| 首頁 Home | 電影 Films | 評論 Opinions | 戲院 Cinemas | 資訊 Information | 網站地圖 Site Map

首頁 -> 電影 -> 香港每年上映電影 ->
Home -> Films -> Films Released in Hong Kong by Year ->

首部真人版活現銀幕 矚目全球特技巨獻
《帝國驕雄》金像監製
《一家之鼠超力仔》創意班底
《人工智能》特技大師

小飛俠2004

一月廿二日 魔幻現身

故事簡介

故事發生於英國倫敦的達令家庭內，家中長女溫蒂享受著與弟弟一起共渡的孩童生活，豈料姑媽美莉珊某天來臨，向她的父母提及溫蒂要長大成為�亄Q的女人及為將來結婚而準備的時候，溫蒂就顯得悶悶不樂。

溫蒂每晚都會給弟弟講解一些童話故事，由於故事內容精彩，而且她講得非常動聽，連身在夢幻島、永遠長不大的小飛俠，也被吸引過來。由於小飛俠知道溫蒂的心事，便協助她逃離大人的世界，前往一個只有嬉戲玩樂、沒有成長煩惱的夢幻島生活。

小飛俠的同行小叮噹賦予三姊弟飛行能力飛往夢幻島。在島上，三姊弟認識了一班迷童，過著無牽無掛、優哉游哉的快樂生活，豈料無惡不作的鐵勾船長及其一眾海盜前來大肆破壞。小飛俠使出渾身解數，營救他的眾位好友離開夢幻島，並與鐵勾船長展開一輪激戰．．．．．．。

特技佈景超卓
《小飛俠2004》不論在特技、化�菑峈A裝設計都做到力臻完美，所以耗資相當龐大，尤其是佈景設計，由於大部份的小演員都是受當地的勞工法律保障，他們不能接受長時間的工作，原本要到外景拍攝的場面，都要轉移到澳洲黃金海岸的華納片場內拍攝，所以全部的佈景都是搭建出來的，例如熱帶雨林、鐵勾船長的海盜船、古堡、海洋，以及倫敦街景等。

另外，《小飛俠2004》亦加添了不少特技元素，整部電影共有一千二百個特技鏡頭，尤其是小仙女小叮噹，整個角色都是巧妙地運用了電腦特技，使她能夠展示美麗的翅膀，自由自在地在空中飛翔。透過電腦特技，令小朋友憧憬的動畫世界一一呈現眼前。

《小飛俠2004》能成功以特技取勝，其特技監督史葛化勒功不可沒。史葛戰績輝煌，曾於1985年憑《天繭》獲得奧斯卡最佳特別視覺效果大獎。其後，他亦憑《人工智能》再度提名角逐奧斯卡最佳特別視覺效果大獎，在業界聲名大噪。史葛曾參與以特技取勝的賣座電影，包括《未來報告》、《黑超特警組》、《末日救未來》等。史葛將累積的經驗注入《小飛俠2004》，令該電影增加不少色彩。

跨越三洲選角
溫蒂的角色，走遍美國、英國及澳洲大大小小的城市，跟過百名的少女試鏡，最終選了麗素活狄。麗素是最後一個面試的少女，雖然從來沒有演出的經驗，但憑獨特的氣質、堅強的性格，她能成功入圍。在英國試鏡成功後，她旋即飛往澳洲接受考驗，首先她跟積遜艾薩斯演對手戲，接著飛往美國洛杉磯跟其他小演員接受監製及導師的訓練。經過嚴密的測試後，麗素返回英國等候消息，終於她成功被挑選參演《小飛俠2004》擔任溫蒂的角色。

「飛」同凡響
《小飛俠2004》內，小飛俠與生俱來就具有飛天的能力。為了拍得逼真的效果，謝洛美森柏特要接受長期的訓練，並親身前往美國的馬戲團實習，嘗試做空中飛人，體驗一下飛的感覺。

在拍攝期間，謝洛美要在藍色佈景板前，套上輔助設備，並將雙腳伸直，揚手飛行，全身穿著藍色衣服的工作人員亦從旁協助他飛來飛去。

動作設計　師承成龍
除了「飛行」場面逼真，《小飛俠2004》內劍擊武鬥亦相當精彩，皆因這些功夫由動作指導白蘭度艾倫精心設計。白蘭度曾經效力成龍近十年，完全掌握打鬥的精髓。為了令《小飛俠2004》打鬥場面精彩，白蘭度花了多個月時間設計打鬥動作，在開拍前四個月，謝洛美更要接受每日四小時的劍擊訓練。

百年巨獻 經典重現

英國作家J.M巴利於1902年在其著作《Little White Bird》中將小飛俠這個角色首次曝光，原來《小飛俠》的創作靈感是來自他收養的五個小孩。其後於1904年，《小飛俠》正式搬上舞台，成為當時最受歡迎的舞台劇。

數年後，巴利將《小飛俠》舞台劇的故事輯錄成為小說，一推出就成為當時最暢銷小說。

巴利於1937年逝世，享年77歲。臨離世前，巴利將《小飛俠》的版權捐贈給倫敦某間兒童醫院。

謝洛美森柏特演小飛俠

雖然舞台劇的小飛俠一般都是由女性主演，這次真是依照原著用小孩擔任主角，謝洛美森柏特成為首個演譯真人版《小飛俠》。由於具個人魅力、獨特個性、充沛活力，以及領導才能，謝洛美在毫無對手的情況下被選為擔任小飛俠一角。

現年十四歲的謝洛美四年前開始從影，接拍《Frailty》，由於表現超凡，被提名參加美國的土星科幻電影大影(Saturn Award)。謝洛美亦參與電視劇的演出，並憑《Just a Dream》獲得年青演員獎的最佳表現獎。

積遜艾薩斯一人分飾兩角

積遜艾薩斯於《小飛俠》中一人分飾鐵勾船長及溫蒂父親達令先生。兩個角色是截然不同，鐵勾船長是為了達成願望，不擇手段；而達令先生則是唯命是從、沒有主見的父親，要完全掌握兩個角色，非要出色的演員不可。積遜艾薩斯的演技不容置疑，因為他曾參演多部賣座電影，如《哈利波特之消失的密室》、《黑鷹15小時》、《特務踢死兔》、《烈血追風》、《絕世天劫》等。

露迪雲仙妮亞演小叮噹

在《小飛俠》飾演活潑可愛的小叮噹的法國當紅女演員露迪雲仙妮亞，於《泳池情殺案》作性感大膽演出，演技精湛，令人括目相看。早前露迪雲憑《八美千嬌》獲得歐洲電影節最佳女演員獎、柏林影展的銀熊獎、專頒發給卓越的年青演員的Romy Schneider Award，以及被提名角逐凱撒獎等，成為現時法國當時得令的女演員。

PETER PAN小飛俠2004演職員
哥倫比亞影片/環球影片/REVOLUTION STUDIOS聯合呈獻
德格拉斯韋克-露絲菲莎/ALLIED STARS製作
"小飛俠2004"

主演: <哈利波特消失的密室>積遜艾薩斯 謝洛美森柏特
　　　<戇豆先生>李察拜亞斯 <鬼潛艇>奧莉花威廉絲
　　　<魂斷夢工場>金球獎得主 蓮慧姬芙
　　　<泳池情殺案>露迪雲仙妮亞
選角: <黑超特警組2>比利鶴健士 <不忠誘罪>蘇珊史密夫
　　　<色慾都市>嘉莉芭丹 狄寶娜麥絲維爾迪安
特別視覺效果及動畫: INDUSTRIAL LIGHT & MAGIC
音樂: <驚兆>占士紐頓候活
音樂總監:<一家之鼠超力仔2>邦妮格蓮寶
服裝: <鋼琴別戀>珍納柏迪遜
剪接: <真的想嫁你>加夫格雲 <雷霆救兵>三屆金像得主 米高卡恩, A.C.E.
美術: <寶貝小豬嘜>羅渣福
攝影: <情陷紅磨坊>當奴麥艾平,ACS,ASC
聯合監製: <鐵�u船長>加利艾迪遜 格雷鮑加添
執行監製: 摩夏美艾菲特 <一家之鼠超力仔2>佳爾里昂
　　　<一顆恨嫁的心>祖絲蓮摩亞候絲
原創小說及舞台劇: J.M.巴利
編劇: <一顆恨嫁的心>P.J.荷根 <超時空接觸>米高高登保
監製: <一家之鼠超力仔>露絲菲莎 <帝國驕雄>金像得主 德格拉斯韋克
　　　<黑色交易>柏德烈麥哥米克
導演: <真的想嫁你> P.J.荷根

PETER PAN

All children grow up

Except one

Imagine a world like nothing you've ever seen, where every day is an adventure, where you never have to grow up or grow old. That's the world of Peter Pan - the clanging swords of furious rivals, the quivering plank of the Jolly Roger, the transcendent thrill of flying … and the magical power of a hidden kiss.

A lasting tale of adventure, discovery and dreams, Peter Pan has thrilled audiences around the world since it premiered on a London stage 100 years ago. J. M. Barrie's classic story of the boy who wouldn't grow up - and the girl whose family insists that she must - has had many popular incarnations over the years, but has never been fully realized on-screen.

Until now. Universal Pictures, Columbia Pictures and Revolution Studios have joined forces to present this bewitching story with an epic-sized production focused on capturing the essence of a great writer's work. With unbounded imagination, a hearty appetite for adventure and the modern magic of visual effects, writer-director P. J. Hogan (My Best Friend's Wedding) and producers Lucy Fisher and Douglas Wick (Gladiator, Stuart Little) have brought all the wonder, danger and excitement of Barrie's original vision to the screen in the first live-action feature film version of Peter Pan since the silent era.

"Brace yourselves, lads!"

For the first time, a boy - Jeremy Sumpter (Frailty) - stars in the title role, opposite Jason Isaacs (The Patriot, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets) as Captain James Hook. The fairies will twinkle and Neverland will fill you with wonder, but don't drop your guard. The battle between Hook and Pan has never been fought by enemies so evenly matched.

The story begins on a chilly night in buttoned-up Edwardian London as Wendy Darling (Rachel Hurd-Wood) mesmerizes her younger brothers with tales of swordplay, swashbuckling and Captain Hook, the legendary pirate who fears nothing but a ticking clock. But a clock is ticking for Wendy, too. Her father has decreed that it's time for her to grow up. After tonight, no more stories. She's to be groomed for womanhood and marriage by strict Aunt Millicent (Lynn Redgrave).

Unknown to the Darlings, Peter Pan loves Wendy's stories, too, and travels a great distance to hear them. His appearance in their nursery that night, along with a jealous little fairy called Tinker Bell (Ludivine Sagnier), triggers an awfully big adventure for Wendy and her brothers. Following him out the window like a small flock of birds, the children swoop over London's moonlit rooftops, through a galaxy of radiant planets and stars, to the magical Neverland, where they begin an exhilarating new life free of grown-up rules with Peter and the Lost Boys in their secret underground home. Confronting depraved pirates, malicious mermaids, a monstrous crocodile and, worst of all, the vicious steel claw dangling from Hook's right arm, Wendy and her brothers find out what they're made of. And the ongoing battle between Peter and Hook escalates to a thrilling climax, played out against the fantastical backdrop of the enchanted world of Neverland.

The Peter Pan cast contrasts veteran character actors at the peak of their craft with remarkable break-out talent and a number of brand-new discoveries. In addition to Sumpter and Isaacs, the film stars Olivia Williams (The Sixth Sense, Rushmore) as the elegant and empathetic Mrs. Darling, Academy AwardR nominee Lynn Redgrave (Gods and Monsters) as socially-minded Aunt Millicent, Richard Briers (The Good Life) as Hook's sly sidekick Smee and French sensation Ludivine Sagnier (Swimming Pool) as the mischievous fairy Tinker Bell. Rachel Hurd-Wood, discovered at an open casting call in London, makes an assured and impressive screen debut as Wendy.

P. J. Hogan co-wrote Peter Pan with Michael Goldenberg (Contact) and was intent on remaining true to the spirit of Barrie's original work. The film's producers shared this passion. Lucy Fisher had been trying to make Peter Pan for 20 years and has now made a dream come true with her husband and partner, producer Douglas Wick, their Red Wagon Entertainment, and producer Patrick McCormick.

Filming in his native Australia, Hogan collaborated with world-renowned behind-the-scenes artists including cinematographer Donald McAlpine (an Academy AwardR nominee for Moulin Rouge), production designer Roger Ford (an Academy AwardR nominee for Babe), costume designer Janet Patterson (a three-time Academy AwardR nominee for The Piano, Portrait of a Lady and Oscar and Lucinda) and composer James Newton Howard (OscarR-nominated for five films including My Best Friend's Wedding). Garth Craven (Legally Blonde, Restoration) and long-time Steven Spielberg collaborator Michael Kahn (a six-time OscarR nominee and winner for Saving Private Ryan, Schindler's List and Raiders of the Lost Ark) edited Peter Pan. Industrial Light + Magic's Scott Farrar (an OscarR winner for Cocoon and a nominee for A.I. Artificial Intelligence and Backdraft) headed the visual effects team. Mark Forker headed Digital Domain's team, which also contributed key visual effects, and Clay Pinney was special effects supervisor. Mohamed Al Fayed, Gail Lyon and Jocelyn Moorhouse are the film's executive producers. Charles Newirth is co-executive producer.

About the Production …

" … for children and for those who were once children …"

The story of Peter and Wendy's trip through the night skies is rooted in the collective consciousness like a recurring dream - intoxicating, fantastical, irresistible. Much more than romantic nostalgia or a simple bedtime story, Peter Pan represents our most primal hopes and fears. Its powerful emotional truth springs from a fantasy of flight and adventure that is both universal and timeless.

Technologically, the time has never been better to tell this story on screen. Philosophically, the world's need to dream, imagine and believe, as Peter Pan urges us to do, is greater than ever.

Nevertheless, it was a long time coming. The partnership that finally brought Peter Pan to the screen convenes players who have been loyal to the project for many years. Lucy Fisher first procured the film rights 20 years ago and has nurtured the project through development with producing partner Douglas Wick. Sharing a passion for the story, Revolution's Joe Roth and Todd Garner and Columbia's Amy Pascal alchemized the project with P. J. Hogan on-board as director and co-writer. Universal's Stacey Snider, Mary Parent and Scott Stuber completed a team whose energetic and muscular collaboration realized this version of Peter Pan for audiences everywhere.

"…when the world of make-believe becomes real …"

A beguiling duality ripples through Peter Pan. Are we meant to imagine that the Darling children actually stepped off their window ledge and flew to Neverland one night when their father had been especially stern? Or should we instead assume that Wendy bid her childhood a poignant farewell with a fantastic dream on her last night in the nursery? Either scenario offers audiences an awfully big adventure.

With P. J. Hogan at the helm, a calibrated balance between the magic of storytelling and the magic of effects was always the mandate. Set in a world that appears "normal," his visually lavish film has the romantic tone of a turn-of-the-century painting with fresh, authentic performances and a lively respect for the original material - as well as children who fly, a ticking crocodile the size of a double-decker bus and a fencing duel set in the sails of a pirate ship high above the ground. The contrast between the story's two worlds - prim Edwardian London and larger-than-life Neverland - is sharply drawn. The city's gray, cold formality melts from the children's memories as soon as they breathe in Neverland's surreal jungles.

P. J. Hogan's openness to magic and imagination, along with his ability to draw others into that special world, were balanced with a scholar's mastery of J. M. Barrie's work.

"The book is amazing - dense and full of great characters and marvelous moments. You get the feeling that J. M. Barrie put everything that ever occurred to him in it," Hogan observed. "And the play is so different from what I remembered - the story is strong, filled with adventure and action, and very funny, but also very, very moving. What drew me to making the film was realizing it had not been done. Yes, it's literally been filmed, but the full story hadn't been done. There were wonderful things that had not been put on-screen before."

Hogan's intimacy with the material made the script sing - he rewrote an earlier draft by Michael Goldenberg (Contact) after coming on-board as director. "I think P. J. has the entire play and the book in a sort of mental Palm Pilot that he can draw up anytime," said actress Olivia Williams, who plays Mrs. Darling. "I don't think there is a phrase spoken that isn't somewhere referenced back to Barrie. To have produced something so natural and modern and filmic from a story written 100 years ago is amazing."

Hogan's knowledge was also a valuable arbiter on-set, guiding the director and his actors during the inevitable moments when something that works on the page doesn't hold up in performance. "Whenever there was a creaky bit we couldn't quite get through, P. J. would always go back to the source material," said Jason Isaacs, who had also immersed himself in writings by and about Barrie to prepare for the twin roles of Mr. Darling and Captain Hook. "What P. J. has done is what Barrie would do today if he had a Hollywood studio at his disposal."

OscarR nominee Lynn Redgrave plays the Darling family disciplinarian, Aunt Millicent, a character Hogan invented with Redgrave in mind. "Aunt Millicent is not in the original, but she fits right in," said Redgrave, who saw the play many times as a child in England. "She's a desperate romantic, and a funny, full character.

"P. J. is endlessly inventive," she continued. "If he were a painter, he'd be inventing new colors that had never existed before. He has been fantastically true to J. M. Barrie while bringing in some original touches that are so Barrie-esque that it would be hard for me to say whether something was in the original or not."

Producer Lucy Fisher shared the devotion to Barrie's work. "It is a privilege and an honor and a burden to do something that so many people love," she confessed. "You want to do it justice.

"Peter Pan is not just about kids having an adventure and playing with fairies," Fisher emphasized. "The actual Barrie material, while completely accessible to children, also has a depth and mystery to it, which is why I think it has sustained for so long. The myths that sustain themselves are the ones in which people face fear and come through it. "

For Fisher, the story has always been Wendy's as much as Peter's. "The play is called Peter Pan," she noted, "but the book is called Peter and Wendy because it's really two stories. Peter is certainly the star but the point of view was always Wendy's - jumping out the window and coming back in."

The filmmakers all agreed that what happens in between Wendy "jumping out the window and coming back in" had to feel believable for their Peter Pan to make its mark. "One of the great ambitions from the very beginning was to give the audience the pleasure of letting it seem true, letting us all really go to Neverland, letting us inhabit a real version of a fantasy place," said producer Douglas Wick. "We knew that with today's technology we could create that kind of strange reality in a way that's never been possible before.

"The emotional reality was the other great challenge - and finding a director who could deliver both," Wick continued. "Our mission was to avoid any kind of arch version of a moustache-twirling Hook or a silly Peter. We knew P. J. would bring a tone of emotional reality and credibility. His script was very focused on a credible Hook, a credible Mr. Darling and a family that interacted in a recognizable way so that it wouldn't seem like remote people in a remote place and time."

"Proud and insolent youth! "

"Peter Pan is this kid who's free and gets to do anything he wants. He gets to fly, he gets to sword fight, he gets to kill pirates - it's what every kid wants and Peter Pan has it."

So says Jeremy Sumpter, who ought to know. The young American actor chosen to perform this iconic role is the first boy ever to portray Peter Pan in a major production.

Hogan appreciated the opportunity to put a boy on-screen as Peter Pan. "Peter Pan has been a cartoon character, and onstage he's mainly been played by women," the director explained. "In the silent film version, he was played by a woman, and in Hook, he was 40 years old. Now a kid is finally getting to do the greatest role ever written for a kid. Jeremy is Peter Pan. He is wild, confident, boisterous, fun - all those things that were so difficult to find in one kid. I was looking for the 12-year-old Errol Flynn, which was very difficult because 12-year-olds usually don't know who they are, and are not confident. We searched a long time. But I knew as Jeremy walked through the door that he was it."

Jason Isaacs, the versatile British actor who plays Peter Pan's nemesis, felt the impact of Sumpter's energy every day. "They can't hold him still to put the make-up on him in the morning," Isaacs joked. "He's a terrible influence on me and the Lost Boys, which is why he's such a great Peter Pan. He never looks down, he never looks back. He's like a supernova - you have to try and keep up with him."

Sumpter relished acting out the rivalry between Peter Pan and Hook. "My favorite shot in the whole film is when Peter says, 'To die would be an awfully big adventure.' It makes Hook so mad and then - tick tock! - Hook looks back and there's the crocodile!"

But Sumpter understood that Peter Pan isn't always crowing. "Jeremy has the face of an angel, but also has the face of an animal," observed producer Lucy Fisher. "He has complete energy, a leadership quality and unbounded personal charisma. Yet he has a tender side, too, so there are scenes where he is hurt or sad, and he is a breathtaking natural actor. He delivers the lines with a naturalness that never sounds stagey. He is fearless and yet has a lot of heartfelt emotion, too."

For his villain, Hogan followed the tradition observed since the very first stage production of Peter Pan nearly a century ago by casting one actor as both Captain Hook and Mr. Darling.

It made perfect sense to Jason Isaacs. "Hook's an incredibly dangerous man. He's been played for laughs in other versions, but Barrie wrote a book that adults and children can enjoy, and at its center is a frightening character. It's no surprise that this creature, who represents the scariest things about being grown up, looks a lot like Wendy's father."

Both of these frightening men are also very fearful themselves. "Mr. Darling is ruled by Aunt Millicent who tells him what everyone will think, how everyone will judge him," Isaacs explained. "And Hook's scared that he'll never fulfill his destiny. He should be ruling the Seven Seas and have the respect of his men, and yet this irritating little boy doesn't seem to be scared of him."

Isaacs, whose recent work includes roles in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, The Patriot and Black Hawk Down, was one of the first actors Hogan cast. "It's a star part," the director said, "but I didn't want someone children would be familiar with. I want kids to be afraid of Hook and I think they'll be afraid of Jason's portrayal. His Hook is driven, psychotic, charming and capable of anything.

"Jason is very versatile," Hogan continued. "He changes so much from film to film but I think Captain Hook is the role he was born to play. He's got a great way of combining true menace with charm and wit and that's a really tough combination."

Isaacs' transformation into the narcissistic madman required 90 minutes with his hair, make-up and wardrobe team. A carefully coiffed follower of fashion, Hook wears only the finest velvets, silks, leather and jewelry, while his dissolute men cover themselves in stinking rags. His tangle of cascading ringlets, sculpted from virgin Russian human hair, is styled to resemble melting black candles. But his most important accessory is his deadly hook - or rather, hooks, for he keeps a variety on hand. "Our sculptor made a contraption that goes all the way up my arm and tightens with a ratchet," said Isaacs. "It's like a torture chamber instrument, very sharp and dangerous."

Second unit director and veteran stunt coordinator Conrad Palmisano said the device resembled "a can opener for 55-gallon drums of fuel. It's quite vicious-looking when it comes at you and I think seeing Peter Pan stand up to this ferocious enemy with the claw in one hand and a sword in the other will be very exciting."

Hook's other most prominent appendage is his sidekick Smee, played by the venerable Richard Briers. "Smee and Hook are like an old married couple," said Isaacs of the ruthless pair.

Casting Briers as the sly old rogue was particularly satisfying for Hogan. "I grew up watching Richard Briers on television, on The Good Life in the 1970's," the director recalled, "which I think a lot of Australians did, and it was always a dream of mine to work with him. He is one of the funniest, warmest screen presences, and when I was working on the screenplay, I couldn't imagine anybody better for Smee."

"One girl is worth twenty boys …"

The three-continent search for a young actress to portray Wendy was ultimately the filmmakers' biggest challenge in casting Peter Pan. Hundreds of girls were seen at open calls in the United States, United Kingdom and Australia before Rachel Hurd-Wood, who had never acted before and lives in England's Home Counties, was found at an open call in London.

"Rachel was the last one cast," said Hogan. "We needed a girl who felt right for the period - a 12-year-old girl with dignity, strength and wit. Kids are different now."

The filmmakers were more concerned with emotional truth than professional credits. Nevertheless, the role of Wendy was technically challenging. "It's a very difficult part because she has to change during the movie," Fisher explained. "When we found Peter, we thought, 'Who is going to be able to look good next to him?' Then we found this girl who has the same degree of presence as he does, and she pulls off a very complicated part with vigor and elegance."

According to Isaacs, who shared many scenes with Hurd-Wood, her lack of training proved an asset. "Rachel doesn't have any craft to hide behind," he noted. "It's got to be real for her or she can't do it. That's why her performance is so truthful."

Hurd-Wood's trip to Neverland began one day after school when her mother met her at the door with a tape measure. "My grandparents heard about the part on television and told my mum they were searching for a typically English Wendy of this height and that sort of thing. I'd never done any acting. Mum said I wasn't going for the part but for the fun of seeing what an audition for a film would be like." After the open call, she was called back to audition on camera, called again to read opposite Isaacs, called a third time to work with an acting coach, and then flown to Australia for a screen test. Next, she spent four days in Los Angeles to see the producers and work with John Kirby, the acting coach for all the children in Peter Pan. Finally, after a long spell of waiting, she learned that she had the part. In the course of filming, she acquired skills she'd never imagined, from fencing to flying, and only complained about one thing.

"It's not fun to cry," she said. "Your friends from the set can't talk to you because it will get you distracted from the scene, so it's hard and tiring and just not fun. One time I spent a whole day crying and the next day I could have broken an arm and wouldn't have cried because I was just totally drained of all crying."

Laughing or crying, she admired her character. "Wendy's a really great person," she said. "She loves adventure, but still has a girly side. If I had lived then, I would have loved to be her friend."

Kids and Animals

Although the Peter Pan cast boasts respected actors of excellent pedigree in many key roles, the ranks of the Lost Boys and the young members of the Darling family are filled with newcomers.

"The children are fantastic and have an amazing influence on the set," said Olivia Williams, "because when something spontaneous and childlike happens, there is a wonderful sense of celebration. P. J. has cast kids who aren't trained to be cute, so all those truthful moments are spontaneous and it's been a real education to watch them work."

Harry Newell, who plays the Napoleon-obsessed John Darling, explained the special challenges presented by working with Rebel, the St. Bernard who appears as Nana in the film. "It can be quite hard working with a dog," he observed. "Sometimes you do a perfect take and the dog mucks up, not going on his mark or something, and sometimes the dog would do a perfect take and you wouldn't. But it was good fun having Rebel around."

Neither Newell nor Freddie Popplewell, who plays little Michael Darling, had acted before. Of the six Lost Boys, only Harry Eden, who plays Nibs, had previous professional experience. Three of the Lost Boys - Theodore Chester, George Mackay and Rupert Simonian - were discovered by a casting agent in one location, the Harrodian School in London. The school's curriculum and methods encourage creative expression, but possibly more auspicious is the fact that Harrodian's headmaster is named James Hook.

Director of photography Donald McAlpine, who has shot 50 feature films, discovered that working with the kids could result in technical choices that surprised him. "It was a running gag with P. J. and me," he recalled. "I would select a focal length which is long and takes in a smaller view. Then he would immediately say he wanted the widest angle lens I could get. Those lenses created some immense lighting problems for me, but I've generally got to say that he was right. The distortion these lenses create on adults goes unnoticed on these beautiful young children. And on top of that, you see the whole world, so you end up with an extreme close-up and a wide shot - two for the price of one."

Chapter and Verse

"J. M. Barrie wrote Peter Pan during a period that's endlessly fascinating to me," said director P. J. Hogan. "When I started looking at artwork from that time, I got very interested in the Romantic period, particularly the work of John William Waterhouse and Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones. The colors are very bright, people appear to be illuminated from within. And I thought, 'These are the paintings J. M. Barrie would have been looking at, paintings he would have seen on exhibition.'

"When I describe the film as looking very romantic," he continued, "it's not in the strictest sense of the word. It's more that everything is bigger than life, the colors are brighter and warmer, everything is very rich."

To give Peter Pan the visual mood he desired, Hogan assembled a team of award-winning behind-the-scenes artists. Long before that, however, he laid the groundwork by building a book of images that suggested aspects of his vision.

"P. J. has a very precise visual sense of how a story needs to be told," explained producer Patrick McCormick. "His book of references covered every detail of the story - London streets, Neverland, cloud sequences. We created everything in this movie. There isn't any moment or sequence where we said, 'Okay, we have that location, or it's easy for us to build a set like that.' Everything is fabricated to resonate with the rest of the movie."

In the early days of pre-pre-production, the filmmakers had considered shooting Peter Pan on location, which would have meant filming in a jungle, aboard a ship, at sea and on the streets of London. But because so much of the story takes place at night and so many cast members were children whose schedules were governed by strict child labor laws, location plans were abandoned. Instead, production was based at Warner Roadshow Studios in Gold Coast, Australia (Queensland) and the film's sets were constructed on a number of massive soundstages. The only exception was the London streets set, which was built outdoors on the lot in Australia and occasioned the schedule's single instance of night-shooting by the main unit.

At times, Peter Pan occupied all eight of the facility's stages. In addition to answering concerns about the children's schedules, shooting on the stages allowed production to create and execute the elaborate locations under controlled circumstances, unhampered by local exterior conditions such as cyclone season. It also allowed the filmmakers to set the story in a larger-than-life world of heightened reality.

Hogan's early research gave his team the much-appreciated chance to hit the ground running. "P. J. must have spent a year pulling together what we call the bible," said production designer Roger Ford. "Most of it was culled from paintings or illustrations in books which expressed his feeling for how he wanted to see the film. The time it takes to find out a director's vision when a document like this doesn't exist is considerable. I've never come across a director who had gone this far before the team was put together.

"Peter Pan is a designer's dream," Ford continued, "because it's many films in one: Edwardian London, pirate ship, tropical jungle, an ancient castle with dragons and water - any of these settings could be a film on its own. The whole thinking behind the look was to start with reality, then push and exaggerate it to get to the level of magic - to push the most extreme things you'd find in nature. You'd never get the combination of things in a real forest that we have in ours. And you never know if it really happened or was a dream."

Director of photography Donald McAlpine, who shot the visually daring Moulin Rouge, elaborated on how the bible enhanced this process. "P. J. presents you with an image that may be a glorious golden glen but through that you realize what he really needs is a dark blue back-lit scene," he explained. "Sometimes it's about color, sometimes it's design, but it's always about the emotion that the vision has stirred in him and he hopes will stir you. It's the old picture and a thousand words thing. Words are so limiting in communicating visual concepts.

"Roger Ford designs sets that seem to be made to shoot," McAlpine added. "When you get the camera on the set, you find he hasn't just put elements there, he has visualized how things may be shot. When you walk onto a really well-designed and constructed set, you are inspired to do something. With the pirate ship, there's just no way that somebody won't do their absolute best to make this wonderful piece of construction look great."

Early on, the filmmakers had considered building the Jolly Roger at sea. Instead, the deck of the beautiful but neglected old vessel that Hook captured from Spanish or Portuguese sailors came to life on a soundstage, with early design concepts hatched at ILM in Northern California. "Every time they sent us something, we asked them to push it," said Ford. Naturally.

Set designer Jim Millet oversaw the ship's construction. At 85-feet - 90 with the rigging at the ends included - it was the maximum length the soundstage could accommodate. It was built on a gimbal to simulate the movement it would have had on water. Meanwhile at ILM, a staff of carpenters and designers replicated its own 20-foot version of the ship, adding the keel and the hull, for effects shots.

"I do believe in fairies! I do, I do!"

In the hundred years since Peter Pan was first performed on a London stage, technological advances have occurred that would have sounded like science fiction in 1904. Even 20 years ago, when Lucy Fisher first acquired the Peter Pan rights, a live action film could not have been made that depicted the story's fantasy elements with the surreal seamlessness that the filmmakers had in mind.

Donald McAlpine's experience on the lavishly designed Moulin Rouge, which included many effects shots and was also filmed primarily on soundstages, aided the Peter Pan team immensely. "There are massive logistical, financial and creative implications when a truly human, dramatic story has to be told with the technique of today's computers and computer graphics running all through it," said the cinematographer.

The filmmakers took full advantage of technology to hit their marks - but not at the expense of the story's heart. After all, Peter Pan is not science fiction. Hogan was also adamant that the signature fantasy elements of Peter Pan be depicted as a child might imagine them.

"I wanted to work with people who are interested in magic over technology and the people I found at ILM were the right people for this," said Hogan. "Scott Farrar really gets it and loves the material."

Farrar was a key member of the team from pre-production through post. "It's a difficult style of film to do, because it really isn't fantasy," he said. "It's very much photo-real, but told in a storybook fashion. Everything is based on our real world, except it's larger, more colorful and more dramatic. P. J. had it in mind to be very painterly in the style of this story, so that was a huge cue for us. I knew from the outset that he loves strong color."

The film ultimately used approximately 1,200 effects shots with the majority produced by ILM. Teams at Digital Domain and Sony Pictures Imageworks also handled significant work. R!ot Pictures, Pacific Titles and CIS Hollywood contributed additional shots.

Striving to craft a world that reflected the unlimited possibilities of a child's imagination, Farrar and his ILM team took pleasure in realizing how much their work would thrill the children in their lives. "Kids will carry these visual images with them for a long time, and there's a huge amount of satisfaction in that," Farrar reflected. "I love thinking about my kids - or anybody's kids - looking at this film.

"There was a period in my life when I felt like the master of disaster - one blow-them-up picture after another," he continued. "Those are fun, but this one has been completely new and different. It is so rich in its imagery. You're not restricted in your thinking about design issues because you're asking yourself, 'What would children think?'"

Practical know-how allowed the magic to reach the screen. "No matter how good the animation is, no matter how good the model is, if you don't light it right, it will never work in the film," Farrar allowed. "So we record everything that is done on the set - how it's lit, how far away the lamps were, what the gels were, everything. Otherwise our shots won't cut in.

"P. J. has wonderful ideas and anytime there's a problem, he usually has a better idea as a solution," Farrar reflected. "He had not done a lot of blue screen work, so we helped with that, but he steers the ship and it's always about the performance."

Farrar's expertise was critically important with Tinker Bell's scenes, but his early opinion about how to depict this small twinkling character changed. "Initially, I advocated a full CG character for Tinker Bell," Farrar recalled, "because we were talking about controls of flight and that sort of thing. That scenario still required an actress for building and capturing performance.

"But then P. J. found Ludivine Sagnier, who is fantastic. She can do faces and portray emotions in a kind of silent era sense, and her talent lends itself to physical comedy. So now we have the wonderful personality of Ludivine on-screen, primarily in close-up. If she has to fly around and do a lot of very fancy stuff, that's her CG character, but wherever we can have Ludivine act, we do."

In several mid-distance shots, Tinker Bell is actually a hybrid that features Sagnier's head on a CG body.

"Happy thoughts and fairy dust …"

The moment that Peter, Wendy, John and Michael form a human comet and burst through the stratosphere on their flight to Neverland is truly exhilarating. Making that flight credible was a team effort requiring ingenuity from the stunt department, magic from special effects and intense dedication from the actors.

"Practice, practice, practice - that's the key to flying," said Jeremy Sumpter, who logged more time in the air than anyone in the cast. "Peter Pan is a perfect flyer. His body is perfectly straight and that's hard to do. I had to lie flat in a harness. I'd use the strength of my back to keep my feet from coming down. I spent months training to get my back muscles strong enough to hold myself straight for longer."

Stunt doubles were rarely used for Sumpter's flights. "P. J. didn't like using them because I fly differently than everyone else."

Like Wendy, Rachel Hurd-Wood took her flying very seriously, but could also enjoy it. "It can be really hard, but if you're laughing and having fun, then it's great."

Second unit director-stunt coordinator Conrad Palmisano and his team were responsible for getting the actors into the air and spent months preparing them. "We wanted a weightless look to the flying," he explained. "It's not like some of the other more recent cartoon-type characters who can fly at will and that's part of who their character is. We said, 'How does fairy dust make you fly? Is there a learning curve?' We spent time developing that nuance of when they're not flying so well - without having it look like we're flying them poorly."

There's much more to it than happy thoughts and fairy dust.

"Trying to get four or five kids flying perfectly in one shot is quite a challenge," Palmisano continued. "If they're on blue screen, we have what we lovingly refer to as the blueberries - guys dressed in blue suits who run around and grab them here, turn them there, lift just so until we get them all in perfect position."

Training began at ground level. "We started the kids on trampolines and other gymnastic equipment to get them used to their bodies in the air," he said. "We took Jeremy to a circus in the States and had him fly off the trapeze so he could get a sense of what it really felt like to fly and fall. On the Russian Swing, he'd shove off on the forward push and fly 25 or 30 feet through the air, then land on an airbag. Then we'd put him in rigs and asked him to recapture that feeling."

Farrar's ILM team also played a major role. "Very few live-action pictures have really achieved good flying," Farrar acknowledged. "In an aerial shot, when you're photographing a plane flying against buildings in a close background, there is a very tied-together relationship between the camera's pans and tilts on the foreground subject and what is happening in the background. If that doesn't lock, it doesn't look right. In the past, you had to do the best you could with an aerial plate that was pre-photographed and get the essence of the plate, the motion and maybe a broad sweeping pan or sudden dive down. But it's very difficult without actually manufacturing the background. Now, we try to get good choreography with the foreground subject (our heroes), and tie the background in to what the camera is doing."

The backgrounds Farrar had to match in Peter Pan included the streets and rooftops of London, clouds, planets, the landscapes of Neverland and the Jolly Roger.

En garde!

The filmmakers had very definite influences in mind when they set about establishing the tone of the fighting in Peter Pan. "Some of my favorite films are the Errol Flynn movies of the 1930's and '40's and I thought if I could equal or top those sword fights, I'd be very pleased," the director said. "They are marvelous fun and the actors really know what they're doing. So when Captain Hook and Peter Pan were dueling, we wanted them to recall the flash and fire of actors like Basil Rathbone and Errol Flynn."

To achieve this end, the crew was fortified with a trio of today's top action experts: second unit director Conrad Palmisano, fencing master Gary Worsfield and fight coordinator Brad Allan.

The duelists in Peter Pan fenced, using swords with points. "It's not the type of swordplay where they slice at each other until somebody gets it," Palmisano explained. "They tell a story in the fight choreography with a series of attacks and parries and retreats, all aimed at getting the opponent to do something. Gary is a wonderful swordmaster who gets people to work very fast and tight. It's very, very fast-handed and close contact, which is exciting. When Hook has Pan cornered or in trouble, then Pan does something special to get out of it, and that's where Brad comes in. The whole end battle is done in the air, amidst the sails of the Jolly Roger. Some of this is like an aerial dog-fight for brief moments. Pan's advantage has always been his quickness and ability to fly-but we're taking that away from him at the end, raising the stakes of the final battle between him and Hook."

Worsfield savored the opportunity to bring the beauty of swordplay to the screen. "We've put in almost every fencing action there is," he said. "There's rapport or communication through swords, as well as insults, humiliation, disgust, anger, deception - much more than brute strength. There's been no film that I know of with sword-fighting and flying together. Fencing is very linear but Pan can fly so the possibilities are mind-boggling."

Brad Allan, who has worked with the Jackie Chan stunt team for seven years, maximized the impact of the flying fights. "The Hong Kong style is not congruous with the look of Peter Pan, but the filmmakers wanted to add some airplay to the Errol Flynn style," he explained.

"I think Jeremy wants to be the next Jackie Chan," Allan added. "Sometimes we have to hold him back - he's really good."

For four months before production began, Sumpter devoted four hours a day to fencing. "Peter controls his fights - he's skillful, he's smooth," said the young actor. "I learned proper fencing with the mask. Once you do that, you can work on your feet and knees and how your body position and lunges are supposed to be."

Jason Isaacs came to the project experienced in swordplay, but did not have as much advantage as he expected. "I'd done sword-fighting in a few films. I was a little bit cocky about it, until it became clear that I had to sword fight with my left hand - because Hook has a hook on his right hand."

Ultimately, it only increased his ferocity. "Jason has a great deal of dexterity with his hook," said Palmisano. "He's like the Mix Master of cutting edges coming at you when he makes the moves. Trying to rehearse him, about three moves into it, you just want to drop the sword and run outside and wait for it to be safe again."

Wendy and the Lost Boys were less threatening, but all received serious training. "We'd bring the Lost Boys into the rehearsal stage with 10 fully-grown adult stuntmen," said Palmisano, "and hand them all metal swords and say, 'Here, attack those guys!' For months, we'd do practice and play routines and each boy found something that he really liked to do the best, and we'd work that into their fight scenes."

Actor Bruce Spence, who plays the pirate Cookson, dueled with Wendy. "The crew here are great swordsmen and now when I observe people like Errol Flynn, I'm thinking, 'Tsk, tsk, is that really all you can do, Errol?' Of course, fighting Wendy is a little different than fighting Errol Flynn, but when Wendy is up against it and has to get her courage, it's a moment I really enjoy. She has to move from being the little girl she was to being more grown-up and take control."

Accidents? A few. "Sometimes you get hit fencing and it hurts," Sumpter reported matter-of-factly.

"Yes, we've gone wrong a few times sword-fighting, Jeremy and I," Isaacs concurred.

But both actors were always ready for more. "Jason and Jeremy trained very hard to be the guys actually performing the stunts and we're very proud of them for that," said Palmisano.

"As a 30-year veteran of the stunt field," he reflected, "I think there's a little Peter Pan in all stuntmen. We don't live in Neverland, but we really don't have to grow up. We still get to play with boys' toys, they're just bigger than usual."

Still, Sumpter's fearlessness surprised even this seasoned risk-taker. "I was always the first kid in the neighborhood to jump off the bridge into the water, but I always went down and looked in the water first. Jeremy might just jump.

"Casting him was a sharp move. He is a pied piper of kids. Even around the studio lot you'll find them all kind of running around after him."

"A pink dress to die for …"

Dressing the Peter Pan cast was another massive undertaking with aesthetics, authenticity and practicality all demanding their due. Like the sets, the clothes had to underscore the contrast between the chilly constriction of Edwardian London and the fantastically liberating atmosphere of Neverland.

Costume designer Janet Patterson's production headquarters was packed with the appropriate turn-of-the-century velvet, silk and satin gowns, elegantly cobbled shoes and cozy children's pajamas. She also maintained a large supply of wetsuits (the pirates had to wear them under their tattered costumes). And there were dozens of bonnets - for Nana.

There were also hundreds of nightgowns for Wendy. "That's what she wears throughout most of the film," Patterson pointed out. "Some of them are specifically for flying and there's a beautiful big silky one for dancing."

Patterson cast her net wide to gather what she needed for Peter Pan - London and Paris for fabrics and trims, Italy for shoes and hats, embroidery from Pakistan. All the socks were knitted in England.

The ladies in the cast were particularly thrilled. "Janet Patterson is a design genius," said Lynn Redgrave. "The costumes are beautiful to wear. Everything is based on history and research. We are wearing the correct corsets, real antique jewelry, beautiful things of the period, which imbue it with a reality. It does a lot of the acting for you."

Olivia Williams agreed. "Little girls of any age or time period love a pink dress and I am no exception," admitted the actress. "I have a pink dress to die for in the ballroom scene and that was my happiest moment in the film."

That pink dress made Patterson happy, too. "Mrs. Darling is a fantasy figure for a little girl - the prettiest mother in the world," said the designer, who has been OscarR-nominated for three different period films. "All of her clothes reflect her warmth."

Hook's wardrobe was the most elaborate of all. "Hook's a splashy boy," Patterson acknowledged. In addition to dressing him as the dandy he is, Patterson wove subtext into his garments. The coat and vest he wears when Wendy visits his cabin, for example, are the same velvet as Mr. Darling's dressing gown.

A Century Ago

J. M. Barrie was born in the tiny Scottish town of Kirriemuir in 1860 and moved to London as a young man to make his mark as a writer. His earliest stories were colorful newspaper pieces about a fictional version of Kirriemuir. He also contributed to the National Observer, along with such contemporaries as Thomas Hardy, Rudyard Kipling, H. G. Wells and W. B. Yeats. Later, with several successful plays and novels to his credit, he lived across the road from the Kensington Gardens, where he took daily walks with his St. Bernard. It was during these rambles that he met the Llewelyn Davies children, the five brothers who inspired him to create Peter Pan. When the children's parents died, Barrie adopted all five boys.

Peter Pan first appeared in J. M. Barrie's 1902 novel, The Little White Bird, as the hero of a story the book's narrator tells a child. Barrie was already a popular novelist and playwright in London when his Peter Pan play debuted on December 27, 1904 at the Duke of York's Theatre. The premiere was not a children's matinee, but a glittering West End opening night for an audience of sophisticated Londoners who had come to see the latest work by one of the top writers of the day. The patrons had no idea of what to expect from Peter Pan, nor did anyone feel prescient enough to predict the fate of the thematically daring and technically demanding production. But the producer's faith in Barrie, and Barrie's faithfulness to his own unique vision, made Peter Pan an immediate classic.

Barrie refined the play's text for many years after it debuted and expanded the story for his Peter Pan novel, which was published as Peter and Wendy in 1911. The play was not published until 1928, after a full 24 years of stage productions - and revisions. Thanks to writer Andrew Birkin, a comprehensive volume of Barrie's notes and drafts as he conceptualized, wrote and revised Peter Pan over this long period was collected in one massive document, affectionately known among the Peter Pan filmmakers as 'the tome.' 'The tome' was an invaluable aid in making this film.

An Ongoing Gift

Peter Pan is cherished around the world for its promise of an awfully big adventure, but in Britain there is something more. Several years before his death in 1937, Sir James Barrie donated all rights from Peter Pan to London's Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH). The charismatic boy who would not grow up has been helping to save the lives of very sick children through this bequest ever since.

Built by Dr. Charles West in 1852 with just 10 beds, Great Ormond Street Hospital was London's first hospital specifically designated for children. Charles Dickens lived nearby and read a chapter from A Christmas Carol on the front steps to help raise funds for expansion. The hospital was able to buy the house next door, doubling its size to 20 beds, and it has grown from there to 350 beds.

A National Health Service hospital, GOSH is funded by the government for day-to-day operations, but not for its many critical care specialty areas. "We get the sickest children, if their own doctor and district hospital can't help them; it's a place of last resort," explained Kit Palmer, who looks after Peter Pan rights issues for GOSH. "We have 22 different specialties and offer the widest range of pediatric specialties under one roof in the U. K. Most patients see at least two specialists, some as many as five.

"The message of the play is eternal," Palmer continued. "Who hasn't worried about growing up and what the world has in store for us? This play has something to say to any nation, any individual.

"We at the hospital had always hoped to have the classic Peter Pan on film, based on Barrie's original work. The timing is so wonderful, so now I hope we'll have another hundred years of sharing this film."

ABOUT THE CAST …

Recently seen as the deliciously sinister Lucius Malfoy in the blockbuster Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, JASON ISAACS (Captain Hook / Mr. Darling) continues to prove his versatility. Isaacs' more recent turn as the charismatic leading man in the romantic comedy Passionada had a number of critics-including Rex Reed-comparing the actor to "a young Cary Grant."

He will reprise the Malfoy role for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, the fourth feature installment based on J.K. Rowling's books. Last fall, he appeared as the suave international spy in The Tuxedo. Isaacs was also seen as ranger commander Captain Mike Steele in Ridley Scott's critically acclaimed box office hit Black Hawk Down, and in command of Nicolas Cage in John Woo's Windtalkers. Awaiting release for him are Mike Figgis' Hotel and Stephen Norrington's The Last Minute, in which he sings and dances.

Isaacs has been working non-stop since his scene-stealing turn as Colonel William Tavington opposite Mel Gibson in The Patriot, a performance that brought him a nomination from the London Film Critics' Circle. Other film credits include Sweet November with Keanu Reeves and The End of the Affair with Julianne Moore. He appeared in the box office giant Armageddon and alongside Dennis Quaid in Dragonheart. In addition, he has made several movies with his friend, director Paul Anderson: the sci-fi thriller Event Horizon; Soldier with Kurt Russell; and the British cult film Shopping. The eagle-eyed will spot him in an un-credited cameo in Anderson's latest, Resident Evil. Isaacs made his feature film debut with Jeff Goldblum and Emma Thompson in The Tall Guy.

After graduating from the prestigious Central School of Speech and Drama in London, he starred for two seasons in Capital City, a hit British TV series based on the world of high finance. Additionally, he went on to star as, variously, identical twins (one good, one evil), a post-traumatic stress disordered soldier, an amnesiac, a real-life footballing hero, a gay crime-lord, and two different drug-dealers called Des. On American TV he was in the CBS miniseries The Last Don 2, as a priest who tests the limits of his vows.

On stage he created the role of Louis in the critically acclaimed Royal National Theatre production of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Angels in America - Parts 1 & 2 and has performed to packed houses at the Royal Court Theatre, the Almeida Theatre, the King's Head and five times at the Edinburgh Festival.

Born in Liverpool, England, Isaacs attended Bristol University where, while studying law, he directed and/or starred in more than 20 theater productions. When not immersing himself in a new character or accent, he returns to his home in London and tries to remember what he normally sounds like.

JEREMY SUMPTER (Peter Pan), who is 14-years-old, began his career at the age of 10. Until now, he's been best known for his portrayal of young Adam Meiks in actor Bill Paxton's directorial debut, Frailty (Matthew McConaughey starred as the adult Adam). Sumpter received a Saturn Award nomination for his unflinching performance in this well-received independent thriller.

Sumpter won the Young Artist Award for Best Performance in a TV Movie, Mini-Series or Special for his performance in the Showtime family drama Just a Dream. The directorial debut of actor Danny Glover, Just A Dream also starred Carl Lumbly and Ally Sheedy.

Sumpter was already an avid surfer when he starred opposite Mark Harmon in the surf drama Local Boys. His television credits include episodic work on ER and Raising Dad. Born in Northern California, he lived most of his life in Kentucky until his family moved to Los Angeles in 2000. He has two sisters, one a twin.

RACHEL HURD-WOOD (Wendy Darling) makes her professional acting debut in Peter Pan. She is 13-years-old and was chosen for the part after attending an open casting session. The filmmakers had searched three continents for the right girl. She had appeared in one or two school plays and is, according to her father, "a gifted mimic." She enjoys ice-skating, art, music and has such a keen interest in dolphins that she aims to be a marine biologist. She lives with her parents and younger brother in England's Home Counties near London.

OLIVIA WILLIAMS (Mrs. Darling) made her motion picture debut in 1997 opposite Kevin Costner in The Postman.

Most often remembered for her performance opposite Bruce Willis and Haley Joel Osment in the 1999 blockbuster The Sixth Sense, she also co-starred in the critical favorite Rushmore with Bill Murray and Jason Schwartzman. She was next seen in the British romantic comedy Born Romantic with Catherine McCormack, and in the thriller The Body, opposite Antonio Banderas. In 2002, audiences saw her in Below, directed by David Twohy; Lucky Break from Full Monty director Peter Cattaneo; and The Man From Elysian Fields with Andy Garcia, James Coburn, Mick Jagger and Angelica Huston. (The latter two films premiered at the Sundance Film Festival.) She starred most recently in the English Civil War drama To Kill a King (opposite Dougray Scott, Tim Roth and Rupert Everett) and the British film The Heart of Me (along with Helena Bonham Carter and Paul Bettany).

Williams began her career in theatre. A native of Great Britain, she earned a degree in English at Cambridge University, then studied drama at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School for two years. She also worked with the Royal Shakespeare Company in both Stratford-upon-Avon and London. Her recent stage credits include the acclaimed Donmar Warehouse production of John Osborne's The Hotel in Amsterdam (opposite Tom Hollander) and the Trevor Nunn-directed production of Love's Labours Lost at the Royal National Theatre.

Thanks to Swimming Pool (co-starring Charlotte Rampling), Americans have just met France's fastest rising star, LUDIVINE SAGNIER (Tinker Bell). They loved the scintillating young blonde so much that director Francois Ozon's film has become one of the year's biggest-grossing foreign movies in the U.S.

The welcome followed a staggering success at this year's Cannes Film Festival, where Sagnier earned the rare privilege of a double exposure. She plays the title role in Claude Miller's new release, La Petite Lili (based on Chekhov's Seagull), which was in the Festival alongside Swimming Pool.

Peter Pan reveals yet another facet of this multi-talented actress as she plays the mischievous fairy Tink; the film, which marks her first starring role in a major studio co-production, showcases her inspired originality and impish sense of humor.

The talented Parisian has worked with French filmmaker Francois Ozon more often than any other actress and starred in his features Water Drops on Burning Rocks and 8 Women. Her performance in the star-studded 8 Women earned her the Romy Schneider Award (given annually to a promising young French actress) plus a Cesar Award nomination (France's equivalent of the OscarR). Sagnier shared the European Film Academy Award for Best Actress and the Silver Bear Award at the 2002 Berlin International Film Festival along with the film's cast (which includes Catherine Deneuve, Isabelle Huppert, Emmanuelle B�mart and Fanny Ardant).

Sagnier's feature career also includes Diane Kurys' The Children of the Century (with Juliette Binoche and Benoit Magimel), Charles Matton's Rembrandt (with Klaus Maria Brandauer), Laurent Tuel's Jeu d'enfants, Yvan Attal's My Wife is an Actress (with Charlotte Gainsbourg and Terence Stamp) and Pascal Bonitzer's Petites Coupures (with Daniel Auteuil and Kristin Scott Thomas). She played her first role in English in Ian Simpson's Toothache.

Among her additional movie credits are several short films, including Guillaume Br�maud's Acide Anim�m, which won her the Best Actress award at the Lutin Festival of Short Films. The 2001 Berlin International Film Festival named her a 'Shooting Star' for France. Sagnier also appeared onstage in the Paris productions of Marivaux' Game of Love and Chanceand Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest.

Her television credits include the title role in the French telefilm Marie Marmaille (directed by Jean-Louis Bertucelli) and a co-starring role in Napoleon, Yves Simoneau's mini-series (starring John Malkovich, Isabella Rossellini and G�mrard Depardieu), which recently aired on the A&E network.

RICHARD BRIERS (Smee), a veteran of stage, film and television, is one of Britain's most popular actors. He made his West End debut in 1958 after studying at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts and the Liverpool Playhouse, and has trod the boards many times since. His massive popularity is also derived from roles in three much-loved British television series: Marriage Lines, The Good Life and Ever Decreasing Circles.

Among the highlights of Briers' distinguished career is extensive work with Kenneth Branagh. Their film collaborations include Henry V, Much Ado About Nothing, In the Bleak Midwinter, Hamlet, Love's Labours Lost and the short film Swansong, with Sir John Gielgud. Briers joined Branagh's Renaissance Theatre Company in 1987 and starred in the company's stage productions of Twelfth Night, King Lear, Uncle Vanya and Coriolanus.

Briers has also enjoyed a long creative association with playwright and director Alan Ayckbourn. Briers appeared in Ayckbourn's first play, Relatively Speaking, which opened at the Duke of York's Theatre in 1967. He has appeared in staged and/or televised productions of other Ayckbourn works including Absurd Person Singular, Absent Friends, The Norman Conquests and Just Between Ourselves. Other recent stage work includes Simon McBurney's production of The Chairs with Geraldine McEwan, which went on to repeat its success on Broadway, and a UK tour of The Tempest.

Briers' most recent television series was Monarch of the Glen for Ecosse Films. He previously worked with director P. J. Hogan on the film Unconditional Love.

Briers was awarded the Order of the British Empire by the Queen in 1989 and the CBE this year. He is married to the actress Ann Davies.

LYNN REDGRAVE (Aunt Millicent) was born in London into a family of actors. She made her stage debut in 1962 as Helena in A Midsummer Night's Dream and went on to become a founding member of The Royal National Theatre of Great Britain. Her film debut came a year later in Tony Richardson's Tom Jones and in 1966 the title role in Georgy Girl brought her international fame, an OscarR nomination and the Golden Globe and New York Film Critics awards. For Gods and Monsters she won the Golden Globe as Best Supporting Actress and was again nominated for an OscarR.

Other notable films include Shine (BAFTA and SAG nominations), Girl with Green Eyes, The Virgin Soldiers, Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex, Getting It Right and The Next Best Thing. More recent films include How to Kill Your Neighbor's Dog, Deeply, Unconditional Love and this year's releases My Kingdom (opposite the late Richard Harris), David Cronenberg's Spider (with Ralph Fiennes), Anita and Me and the animated Wild Thornberrys. She has twice been nominated for an Emmy and her many television credits include Hallmark Hall of Fame's My Sister's Keeper, Whatever Happened to Baby Jane (with her sister Vanessa), Different and Varien's War.

In London's West End she played Masha in The Three Sisters (also with Vanessa) and in 2001 appeared as Dottie Otley in Noises Off. Her numerous Broadway credits include Black Comedy, My Fat Friend, Mrs. Warren's Profession (Tony nomination), Aren't We All, Moon Over Buffalo and Strike Up the Band. Her one-woman play Shakespeare for My Father brought her a second Tony nomination and, after the Broadway run, Ms. Redgrave toured nationally and worldwide. Last summer, she played Joanne in Sondheim's Company at The Kennedy Center, and has recently completed a six-month run in the New York production of Talking Heads, for which she received the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress, an Obie and the Outer Critics Circle Award.

GEOFFREY PALMER (Sir Edward Quiller Couch) has appeared in films including O Lucky Man, Clockwise, A Fish Called Wanda, Hawks, The Madness of George III, Mrs. Brown, Tomorrow Never Dies, Alice Through the Looking Glass and Anna and the King, as well as three films for director Peter Greenaway - The Outsider, The Honorary Consul and A Zed and Two Noughts.

His numerous and varied television credits include comedies such as The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin, Fawlty Towers, Butterflies, The Last Song, Fairly Secret Army, Hot Metal and Executive Stress. He has also appeared in episodes of The Avengers, Colditz, The Professionals and The Sweeney, and television plays including Who is Sylvia?, The Shopper, The Liberation of Eileen, Churchill's People, A Story To Frighten the Children, the serial Maiden's Trip, The Scorpion Factor, the serial Death of an Expert Witness, Games, The Houseboy, A Little Rococco, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Waters of the Moon, Absurd Person Singular, Cheap Day, Radio Pictures, The Insurance Man, Season's Greetings, Bergerac, After the War and Inspector Morse. Other television work includes Blackadder Goes Forth, Smack & Thistle, A Question of Attribution, The Inspector Alleyn Mysteries, Hand In Glove, Stalag Luft and Full Throttle.

Palmer's most recent television work includes Absolute Power (based on the successful Radio 4 play) and the up-and-coming He Knew He Was Right, based on Anthony Trollope's novel; as well as Stig, directed by John Hay; Thackery in the BBC adaptation of Dickens; and the ninth series of the widely acclaimed As Time Goes By, in which he plays opposite Dame Judi Dench.

After an apprenticeship with the Q Theatre, Palmer played seasons with various repertory companies. His first London appearance was in the highly successful production Difference of Opinion. He subsequently appeared in West of Suez; Savages; On Approval; Saint Joan; Tishoo; and on tour in Say Who You Are and A Friend Indeed. His more recent theatre work has been as Sydney in Kafka's Dick, and as Sherlock Holmes in Mask of Moriarty. He toured in The Little Hut and then joined the National Theatre to play the part of Porfiry in Piano. A founding member of the Theatre of Comedy, Palmer lives in Buckinghamshire, England with his family.

HARRY NEWELL (John Darling), aged 12, was spotted by a casting director at school and invited to a Peter Pan workshop. Several weeks later he was asked to audition for the part of John Darling. During his time in Australia, Harry particularly enjoyed the technical aspects of filmmaking and the stunts, and when he wasn't on set, developed a taste for surfing Oz-style. He attended Stagecoach classes for two-and-a-half years prior to being involved in Peter Pan. He plays the saxophone and is a keen swimmer and cricketer. He has a younger brother and lives with his family in London.

FREDDIE POPPLEWELL (Michael Darling) is a nine-year-old (he was seven when cast) Londoner who was chosen to play the youngest member of the Darling family after his teacher at 'allsorts' drama school suggested him for the role. He enjoys football and cricket. He has two older sisters and his mother is a doctor at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children.

THE LOST BOYS …

THEODORE CHESTER (Slightly), who is 12, attends the Harrodian School in southwest London. It was at school, during a geography lesson, that the Peter Pan UK casting director saw him for the first time and invited him to a casting workshop. Theodore had previously appeared in school plays and enjoyed them a great deal, but had no formal training. During his time in Australia, he enjoyed body-boarding in the surf, snorkelling on the Great Barrier Reef, fishing - and acting.

HARRY EDEN (Nibs) first appeared on British television two years ago opposite Gary Lineker in a Walkers Crisps commercial. Since then, the 12-year-old has starred alongside actors such as David Wenham, Molly Parker, Keira Knightley and Gary Lewis. He was handpicked from more than 2,500 boys to portray Paul, son of a heroin-addicted mum (Molly Parker) in the film Pure. In Real Men, a television drama about institutional child abuse, he plays the son of a single mum who is taken ill. Harry lives with his parents in Essex, England. He hopes to become a professional tennis player and practices regularly.

LACHLAN and PATRICK GOOCH (The Twins) reside in Sydney, Australia and are listed on the publicity register for the Sydney Multiple Birth Association. That was the key to the Peter Pan casting agent in Sydney finding the identical twins who portray the smallest members of the Lost Boys tribe. The twins' only previous work for the camera was a non-speaking part in an Australian television production called Children's Hospital. They were two years old at the time. Now eight, they enjoy swimming, riding bikes, and playing soccer, cricket and Play Station 2.

GEORGE MACKAY (Curly) decided at the age of five to launch his acting career with his own production of Peter and the Wolf. He cast each of the roles based on which of his friends had the most appropriate props, and cast himself as The Wolf because he would get to swing from a tree. Curly was George's first professional role, and allowed him some of the best stunt training an actor could ask for. His tree swinging has never been better. George, also a student at the Harrodian School, lives in London with his parents, little sister and dog.

RUPERT SIMONIAN (Tootles), also spotted by the Peter Pan UK casting agent at the Harrodian School, attended several audition workshops before landing his role. The 12-year-old's only previous experience was the role of Fat Sam in a school production of Bugsy Malone. He would like to be a director when he is older. A film enthusiast, his favourite films are comedies and psychological thrillers. He likes playing rugby and listening to music. He also loves to travel.

CARSEN GRAY (Tiger Lily), 11-years-old, is a full-time student, actress, singer, older sister and Princess of the Haida tribe. The Queen Charlotte Island, First Nations prodigy has sung for dignitaries, danced in Haida ceremonies and performed as a nightclub singer in Vancouver's famed Rossini's restaurant, a favorite of jazz aficionados. She performed in Brisbane, Australia before coming home to Canada to rouse the audience to a standing ovation at the Leo Awards for Film and TV in Vancouver. Last month she joined forces with fellow Canadian celebrity Wayne Gretzky to raise money for the Ronald McDonald House. Carsen enjoys horseback riding, soccer, and skating. She speaks French, Haida and learned Mohican for her role in Peter Pan.

WHO'S WHO BEHIND THE SCENES …

P. J. HOGAN (Director/Screenwriter) broke through as a filmmaker with the disarming black comedy Muriel's Wedding, starring Toni Collette as the Abba-loving Muriel and Rachel Griffiths as her liberating friend Rhonda. An international sleeper hit written and directed by Hogan, Muriel's Wedding premiered at the 1994 Cannes Film Festival. The film won four Australian Film Institute Awards including Best Film and was nominated for BAFTA, Golden Globe and WGA awards.

Hogan followed that success with the 1997 screwball comedy, My Best Friend's Wedding, a major studio release starring Julia Roberts, Cameron Diaz and Rupert Everett. Directed by Hogan and written by Ron Bass, the film was a critical and commercial hit, which grossed more than $126 million worldwide.

A native of Brisbane, Australia, Hogan graduated from the Australian Film and Television School in 1984. His graduation film, Getting Wet (which he wrote, directed and edited), won an Australian Film Institute Award for Best Short Film. For the next 10 years, he worked as a writer for hire and second unit director on a variety of projects until Muriel's Wedding brought him international acclaim. He is also the director and writer (with Jocelyn Moorhouse) of Unconditional Love, a comic caper starring Rupert Everett, Kathy Bates and Peter Pan cast members Lynn Redgrave, Richard Briers and Daniel Wyllie.

Hogan lives in Los Angeles with his wife and frequent creative collaborator, Jocelyn Moorhouse, and their children.

MICHAEL GOLDENBERG (Screenwriter) co-wrote the screenplay for the film Contact, adapted from the Carl Sagan novel and directed by Robert Zemeckis, and wrote and directed the romantic drama Bed of Roses, starring Mary Stuart Masterson and Christian Slater. He is currently writing a screen adaptation of Maurice Sendak's children's book, Where the Wild Things Are, to be produced by Tom Hanks.

LUCY FISHER (Producer), former vice chairman of Sony's Columbia Tri-Star Motion Picture Group, joined Douglas Wick as co-head of Red Wagon Entertainment in 2001. During her tenure at Sony from 1996-2000, the studio broke all-time industry records for biggest domestic gross in history ($1.27 billion) and highest worldwide gross ($2.34 billion) with films she supervised. These included Men in Black, My Best Friend's Wedding, Air Force One, Jerry Maguire, Zorro, As Good As It Gets and Stuart Little. Separately and together, Fisher and Wick have worked with some of the most accomplished filmmakers in the world.

Before taking over at Sony, Fisher served 14 years as executive vice president of worldwide production at Warner Bros., where she developed and supervised a diverse slate of commercially successful, critically acclaimed films including The Color Purple, The Fugitive, Twister, Gremlins, The Goonies, Malcolm X, The Bridges of Madison County, Space Jam, Empire of the Sun, The Outsiders, The Witches of Eastwick and The Secret Garden. She also shepherded the pick-up of independent films released by Warner Bros. including Michael Moore's debut, Roger and Me.

As a producer, Fisher's first effort with Wick was Stuart Little 2, sequel to the beloved blockbuster Stuart Little. An international hit, Stuart Little 2 reunited the entire original creative team and cast, including Academy AwardR winner Geena Davis, Michael J. Fox, Nathan Lane and director Rob Minkoff.

In the early 1980's, while head of production for Francis Ford Coppola's Zoetrope Studios, Fisher helped procure the rights to the first-ever, live-action feature film version of Peter Pan. Now, more than 20 years later, under the direction of P. J. Hogan, her dream of turning the J. M. Barrie classic into a movie has become a reality. Deciding to place a boy in the title role for the first time, the filmmakers embarked on a worldwide casting search before finding Jeremy Sumpter to play Peter and newcomer Rachel Hurd-Wood to play Wendy. This search, which spanned three continents, also cast Jason Isaacs, Lynn Redgrave, Olivia Williams and the French sensation Ludivine Sagnier in key roles. The film delivers breathtaking visuals of flying, Neverland, Tinker Bell and Peter's legendary battles with Captain Hook as they have never been seen before.

Fisher and Wick's first release in 2004 is the romantic comedy Win a Date with Tad Hamilton, which was helmed by Legally Blonde director Robert Luketic and stars Kate Bosworth, Topher Grace, Nathan Lane, Sean Hayes and Josh Duhamel.

Next up for Fisher and Wick's Red Wagon will be the highly anticipated Memoirs of a Geisha, which remained on The New York Times best-seller list for more than 100 weeks and will be directed by Rob Marshall, who also directed Chicago.

Also starting in 2004 is the romantic comedy Bewtiched, co-written by Nora Ephron (Sleepless in Seattle) and Delia Ephron (You've Got Mail), with Nora Ephron to direct.

Other high-profile projects in Red Wagon's pipeline include the World War II epic Fertig, The Lone Ranger and a hip-pop remake of the musical Bye-Bye Birdie.

Fisher began her career as a reader at United Artists before moving to MGM where she helped launch the film Fame. She served as vice president of production at Twentieth Century Fox, and then head of worldwide production for Zoetrope Studios.

Fisher was also the driving force behind the on-site Warner Bros. Studio Children's Center, which opened its doors in 1992. The Center has since provided daycare for more than 1,000 children and has served as a prototype for day care centers at many other studios.

Fisher's career honors include the Hollywood Film Festival's Hollywood Award for Outstanding Achievement in Producing in 2002, which she shared with Wick. She has also received the Crystal Award from Women in Film and Premiere magazine's Icon Award. She was named one of the 50 Most Powerful Women in American Business by Fortune magazine and one of the 25 Smartest Women in America by Mirabella. A cum laude graduate of Harvard University, she founded the Peter Ivers Artist-in-Residency Program at Harvard and serves as a board member. She is an advisor to the Los Angeles Chapter of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation International and is co-founder of CuresNow, an organization focused on the promotion of regenerative medicine and stem cell research.

Fisher is married to her partner, Douglas Wick. They have three children.

DOUGLAS WICK's (Producer) movies have earned more than $1.5 billion at the box office, 20 Academy AwardR nominations and seven OscarsR.

In 2000, Wick produced the epic Gladiator, which received 12 Academy AwardR nominations and won five OscarsR, including Best Picture for Wick. Directed by Ridley Scott and starring Russell Crowe, Gladiator grossed more than $450 million worldwide, and won two Golden Globe Awards (including Best Motion Picture) and four British Academy of Film and Television Awards (BAFTAs), including Best Film. Gladiator was also named the American Film Institute's Movie of the Year and the MTV Movie Awards' Best Movie, and earned Wick the Producers Guild's Golden Laurel Motion Picture Producer of the Year Award.

In 2001, Wick expanded his company, Red Wagon Entertainment, to bring in Lucy Fisher, the former vice chairman of Sony's Columbia Tri-Star Motion Picture Group. Separately and together, Wick and Fisher have worked with some of the most accomplished filmmakers in the world.

Wick produced 1999's beloved blockbuster, Stuart Little, starring Academy AwardR winner Geena Davis and featuring the voices of Michael J. Fox and Nathan Lane. Directed by Rob Minkoff, the film earned more than $300 million worldwide, received an OscarR nomination and became an instant classic, a top-selling video and a family franchise. Together, Wick and Fisher produced Stuart Little 2, which reunited the entire original creative team and cast, earned a BAFTA nomination, and like its predecessor, became a worldwide hit.

Wick and Fisher are currently in post-production on the romantic comedy Win a Date with Tad Hamilton, helmed by Legally Blonde director Robert Luketic and starring Kate Bosworth, Topher Grace, Nathan Lane, Sean Hayes and Josh Duhamel.

Next on the production line-up for Wick and Fisher is the highly anticipated Memoirs of a Geisha, which remained on The New York Times best-seller list for more than 100 weeks, and will be directed by Rob Marshall, who also directed Chicago.

Also starting in 2004 is the romantic comedy Bewitched, co-written by Nora Ephron (When Harry Met Sally, Sleepless in Seattle) and Delia Ephron (You've Got Mail), with Nora Ephron to direct. Wick and Fisher are also gearing up for Dreadnought with action hero Vin Diesel starring as an underdog naval captain ensnared in an epic sea battle. Other high-profile projects in development include The Lone Ranger, the World War II epic Vertig and a hip-pop remake of the musical Bye-Bye Birdie.

Working Girl, directed by Mike Nichols, marked Wick's first solo producing effort. Starring Harrison Ford, Melanie Griffith and Sigourney Weaver, Working Girl earned six Academy AwardR nominations, one OscarR and five Golden Globes, including Best Motion Picture for Wick. Wick re-teamed with Nichols a few years later to produce Wolf, starring Jack Nicholson and Michelle Pfeiffer. He followed this project with The Craft, the original teenage witch sensation, directed by Andy Fleming and starring Neve Campbell.

Next, Wick produced the Paul Verhoeven sci-fi thriller Hollow Man, and the critically acclaimed Girl, Interrupted, which won Angelina Jolie an OscarR and a Golden Globe for her breakthrough performance. Wick's espionage thriller Spy Game paired movie icons Robert Redford and Brad Pitt under director Tony Scott.

After graduating cum laude from Yale University, Wick began his career as a coffee boy for filmmaker Alan Pakula. He earned his first credit as associate producer on Starting Over.

Wick has received many professional honors since then. He was named the 2002 NATO ShoWest Producer of the Year, the Santa Barbara International Film Festival's Producer of the Year, and the Motion Picture Club's Producer of the Year. He was the recipient of the Los Angeles Father of the Year Award, the Saturn Award, and the 2002 Hollywood Award for Outstanding Achievement in Producing. Wick has served on the Board of Trustees for The Center for Early Education in Los Angeles and on the Board of Directors for the Producers Guild of America. He is a co-founder of CuresNow, an organization focused on the promotion of regenerative medicine and stem cell research.

Wick is married to his partner Lucy Fisher. They have three children.

PATRICK McCORMICK (Producer) has worked on a wide range of films with top actors and filmmakers. His many credits as executive producer include three films directed by Barry Levinson: Bandits, the comic caper starring Bruce Willis, Billy Bob Thornton and Cate Blanchett; Everlasting Piece, a comedy set in 1980's Belfast, starring Barry McEvoy, Brian F. O'Byrne, Anna Friel and Billy Connolly; and Liberty Heights, the fourth in the director's Baltimore series, starring Adrien Brody, Bebe Neuwirth and Joe Mantegna. McCormick was also executive producer of Stepmom, starring Julia Roberts, Susan Sarandon and Ed Harris; Donnie Brasco, starring Al Pacino, Johnny Depp and Anne Heche; The Juror, starring Demi Moore, Alec Baldwin and James Gandolfini; and Boys on the Side, starring Drew Barrymore, Whoopi Goldberg, Mary-Louise Parker and Matthew McConaughey. He also previously produced films including Angie, starring Geena Davis; A Shock to the System, starring Michael Caine; and Last Rites, starring Tom Berenger.

MOHAMED AL FAYED (Executive Producer) was born in Alexandria, Egypt. In 1961, all his family's Egyptian business assets were nationalized so Al Fayed left Egypt the following year to pursue his career abroad. Under his leadership, the Fayed Group became known in the United States, Europe and the Middle East, developing interests in construction, oil trading and oil exploration, banking, real estate and international marine services.

Al Fayed came to world attention through his purchase of two major businesses that are best described as national institutions. In 1978 he bought L'Hotel Ritz in Paris and in 1985 he acquired Britain's biggest department store group, House of Fraser with its flagship store in London, Harrods. Al Fayed succeeded in restoring L'Hotel Ritz to its former glory. The restoration took five years and the expenditure of more than $300 million. Al Fayed's efforts in restoring a national monument saw the Mayor of Paris M. Jacques Chirac present Al Fayed with La Grande Medaille of the City of Paris and in 1986 he was bestowed with the national French decoration of the Legion d'Honneur, and was promoted to First Officer of the Legion d'Honneur by President Mitterand in 1993.

Since acquiring Harrods in 1985, Al Fayed has invested more than $500 million to restore the world's most celebrated department store to its former glory so that today Harrods is a British institution. Every year Harrods attracts 50-million customers from all over the world. Although the department store is unique, it has established a network of more than 50 Harrods Signature shops around the world.

In 1994, Al Fayed floated the House of Fraser Stores company on the London Stock Exchange. It was one of the largest flotations for several years and was more than twice oversubscribed, successfully realizing £413 million. Al Fayed retained the jewel in the company crown, Harrods and the subsidiary company Kurt Geiger shoes, which his family has added to the group. The Jermyn Street shirt maker, Turnbull & Asser, which bears the Royal Warrant of HRH The Prince of Wales, is also owned by the Fayed family.

In 1986, Al Fayed agreed to become the custodian of the Windsor Villa in the Bois de Boulogne, Paris, where HRH the Duke and Duchess of Windsor lived from the early '50's and where they both died. He has devoted a great deal of time and money to the restoration of the Villa and the conservation and cataloguing of its contents, the work being carried out by Fine Arts specialists to museum standards. The Villa was reopened by the then mayor of Paris, M. Jacques Chirac in 1989.

In 1980, Al Fayed jointly produced the film Chariots of Fire, which won four Academy AwardsR. But for Al Fayed's faith in the project, the film might never have been made, as producer Sir David Puttnam has confirmed. In 1996, Al Fayed established Liberty Publishing, which in September of that year re-launched the magazine Punch that was established 150 years ago but had ceased publication. The rebirth of this much-loved British institution was widely welcomed.

In 1997 Al Fayed acquired the controlling interest in Fulham Football Club, now in the Premier League. A program of capital investment and development aims to restore the Club to its former glory.

GAIL LYON (Executive Producer), formerly president of Red Wagon Entertainment, was executive producer of the beloved family hit Stuart Little 2. While president of Jersey Films, she co-produced director Steven Soderbergh's Erin Brockovich, starring Academy AwardR winner Julia Roberts. Lyon also co-produced the futuristic drama Gattaca, written and directed by Andrew Niccol and starring Ethan Hawke, Uma Thurman and Jude Law. She was executive producer of the HBO comedy film The Pentagon Wars, directed by Richard Benjamin and starring Kelsey Grammer. Previously, she was an executive within the feature film divisions of The Walt Disney Company. An alumna of Smith College, Lyon began her career as an NBC page.

JOCELYN MOORHOUSE (Executive Producer), a 1984 graduate of the Australian Film and Television School, began her career writing for television. In 1988, she developed, with husband P. J. Hogan, a children's comedy series called c/o The Bartons, based on their combined childhood memories.

She made her debut as a feature film writer-director with Proof, starring Hugo Weaving and Russell Crowe. The film premiered at the 1991 Cannes Film Festival in the Director's Fortnight and won a Special Mention in the Golden Camera Awards. Proof won six Australian Film Institute Awards, including Best Film, Best Director and Best Screenplay. It received a Bronze Award at the Tokyo International Film Festival and won the Critics' Award at the Sao Paulo International Film Festival.

Moorhouse was a producer of Muriel's Wedding, the 1994 sleeper hit written and directed by Hogan. This film, which also premiered at Cannes, won four Australian Film Institute Awards including Best Film, and was nominated for BAFTA, Golden Globe and WGA awards.

Moorhouse moved to Los Angeles to direct How To Make an American Quilt, the 1995 film starring Winona Ryder, Ellen Burstyn and Anne Bancroft. She next directed the 1997 drama A Thousand Acres, starring Michelle Pfeiffer, Jessica Lange and Jason Robards. Most recently, she produced (with Patricia Witcher and Jerry Zucker) Hogan's Unconditional Love.

DONALD M. McALPINE, A.S.C., A.C.S. (Director of Photography) received an Academy AwardR nomination for his work on Baz Luhrmann's dazzling Moulin Rouge. One of the world's top cinematographers, McAlpine also shot Luhrmann's William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet, as well as Phillip Noyce's Clear and Present Danger and Patriot Games; Chris Columbus' Stepmom, Nine Months and Mrs. Doubtfire; Mel Gibson's The Man Without a Face; Lee Tamahori's The Edge; Ron Howard's Parenthood; Alan J. Pakula's See You in The Morning and Orphans; Paul Mazursky's Moon Over Parador; Down and Out In Beverly Hills; Moscow on the Hudson and The Tempest; and Paul Newman's Harry & Son. McAlpine won Australian Film Institute Awards for Breaker Morant, directed by Bruce Beresford, and My Brilliant Career, directed by Gillian Armstrong. His credits also include Medicine Man, The Hard Way, Stanley & Iris, Predator, Time Machine and Anger Management.

ROGER FORD (Production Designer) was nominated for an Academy AwardR for his production design on Babe. His latest credits include two films from director Phillip Noyce, The Quiet American and Rabbit-Proof Fence, as well as Russell Mulcahy's Swimming Upstream, starring Geoffrey Rush and Judy Davis. Ford also designed Mulcahy's television project, On the Beach.

Ford has designed four films for director John Duigan: Romero; The Year My Voice Broke; Flirting; and Sirens. His film credits also include Peter Duncan's Children of the Revolution; Chris Kennedy's Doing Time for Patsy Cline, and George Miller's Babe: Pig in the City. On several films, including Babe, Rabbit-Proof Fence, Flirting and The Year My Voice Broke, Ford served as costume designer as well as production designer. Ford received Australian Film Institute (AFI) Awards for his production designs for Flirting and Children of the Revolution and AFI's Award in the Open Craft Category for On the Beach. His work has been honored with six additional AFI nominations - for both costume and production design on Rabbit-Proof Fence, for production design on Swimming Upstream and Doing Time for Patsy Cline, and for costume design on The Nostradamus Kid and Those Dear Departed.

Ford began his career as a production designer in London in the 1960's. His earliest projects were for BBC Television and included The Cliff Richard Show; The Cilla Black Show; The Spike Milligan Show; The Dave Allen Show; and Dr Who. In the early 1970's, he visited Australia and has lived there ever since. He began work in Sydney with ABC Television, first designing sets and costumes, and then as Head of the Design Department.

Ford is currently production designer for The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, based on the classic children's novel by C. S. Lewis.

GARTH CRAVEN (Editor) previously collaborated with director P. J. Hogan as editor of My Best Friend's Wedding. His editing credits also include Legally Blonde; One Fine Day; A Midsummer Night's Dream; Turner & Hooch; Educating Rita; Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid; Convoy; What's the Worst That Could Happen?; Where the Money Is; Return to Me; Outfitters; Restoration; When a Man Loves a Woman; Passed Away; Soapdish; Shoot To Kill; Gaby: A True Story; The Best of Times; Little Treasures; I, the Jury; Avalanche Express; and I Never Promised You a Rose Garden.

MICHAEL KAHN, A.C.E. (Editor) is one of the most successful editors working today, with combined box office totals for the films he has edited reaching into the billions. This is due in part to his association with several successful directors, with Steven Spielberg heading the list. Kahn has edited no less than 18 feature films for Spielberg, as well as the Kick the Can segment from Twilight Zone: The Movie. In total, he has cut more than 52 feature films and motion pictures for television.

Kahn began his editing career in the early 1970's with the television sitcom Hogan's Heroes, and then went directly to editing films. His first features include Elliot Silverstein's A Man Called Horse and three films for director Robert Clouse.

Kahn has also edited at least two films each for directors Jan de Bont, George C. Scott, Irvin Kershner and Frank Marshall, as well as one feature each for directors Joe Dante, Richard Donner, Emilio Estevez, John Frankenheimer, Tobe Hooper, John Landis, Adrian Lyne and Robert Zemeckis.

Kahn has been nominated for the OscarR six times (twice in 1988), winning for Raiders of the Lost Ark, Schindler's List and Saving Private Ryan. He has been nominated seven times for the ACE Eddie Award, most recently for Minority Report, and has won three times, for Raiders of the Lost Ark, Saving Private Ryan and the 1975 motion picture for television, Eleanor and Franklin, for which he also won an Emmy Award. He has been nominated for a BAFTA Award six times, winning for Schindler's List and Fatal Attraction.

His upcoming projects include The Secret Life of Walter Mitty and Terminal, both for Steven Spielberg.

JAMES NEWTON HOWARD (Composer), is one of Hollywood's most versatile and prolific composers, with more than 85 films to his credit. He has received five Academy AwardR nominations, two Golden Globe nominations and one Grammy nomination. In addition, he has won 21 ASCAP Awards for film and television shows scored from 1994 to 2002. His credits include films as diverse as The Sixth Sense, Signs, The Fugitive, Pretty Woman, The Prince of Tides, Grand Canyon, Dave, Primal Fear, Glengarry Glen Ross, The Devil's Advocate and Dinosaur.

Howard attended the Santa Barbara Musical Academy of the West and the University of Southern California's School of Music and completed his formal education with orchestration study under legendary arranger Marty Paich. Though his training was classical, he nurtured an interest in rock and pop. It was in his early work in the pop arena that he really honed his talents as songwriter, musician, arranger, producer and composer.

He spent two years doing session work for performers like Carly Simon, Diana Ross, Ringo Starr, Leo Sayer, Harry Nilsson and Melissa Manchester and also recorded two solo albums. In 1975, he joined pop superstar Elton John's band on the road and in the studio doing orchestrations and string arrangements. While working with the London Symphony as part of his arrangements for Elton John's Blue Moves album, Howard was first introduced to a big orchestra and rhythm section, a combination he has continued to explore in many of his film scores.

Having become one of the most sought-after musicians in the industry as a songwriter, record producer, conductor, keyboardist and film composer, he racked up a string of collaborations in the studio with some of pop's biggest names. He has produced tracks for Randy Newman, Rickie Lee Jones, Chakha Khan and Glen Frey; arranged for Barbra Streisand; orchestrated for Toto and Olivia Newton-John (co-producing one of her songs with Elton John); co-written with Earth Wind and Fire, and done session work with Bob Seger and Rod Stewart, among others.

Howard's upcoming projects include Hidalgo, starring Viggo Mortensen and Omar Sharif; M. Night Shyamalan's The Village, starring Joaquin Phoenix, William Hurt, Sigourney Weaver and Adrien Brody; and Secret Window, Secret Garden, starring Johnny Depp.

SCOTT FARRAR (Visual Effects Supervisor) joined Industrial Light + Magic in 1981 as a camera operator on Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and was promoted to visual effects supervisor on Who Framed Roger Rabbit? in 1987. In 1985 Farrar received an Academy AwardR for Best Visual Effects for his work on Cocoon. He was nominated for the Best Visual Effects OscarR for A. I. Artificial Intelligence.

Prior to joining ILM, Farrar worked as a freelance cameraman. In 1975 he was invited to visit the set of the then unknown Star Wars and saw the first motion control system in action. Inspired by what he saw, he began work for Robert Abel & Associates and eventually for Doug Trimble working on Star Trek: The Motion Picture.

A California native, Farrar received his Bachelor of Arts and Masters of Fine Arts in Theatre Design with an emphasis in Film from the University of California in Los Angeles.

Further credits as visual effects supervisor include Minority Report; A.I. Artificial Intelligence; Space Cowboys; The Haunting; Deep Impact; Amistad; Men in Black (end sequence); Daylight; Congo; Star Trek IV: The Undiscovered Country; Backdraft (for which he received an Academy AwardR nomination); Back to the Future Parts II and III and Cocoon: The Return.

JANET PATTERSON (Costume Designer),a three-time Academy AwardR nominee, was OscarR-nominated for her costume designs for the Jane Campion films The Piano and Portrait of a Lady and for Gillian Armstrong's Oscar and Lucinda.

She was both costume and production designer on Campion's Holy Smoke, starring Kate Winslet and Harvey Keitel, as well as Campion's Portrait of a Lady, starring Nicole Kidman, John Malkovich and Barbara Hershey. In addition to Oscar and Lucinda, starring Cate Blanchett and Ralph Fiennes, her work with Gillian Armstrong includes The Last Days of Chez Nous, starring Lisa Harrow, Bruno Ganz and Kerry Fox. Patterson was also production designer on this film.

Her television credits as production designer include Come in Spinner, Edens Lost and Two Friends, on which she also served as costume designer.

CONRAD E. PALMISANO (2nd Unit Director / Stunt Coordinator),a native of Santa Rosa, California, served in Viet Nam with the United States Marine Corps before beginning his career as a stunt man in 1970. Currently President of the Stuntmens Association of Motion Pictures, Palmisano has also served on the Board of Directors of the Screen Actors Guild and during his five-year term was instrumental in forming the National Stunt and Safety Committee. In 1980, he began directing small second units and in 1982 directed his first major second unit on the film First Blood. Since then he has directed second units on many major motion pictures including Red Dragon, Rush Hour II, Bandits, X-Men, Romeo Must Die, Lethal Weapon 4, The Peacemaker, Conspiracy Theory, Assassins, Batman Forever, Free Willie 2 and Robocop 2 and 3. Palmisano also served as stunt coordinator on many of these films and others including The Jerk, The Great Santini, Breaking Away, Cujo and The Natural. Earlier in his career, he worked as a stunt double, stunt driver or utility stunt man on numerous films and television projects including The Rockford Files, Police Woman, The Six Million Dollar Man, Magnum P. I. and Kung Fu.

GARY WORSFIELD (Fencing Master) has been involved in fencing for most of his life as a nationally graded and internationally experienced competitor, president d'jury, armourer, technical official, sports administrator, instructor, coach and fencing master. He was originally taught fencing and coaching in the late 1960's from Maitre John Fethers, world finalist at the first electric foil World Championships in 1955, and a friend and colleague of Bob Anderson, Hollywood's guru of swordfight choreography.

Worsfield's coaching experiences range from teaching kids as young as five to aged pensioners in their 70's and training them to elite levels within their respective age categories at State/Provincial and National Championships, International Tournaments and World Championships. His coaching ethos emphasizes the joy of the learning experience over the thought of winning.

In addition to his film work, G.W., as he has become known, has choreographed swordfights for theater, opera and ballet in Australia and Canada. His credits include productions of Twelfth Night, Romeo and Juliet, King Lear, Cyrano de Bergerac, MacBeth - The Rock Opera, Hamlet, La Forza del Destino and The Pirates of Penzance.

BRAD ALLAN (Fight Coordinator), an award-winning stuntman and action choreographer, met Jackie Chan seven years ago when the legendary Hong Kong action star was filming Mr. Nice Guy near Allan's home in Melbourne, Australia. A student of martial arts since the age of 10, Allan, who specializes in the wushu style, became the first non-Asian member of Chan's stunt team. He has performed with Chan's team in Shanghai Knights, The Medallion, The Tuxedo, Rush Hour 2, The Accidental Spy, Shanghai Noon, Rush Hour and Who Am I? In addition, he was action choreographer on Shanghai Knights, assistant stunt coordinator on The Accidental Spy and assistant fight choreographer on Shanghai Noon. He has also appeared in the film Gorgeous, starring opposite Jackie Chan. He is currently working as fight choreographer on The Chronicles of Riddick, starring Vin Diesel.

- peter pan -

註：以上資訊由片主或其推廣代表提供。本網並不保證此等資訊是否正確。
Note: The information above is provided by the owners of the film or their agents who are responsible for the promotion of the film. We do not guarantee the accuracy of such information.

相關連結 Related Links

• 最近公影電影 Recent, Current, and Upcoming Films