot 24 bullets and reload two clips in the process - all in under 10 seconds."

"I never held a gun in my life, outside of a toy or BB. gun," remarks Henson of her extensive training with a 50-calibre sniper rifle. "I played a cop on television, but this was deep, serious training. The kickback and the sound wave just drain you."

Special-effects coordinator Larz Anderson headed up the team that made the guns fire, glass break and blood spurt on cue. For example, in the film's pivotal climatic scene, his team went through 400 squibs and "shot" 20 people. "All the special effects are done in camera on the set," he provides. "It's all real."

Relates Carnahan about training his team of actors to accomplish the desired effects - and lensing them versus heavily leaning on CGI - "I think it is so much better to tie these effects in. To actually see someone fire a gun and a squib go off while the lamp behind them shatters in the same frame is great. When I have the level of talent I have on this film, I owe it to them to tie these things in."

Sleight of hand: production design and shooting the film
"So, in less than an hour, we're going to have anywhere from 40- to 50-odd field agents arriving in Lake Tahoe, without the slightest inkling as to why. Is that correct?" - Agent Richard Messner

On the design of Aces, executive producer Robert Graf comments, "In terms of structure, this film is like a farce. There are a number of people converging at the same place, at the same time, with people coming and going, paths crossing, elevator doors opening and closing - all in an attempt to reach the penthouse where Buddy is hiding out. There's a big gun battle, mayhem ensues, with fire, chainsaws, machetes and choreographed sequences."

Though it sounds exhausting to map out, the designers, cinematographer, editor and assorted crew were all up to the challenge of making Carnahan's world come alive.

Here's how...

Camera work
Vital to Carnahan during production was continuous input from his crew. Cinematographer Mauro Fiore, who first worked with the director on a short film for BMW, remarks, "If it's something inspired by the moment, there's no problem breaking whatever was talked about and letting improvisation take over. Joe is both a very visual person and a very concept-oriented person. I might have an idea about a location, and it has to make sense thematically in the script. Once we figure it out visually and thematically, we're pretty much done."

"It's great having a collaborator like Mauro," returns Carnahan. "He's such an intelligent, film-literate guy. We had a lot of conversations about how we wanted to shoot the characters."

"Joe's intention is to shoot these scenes and not cut away and see the actor look like the hero just because he cuts it together in the editing room," says Reynolds. "He leaves the camera on, just allowing the action and the emotion to unfold."

A crucial scene between the killer Acosta and FBI Agent Carruthers, however, highlights the camera difficulties for the director that could penetrate any shoot. Shot entirely within the four walls of an elevator car, cinematographer Fiore admits of the scene, "It was very challenging. Often, you can attack a scene with two cameras in those action sequences. We weren't able to do that in those elevators, because of the mirrors everywhere."

Adds Carnahan, "I deliberately went out of my way to storyboard that so - as Ray (Agent Carruthers) becomes suspicious of who this guy is - the shot is a two-shot, but it's his reflection that goes on infinitely as Acosta's reflection. You're looking at this money image of him on the elevator wall in front. You owe that to an audience to try to do these types of things."

"A lot of the camera moves are long, continuous moves that make the whole story flow together," observes SFX coordinator Larz Anderson. "It's a very effective way of telling the story. It also makes it a real challenge for us. With all these shots that have these long, intricate moves, there's not a chance to hide all your wires or your tubes - even the easier effects become much more challenging. Our wireless set-up has helped us quite a bit to make some very complicated shots possible."

Location and design
To film Smokin' Aces, Carnahan took the team directly to Lake Tahoe, Aces' hideaway in his script. The region, known for its pristine pine forests and crystal-blue lake waters, attracts naturalists and outdoor enthusiasts year-round, but has another side that gives its history a rich underworld lore. Frank Sinatra and his Rat Pack lived it up on the other side of the lake at Crystal Bay, and Francis Ford Coppola chose Tahoe as a location to shoot his compelling The Godfather: Part II.

"Tahoe to me is gorgeous," offers Carnahan. "I grew up near Lake Tahoe. It's such an interesting place because you have this collision of polar opposites. To set this wild, surrealistic story against such unbelievable beauty amps it up.

"I rarely write a script for a location," he continues. "But this is one of those instances where I knew I was going to put my characters. I knew the layout and actually wrote the script for the Horizon. Similarly, I knew Caesars, called the Nomad in my story, across the street."

Devising the visual palette for Aces' world was the job of production designer Martin Whist. To give the film the authenticity of place, the production spent eight days in Lake Tahoe capturing some of the scenic beauty in scenes at Cave Rock in Zephyr Cove and along Lake Tahoe Boulevard - as well as establishing the hotels and casinos, where action plays out at the Horizon Casino Resort and Caesars Tahoe (renamed the Nomad during filming). These hotel scenes had the potential to be some of the most disturbing parts of unsuspecting tourists' vacations.

Unfortunately for guests of the Horizon and Caesars, gunfire was raucous and aplenty on filming days. A memo distributed to hotel guests noted, "Chosen windows on the 7th floor of Caesars Hotel and 10th floor of Horizon will be breaking on cue with gunfire. Please note that some of this gunfire may be quite loud..."

Taraji Henson was at the centre of all the commotion. As she explains, "It sounds like thunder when you release the bullets. You can feel your whole insides shake; the whole floor shakes. I'm pretty sure that the guests in the hotels loved us."

Fortunately for all involved, the filming that included aerial shots, car chases, gunshots and SFX windows blowing out 100 feet above the street went off without a hitch and the crew safely returned to Los Angeles. There, production designer Whist had designed Aces' penthouse suite and the hallways of the Nomad, used for the bulk of the shooting. "The suite is called The Lynx, and the snow lynx was the source of everything," explains Whist. "When I first read the script and knew we had to do a penthouse, it popped into my head that it had to be based on the snow lynx. So we created our diorama based on it."

Wardrobe and hairstyles
Award-winning costume designer Mary Zophres found her experience working on Smokin' Aces "capturing many of the characters in, often, one costume change. It was invigorating to me, how to get the point of one character across in one costume."

Some of Alicia Keys' wardrobe as Georgia Sykes had to make her look more than just hot. "She has to become a hooker who can conceal five weapons, cartridges and all kinds of ammunition," says Zophres. "That was a huge challenge. We made her outfit out of a jumpsuit we purchased at the Inglewood Market. Then I found a short coat, and we hacked off the sleeves and collar, and that's what she wears - this little fur bolero, to cover her weapons.

"The Tremor brothers are a mixture of white trash, white supremacists and just psychotic gross," says Zophres of the distinctive look she devised. "They have no regard for anyone else but themselves. And they dress accordingly."

It's wasn't only the wardrobe that contributes to the look of many of the characters. Key hairstylist Teressa Hill applied a combination of haircuts - designed in collaboration with Carnahan and the actors of the ensemble - for characters such as Darwin, Jeeves and Lester Tremor. With actors including Alicia Keys and Jeremy Piven, who couldn't alter their look because of their day jobs, wigs were an easy way to create a different style.
"Jeremy is someone who is very recognizable," says Hill, "and we wanted people not to think of him as his character on Entourage. So, we decided to create a look with longer hair. I had a lot of grey put into it for the final look, and I progressively revealed the grey and the length of the wig over the course of the scenes."

Production wrapped, the filmmakers reflect on the very exhausting, wonderfully strange experience that was principal photography on Smokin' Aces. Producer Eric Fellner sums up the sentiment of much of the cast and crew - who were willing to brave hairy stunts, long days on set and memorizing razor-sharp dialogue to bring the world of Joe Carnahan to life - "Although genre-wise it's very different than a lot of the films we've done, it still relies on character and good storytelling."

Excited by the upcoming release date, writer/director Carnahan, flashing a wicked smile, concludes of his film: "It's my all-out, gonzo, over-the-top American movie."

In the words of assassin booker Loretta Wyman: "How 'bout that love?"

Universal Pictures Presents, in association with StudioCanal and Relativity Media, A Working Title Production of a Joe Carnahan Film: Smokin' Aces, starring Ben Affleck, Andy Garcia, Alicia Keys, Ray Liotta, Jeremy Piven, Ryan Reynolds. The casting is by Amanda Mackey CSA and Cathy Sandrich Gelfond CSA. The music is by Clint Mansell; the costume designer is Mary Zophres. The film's editor is Robert Frazen; the production designer is Martin Whist. Smokin' Aces' director of photography is Mauro Fiore ASC. The executive producers are Robert Graf and Liza Chasin. The film is produced by Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner. Smokin' Aces is written and directed by Joe Carnahan.

About the cast
In 1997, Ben Affleck (Jack Dupree) sprung into the limelight with his acclaimed Good Will Hunting, which he starred in and co-wrote with Matt Damon. For their work, they won an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. He has since starred in films including Shakespeare in Love, Pearl Harbor, Changing Lanes and Jersey Girl. Affleck was recently seen in the critically acclaimed Hollywoodland, in which he played the role of George Reeves. For his performance, he received multiple accolades, including the Venice Film Festival's coveted Golden Lion Award for Best Actor. Affleck is currently in post-production on his directorial debut, Gone, Baby, Gone.

Recognized as one of today's most talented and versatile actors, Andy Garcia (Stanley Locke) has also established himself as a director, producer, composer and musician.
Marking his feature directorial debut, Garcia has completed The Lost City, a project he had been developing for 17 years. The Lost City was produced in association with his own production company, CineSon Productions. Garcia stars alongside Dustin Hoffman and Bill Murray and composed four songs for the film, distributed by Magnolia Pictures. The soundtrack, which Garcia produced, will be released on Univision Records. It includes six Grammy Award-winning artists, along with legends of the Cuban music world. For his work, Garcia earned a Best Director Award as well as Best Film Award from the 2006 Imagen Awards.

Prior to The Lost City, Garcia starred in numerous memorable films including Modigliani, Ocean's 11 and Ocean's 12. He is currently in production on Ocean's 13.

Garcia recently finished production on the independent crime drama The Air I Breathe, which also stars Brendan Fraser, Sarah Michelle Gellar and Kevin Bacon.

He received Emmy and Golden Globe nominations for his starring role as the legendary Cuban trumpeter Arturo Sandoval in HBO's 2000 biopic For Love or Country: The Arturo Sandoval Story. Garcia was executive producer of the film and also produced the soundtrack, along with the Emmy Award-winning score. Additionally, the film received Emmy nominations for Outstanding Made for Television Movie or Miniseries and Outstanding Cinematography; the film also won two ALMA Awards for Outstanding Made-for-TV Movie or Miniseries and for Outstanding Latino Cast in a Made-for-TV Movie or Miniseries; finally, it was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Made for TV Movie or Miniseries.

Garcia received Oscar and Golden Globe nominations for his supporting role in Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather: Part III.

He formed CineSon Productions in 1991. Under the CineSon banner, Garcia made his directorial debut and produced Cachao... Como Su Ritmo No Hay Dos (Like His Rhythm There Is No Other), a feature-length documentary concert film about the co-creator of the Mambo, Israel "Cachao" Lopez.

In addition, Garcia produced and performed on Volumes I and II of "Cachao - Master Sessions" (Crescent Moon/Sony); the first was a 1994 Grammy Award winner and the latter a 1995 Grammy Award nominee. "Cachao - Cuba Linda" (EMI Latin) was produced by Garcia's CineSon record label and was nominated for a 2001 Grammy and 2000 Latin Grammy Award. Garcia composed four songs for the soundtrack to the film The Disappearance of Garcia Lorca. He also produced, wrote and performed several songs for the Just the Ticket soundtrack, a film in which he starred and also produced.
In 2005, for his latest collaboration with the legendary musician Israel "Cachao" Lopez, Garcia won his second Grammy Award. Garcia and Cachao reteamed to record the CD "¡Ahora Sí!" (Univision), their fourth record under his CineSon label. He won a 2005 Latin Grammy for the album.

Born in Havana, Garcia was only five when his family fled to Florida after Fidel Castro's takeover of his homeland. Garcia performed in community theatre productions and variety shows and attended Florida International University as a theatre major. He performed in regional theatre productions in the Miami area before moving to Los Angeles in the late 1970s to pursue a film career. Among his other films are Jennifer 8, Hero, Black Rain, The Untouchables, Internal Affairs, When a Man Loves a Woman, Desperate Measures, 8 Million Ways to Die, Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead and Night Falls on Manhattan.

Garcia has been honoured with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, a Star of the Year Award from the National Association of Theatre Owners, a Prism Award, a Harvard University Foundation Award and a Hispanic Heritage Award for the Arts. He is also the recipient of an Oscar de la Hoya Foundation Champion Award, Father's Day Council Father of the Year Award and an Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts Degree from St John's University. In 2005, the UCLA Jonsson Cancer Centre Foundation honoured Garcia with the Gil Nickel Humanitarian Award.

Additionally, Garcia received the Indie Producer's highest honour for Outstanding Contribution to Film, and the ALMA Awards honoured him with the Anthony Quinn Award for Excellence in Motion Pictures. In June 2006, the Karlovy Vary Film Festival honoured Garcia with the Crystal Globe award for artistic contribution. Most recently, he received the Moet-Hennessey Privilege Award at the Imagen Awards in Beverly Hills.

Grammy Award-winning, multi-platinum recording artist Alicia Keys (Georgia Sykes) has changed the face of popular music since she burst on to the scene in 2001. Now Keys is poised to make her mark on the silver screen as well with two feature films slated for release in 2007.

In addition to her work as a stunning street assassin in Smokin' Aces, Keys recently completed production on the big-screen adaptation of the bestselling book The Nanny Diaries, directed by Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini for the Weinstein Company. The film is the story of Annie (played by Scarlett Johansson) - a young woman from a working-class family in New Jersey - struggling to find her place in the world. Choosing to hide from real life for awhile, Annie accepts a position as a nanny for a wealthy Manhattan family. Keys plays Annie's best friend, Lynette. While Annie is a bit lost after graduation, Lynette has a more solid grasp on what she wants from life. The film also stars Chris Evans, Laura Linney and Paul Giamatti and is scheduled for release in April 2007.

Keys is excited to get back into the studio and is currently at work on her third full-length album. The album is set for release in June 2007.

Keys' debut album "Songs in A Minor," was released in June 2001 on Clive Davis' J Records. The album debuted at the top of the Billboard 200 Chart, selling over 235,000 copies in its first week and went on to sell more than 10 million units worldwide.

Keys critically acclaimed sophomore effort, "The Diary of Alicia Keys," was released in December 2003 and sold over 618,000 copies during its first week of release in the United States. Through different lyrical themes, the album demonstrates her innovative approach to music and the diversity of her own training, combined with classical elements and crazy beats. The album is currently seven-times platinum.

Keys' third album, "Alicia Keys Unplugged" was both filmed and recorded at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in 2005 and debuted at No. 1. Her unforgettable acoustic performance features a full set of Keys' most acclaimed music, along with several new songs exclusive to her "Unplugged" performance. Keys is joined on the album by musical counterparts Common, Mos Def, Damian Marley and Adam Levine (Maroon 5) for several memorable collaborations.

In her five-year music career, Keys has won nine Grammy Awards, 11 Billboard Music Awards, three American Music Awards, three World Music Awards, two MTV Video Music Awards, two MTV Europe Awards, one NAACP Image Award 2004, two Nickelodeon Teen Choice Awards, one BET Award, three Soul Train Music Awards, one Soul Train Lady of Soul Award and a My VH1 Award.

Keys and her producing partner, Jeff Robinson, recently signed a first-look, multi-year motion picture production deal with Disney. The company - called Big Pita, Little Pita - will produce films in a variety of genres, both live action and animated, in a financial range encompassing budgets both independent and mainstream. Keys will participate in projects as both a producer and actress, with the company also spearheading soundtrack production and music supervision.

In 2005, Keys also became a New York Times bestselling author when she released her first published work, Tears for Water: Songbook of Poems & Lyrics by Alicia Keys. In 2004, she also became a travel correspondent for the New York Daily News, writing monthly travel columns throughout the summer that detailed experiences from her world tour.

She generously gives her time and energy as an ambassador and spokesperson for Keep A Child Alive, which provides anti-viral drugs to the millions suffering from AIDS in Africa. She also works closely with Frum Tha Ground Up, devoted to equipping America's youth with the tools essential for achieving success on all levels; as well as Teens in Motion, a non-profit organization created to offer teens the opportunity to develop their minds and bodies in a safe and secure environment.

Born and raised in New York, Keys graduated from the Professional Performance Arts School in Manhattan at the age of 16.

There are certain actors whose eyes inhabit the character they are portraying with such simple conviction and authority that it's easy to forget that they're acting in the first place. Ray Liotta's (Agent Donald Carruthers) ice-blue eyes have carved a setting among the most diverse actors of the last 20 years, with roles both dramatic and comedic, next to and with the top actors and directors in the industry.

In November 2004, Liotta's tour-de-force guest role on the NBC drama ER ignited ratings for the series, in the most talked about episode of the season. In September 2005, he received an Emmy Award for his performance.

In addition to Smokin' Aces, Liotta recently completed production on the following films: Slow Burn, which recently premiered at the Toronto Film Festival and was produced by Fisher Stevens; the Mark Rydell-directed drama Even Money, which co-stars Danny DeVito and Kim Basinger; and the Bruce McCulloch-directed comedy, Comeback Season, in which he plays Walter Pearce, a married man who after cheating on his wife moves in next door with the local high-school football star. In a bit of a change of pace, Liotta also recently completed production on the fantasy film, In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale, opposite Jason Statham and John Rhys-Davies.

A Golden Globe-nominated performance in Jonathan Demme's edgy Something Wild began the ascent for Liotta. Deluged afterwards with tough-guy movie role offers, Liotta waited until he found a project that was more unique. In Dominick and Eugene, Liotta portrayed a medical student caring for his mentally challenged brother. He followed this up with his portrayal of the soul-searching ghost Shoeless Joe Jackson, in the Academy Award-nominated Field of Dreams.

Perhaps the film that brought Liotta his most widespread acclaim is Martin Scorsese's Goodfellas. Liotta was playing at the same level as his acting heroes, Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci, and his performance as the tortured half-Sicilian, half-Irish Henry Hill did not disappoint. Liotta's widely applauded performance helped garner the film a Best Picture nomination for the Academy Awards and solidified Liotta's status as an actor which with to contend.

Now, with over 25 feature films under his belt, Liotta has shown diversity in his roles - whether it be with comedies such as Corrina, Corrina and Heartbreakers to thrillers like Hannibal, Unlawful Entry and No Escape. Now, Liotta is adding a new skill to his resume: that of producer. In 2002, he produced Narc, which premiered at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival and was later released by Paramount. Liotta was nominated for an IFP Award for Best Actor for his performance.

2001-2002 proved to be one of Liotta's busiest periods to date. He starred in Ridley Scott's worldwide box-office hit Hannibal, Ted Demme's Blow, Heartbreakers, John Q and A Rumour of Angels. Liotta's additional film credits include Cop Land, Identity, Control and Guy Ritchie's Revolver.

In addition to his very busy film schedule, Liotta has also received acclaim for his work in other mediums. His portrayal of Frank Sinatra in HBO's The Rat Pack garnered Liotta a Screen Actors Guild nomination. He has also appeared as himself on NBC's Just Shoot Me! In the video-game world, he voiced the main character, Tommy Vercetti in Grand Theft Auto.

Liotta made his Broadway debut in spring 2004 opposite Frank Langella, in Stephen Belber's Match, for which he received a Distinguished Performance honour at the 70th Annual Drama League Awards.

The New Jersey native began acting while a student at the University of Miami. Liotta credits working on the stage and in musicals with helping to shape him as a performer. He began his career on NBC's daytime series, Another World, on which he spent three years before moving to Los Angeles.

Jeremy Piven (Buddy "Aces" Israel) has received critical acclaim, including two Golden Globe nominations and an Emmy award for his portrayal of Ari Gold, a slick, fast-talking "super agent" who is the leader of an up-and-coming actor's entourage, in the critically acclaimed HBO original series Entourage.

Piven recently starred as Tom in the off-Broadway hit Fat Pig, by Neil LaBute, opposite Keri Russell and Andrew McCarthy. For this role, he received a 2005 Distinguished Performance honour nomination from the Drama League.

Piven recently starred in Scott Marshall's directorial debut, Keeping Up with the Steins, a comedy about the competitive world of lavish bar mitzvahs, opposite Garry Marshall and Jami Gertz. Steins received the Audience Award at the 2005 Comedy Arts Festival. In 2006, Piven also appeared opposite Al Pacino and Matthew McConaughey in a drama about the world of sports gambling, Two For the Money.

Piven has graced the big screen in over 40 films including Chasing Liberty, Scary Movie 3, Runaway Jury, Old School, Serendipity, Black Hawk Down, Very Bad Things, Rush Hour 2 and The Family Man.

On the small screen, Piven was a series regular on Cupid and Ellen and appeared on The Larry Sanders Show and in the telepic Don King: Only in America.

Piven was born and raised in Chicago, where his parents founded the Piven Theatre Workshop. His father, Byrne, taught the likes of John and Joan Cusack, Rosanna Arquette and Aidan Quinn. Piven is still very active with this theatre and returns to Chicago frequently to help keep his father's dream alive.

Piven currently resides in Malibu, California.

Ryan Reynolds (Agent Richard Messner) is quickly emerging as one of Hollywood's most sought-after leading men.

Reynolds is currently in production on the Working Title film Definitely, Maybe for Universal Pictures. He plays a soon-to-be-divorced political consultant and parent with a questionable sexual past in this romantic comedy that co-stars Isla Fisher, Elizabeth Banks and Rachel Weisz.

Reynolds recently wrapped filming writer/director John August's The Nines, which also stars Hope Davis. The Nine will premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2007.
Reynolds also recently completed the film Chaos Theory, co-starring Emily Mortimer for Warner Independent Pictures. In the Marcos Siega-directed drama, Reynolds stars as a man experiencing a crisis after he finds out he is sterile and his child is not his own.
Reynolds also starred in The Amityville Horror, a remake of the classic cult film. The Amityville Horror opened number one at the box office opening weekend and made $107 million worldwide.

Reynolds was memorable in the title role of Van in the cult classic Van Wilder, as well as last year's New Line romantic comedy Just Friends. For his co-starring role with Jessica Biel and Wesley Snipes in Blade: Trinity, Reynolds showcased his physical attributes - undergoing an impressive physical transformation for his role as the acerbic vampire Hannibal King.

Reynolds currently resides in Los Angeles.

Peter Berg ("Pistol" Pete Deeks) is a prolific talent with a taste for challenging material, whether as a writer, director, producer or actor. He made his feature directorial debut (from his original script) on the cult classic Very Bad Things, starring Cameron Diaz, John Favreau and Christian Slater; and followed his big-screen bow with the action hit The Rundown, starring The Rock; and his fierce portrait of high-school football in the film adaptation of HG Bissinger's blistering bestseller, Friday Night Lights, which starred Billy Bob Thornton.

Before stepping behind the camera, Berg gained considerable notice for his acting work in front of the camera, particularly for his starring role opposite Linda Fiorentino in John Dahl's neo noir classic The Last Seduction. For the film, he won critical acclaim for his portrayal of a naive local who falls for the seductive charms of Fiorentino's femme fatale.
Other notable film acting credits include James Mangold's independent drama Cop Land, whose all-star cast also included Sylvester Stallone, Robert De Niro and Harvey Keitel; The Great White Hype, opposite Samuel L Jackson, Jeff Goldblum and Jamie Foxx; Spike Lee's controversial Girl 6; Wes Craven's Shocker; Late for Dinner, with Marcia Gay Harden; Keith Gordon's A Midnight Clear; and Fire in the Sky. He recently portrayed a cop in Michael Mann's noir thriller, Collateral, starring Tom Cruise and Oscar winner Jamie Foxx.

For television, Berg most recently adapted his successful movie Friday Night Lights to the small screen, directing the pilot of the NBC series on location in Austin, Texas. In the television arena, he also created, wrote, produced and directed the ABC drama series Wonderland. Prior to that, he wrote and directed episodes of David Kelley's critically acclaimed medical drama Chicago Hope, in which he also starred for three seasons as the cocky hockey-playing surgeon Dr Billy Kronk (winning SAG nominations in 1997 and 1998 as part of the series' ensemble cast). He also continued his career in front of the camera, most recently in the recurring role of SD-6 Agent Noah Hicks on the ABC action series Alias, opposite Golden Globe winner Jennifer Garner.

The New York native's interest in performing was inspired as a child, when he attended Broadway plays with his parents twice a month. He studied theatre at Macalester College in Minneapolis, where he appeared in several theatrical productions, including Flibberty Gibbet and Tartuffe.

Currently, he is directing The Kingdom, a Michael Mann-produced political thriller that is set in Saudi Arabia and written by Matthew Carnahan.

Taraji Henson (Sharice Watters) is best known for her breakout, award-winning performance as Shug in the critically acclaimed Hustle & Flow, opposite Terrence Howard. She performed the Oscar-winning song "It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp" at the 78th Annual Academy Awards. Remembered for her debut film role as Yvette in John Singleton's Baby Boy, she also appeared in his film Four Brothers, opposite André Benjamin and Mark Wahlberg. Most recently seen in Focus Feature's Something New, Henson next stars with Don Cheadle (who also produces) in Talk to Me, scheduled for release in late spring 2007. She is also currently filming the upcoming The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, co-starring with Brad Pitt, on location in New Orleans.

A native of Washington DC, Henson is a dean's list graduate of Howard University's department of theatre. Her career also includes television work on such series as ER, CSI, House and Lifetime's detective drama The Division.

Chris Pine (Darwin Tremor) has emerged as one of Hollywood's hottest young actors. Pine is currently in production on Ronan Noone's off-Broadway play The Atheist.
Pine recently completed production on the drama Carriers, for director Àlex Pastor. The film focuses on four friends fleeing a viral pandemic and the chaos that ensues. He will next be seen in the title role in Blind Dating, with Eddie Kaye Thomas and Jane Seymour. The comedy focuses on overcoming cultural and physiological boundaries in the name of love.

Pine was recently seen in the Fox/New Regency romantic comedy Just My Luck, opposite Lindsay Lohan, directed by Donald Petrie. The film tells the story of a very lucky socialite who swaps her fortune after a chance encounter with a down-and-out young man.

Pine graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, with a degree in English and has studied acting at the American Conservatory Theatre and University of Leeds in the UK. His extensive theatre work includes performances in productions of Our Town, American Buffalo, No Exit, Waiting for Godot and Orestes.

Pine's parents are actors Gwynne Gilford and Robert Pine. His late grandmother, Anne Gwynne, was a film actress in the 30s and 40s.

Martin Henderson (Hollis Elmore) recently finished shooting Flyboys, the World War II drama for director Tony Bill. He was last seen in the independent crime thriller set in Australia, Little Fish, in which he starred opposite Cate Blanchett and Sam Neill.

Previously, he starred in Bride and Prejudice: The Bollywood Musical, an Indian revival of the famous Jane Austen novel Pride and Prejudice from director Gurinder Chadha and Miramax Films.

Henderson's other film credits include a starring role in the psychological thriller The Ring and a co-starring role in John Woo's World War II drama Windtalkers, playing the inexperienced young soldier longing to go home to the girl he left behind.

Born and raised in Auckland, New Zealand, Henderson was introduced to acting when the local television program Strangers held an open casting call at his school. He was cast in the series at the age of 13 and has been acting professionally ever since. He went on to star in the New Zealand drama series Shortland Street for three years, winning a New Zealand Television and Film Award in the category of Best Male Dramatic Performance in a Television Show in 1993.

In 1995, Henderson moved to Sydney, Australia, where he landed the role of a young athlete training for the Olympics in the series Sweat. He later made his feature-film debut opposite Radha Mitchell in Kick, a film set in the world of the Sydney ballet. Henderson received an Australian Film Institute Award for Best Performance in a Supporting Role for his work in Kick.

Following that film, Henderson decided to pursue his career in the United States and moved to New York in 1999, where he began a two-year training program at the Neighborhood Playhouse. He also appeared in several stage productions, including the off-Broadway play Ophelia Thinks Harder at the Samuel Beckett Theatre, and in London in the critically acclaimed play Fool for Love, in which he starred opposite Juliette Lewis.
He is currently shooting The Battle in Seattle, where he leads the stellar cast of Charlize Theron, Woody Harrelson, Ray Liotta and Channing Tatum in this independent feature directed by Stuart Townsend.

Henderson currently lives in Los Angeles.

Jason Bateman (Rupert "Rip" Reed), one of television's most popular series veterans over the past two decades, most recently starred in the critically acclaimed, Emmy-winning Fox comedy Arrested Development, which just collected another Best Comedy Emmy nomination for its final season.

As Michael Bluth, the pragmatic son of a dysfunctional and eccentric family who must become its patriarch after his corrupt father is imprisoned, Bateman won the Golden Globe Award and earned a 2004 Emmy nomination as well as nominations from the Screen Actors Guild (for Best Comedy Actor in 2004 and the ensemble prize in 2004 and 2005) and the Television Critics Association as Best Actor in a Comedy Series for the show's first two seasons.

The son of a television producer/director, Bateman was born in Rye, New York, and raised in Los Angeles, where his acting career began, serendipitously, in commercials (after he accompanied a friend to an audition and was asked to read for a role). He moved into series television when the late Michael Landon cast the then 12-year-old in the long-running hit series Little House on the Prairie as James Cooper Ingalls, an orphan adopted by the Ingalls family.

Besides his recent three-year run on Arrested Development, Bateman's lengthy and impressive television resume includes two seasons as Ricky Schroder's conniving friend, Derek Taylor, on NBC's Silver Spoons (and a season as the star of his own spin-off, It's Your Move); a five-year run opposite Valerie Harper on Valerie (later renamed The Hogan Family starring Sandy Duncan); a starring role as Bob Newhart's impulsive son on the CBS sitcom, George & Leo; and the series Chicago Sons, Simon, The Jake Effect and Some of My Best Friends, in which he played a gay writer in New York's Greenwich Village who befriends an unsuspecting roommate.

Bateman has also co-starred in several motion pictures, including deft turns in the recent box-office hit The Break-Up, with Vince Vaughn and Jennifer Aniston; Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story, with Ben Stiller and Vaughn; The Sweetest Thing, opposite Cameron Diaz; Starsky & Hutch, with Stiller and Owen Wilson; as well as Love Stinks, Necessary Roughness, Breaking the Rules and Teen Wolf Too. He recently completed the romantic comedy Fast Track, with Zach Braff and Amanda Peet; plays a supporting role in Peter Berg's film The Kingdom, opposite Jamie Foxx, Jennifer Garner and Chris Cooper; and has a starring role in Zach Helm's feature fantasy Mr Magorium's Wonder Emporium, alongside Dustin Hoffman and Natalie Portman. The film will be released in late 2007.
In addition to his work in front of the camera, Bateman became the youngest director (age 18) in the history of the Directors Guild of America when he helmed three episodes of the series The Hogan Family in 1988. He has since gone on to direct episodes of the television series For Your Love, Two of a Kind and Arrested Development.
Nestor Carbonell (Pasqual Acosta) is a versatile actor who has gained widespread attention not only for his work on a number of television series, but also in the independent film world.

He recently wrapped the feature The Lost City, which co-stars writer/director Andy Garcia, Bill Murray and Dustin Hoffman, and was released in spring 2006. He was last seen in the feature Manhood, in which he stars opposite Janeane Garofalo. The project is a follow-up to the 2001 Sundance film Jack the Dog, in which Carbonnel plays the title character.
Carbonell's other feature film credits include lead roles in New Suits, Noriega: God's Favourite, HBO's The Laramie Project and Attention Shoppers, which he also wrote.
Additional television credits include series regular roles on Suddenly Susan, the CBS mid-season drama Century City, the cult live-action comedy The Tick, as well as guest-starring roles on House, Scrubs and Monk.

Although he was born in New York City, Carbonell was raised in 13 different locations across the globe. His father's job with an international company took the family to Mexico, Venezuela, Florida, Connecticut and London, among other places. Once back in the United States, he attended Deerfield Academy in Massachusetts, followed by Harvard University, where he graduated with a degree in English.

At Harvard, he discovered his thespian talent in a first-year drama course that led to his performing in a number of school plays. In addition to performing in the Harvard productions of Extremities, A View From a Bridge, House of Games and The Tempest, Carbonell starred in the world premieres of A Silent Thunder, the off-Broadway production of the two-character play, and The Doctor is Out, at San Diego's Old Globe Theatre.
In 2006, the Grammy Award-winning artist Common (Sir Ivy) made his big-screen debut as a musical performer in Dave Chappelle's Block Party.

In 2007, he makes his acting debut in Smokin' Aces. Later in the year, Common will co-star opposite Denzel Washington in American Gangster, directed by Ridley Scott.
Prior to acting, Common rose to prominence as one of hip-hop's most poetic and respected lyricists, having recorded six albums including "Can I Borrow a Dollar?," "Resurrection," "One Day It'll All Make Sense," "Like Water for Chocolate" and "Electric Circus." In 2004, he partnered with Chicago native and rap music megastar Kanye West to produce the platinum-selling "Be," which went on to garner four Grammy Award nominations. In July 2006, his video for the single "Testify" was nominated for two MTV Video Music Awards, including Best Hip Hop Video. He and West are currently in the process of recording Common's seventh album, "Finding Forever," due in March 2007.
Additionally, Common has written a children's book entitled The Mirror and Me, which teaches lessons of life, the human spirit and human nature. He's completed the follow-up book I Like You but I Love Me and is working on ME. (Mixed Emotions). He also started The Common Ground Foundation, an organization dedicated to utilizing the cultural relevance of hip-hop to serve as an advocate for justice, education, to fight poverty and to increase health awareness among youth in underserved communities throughout the United States.

About the filmmakers
Joe Carnahan (Written and Directed by) returns to the director's chair following his critically acclaimed cop drama Narc, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2002 and earned him a Best Director Independent Spirit Award nomination. His first feature film was Blood, Guts, Bullets and Octane, in which he wrote, directed and starred. Financed with his own monies, it debuted at the Sundance Film Festival in 1998.
Carnahan has also written and directed the innovative short internet film The Hire: Ticker, starring Clive Owen, Don Cheadle and F Murray Abraham.

Carnahan's writing career includes screenplays for Pride and Glory, a police drama currently in production starring Colin Farrell and Edward Norton, as well as adaptations of Mark Bowden's Killing Pablo and James Elroy's White Jazz, which will go into production at the end of next year with George Clooney producing and playing the lead role.

For the small screen, Carnahan directed and is executive producing Faceless, a crime drama pilot for 20th Century Fox Television. He has also recently finished a pilot for NBC entitled The Double.

Carnahan is a native of Sacramento, California.

Working Title Films, co-chaired by Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner since 1992, is Europe's leading film production company, making movies that defy boundaries as well as demographics.

Founded in 1983, Working Title has made more than 80 films that have grossed over $3.5 billion worldwide. Its films have won 4 Academy Awards (for Tim Robbins' Dead Man Walking, Joel and Ethan Coen's Fargo, and Shekhar Kapur's Elizabeth), 22 BAFTA Awards and prestigious prizes at the Cannes and Berlin Film Festivals. Bevan and Fellner have been honoured with two of the highest film awards given to British filmmakers; the Michael Balcon Award for Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema at the Orange British Academy Film Awards (2004) and the Alexander Walker Film Award at the Evening Standard British Film Awards. They were both recently made CBEs (Commanders of the British Empire).

Working Title has enjoyed long and successful creative collaborations with filmmakers Richard Curtis, Stephen Daldry and the Coen brothers; and actors Rowan Atkinson, Colin Firth, Hugh Grant and Emma Thompson among others. It's worldwide successes (in addition to the above-mentioned) include Mike Newell's Four Weddings and a Funeral, Richard Curtis' Love Actually, Stephen Daldry's Billy Elliot; Roger Michell's Notting Hill; Mel Smith's Bean; Sydney Pollack's The Interpreter; Peter Howitt's Johnny English; Joel and Ethan Coen's O Brother, Where Art Thou?; Chris and Paul Weitz' About a Boy; both Bridget Jones movies (directed by Sharon Maguire and Beeban Kidron, respectively); Joe Wright's Pride & Prejudice; and Kirk Jones' Nanny McPhee. The company has also had great success in the UK with Mark Mylod's Ali G Indahouse, starring Sacha Baron Cohen and Edgar Wright's award-winning sleeper hit rom-zom-com (romantic zombie comedy) Shaun of the Dead.

The success of Billy Elliot on film has since been repeated on the London stage. Stephen Daldry and screenwriter Lee Hall reunited for a stage musical version in 2005, with songs composed by Sir Elton John. The hit production, marking Working Title's debut theatrical venture (co-produced with Old Vic Prods.), continues to play to full houses in London and garnered nine 2005 Olivier Award nominations, including a win for best new musical. Preparations are now underway to take Billy Elliot to Sydney and then New York where it will open in 2008.

This year saw the release of Paul Greengrass' United 93 to critical acclaim worldwide; Phillip Noyce's Catch A Fire; and Paul Weiland's Sixty Six. 2007 is lined up to be one of Working Title's busiest years ever with the release of six films; Ringan Ledwidge's Gone with Amelia Warner, Shaun Evans and Scott Mechlowicz; Shekhar Kapur's The Golden Age, the long-awaited follow up to the successful Elizabeth, starring Cate Blanchett, Geoffrey Rush and Clive Owen; Edgar Wright's Hot Fuzz starring Simon Pegg and Nick Frost; Mr Bean's Holiday starring Rowan Atkinson directed by Steve Bendelack; Joe Wright's Atonement, adapted from the book by Ian McEwan, starring Keira Knightley, James McAvoy and Romola Garai; and Adam Brooks' Definitely, Maybe starring Ryan Reynolds, Isla Fisher, Derek Luke, Abigail Breslin, Elizabeth Banks and Rachel Weisz.
Robert Graf (Executive Producer) is a hands-on producer whose career has taken him from location managing to producing. Most recently he co-produced Friday Night Lights, the critically acclaimed coming-of-age drama directed by Peter Berg.

Graf has a long association with the Coen brothers, first serving as location manager on Fargo and The Big Lebowski before becoming associate producer on O Brother, Where Art Thou?, The Man Who Wasn't There, Intolerable Cruelty and The Lady-killers. He then continued as executive producer for their new film, No Country for Old Men.

Liza Chasin (Executive Producer) has served as president of US production at Working Title Films since 1996. Most recently, Chasin served as executive producer on the highly successful children's film Nanny McPhee, starring Emma Thompson and Colin Firth, as well as on the Academy Award- and Golden Globe-nominated adaptation of the classic novel Pride and Prejudice, starring Keira Knightley and an ensemble cast. She also recently executive produced United 93, directed by Paul Greengrass and currently executive produces Catch a Fire, directed by Phillip Noyce and starring Derek Luke and Academy Award winner Tim Robbins.

Chasin was co-producer on The Interpreter, starring Academy Award winners Nicole Kidman and Sean Penn and directed by Academy Award winner Sydney Pollack. She executive produced the box-office success Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, starring Oscar winner and Golden Globe nominee Renée Zellweger, Hugh Grant and Colin Firth. Chasin served as producer on the international hit Wimbledon, starring Kirsten Dunst and Paul Bettany, and executive producer on the highly acclaimed Thirteen, which won the Best Director slot at the Sundance Film Festival for Catherine Hardwicke and stars Holly Hunter (in an Oscar-nominated performance) and Evan Rachel Wood. She also co-produced Richard Curtis' worldwide hit, the ensemble romantic comedy Love Actually.
Over the past several years, Chasin has been involved in the development and production of such acclaimed films as Dead Man Walking, Fargo, Notting Hill and O Brother, Where Art Thou?. Chasin served as co-producer of About a Boy, directed by Chris Weitz and Paul Weitz, starring Hugh Grant, Toni Collette and Rachel Weisz; Bridget Jones's Diary, starring Renée Zellweger; and High Fidelity, starring John Cusack. She also co-produced the Academy Award- and Golden Globe-nominated critical success Elizabeth, starring Cate Blanchett.

A graduate of NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, Chasin first joined the company in 1991 as director of development. She was subsequently promoted to vice president of production and development, becoming the head of the Los Angeles office for Working Title, overseeing the company's creative affairs in the US Prior to joining Working Title Films, Chasin worked for several years in various capacities at New York-based production companies.

Mauro Fiore ASC (Director of Photography) most recently guided the camera work on Michael Bay's sci-fi epic, The Island. He has also collaborated with director Antoine Fuqua on two feature projects: his Oscar-winning urban thriller Training Day (in which Denzel Washington earned a Best Actor trophy) and the African war drama Tears of the Sun, starring Bruce Willis.

A native of Calabria, Italy, Fiore emigrated to the US as a child, settling with his family in suburban Chicago. He studied his craft at the city's renowned Columbia College, where he first met another budding cinematographer, future Oscar-winner Janusz Kaminski. The pair would become fast friends during college and, later, reunite when Kaminski relocated to California to attend the American Film Institute. After Kaminski began working as a gaffer for B-movie maven Roger Corman, a phone call beckoned Fiore back from Europe to join Kaminski in Hollywood as his key grip on Corman's low-budget productions.
When Kaminski commenced his collaboration with Steven Spielberg, Fiore proceeded to assist him as gaffer and second-unit cameraman on Schindler's List (for which Kaminski scored his first Academy Award), Amistad and The Lost World: Jurassic Park.

His first credit as director of photography was on Kaminski's directorial debut, Lost Souls. He followed with such films as Renny Harlin's racing drama Driven and Wayne Wang's controversial drama The Centre of the World. His big screen credits also include Get Carter, Highway, Love from Ground Zero, An Occasional Hell, Breaking Up, Soldier Boyz and Dominion.

He has also directed second unit photography on such projects as The Rock and Armageddon (both for director Michael Bay and cinematographer John Schwartzman) and worked in various capacities on The Adventures of Huck Finn, Mi vida loca and One False Move.

Fiore also maintains an active profile in the advertising commercial world, where he has collaborated with director Antoine Fuqua on the Pirelli Tires spot The Call, featuring Naomi Campbell and John Malkovich, and one of the famous BMW spots, Ticker, starring Clive Owen.

Martin Whist (Production Designer) previously was production designer on Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny. Whist came into the motion picture industry after receiving his MFA from Claremont College, where he majored in painting and sculpture. He had previously received a BFA from Canada's Emily Carr College of Art and Design.

Whist began his career working on commercials and in construction and received his first feature credits as assistant art director on Gone in Sixty Seconds and Swordfish.
As art director, his credits include the films Phone Booth, Down with Love, Along Came Polly, Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events and most recently, Michael Bay's The Island.

Robert Frazen (Editor) most recently edited Friends with Money, Nicole Holofcener's critically acclaimed look at contemporary life, which opened the 2006 Sundance Film Festival. He also edited her 2001 film Lovely & Amazing.

Among his film credits are The Great New Wonderful, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and was released in 2005, and the critically acclaimed Igby Goes Down.

Additional feature film credits include Breakin' All the Rules, Here on Earth and Admissions.

Frazen has also edited for the small screen. In 2000, he won the Eddie from the American Cinema Editors for his work on the miniseries The 60s and was nominated in 1995 for his work on My So-Called Life.

Frazen began his film career as an assistant editor, working with Ed Zwick and Marshall Herskovitz on such films as the Oscar-nominated Glory and Legends of the Fall.

Mary Zophres' (Costume Designer) award-winning career includes collaborations with Steven Spielberg on The Terminal, following the director's Catch Me If You Can, for which she received a BAFTA Award nomination for Best Costume Design.

Zophres has also designed the costumes for five films for the Coen brothers, beginning with their award-winning hit Fargo. Their collaboration continued on the films The Big Lebowski, starring Jeff Bridges; O Brother, Where Art Thou?, with George Clooney; The Man Who Wasn't There, starring Billy Bob Thornton; and Intolerable Cruelty, pairing George Clooney and Catherine Zeta-Jones. She most recently designed the costumes for the Coens' The Lady-killers, starring Tom Hanks.

In addition, Zophres has worked with the Farrelly brothers, serving as the costume designer on the comedies There's Something About Mary, Dumb & Dumber and Kingpin. Her other film credits include Moonlight Mile, Ghost World, View from the Top, Any Given Sunday, Paulie, Digging to China and Playing God.

Clint Mansell (Music by) is a cutting-edge artist who has composed music for some of the most notable action and suspense films of the last decade. Notably, he has worked on Warner Bros' The Fountain, Paramount's Sahara, Trust the Man, Requiem for a Dream, Suspect Zero and Abandon, as well as New Line's Knockaround Guys and Murder by Numbers.

He formerly fronted England's pioneering new wave band Pop Will Eat Itself, who were signed to Nothing Records, the boutique label run by Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails.