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本屆金球獎提名最佳電影 (喜劇/歌舞片)
本屆奧斯卡金像獎提名最佳服裝設計
金像級導演《筆姬別戀》茱莉泰摩原創故事
33首披頭四歌曲樂迷朝聖之作

2月28日全城迴響

故事大綱

來自英國利物浦的男孩朱特徒具繪畫天賦，為了生活只能在碼頭當工人，後來因尋找父親而遠度重洋，在美國普林斯頓大學認識了麥士和他美麗純潔的妹妹露茜。三人一同往紐約闖蕩，朱特與露茜更墮入愛河，他們無拘無束、自由奔放地戀愛，還積極地投身於反戰和反主流文化的運動，一同經歷心智飽受考驗的美國60年代。

然而，面對來自外界的各種衝突及鎮壓，他倆無奈分開，各自走向不同的道路……天涯兜轉，老友重聚又砰然心動……

《戀愛心曲》是一齣新穎有創意的反傳統音樂電影，通過33首披頭四樂隊(The Beatles)歌曲，講述一個無悔青春的愛情故事，描繪一群年輕人尋找愛情與人生方向的熱情與迷惘，面對美國60年代流行的嬉皮士文化、搖滾樂、宗教、種族及越戰等衝擊，主角以美妙歌聲唱出愛恨情仇。由憑《筆姬別戀》贏得奧斯卡六項提名的金像導演茱莉泰摩操刀，夥拍金像班底最佳服裝造型的艾拔禾斯基、原創音樂艾略特高登索，與三位火速上位的荷里活新秀伊雲麗素活、占史杜哲斯和祖安迪遜合作，另一位耀眼新星乃香港著名歌手杜麗莎愛女TV Carpio，位位能歌善舞又會演戲，實在令人刮目相看。集經典披頭四音樂、精彩舞蹈、奇異特效影像及天馬行空的創意於一身，《戀愛心曲》為愛音樂、藝術及電影的人不容錯過的電影。

時光倒流60s 小人物看大時代

導演茱莉泰摩說：「音樂和電影不只反映微觀的個人經驗，同時也反映世界上每天在我們身邊發生的事。」

《戀愛心曲》的靈感來自茱莉童年的觀察與奇想，露茜和麥士這對兄妹正是她哥哥和姊姊的投射。在60年代仍是小孩的她，目睹父母和當時是大學生的哥哥和姊姊，一起走過那些充斥激進的政治運動的動盪日子，年輕人被徵召當兵、嬉皮士文化盛行、毒品泛濫等社會現象紛陳。她十分嚮往當時人們敢言、不平則鳴、全身投入社會運動的風氣，以至自我探索、勇敢追尋理想與愛情，深深感受到一團又一團生生不息的火在熾熱燃燒。但導演製作本片並非單純懷緬過去，她說：「我真希望觀眾能與電影對話，尤其年輕一輩能從中看到主角對愛情、對親情及社會事物的激情和熱忱，即使故事設定在60年代，感受卻仍然鮮活，做到真正穿越時空、橫跨文化地域，任何人均可有著設身處地的認同及感受，有著對處身浮世的共鳴。」

《戀愛心曲》是一個既甜蜜又具時代意義的愛情故事。影片忠實拍出了當時抨擊政府的反戰遊行、街頭演講成風、民權運動等反戰情緒，而60年代的反越戰背景正好與當前美國國內的反戰聲音相呼應。時代不同，但政府罔顧人民，發動戰爭以致犧牲大量無辜性命的悲劇卻重覆上演，借古喻今的訊息十分明顯。愛在人浮於事的現世，雖患得患失、卻又充滿浪漫與激情，更彰顯那份彌足珍貴的情誼。時代背景及政治因素豐富了愛情故事的層次，令《戀愛心曲》從傳統愛情片的洪流中脫穎而出，也是她更可堪回味的原因。

以歌載意現場收音演唱

跟傳統歌舞片以故事先行，歌曲穿插其中的形式相比，《戀愛心曲》是真正以歌曲為本，以歌曲帶動和推進故事的電影。導演茱莉泰摩表示他們從披頭四樂隊超過200首名曲中，千挑萬選最能代表那年代、最適合向觀眾說故事的歌曲。最終精選了33首。《戀愛心曲》的特別之處就是以歌詞說故事：它們是劇本，是調子，更是流露人物感情的詠嘆。

歌曲告訴觀眾有關眼前人物的一切，不必再重覆交代人物的背景、家庭、社交圈子，觀眾已能了解角色的性格、當時的心情、想法等。音樂有助觀眾更快進入一種情緒狀態，如其中一幕朱特一邊哼著"Revolution"一邊衝入露茜的學生民主改革辦公室找麻煩時，有力的歌詞和緊湊的的旋律比直接說出對白，更易讓觀眾投入，明白朱特是何其忿怒。茱莉說：「音樂真的可以幫助我們在靈感枯竭時，把我們提昇到另一個層次。」

影片中所有歌曲都由演員們重新演唱，一般歌舞片都會事先在兩至三個月前在錄音室錄製歌曲，唱與演、歌與戲往往是分開進行的。但《戀愛心曲》以歌詞充當對話及內心感受，導演要求保持現場環境的真實感及演員當下與對手的交流。因此本片90巴仙以上的歌曲都是現場演唱，觀眾留心或可聽到雜音，但那卻是活的配襯而不是錄音室封閉的靜止聲音。其他在室內進行的錄音工作，為保持音樂的完整風味及真實性，工作人員更找來當年60年代流行的卡式錄音帶及舊式咪高鋒來錄音，避免數碼製作的失真。

因現場收音的關係，拍攝時除要極為安靜，攝影師和燈光設計師的配合也很重要，以幫助收音咪盡可能接近演員的頭頂。為達最佳效果，收音咪與演員的距離控制在12至15吋之內，一切都講求現場環境及工作人員的配合和默契。

重新詮釋歌曲向披頭四致敬

將披頭四樂隊的經典歌曲重新演繹，通過適當的情節把音樂引入，可幫助觀眾理解歌曲的涵義，再一次向這支經典樂隊致敬。本身是披頭四迷的，定必會勾起無限懷念；而對非披頭四迷以及年輕一輩來說，《戀愛心曲》是一次重新認識他們音樂的奇妙之旅。

導演茱莉認為：「披頭四的音樂對許多人來說是神聖的，我們也認為原來的版本是完美的，因此打從一開始我們就無意與原來的版本比較，而是重新編排及分析每首歌來切合電影：誰唱這首歌、內容是什麼、表現的感覺和時限等。這未必是一個更好的版本，但肯定是一種截然不同的新嘗試。」

「談到對披頭四歌曲的理解，鮮有人仔細研究那些歌詞的真正含義和他們真正要表達的情緒，像 "I want you"、"Strawberry Fields Forever" 、"Happiness Is a Warm Gun"、"Revolution" 、"Let It Be"等歌曲，也許當初創作的本意只是表達愛情或其他感情，可每個人對歌曲的理解都不盡相同，我們嘗試在《戀愛心曲》詮釋更多可能性。如以上歌曲用於戰爭、騷亂等情節，配以生動貼切的畫面，也能適切表達人們對戰爭的厭惡，對和平的渴望等，讓大家對披頭四歌曲有更立體和多角度的欣賞。」

其他歌曲如"I Want To Hold Your Hand"表達對同性的仰慕之情；"Hey Jude"表達同性之間的真摯友誼。都是導演示範如何為經典歌曲賦予新的意義。片末以"All you need is love"作結更是獨具匠心，無論是愛情的擱淺，戰爭的生離死別，還是為個人理想打拚遇上的挫敗，所有痛苦都在這歌曲中融化、消散，表達披頭四歌曲的核心思想--- All you need is love. Love is all you need.

出現在《戀愛心曲》的33首精選歌曲總括如下：

1. Girl
2. Hold Me Tight
3. All My Loving
4. I Want to Hold Your Hand
5. With a Little Help from My Friends
6. It Won't Be Long
7. I've Just Seen a Face
8. Let It Be
9. Come Together
10. If I Fell
11. Dear Prudence
12. Flying
13. Blue Jay Way
14. I Am the Walrus
15. Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite
16. Because
17. Something
18. Oh! Darling
19. Strawberry Fields Forever
20. Revolution
21. While My Guitar Gently Weeps
22. Across the Universe
23. Helter Skelter
24. Happiness Is a Warm Gun
25. Blackbird
26. Hey Jude
27. Don't Let Me Down
28. All You Need Is Love
29. Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds

另外片中更包括兩首演奏曲，以及藍調吉他大師Jeff Beck演奏了一首A Day In The Life。

影片的角色名字也別有用心，全取自披頭四的一些經典歌曲：如跟The Beatles同樣來自利物浦的男主角朱特Jude取自"Hey, Jude"：女主角露茜Lucy取自"Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds；她的哥哥麥士Max 取自"Maxwell's Silver Hammer"；歷經底特律工人暴動後，帶著吉他來到紐約發展的JoJo 出自"Get Back "；同樣出走的珮頓絲Prudence 取自"Dear Prudence", 由TV Carpio 飾演。他們聚集在女歌手茜迪Sadie (取自"Sexy Sadie")的住所一起生活，愛情與友情慢慢在這群人之間滋長。

形象奇特絢麗觀眾目不暇給

多重解讀歌曲以外，茱莉泰摩大膽加入很多奇特、設計大膽的意念，活像是萬花筒裏看到的景象。

在歌舞編排方面，曾以百老匯音樂劇《獅子王》摘下東尼獎（Tony Award）最佳音樂劇、最佳導演的茱莉泰摩再度發揮拿手好戲，將音樂、舞蹈與劇情緊密結合。其中一幕叫人難忘的為大批舞者化身成上班族，以整齊、規律的舞姿表現城市人的匆匆忙忙、疏離與機械化。而視覺特效剪輯部分，導演運用各種畫面的堆疊、交融、切換，佐以斑斕的顏色與光影，營造各場絢麗效果，如男主角朱特在紐約的家以士多啤梨作畫，邊唱"Strawberry Fields Forever"的一幕，士多啤梨流淌鮮紅的汁液如血泊，下一秒鐘一顆顆士多啤梨變成威力十足的炸彈，在越南上空紛紛落下，兩地時空遙遙相呼應，也映襯著情場失意的朱特與身陷戰場的麥士悵惘與恐懼的臉孔，是近代電影中較難忘的視覺衝擊。另外別具匠心的是她運用水中的畫面，以慢鏡頭舒展男、女主角的身體，活脫脫是一幅現代抽象畫，前衛而充滿美感。

茱莉與工作人員又發揮驚人的想象力，帶給觀眾一幕接一幕既荒又誕有趣的場面，如麥士被逼編入軍隊、應徵召體檢的一幕，旗幟上象征美國政府的"Uncle Sam"畫像開口唱歌"I Want You"，以及一大群身材魁悟、面貌一樣的G.I. JOE的軍官，諷刺美國將年輕人如生產線般送上戰場，映襯他們被逼任由擺佈的無奈，實為別出心裁的場景設計。

這些豐富的視覺元素，色彩鮮明、天馬行空的形像均令本片出類拔萃。

拜倒披頭四群星粉墨登場

茱莉泰摩、披頭四樂曲、有質素的製作相信是《戀愛心曲》能吸引歌壇及影壇天王巨星粉墨登場的原因。

本片歌曲除了由主要的劇中演員伊雲麗素活、占史杜哲斯、T.V. Carpio及祖安迪遜等人翻唱之外,還有U2樂隊的Bono、英國藍調搖滾老牌大將Joe Cocker、英國著名喜劇演員艾迪希瑟(Eddie Izzard)及憑《筆姬別戀》演出Frida一角獲提名奧斯卡最佳女主角的墨西哥女星莎瑪希雅(Salma Hayek)，也特別為了客串的角色翻唱首首名曲。

Bono在世界巡迴演唱中抽出兩天為本片客串。第一次演戲的他在本片飾演"Dr.Robert"，靈感來自知名的美國作家Jack Kerouac，他的寫作手法深受爵士樂啟發，以「敲打」（Beat）敘事手法，憑美國戰後文學經典小說《On the Road》而留名後世。他在本片翻唱了"I Am The Walrus" 、"Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds"等曲；Joe Cocker也特別為了本片以皮條客及嬉皮士的造形，客串及翻唱了"Come Together"等歌曲。

因參演茱莉泰摩執導的前作《筆姬別戀》，而與茱莉結成好友的莎瑪希雅，為支持好友亦在本片客串，扮演性感女護士哼唱" Happiness Is a Warm Gun "。曾參與《盜海豪情：十二瞞徒》、《盜海豪情：十三王牌》及將參演湯告魯斯主演的新片《Valkyrie》的艾迪希瑟，在《戀愛心曲》扮演馬戲團的班主，演唱"Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite" ！即使經濃妝豔抹及誇張華飾包裝，仍掩蓋不了一眾紅星自然流露的風采及光芒。男角占史杜哲斯對自己能參與本片感到非常幸運，除了可與他十分欣賞的茱莉和各演員合作，能和各知名天王歌星在電影合作也是一個擴闊眼界的經驗。Bono甚至邀請他來欣賞U2的演出，又讚賞他的歌聲。

關於Across the Universe

"Across the Universe"是披頭四樂隊饒有寓意的一首歌，在云云作品中，它並非最流行的一首，但絕對是值得再三回味的好歌。這首經典歌曲首次在1969年12月發表，作為慈善募款之用，後來才收錄在披頭四樂隊最後一張專輯《Let It Be》中，並由約翰連儂(John Lennon)譜寫及演唱。

經典金曲經得起時間考驗，"Across the Universe"近十年來先後在電影中被翻唱，如在《一人有一點顏色》(Pleasantville)及《不一樣的爸爸》(I Am Sam)分別由著名歌手Fiona Apple及Rufus Wainwright重新演繹，真正精神長存，橫跨時空，穿越穹蒼。

Across the Universe　　　　The Beatles
Words are flowing out like endless rain into a paper cup
They slither while they pass
They slip away across the universe
Pools of sorrow, waves of joy
Are drifting through my open mind
Possessing and caressing me

*Jai guru deva om (註)
Nothing's gonna change my world
Nothing's gonna change my world
Nothing's gonna change my world
Nothing's gonna change my world

Images of broken light
Which dance before me like a million eyes
That call me on and on across the universe
Thoughts meander like a restless wind inside a letter box
They tumble blindly
As they make their way across the universe (*)

Sounds of laughter, shades of earth
Are ringing through my open views
Inciting and inviting me
Limitless undying love
Which shines around me like a million suns
It calls me on and on across the universe

(註):Jai guru deva om是梵文，可解作：

　Jai　　　　　Guru　　　　Deva　　　　　　　　　Om
Live Forever　 Teacher　　Heavenly One　　The Vibration of the Universe

可參考網址http://www.users.qwest.net/~gcliving/atu/misc/translation.htm

關於The Beatles

說來自英國利物浦的披頭四樂隊（The Beatles）是二十世紀最偉大樂隊相信沒人會反對，他們對流行音樂的革命性發展與影響力無人可出其右，對搖滾樂的發展作出了巨大的貢獻，啟發了自60年代以後的許許多多樂隊的思想和方向，直接影響了搖滾樂的變革和發展。披頭四樂隊成員包括當結他手、主音歌手的約翰連儂（John Lennon）、當低音結他手、歌手的保羅麥卡尼（Paul McCartney）、當結他手、歌手的佐治夏里遜（George Harrison）以及鼓手靈高史達（Ringo Starr）。

回溯披頭四樂隊的形成、發展以及他們多不勝數的成就不是易事，數較重要的包括於1962年正式與EMI百代唱片公司簽約錄製唱片；1963年初，單曲唱片《Please Please Me》登上英國排行榜首位；1964年成功打入美國演出；1966年在日本舉行大規模音樂會；1966年8月29日在三藩市舉行最後一場收費現場音樂會。其後樂隊成員間的不和及矛盾漸漸升級，終在1970年12月31日，成員保羅麥卡尼正式起訴樂隊其他三位成員，要求結束樂隊合作，指明管理和分配樂隊財產的正式人選。從成立到解散，樂隊壽命僅約十年，但是已為音樂文化起了重大革命，他們在全球擁有以數億計的唱片銷量，對社會的影響力也早已超過其藝術的本身，同時也成為了流行文化和英國歷史的一個指標，更被英女王加封晉爵。

隨著1980年12月8日，約翰連儂在美國紐約被一名患有精神病的歌迷槍殺身亡後，披頭四樂隊正式成為千千萬萬歌迷們長存於記憶的偶像和傳奇人物。時至今天，他們的名曲仍有歌手不斷翻唱，唱片銷量每年仍有近千萬張的增幅，仍有許多年青人為他們的音樂癡迷。毫無疑問，披頭四的音樂將成為人類的永恒。

關於演員

伊雲麗素活 飾演 露茜Lucy
年紀輕輕僅20歲的女主角伊雲麗素活，在本片中收放自如、情緒拿捏恰當的演出，加上擁有仿似和平女神、純美臉龐和憂鬱眼神的完美外形，其出色歌喉及演出均令人一見難忘。伊雲麗素活早在影壇打滾，是本片最有經驗的演員。她在《虛擬索女郎》以飾演金像影帝阿爾柏仙奴的女兒嶄露頭角，最讓觀眾印象深刻的演出則是《Thirteen》，她演活了青春期女孩的彷徨與迷惑，伊雲麗素活就此深深地擄獲觀眾和影評的心，還獲得當年金球獎最佳女主角的提名。對於伊雲麗素活，參演《戀愛心曲》不但是挑戰，更是生活的體驗。為了遷就電影的拍攝工作，她隻身搬到紐約定居，第一次過獨立生活。雖然她沒有接受過任何歌唱訓練，但在演唱非常高音、難度極高的" If I Fell"時卻一樣拿?得宜，。以往的電影一直沒有機會展現她美妙的嗓子，相信本片將為她帶來更多演出歌舞片的機會。

伊雲麗素活曾應當紅樂隊Green Day的邀請出演《Wake Me Up When September Ends》的MV。即便是MV，她也能將角色詮釋得宜。伊雲最近在名導演占士金馬倫為其知名歌手男友Marilyn Manson執導的新曲《Heart Shaped Glasses》MV，作情侶檔演出，在視頻網站You Tube一經上傳，即錄得高達100多萬的點擊量，極具人氣。

占史杜哲斯 Jim Sturgess 飾演 朱特Jude
來自英國的影壇新晉男演員占史杜哲斯，1979年出生於倫敦。赴美發展以前活躍於英國電視圈。《戀愛心曲》可說是他的第一部電影，接下來大家可在電影《The Other Boleyn Girl 》及《21》裡看到他的演出。

導演透露當她親自致電各面試者來試鏡時，在電話中首次聽到占史杜哲斯的聲音，即使未見其人，她幾乎已肯定他就是朱特最理想的人選。「唱傳統歌劇的和唱流行曲的也不是我們的理想人選。占之前一直是搖滾樂隊的成員和演員，聽他唱歌時有一種難以形容的釋放，他擁有絕妙的歌喉，說話的聲線和唱歌的聲線沒兩樣，演出時能自然地在兩者之間游刃自如。」導演對占史杜哲斯的演出讚口不絕。

祖安迪遜Joe Anderson 飾演 麥士Max
扮演露茜哥哥麥士的祖安迪遜在本片生動演出十分搶鏡，來自英國的他在本片扮演一名崇尚自由的美國熱血青年，在演繹口音方面下了不少功夫，導演茱莉說：「Max是一位美國人，但我們一直無法找到既有素質，又適合的美國人來演Max，正當我們懊惱之時便遇上祖安迪遜。有趣的是他本來是被安排參加Jude的試鏡，可面試完畢，他坦誠告訴我自己的性格並不切合Jude，反之更適合演活Max，而他與伊雲麗素活看上去也像兄妹，所以他真是演Max的最佳人選。」這位金髮帥哥曾在《珍奧斯汀少女日記》飾演女主角的哥哥，並在《貝多芬未緣曲》飾演貝多芬的侄兒。

T.V. Carpio 飾演 珮頓絲Prudence
《戀愛心曲》另一位歌舞皆精的耀眼新星，是扮演珮頓絲Prudence一角的亞裔女孩 T.V. Carpio，她甫出場一曲"I Want To Hold Your Hands"，表現相當不凡。Carpio是香港赫赫有名的紅歌星杜麗莎的女兒，曾為舞蹈員和溜冰選手，在片中馬戲團一幕她的溜冰技術便派上用場。脫離母蔭，往海外發展的她跟母親一樣聲色藝俱全，不負母親盛名。

幕後人員

導演茱莉泰摩 Julie Taymor
來自美國的茱莉泰摩生於1953年，她的才情橫溢不僅見於非凡的導演功力，與歌手和舞者真正能以共同的藝術語言溝通，是以她總能吸引頂級的藝術家和人才與她合作，前作《筆姬別戀》的成功正可引證。《筆姬別戀》榮獲奧斯卡6項提名，其中叫人目炫的視覺特效，包括活靈活現的3D名畫換化成劇中的演員，每一個場景間皆變化莫測，必須歸功於導演茱莉泰摩強烈的藝術風格。她曾經?百老匯的音樂舞臺劇《獅子王》作嫁，以追求色彩服裝的多樣化和豐富的視覺效果而聞名，大獲好評。她執導的銀幕處女作，由安東尼鶴健士主演的《Titus》，表現她對影像的敏銳度和大膽的?事手法，再次備受好評。

《戀愛心曲》裡的視覺畫面出色，無論是色彩運用，還是場景設計和編排都很前衛，直是茱莉本人風格的延續。

服飾設計金像得主艾拔禾斯基Albert Wolsky
曾憑電影《一代情梟-畢斯》(Bugsy)及《All that Jazz》奪得兩次奧斯卡最佳造型設計獎的艾拔禾斯基Albert Wolsky是行內著名的服飾設計。其他廣為人認識的作品，包括《網上情緣》、《走佬俏佳人》、《末路驕陽》及《平頭日記》等。近作包括獲本屆金球獎提名最佳影片(喜劇/歌舞片組) 《韋氏風雲》(Charlie Wilson's War)。

ACROSS THE UNIVERSE演職員表

REVOLUTION STUDIOS呈獻
馬修哥斯/TEAM TODD製作
"戀愛心曲"
主演: 《愛你把幾火》伊雲麗素活
占史杜哲斯
《珍奧斯汀少女日記》祖安迪遜
選角: 《潮女私房菜》賓納泰斯, CSA
聯合監製:《蜘蛛俠》系列李察巴華達賓夏巴
服裝: 《走佬俏佳人》《一代情臬-畢斯》金像得主艾拔禾斯基
原創音樂:《筆姬別戀》金像得主艾略特高登索
排舞: 《聖誕怪傑》丹尼爾伊薩路
剪接: 《筆姬別戀》《大風暴》金像得主法蘭高斯邦諾,A.C.E.
美術: 《紐約深秋》麥克費保
攝影: 《美麗緣未了》般奴迪邦尼爾,A.F.C.
執行監製: 《3X反恐暴族》戴歷竇哲《死囚168小時》魯特薜曼斯
《五星級戀人》查理斯尼韋夫
故事: 《筆姬別戀》茱莉泰摩《一球成名》迪克薜曼
《一球成名》伊仁拉費尼斯
編劇: 《一球成名》迪克薜曼《一球成名》伊仁拉費尼斯
監製: 《兇心人》蘇珊托特《兇心人》珍妮花托特《贖命密碼》馬修哥斯
導演: 《筆姬別戀》金像級導演茱莉泰摩
發行: Sony Pictures Releasing International

At once gritty, whimsical and highly theatrical, Revolution Studios' Across the Universe is a groundbreaking movie musical, springing from the imagination of renowned writer-director Julie Taymor (Frida, Titus, and the Broadway smash hit musical "The Lion King") and writers Dick Clement & Ian La Frenais (The Commitments), that brings together an original story and 33 revolutionary songs - including "Hey Jude," "I Am the Walrus," and "All You Need is Love" - that defined a generation. Taymor says, "The idea was to create an original musical using only the songs of the Beatles."

A love story set against the backdrop of the 1960s amid the turbulent years of anti-war protest, mind exploration and rock 'n roll, the film moves from the dockyards of Liverpool to the creative psychedelia of Greenwich Village, from the riot-torn streets of Detroit to the killing fields of Vietnam. The star-crossed lovers, Jude (Jim Sturgess) and Lucy (Evan Rachel Wood), along with a small group of friends and musicians, are swept up into the emerging anti-war and counterculture movements, with "Dr. Robert" (Bono) and "Mr. Kite" (Eddie Izzard) as their guides. Tumultuous forces outside their control ultimately tear the young lovers apart, forcing Jude and Lucy - against all odds - to find their own way back to each other.

Revolution Studios presents a Matthew Gross/Team Todd production, a film by Julie Taymor, Across the Universe, starring Evan Rachel Wood, Jim Sturgess, and Joe Anderson. The film is directed by Julie Taymor. The producers are Suzanne Todd, Jennifer Todd, and Matthew Gross. The screenplay is by Dick Clement & Ian La Frenais, from a story by Julie Taymor & Dick Clement & Ian La Frenais. Executive producers are Derek Dauchy, Rudd Simmons, and Charles Newirth. Director of photography is Bruno Delbonnel, A.F.C. The production designer is Mark Friedberg. The editor is Francoise Bonnot, A.C.E. The choreography is by Daniel Ezralow. The original score is by Elliot Goldenthal. The songs are produced by T Bone Burnett, Elliot Goldenthal, and Teese Gohl. The costume designer is Albert Wolsky. Co-producers are Richard Barratta and Ben Haber. Casting by Bernard Telsey, CSA. Columbia Pictures distributes.

The film also features cameos by such notable stars as U2's Bono, Salma Hayek, Eddie Izzard and singer Joe Cocker.

INVESTIGATING THE '60s

Julie Taymor, the groundbreaking visionary behind Revolution Studios' new film Across the Universe, says that she first conceived a film that would, in her words, "investigate the '60s. It had to penetrate all levels of the Beatles' songs. From the love songs to the political songs, the music and the film would not just reflect the microcosm of a character's experience, but, from my perspective, would also represent the macrocosm of the events that are happening in the world."

For Taymor, though the film is set a generation back, making the story and the film fresh and alive for today's audiences was the entire point. "I really want young people to see the passion in this movie - to see with what fervor these characters invested themselves into social movements as well as self-exploration," she says. "I hope it really speaks 'across the universe' and across cultures... that anybody could identify with the situations and the events that are happening in this movie."

According to producer Jennifer Todd, the film is an artistic statement from Taymor. "In addition to being a unique voice, Julie is the hardest-working director I've ever worked with," she says. "It's an amazingly satisfying experience to work with someone who lives and breathes the movie morning, noon, and night. One particular weekend, we went away and came back to discover that an entire new sequence had been invented. Because she's like that, she attracts people who want to work just as hard to achieve her vision."

Producer Matthew Gross, who generated the project, concurs. "Julie is a national treasure," he says. "She is a true artist - not only does she bring visual appeal, but she has just the right touch with the singers and dancers, which was so necessary for this film. The work she did in Titus and Frida show her incredible vision. In addition, because everyone wants to work with Julie Taymor - and with good reason - she is able to attract top artists and amazing talent to work with her. She is a tremendous asset to the film in every way."

Unlike most musicals, where a story comes first and songs are inserted in at key points, the songs created the story. "Beginning with over 200 songs written by the Beatles, we eventually chose 33 that we felt best told the story of a generation and a time," says Taymor.

Todd explains, "The film is an original musical and it has an original story - one you've never seen before, inspired by Beatles' music in a way that you haven't heard before."

"The entire concept of this musical," Taymor explains, "is that the lyrics will tell the story. They are the libretto, they are the arias, they are the emotion of the characters."

Although Taymor was only in her early teens in the 1960s, the story was inspired by her childhood observations:

"Lucy and Max, the brother and sister, are modeled slightly after my own older brother and sister, and I'm Julia, the young girl who's watching. During that time, I was a voyeur to what my parents were going through with teenagers and then college students who were going through the radical political movement: the draft, the hippies, the drugs. And so I was there - I didn't get immersed myself, but I watched it."

Taymor admired the outspoken spirit of the time. "People really took chances," she says. "As Lucy says, 'I'd lie down in front of a tank if it would bring my brother home from the war.' And of course Jude responds, 'But it wouldn't,' and she gets upset and she says, 'Does that mean you don't think I should try?' I'm so moved by the fact that at that time, people would try."

But Taymor definitely did not view the project as a piece of nostalgia. She notes that many of the issues facing young people in the '60s are still very relevant today. The filmmakers' goal was to translate the passion and feeling of the 60s and have it resonate in a way that made it feel as contemporary as possible. The reason to make a film like this, in her mind, was the immediacy of the themes. "You constantly have to revisit these stories in order to reflect upon your present and really think, 'What is it that's different now?'" Taymor says. "That era is explicitly important to our time now."

In order to bring the era to life, Taymor and screenwriters Dick Clement & Ian La Frenais created an entirely new story, using the songs to guide their way. "Characters were created for the songs," Taymor continues. "For example, the character Prudence: I loved the idea of taking 'I Want to Hold Your Hand' and giving it to an innocent cheerleader in Ohio."

The song begins with the young girl singing plaintively on the sidelines of the football field. "We don't change the lyrics," says Taymor, "but partway through, you realize she's not in love with the quarterback - she's in love with the blonde cheerleader. All of the sudden the song works in a totally different way, because it's about repressed love. By the end of the song, this young girl, who doesn't even know what she's feeling, leaves home. She hitchhikes her way to New York City. Without having to go into the background of the character, without having to see her mother and her father and her life story, the song says it all."

"As we went through the journeys of characters, songs came up," Taymor continues. "In the story, Max is going to be drafted into the Army. I went through dozens of songs until finally I got to 'I Want You' and it registered in my head, 'My God, "I Want You," isn't that the Uncle Sam motto?'" It was a perfect fit.

As the story began to grow, in this organic way, Taymor would follow the songs where they led her. In many cases, the songs would move to other characters and take on multiple meanings, as in the case of "I Want You," which starts with Max's army induction and continues to a more erotic scene between the characters of Jo-Jo and Sadie. In some cases, the songs seemed more like private moments, and in the manner of an aria in an opera, expressed inner thoughts.

In still other cases, like "Revolution," the directness of the lyrics led them to portray the emotion of a scene in a stronger way than dialogue could. "When Jude sings 'Revolution,' he's actually breaking into the Students For Democratic Reform office, going right up to Lucy, and using the emotion of the music and those lyrics to express himself instead of saying it just with straight dialogue," notes Taymor. "He keeps singing because he's in a state of being that is beyond the everyday; he's in a heightened state that's going to get him beat up and thrown out by the end of the song. It really helps us encapsulate time, because the music helps you to go very quickly through an emotional state and get to another level that is very, very heightened and very dramatic."

ABOUT THE CAST AND THE CAMEO PERFORMANCES

With the characters created from the raw material of the songs, the filmmakers placed an imperative on choosing the best actors and singers they could find for the roles.

As a result, the only cast member with major film experience is Evan Rachel Wood. Taymor notes, "She's so young and nobody really has seen her grow into a woman - in this movie, she grows into a full-fledged adult, serious woman. She's going to be a major discovery for people. Plus, no one even knew she could sing."

Among all the songs she sings in Across the Universe, the one she looked forward to most as the greatest challenge was "If I Fell." "I've never had any training in singing, and that song goes very, very high. It's also the most emotional song I sing. So I had to prepare myself emotionally for the character at that moment and also put it into song - while also remembering what my voice had to do," says Wood. "As I was learning the song and trying to figure out how to sing it, they brought Jim Sturgess into the room so I could sing it to him. It was the very best I ever sang it - it took my mind off what I was doing and freed me up."

Wood notes that she shared not only a connection with Sturgess, but with the entire cast - and that it was reciprocal. "Julie knows how to cast a movie," she says, "and she knew that we would work well together because we're all very similar. During production, I'd felt like I'd gained brothers and sisters; they're all such interesting people and they all have great life stories."

Open casting calls were held in England for the role of Jude. Taymor said she could tell from a tape of Jim Sturgess that he was the one, even before she met him in person.

Taymor and her longtime collaborator, composer Elliot Goldenthal, were very particular about what kind of voices they wanted, she explains. "We did not want musical theater voices, and we didn't want pop-y voices. Jim just fit in right away. Jim's been in a rock band and he's an actor. He just sings with such an incredible ease that you feel that the character is talking just to you. He has a beautiful voice - and there's no disconnect between when his speaking voice and his singing voice. Jim can go right from talking to singing."

Sturgess says that he is fortunate to be making his major-studio debut in Across the Universe and to be working with no less a talent than Julie Taymor. "She's brilliant," he says. "She's an endless head of ideas. She has a definite idea of what she wants to see, but also allows her actors the room to bring their own ideas - she just takes it all in."

Working with the stars playing the cameo roles in the film was also an eye-opening experience. "One day, I was sitting around, watching Bono sing 'I am the Walrus' - so I was already having a good afternoon - and then he comes over and asks me if I'd like to come to his show at the end of the week. What was I going to say? 'Sorry, I have other plans?' No, I stood there and said, 'I'd love to, thank you… Mr. Bono." Another highlight for Sturgess was the day Bono came to set and told the young actor that he liked Sturgess's voice.

Max is an American, but Taymor did not find an American actor that had the qualities she wanted for the part. When she met Joe Anderson, another Brit, she found it interesting that he did not even want to audition for the role of Jude: "When I went to London he auditioned for me, but he said, you know, "I'm not that character - I am Max," so even he knew that his own personality would be better suited to that. And he looked like Evan, so he was really the right mix to play her brother."

For Sadie, says Taymor, "I knew Dana Fuchs and I created the part for her. Dana had done a demo for Elliot for another project, and she has that voice that you haven't heard since Janis."

Fuchs says, "I felt like I was in a movie when I was on the phone with Julie and she was telling me that I got the part. There was no one there to witness. I was shocked - on top of getting the part, to find out she wrote it for me was amazing. She said there was no other Sadie."

Sadie's partner in the movie is the character of Jo-Jo, who is also a musician. "He comes from Detroit, comes from soul music, and hooks up with these young strays and he becomes part of Sadie's band. He transforms in front of you, going from the slicked-back hair to the wild afro." To play Jo-Jo, Taymor called upon Martin Luther McCoy, a singer and a guitar player in New York without much acting experience. Taymor says that he proved himself to be "a phenomenal actor" as well as musician.

T.V. Carpio, who plays Prudence, was another discovery. Along with having a beautiful singing voice, T.V. is a dancer and former ice skater. "I had Prudence become a skating horse in the circus scenes because she could ice skate. Then, I thought, 'Well, she'll be the cheerleader, instead of just watching the cheerleader, because she's so good physically," says Taymor. "As you get to know the actors, you create more and more for them."

The feeling was mutual. Carpio recalls, "As Jim said to me, in the very beginning: 'I'm just desperate to do what Julie needs from us.' We wanted so much to make her vision come alive. When she would tell us what she saw, it would never be just what's written on a piece of paper - it would be something just completely out of this world... we were so honored to be a part of that. We couldn't even believe that this is our job."

Wood agrees. "Julie really brings out the best in you," she says. "She can make you do things that you never knew you could do. I love how she brings that out of people. You can't be afraid and you can't have any fear. She throws you into the deep end and somehow you're just in there and you swim there, and you realize, 'I didn't know I could do this.'"

The cast was rounded out with some very special guests in supporting roles. Bono, who was in the middle of a world tour with U2, managed to fit in two days on set as "Dr. Robert." He played Madison Square Garden late into the night before each of his early morning calls. "We concocted the character together, me and Julie," says the rock star, activist, and first-time actor. "She wanted him to be true to the time and period, so we made him a west coast, Neal Cassady type." Cassady, of course, was the inspiration for Jack Kerouac's On the Road; a key figure in the 60s counterculture, he was also an author in his own right and the driver of Furthur, Ken Kesey's Merry Pranksters bus). "We studied film of him and the way he worked, and it's almost like he wanted to be a rock star - he has all these jerky moves, a lot of self-confidence, always plays to the women in the room. For my first acting role, I thought this would be interesting and a little bit special."

Salma Hayek, Taymor's friend and OscarR-nominated star of Frida, plays the sexy dancing nurses in "Happiness is a Warm Gun." Taymor asked Hayek if she wanted to play a nurse and Hayek said she wanted to play all five of them - something that was accomplished with motion control camera work (requiring Hayek to repeat her dance number very carefully many times during two long days in order to create the illusion of five pin-up nurses). Eddie Izzard plays the role of the circus ringleader in "Being For the Benefit of Mr. Kite!" and Joe Cocker worked in the middle of several nights to complete his multiple "Come Together" roles of singing bum, pimp, and hippie.

REINTERPRETING THE SONGS

In addition to having a story that was layered enough to do justice to the songs, the other key element to the film was the musical interpretation, says Taymor. "It was really scary having the legacy of the Beatles' music on your shoulders, because it's the Holy Grail," she says. "It's so important to so many people, and the originals were perfect. We knew from the beginning that we did not want to compete with the Beatles' versions," says Taymor. She felt that the best way to honor the band was to have their songs be the heart and the star of the film, emanating right from the characters.

To interpret the music, Taymor relied upon a trusted longtime collaborator, Elliot Goldenthal. "Though Elliot is a composer and there are no songs to be composed, his arrangements and his understanding of drama and character are so great. I've worked with him for twenty years and have total trust and admiration for his work. I knew that he would find a new way to interpret the songs; by placing them with new arrangements, the music would be fresh again - not a better version, but different."

Goldenthal and Taymor also brought in renowned rock music producer T Bone Burnett and producer Teese Gohl, who has worked with Goldenthal as a music producer on more than 20 films. Goldenthal, Burnett, and Gohl collaborated on producing the music.

Every song was analyzed: who would be singing, what was the content, the feeling needed from it in the film, and the time period. Goldenthal notes, "Everybody knows the Beatles' music so well, it's almost like a ghost in the room. All the licks that they played, the specific guitar fills, the drum fills - everybody fills those in when they hear the songs. The songs were done perfectly already by the Beatles - they are definitive performances. So the challenge was try to find an honest way - staying within oneself - of getting to the core of these songs and try to find other ways to support the beautiful words and music."

To give the music authenticity, the team recorded many of the songs using period appropriate equipment, such as analog tape and vintage microphones. Gohl recalls, "We were all on the same page in taking this approach and in our desire to avoid the digital pitfalls."

As for working with the Goldenthal, Gohl says, "Elliot is unique in every sense, but to see him as a rock 'n' roll producer is yet another mind-blower."

It was not enough, of course, merely to come up with new arrangements for the songs. Because the lyrics of the songs tell the story of the film, it was crucial to Taymor that the performances have immediacy and relevance to the scenes around them. With that goal in mind, the filmmakers decided to make the movie with as much live singing as possible. She gives credit to another one of her team members, sound mixer Tod Maitland, for making it work.

"He's another genius," says Taymor, because "most of the movie is live."

Maitland, who is a three-time Academy AwardR nominee, had most recently worked on the more traditional movie musical The Producers, but Across the Universe would require an entirely different approach. He explains why such a radical move was necessary: "In most musicals, the actor speaks and then they go into a singing voice. For most people, a singing voice is an entirely different voice - something they did in a studio two or three months earlier. It takes you out of the film. On Across the Universe, we wanted to keep the environment real. When you transition from speaking to singing, we want those moments to flow free, so that you don't go in and out of different sound qualities - you want to stay in the scene. In addition, because the lyrics serve as dialogue in this movie, you want to hear the little bit of bounce off the walls, you want to hear people moving around. You don't want a very closed-in, studio sound."

The actors began the process by pre-recording their songs; these would to give them an idea of how their performance would go and provide a back-up for the editing process. In these sessions, the actors each performed the songs on three tracks: the first a studio microphone, the second a boom mike, like the one used on set, and the third a "lavalier" mike, also used on set.

During the shoot, the set would have to be extremely quiet to record a live vocal performance. The actors were all fitted with tiny ear pieces, called "earwigs," to enable them to sing along with their pre-recorded performance. The pre-recorded track would give the actors a guideline to follow and allowed some freedom in the sound editing, according to Maitland. "If an actor turns his head away and goes off mike, we could pull in a vocal pre-record and lay that over. Or if there's some noise over a take that the filmmakers really loved, we could go to a vocal pre-record." However, he stresses, those are the exceptions. "The design of the whole film is to use live vocals as much as possible."

The somewhat tricky process was made easier by the cinematographer, Bruno Delbonnel, and his lighting designer, John DeBlau, who consulted with the sound department when placing their lights, in order to help them to keep the boom microphone as close to the actors' heads as possible. For the optimum result, the mike had to be only 12 to 15 inches from the actor, the same distance used in the pre-recording sessions.

ABOUT THE CHOREOGRAPHY

Just as the music in Across the Universe would be a radical reinvention of the well-known songs, the film also required a unique look to the choreography. The film had to be a feast for the eyes as well as the ears.

"I didn't want this to be a 'dance' musical," says Taymor. Although there is quite a bit of dance in the film, she says, "We talked a lot about using everyday movement as the vocabulary." To bring this vision to life, Taymor called upon Daniel Ezralow a choreographer with whom she has collaborated on several other works.

"Danny straddles the theatrical modern dance world as well as pop, and circus, and acrobats, and everyday movement," she says. "If you look at 'With a Little Help from My Friends,' the choreography is people sliding down banisters, it's leaping up and falling into couches. If you look at 'Come Together,' you see the people in the street, walking in unison with briefcases. Some sequences are more 'dance-y' than others, but the pieces that feel like they're organically coming from naturalistic movement work beautifully."

"From the very beginning, I wanted Across the Universe to be totally naturalistic and unlike any other musical," says Ezralow. "I said that out loud, and then I was stuck. There were witnesses!"

Ezralow's idea was that the film would take its cues from the way we all move through the world now. "Everyone has their iPods on - they close the world," he says. "As you do, as you look at other people, it's like walking through a movie. It's an altered experience. Every day, as I rode the subway on my way to the set, I would listen to the songs from Across the Universe and imagine movement."

"Julie encourages us to see things differently," Ezralow says. "When you're a foreigner in a country, sometimes you get a better sense of what that country is like than someone who has lived there all his life, because you're seeing it with fresh eyes. So it's a little trick I play on myself - I try to be a stranger to dance all the time."

Of course, the film does feature a couple of more traditional dance sequences. For these, Ezralow cast some of Broadway's and the world's finest dancers to fill more than 350 dancing roles. The casting process was often difficult because many of these dancers were appearing in shows every night. For the "induction center" sequence, set to the song "I Want You," the dancers playing the "sergeants" had to report at 3:30 in the morning to begin complicated makeup and prosthetics - and many had been dancing on a Broadway stage until 11 PM the previous night.

"Mark Friedberg, the production designer, and Julie and I sat together and talked about the sequence early on," Ezralow remembers. "It was a whirlwind, wonderfully improvisational day. Everyone contributed something - Julie, concept; me, dance; Mark, design. The sequence ends up being surreal and artistically playful, but also powerful and poignant."

"Come Together" represents the other true highlight of choreography in the film. At one point, 140 people move in unison in midtown Manhattan; at another moment during the song, the filmmakers envisioned a Rube Goldberg-style device timed to the song. Ezralow says that the song is "a middle point in the film; we define what New York City in the 60s was all about."

ABOUT THE PRODUCTION

Across the board, Taymor attracted an exceptional team of collaborators for Across The Universe. In the key role of cinematographer, she chose Frenchman Bruno Delbonnel, who although he has just begun shooting films in the US, is already a two-time Academy AwardR nominee.

Taymor recalls: "Bruno, in our first interview said, 'I hate musicals.' I thought, 'Now what do I think about that? That's interesting.' And I thought, he's done Amelie and A Very Long Engagement, these incredibly theatrical movies. He has an incredible sense of light and photography. I knew that tough, European sense with him: he would want it to be a serious movie, not fluff; that the darkness would be there when I wanted it to be there, but it would also have that whimsy and theatricality that was very important."

Mark Friedberg (Far From Heaven, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, The Producers) served as production designer. For Friedberg, it was a special opportunity to work with Taymor, a director who happens to be one of the most creative theater designers of our time. He notes, "Julie Taymor has dreams that are better than anything I could ever design." Taymor came in one morning and described to him the image of Vietnamese women dancing on the water as part of the montage for the song "Across the Universe," which she had dreamt the night before. "That is not fair," he laughs. "I want to be able to do that."

Friedberg says that Taymor's greatest strengths are that "she is brave and she is committed to following her ideas to their fullest. She is not afraid that they might fail." In fact, he says, her only fear is not going far enough. "She is afraid that our ideas might not be interesting, or that we are not trying hard enough, or we are not challenging ourselves enough. It's an amazing and inspiring way to work."

As a result, Friedberg says, his greatest challenge on Across the Universe was not the technical process of realizing Taymor's vision, but living up to her expectations of creating a wholly new and original work. "She let me go and get way out there and see if I would find anything she would like, and usually the stuff that was farther out was the stuff she was curious about. I wanted to interpret the 60s in a way that was relevant and interesting. I didn't want to re-create it - I wanted to reinvent it."

So while Friedberg's art department began with a tremendous amount of historic research, he also had a bit of artistic freedom to reinterpret the 60s, and pull in other influences. Friedberg and Taymor looked at a lot of graffiti art from the 80s until present day for inspiration for Jude's art and a lot of the downtown East Village neighborhood. An example of how the production design would sometimes "reinvent" the 60s was Dr. Robert's "magic bus." As Dr. Robert is inspired by Neal Cassady, the real-life figure who drove Ken Kesey's famous bus Furthur, that bus became the starting point for the design; however, Taymor thought it looked somehow old. She loved Friedberg's "Basquiat-inspired," cool, contemporary version. Graffiti art is not true to the period, but Taymor preferred its slightly rougher, street edge to the sweeter and more flowery, more stereotypical 60s look, and it became a useful design element.

"As a designer herself, she has a very keen visual sense," Friedberg continues. "She has a very powerful aesthetic. She's operatic. She's also a collaborator. She asks 'What do you think?' and she is always open to the best idea in the room. We had an easy vocabulary. Julie would say, 'For the circus, I want to use a Matisse palette,' and I knew exactly what she was talking about."

Perhaps not surprisingly, Friedberg was most anxious about one part of the production: the film's large-scale puppetry. He went to an expert puppet designer, Paul Rice, a top puppet maker from the theater, who had built 15 of the Pumbaa puppets for worldwide theatrical productions of Taymor's "The Lion King." Rice and his crew would make small maquettes of the puppets to show Taymor and she would give them her feedback, with very specific instructions on color, shading, and movement. For the circus scenes - which take their inspiration from the radical Bread & Puppet Theater, founded in the 60s in New York City - Rice would carve a puppet for about two days before a crew of about 13 people began the process of painting and paper mache. Two of the largest puppets they built were an 18-foot-high face at the circus and a 27-foot-tall walking man at the peace march. The giant arms and hands in the circus spanned 120 feet.

One other key design challenge would be finding a visual look and for Jude's work. A member of the art department crew named Don Nace became the source of Jude's artistry. Friedberg had used Nace on his crew before, but was not even aware of the scope of his work until someone in the art department suggested he check out www.drawingoftheday.com, Nace's website. Taymor liked his work the best and so the important character of Jude's art was cast from within the crew. Jim Sturgess, the actor who plays Jude, worked alongside Nace in a studio, in preparation for the scenes (like "Strawberry Fields") in which Jude is working. "Don would give me little tasks to do each day… We would sit and listen to Tom Waits records and he would just sit in the corner, kind of sketching and drawing and give me little things to do."

The induction center and the VA hospital were two of the most unique stage sets. They are "bookends of the Army experience," says Friedberg. "We made it very olive drab, black and white. Julie wanted a mechanized experience for the induction. Even the sergeants are very robotic." During breaks in filming, the dancers playing the sergeants broke up the menacing scene by using the conveyor belt set as a "catwalk," with each trying to do his best runway model impression while wearing full prosthetic makeup.

The induction center is one of the moments that is a true abstraction from reality, which turns into more of a musical number. Another was "Happiness Is A Warm Gun," which takes place in a round hospital room (and features a cameo by choreographer Daniel Ezralow as a possessed dancing priest).

"I thought it was cruel to make the guys all look at each other," says Friedberg. "So we made the room round. This was also a historic reference to old tuberculosis wards; when they were built in Victorian times, scientists believed that germs lived in corners. So if you had a round room you had no corners - you had no germs. On top of that, we had the idea that maybe the room would spin - the song would be stronger than gravity. It was one of the first discussions that Julie and I had."

Another key member of the production team was legendary costume designer Albert Wolsky (an Academy AwardR winner for Bugsy and All That Jazz, and an OscarR nominee for three more films).

Wolsky explains that his greatest challenge was dressing the nearly 5,000 extras in the film. "Anybody who has a non-speaking part, every single one, all have to be dressed from head to toe. We did mass fittings five days a week with teams of fitters," he says.

But even while dressing the masses, every detail is crucial, says Wolsky: "Without the right hair and makeup, the clothes won't make any difference. You have to find ways to capture the period without making it too costume-y. I wasn't out to make a costume ball. I wanted to make it like real clothes, but also to have this feeling of some other time."

He continues: "What makes it interesting for me is that the beginnings are all very specific. Jude comes from Liverpool, so that's one look. Jo-Jo comes from Detroit, that's another look. Max and Lucy come from the Massachusetts area, that's another look. And they all converge onto New York and the Village."

* * *

Most of Across the Universe was shot on practical locations - over 50 locations in 60 days, mostly in the New York City area. Coordinating this complicated shoot was First Assistant Director Geoff Hansen, who says, "Julie is one of the most creative, artistic directors I've ever worked with in my life. She's got a vision that blows me away. She'll have this image, say, of Vietnamese ladies floating in a lake with masks next to them, and I'm the guy who has to figure out how to get the crew up there and shoot it and where we're going to eat lunch and everything else involved with executing that idea."

Location manager Rob Striem notes: "On a lot of films you have a few locations where you can settle in and get comfortable. On this film, every single set was one, two or three days at most, so we were constantly jumping around."

Many of the sets that would be shot for only a couple of days required two-to-four weeks of preparation. Every day that the crew was shooting on one set, they could be simultaneously prepping four other sets and striking two that were completed - all over New York City. And this work was not simple work, like painting walls and dressing a living room, says Striem, but "making the South Bronx into Detroit, dealing with 50 active businesses."

Indeed, the film company created so many different worlds - Detroit, Vietnam, Washington D.C., suburban Massachusetts, Muscoot farm, where they staged the circus, and other "magical" environments - all within the New York City area.

Rivington Street on the Lower East Side of Manhattan was one of the biggest locations for the film. The hip and artsy neighborhood was transformed into a heightened version of the East Village scene in the 1960s. A few real businesses from St. Mark's Place that actually existed were portrayed, but the art department mixed it up and made the area more colorful and exaggerated than anything that was really in New York at the time. Much of the Rivington Street set was actually inspired by the Haight Ashbury district in San Francisco, says Friedberg. "There's probably not too much in that location that did not exist somewhere, but it did not exist all together. We made an impressionistic collage of the world of youthful self-expression."

The set stretched for three blocks; from Attorney Street to Norfolk Street on Rivington, then a half block North and South on Clinton Street. The Rivington/Clinton intersection was the major crossroads, where the dancers would do their "Come Together" number and several other scenes were staged.

The neighborhood was extremely supportive of this psychedelic explosion. The local newspapers encouraged people to drive by and check out the sets while they were still up, and after filming was completed, several neighborhood restaurants chose to leave up the colorful paint and murals.

A similar thing happened on lower Fifth Avenue, near Washington Square Park, where a peace march set to the song "Dear Prudence" was filmed. Area residents wanted to leave up the peace symbols and anti-war banners. It was another moment where the 60s and the present seemed to come together, so to speak. Similarly, the art department found that they did not have to create mock newspaper stories for set dressing: they took current newspaper articles about Iraq and changed the names in the headlines, and found they worked perfectly for Vietnam stories.

As for the actual Vietnam scenes, the production staged them in one day in Moonachie, New Jersey, in a swampy area out near the Meadowlands Arena. The production also went to New Jersey to shoot "A Little Help from My Friends" at Princeton. In these scenes, Joe Anderson got the chance to perform a little stunt work, firing a gun in the Vietnam sequence and sliding down a 35-foot-high marble staircase at Princeton.

The South Bronx became the Detroit riots, again a massive undertaking for a shoot that was only one day. The production picked a block that New York City has plans to raze, so the challenge was to make one side of the street that was entirely abandoned look occupied. The Detroit scenes required 20-25 stunt people, explosions, and stunt guys on rooftops firing guns. For Jo-Jo's little brother's funeral, Taymor wanted a cemetery that was adjacent to a church but entirely surrounded by concrete in an urban setting. The production laid sod in a parking lot and created the cemetery, since nothing like that existed.

Washington D.C. was also staged in uptown Manhattan, at Grant's Tomb, and the Columbia University student riots worked out well at the Museum of the City of New York.

During filming, Wood and Sturgess coined a phrase to describe the sometimes overwhelming nature of the project. "Jim and I had this joke - we'd call it an Across the Universe moment, when we would stop and we really think about what we're doing," says Wood. "It would make us cry."

Wood had that experience early in the shoot, doing "Let It Be," the funeral scene for her high school boyfriend. They had already shot the scene where the soldiers come to the door and tell them Daniel has died; "I thought I'd gotten it all out then," says Wood. When they came to the day of the funeral, "I knew it was a hard scene for Lucy," she continues, "but I wasn't really going to break down or cry or anything. And then they said 'action' and they started playing 'Let It Be' and they started folding the American flag in front of me, and I don't know what happened, but I just completely broke down; I just couldn't contain it. Listening to the song, I thought, 'This is probably going on right now; people are still seeing this every day, and people still have to fold these American flags in front of these families.' It just killed me. This movie has just had a really big effect on me in that way."

ABOUT THE CAST

An actress who has both an ability to access a depth of emotions and demonstrate a poise well beyond her years, EVAN RACHEL WOOD (Lucy) is one of Hollywood's brightest young talents.

Wood was nominated for a Golden Globe Award, a SAG Award and a Critic's Choice Award in 2004 for her role in the critically acclaimed drama Thirteen, written and directed by Catherine Hardwicke. Wood starred opposite Holly Hunter as a teenager attempting to navigate her way through the harsh pressures brought upon by her peers and the family strife.

She was last seen in Ryan Murphy's drama Running with Scissors. Written and directed by Murphy ("Nip/Tuck") and starring Wood alongside Annette Bening, Gwyneth Paltrow and Alec Baldwin, the film follows the memories of a man's colorful childhood with his bipolar and self-centered mother. She was also recently seen in David Jacobson's Down in the Valley opposite Edward Norton, David Morse and Rory Culkin. Set in the present-day San Fernando Valley, the film revolves around a delusional man (Norton) who believes he's a cowboy and the relationship that he starts with Wood's rebellious young woman.

Wood will next be seen in Vadim Perelman's In Bloom opposite Uma Thurman and in Michael Cahill's comedy King of California opposite Michael Douglas. King of California premiered at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival to rave reviews. Wood will soon begin production on Charles Sturridge's Bronte opposite Bryce Dallas Howard.

Other film credits include Mike Binder's The Upside of Anger, opposite Joan Allen and Kevin Costner; Marcos Siega's Pretty Persuasion, opposite Ron Livingston and James Woods; Ron Howard's western adventure The Missing, opposite Tommy Lee Jones and Cate Blanchett; the Andrew Niccol's comedy Simone, opposite Al Pacino; Little Secrets, with Vivica A. Fox; Practical Magic with Nicole Kidman and Sandra Bullock; Timothy Hutton's Digging to China; and Detour, with Michael Madsen.

On television, Wood starred in ABC's critically acclaimed hit drama series, "Once and Again." Created by Marshall Herskovitz and Ed Zwick, the series followed the efforts of divorcees (played by Sela Ward and Billy Campbell) trying to sustain a new relationship through the countless hurdles presented by their children, their ex-spouses and everyday life. Wood gained notice as Campbell's character's sensitive daughter 'Jessie' who had difficulty dealing with the pains of divorce and adolescence. She recently appeared as the niece of Allison Janney's character on NBC's critically acclaimed drama "The West Wing."

Wood's stage credits include "The Miracle Worker" for Theatre in the Park, "A Midsummer Night's Dream" for Shakespeare in the Park and a three-year tour with "A Christmas Carol."

Among her talents, Wood is a black belt in Tae Kwon Do and is also trained in singing and dance. She lives in Los Angeles.

JIM STURGESS (Jude), who makes his debut in a leading role in Across the Universe, has quickly become one of Hollywood's most sought-after leading men.

In February, Sturgess will star in The Other Boleyn Girl for director Justin Chadwick opposite Scarlett Johansson, Natalie Portman, and Eric Bana. The film follows two ferociously ambitious sisters, Mary and Anne Boleyn, rivaling for the bed and heart of King Henry VIII. Sturgess plays George Boleyn, Mary and Anne's brother.

In March, Sturgess will star in director Robert Luketic's 21, starring opposite Kate Bosworth, Kevin Spacey, and Laurence Fishburne. 21 is loosely inspired by five MIT students who were trained to become experts in card counting and subsequently took Vegas casinos for millions in winnings.

Sturgess most recently completed production on director Wayne Kramer's Crossing Over, starring opposite Harrison Ford, Ashley Judd and Sean Penn. Crossing Over is a multi-character drama about immigrants of different nationalities struggling to achieve legal status in Los Angeles. The film addresses the issue from the point of view of the immigrants, as well as the immigration authorities tasked with enforcing the nation's immigration laws. Crossing Over will be released by The Weinstein Company.

Sturgess resides in London, England.

JOE ANDERSON (Max) currently stars in the Miramax feature Becoming Jane, and next stars opposite Samantha Morton in Control, a biopic about the UK band Joy Division, and in DreamWorks' The Ruins. Anderson's first screen role was opposite Ed Harris in Agnieszka Holland's Copying Beethoven.

Anderson's theatrical work includes "A Midsummer Night's Dream" and "Master and Margherita," both at the Chichester Festival Theatre.

He has appeared in several productions for British television, including "Afterlife" for ITV, "A Doll's House" for BBC, and "Cause Celebre," "Vacation with Trunks," and "Midsomer Murders."

DANA FUCHS (Sadie) makes her film debut in Across the Universe. On stage in New York City, Fuchs starred in the Off-Broadway hit "Love, Janis," about the life of Janis Joplin.

The youngest of six musical children, Dana Fuchs was raised in a small town in rural Florida surrounded by music. Arriving in NYC alone and broke at the age of 19, Fuchs joined with guitarist Jon Diamond to form the Dana Fuchs Band. Within a year, the band was a feature act at New York's best blues clubs, often sharing the stage with the likes of John Popper, James Cotton, and Taj Mahal. She began writing her own rock songs and became a staple on the rock scene sharing the bill with national acts Little Feat, Marianne Faithfull, and Etta James. Through these performances, she was spotted by the producers of "Love, Janis," who cast her after hearing a single performance of "Piece of My Heart." Her songs (which she writes as well as performs) have been featured in the film Sherrybaby.

Fuchs' songs can be heard on the upcoming "Dana Fuchs Live From NYC" CD and DVD, as well as on her debut CD, "Lonely For A Lifetime," which was released to an enthusiastic response from both press and fans. Her website is www.danafuchs.com.

MARTIN LUTHER McCOY (Jo-Jo) a guitarist, singer and songwriter, makes his acting debut with the role of Jo-Jo.

Recording under the name Martin Luther, he will release his next album, "Serial Thriller," early in 2008. In the meantime, he is releasing "Live from Arlene's Grocery" this fall exclusively on iTunes.

Luther's most recent album, "Rebel Soul Music," was released in September 2004 to much critical acclaim. The Associated Press named it number 4 on its Top Ten Albums of 2004 and People Magazine named it a "Critic's Choice," rating the album 3.5 out of 4 stars. He was the first independent artist given the privilege of recording a performance session for "MTV Live" on MTV.com. He was also named the VH1.com "You Oughta Know" artist on 2 separate occasions. His music video for the single "Daily Bread" debuted on the VH1 Soul network and was in their top-10 rotation for four months. "Rebel Soul Music" sold over 20,000 copies in the US, spurring releases of the album in Europe and Japan.

Luther has performed over 100 shows since the album's release, traveling with his band throughout the US, Europe and Japan. He has toured as a solo artist on the same bill as Jill Scott and The Roots and has also performed for audiences numbering in the thousands as a featured member of the Roots.

Like the legend for whom he was named, Martin Luther was raised on a diet of choir hymns and stringent rules set forth by strict, religious parents. As a youngster, he was forced to take traditional piano lessons so that he could one day play in church. Exposure to the psychedelic sounds of Parliament Funkadelic by his brother set him on the path to finding his own voice as an artist. Continuing to play the keyboard, he added the drums to his musical arsenal and finally mastered his secret weapon - the guitar.

Luther's independently released debut album, The Calling, sparked the interest of worldwide fans and critics alike for its uplifting lyrics and fresh mix of rock and soul.

His rendition of "This Christmas" was recently featured on Target's 2005 Christmas album. He also wrote a special song for O, The Oprah Magazine, which was featured on "The Oprah Winfrey Show." He has appeared on "The Chris Rock Show" and performed alongside George Clinton & Parliament Funkadelic, Jill Scott, Eric Benet, and Cody Chestnutt, to name a few. He also gave an unforgettable performance with Dave Matthews at the NAACP Image Awards.

A native of San Francisco, Martin Luther is a graduate of Morehouse College, with a degree in Media Arts and a concentration in Entertainment Law and Marketing.

T.V. CARPIO (Prudence) was born in Oklahoma City but grew up in Hong Kong with her mother, Teresa Carpio, who was, and still is, a household name as a singer and entertainer in Asia. By junior high, her family had moved back to the States, where T.V.'s promising ice-skating career was curtailed by injury. Upon graduation from high school, she took time out to become fluent in Spanish before enrolling herself into the jazz program at the New School University in New York City.

Carpio appeared as a dancer in music videos for Bruce Springsteen and Whitney Houston, among others, which led to small parts on the television series "Law & Order" and "The Jury." As an alto soprano, she sang with the Hong Kong Philharmonic in her mother's acclaimed Diva concerts, playing and singing the part of her mother as an 18-year-old.

From there, Carpio landed the role of Gail in Spike Lee's She Hate Me, followed by the role of Angela in Lee's Sucker Free City for Showtime.

She now lives in New York City and just finished a stint in "Rent" on Broadway.

ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS

Theater, film and opera director JULIE TAYMOR's (Director, Story by) most recent film is Frida, starring Salma Hayek and Alfred Molina. The film garnered six OscarR nominations, winning two. Taymor made her feature film directorial debut in 1999 with Titus, starring Anthony Hopkins and Jessica Lange. Based on Shakespeare's play, "Titus Andronicus," her adapted screenplay is published in an illustrated book by Newmarket Press.

Taymor has received numerous awards for "The Lion King," which opened at the New Amsterdam Theater in 1997, including two Tony Awards: for best direction of a musical and for her original costume designs. She also co-designed the masks and puppets and wrote additional lyrics for "The Lion King," which has been performed in eleven countries around the world. "The Lion King" most recently premiered in South Africa and opens in Paris in October 2007.

Her direction of the opera "The Magic Flute" opened in the fall of 2004, with James Levine conducting, and is now in repertory at The Metropolitan Opera.

Taymor directed Carlo Gozzi's "The Green Bird" on Broadway in 2000. It was first produced in 1996 by Theatre For a New Audience at The New Victory Theater and presented at the La Jolla Playhouse.

Taymor's original visual music-theater work, "Juan Darien: A Carnival Mass," presented at Lincoln Center's Vivian Beaumont Theater in 1996, received five Tony nominations including best director. Originally produced by Music Theater Group in 1988, "Juan Darien" was directed and designed by Taymor, and co-written with the composer Elliot Goldenthal. The recipient of two Obies and numerous other awards, it was also performed at The Edinburgh International Festival, festivals in France, Jerusalem and Montreal, and had an extended run in San Francisco.

In September 1995, Taymor directed Wagner's "The Flying Dutchman" for the Los Angeles Music Center in a co-production with the Houston Grand Opera. She directed Strauss' "Salome" for the Kirov Opera in Russia, Germany, and Israel, under the baton of Valery Gergiev. In June 1993, she directed Mozart's "The Magic Flute" for the Maggio Musicale in Florence, Zubin Mehta conducting.

Taymor's first opera direction was of Stravinsky's "Oedipus Rex" for the Saito Kinen Orchestra in Japan, under the baton of Seiji Ozawa in 1992. The opera featured Philip Langridge as Oedipus and Jessye Norman as Jocasta. Her film of the opera premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and won the Jury Award at the Montreal Festival of Films on Art. The film was broadcast internationally in 1993, garnering an Emmy Award and the 1994 International Classical Music Award for best opera production.

Fool's Fire, Taymor's first film, which she both adapted and directed, is based on Edgar Allan Poe's short story, "Hop-Frog." Produced by American Playhouse, it premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and aired on PBS in March 1992. The film won the "Best Drama" award at the Tokyo International Electronic Cinema Festival.

Taymor's stage production of Shakespeare's "Titus Andronicus" was produced off-Broadway by Theatre For a New Audience in 1994. Other directing credits include "The Tempest" (TFANA at the Stratford American Shakespeare Festival), "The Taming of the Shrew," "The Transposed Heads" (based on the novella by Thomas Mann, co-produced by the American Musical Theater Festival and The Lincoln Center), and "Liberty's Taken," an original musical co-created with David Suehsdorf and Elliot Goldenthal.

While on a Watson Fellowship in Indonesia from 1975-79, Taymor developed a mask/dance company, Teatr Loh, consisting of Javanese, Balinese, Sundanese, French, German and American actors, musicians, dancers and puppeteers. The company toured throughout Indonesia with two original productions, "Way of Snow" and "Tirai" (subsequently performed in the USA).

In 1991 Taymor received a MacArthur "genius" Fellowship. She has also received a Guggenheim Fellowship, two OBIE Awards, the first Annual Dorothy B. Chandler Award in Theater, and the 1990 Brandeis Creative Arts Award. An illustrated book on her career, Julie Taymor: Playing with Fire, was recently expanded and revised by Harry N. Abrams. Her book, The Lion King: Pride Rock on Broadway, is published by Hyperion. An illustrated book, Frida: Bringing Frida Kahlo's Life and Art to Film, is available from Newmarket Press. A major retrospective of 25 years of Taymor's work opened in the fall of 1999 at the Wexner Center for the Arts in Ohio and toured the National Museum of Women in the Arts (Washington D.C.) and the Field Museum (Chicago).

Taymor recently collaborated with Goldenthal on an original opera, "Grendel," which premiered at the Los Angeles Opera in 2006 and subsequently at the Lincoln Center Festival.

SUZANNE & JENNIFER TODD (Producers) co-founded their production company Team Todd in 1997. They are currently based at Sony Pictures Entertainment, partnered in a production deal with producer Joe Roth. Together, they have produced over a dozen movies for both film and television, garnering both critical and commercial success. Their productions include the highly acclaimed films Memento and Boiler Room, as well as all three of the Austin Powers films, which together grossed over half a billion dollars worldwide.

Suzanne and Jennifer won the Independent Spirit Award for best feature for Memento, which also won Christopher Nolan best screenwriter and director awards. The film was also nominated for the AFI Movie of the year, and was nominated for both an OscarR and a Golden Globe for its screenplay. For their HBO film "If These Walls Could Talk 2" the Todds garnered an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Made for Television Movie, as well as a nomination for the Television Producer of the Year Award in Longform by the Producers Guild of America.

Suzanne and Jennifer were also awarded the prestigious Lucy Award from Women in Film, an award given to women who have helped expand the role of women in the entertainment industry.

The Todds' credits include Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery, Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, and Austin Powers in Goldmember, all starring Mike Myers and directed by Jay Roach. The three highly successful films make up one of the most successful comedy franchises in film history. They also produced Boiler Room, the gritty Wall Street drama starring Giovanni Ribisi and Ben Affleck, which was nominated for Best Feature and Best First Screenplay at the Independent Spirit Awards, as well as the two very successful romantic comedies: Must Love Dogs, starring John Cusack and Diane Lane, and Prime, starring Meryl Streep and Uma Thurman.

In addition to Across the Universe, Team Todd also has the film Ira and Abby opening September 14th, 2007. The slightly subversive romantic comedy was directed by Robert Cary and stars Chris Messina and Jennifer Westfeldt, with the screenplay written by Westfeldt. It has already won best feature at the HBO Comedy Arts Festival earlier this year and is being released by Magnolia Pictures.

Next up, the Todds are in post-production on The Accidental Husband, starring Uma Thurman, Colin Firth, and Jeffrey Dean Morgan. The film is about a radio talk show host who on the eve of her wedding discovers a clerical error and learns she's already married to another man. It was directed by Griffin Dunne, and it will be released in early 2008 by the Yari Film Group.

OscarR nominee MATTHEW GROSS (Producer) is president of the film and television production company, Gross Entertainment.

Since 2003, Gross Entertainment has had an exclusive 5-year television production deal with ABC Television Studios. Gross was executive producer of last year's critically acclaimed and award winning action series "Day Break." He is currently in production on the new ABC television series "Dirty Sexy Money" starring Peter Krause, Donald Sutherland, and Billy Baldwin. Gross is also currently in pre-production on Fired Up!, a youth comedy he is producing for Screen Gems with MAXIM magazine and Dennis Publishing.

Gross is the former president of production for Kopelson Entertainment where he produced Joe Somebody starring Tim Allen. During Gross' tenure at Kopelson, the company produced Devil's Advocate, A Perfect Murder, U.S. Marshals, Mad City, Murder at 1600, Don't Say a Word, and Twisted. Gross' responsibilities included the supervision and development of all motion pictures, as well as managing and administrating a staff of 25 employees.

In addition, Gross was president of Kopelson Telemedia, a company he was instrumental in creating. Kopelson Telemedia executive produced the series "The Fugitive" starring Tim Daly for CBS and "Thieves" starring John Stamos for ABC.

Prior to working at Kopelson Entertainment, Matthew was vice president of development for Wilshire Court Productions, a division of the Paramount Television Group where he oversaw the development and production of 65 films.

Gross began his entertainment career as an actor while attending UCLA as an Economics major, but soon realized his desires lay primarily in filmmaking. Working his way from production assistant and assistant production coordinator, Gross then attended the American Film Institute, where he received a Masters Degree in filmmaking. At AFI, he produced five short films and directed a documentary for Cedars Sinai Medical Center. As a young producer, Gross was nominated for an Academy AwardR in the Best Live Action Short Film category for his film Bronx Cheers.

Gross was born and raised in Los Angeles, where he continues to reside with his wife and three children.

DEREK DAUCHY (Executive Producer), part of the creative team at Revolution Studios, has helped develop and oversee feature films including Are We Done Yet?, The Benchwarmers, XXX franchise, Anger Management, Daddy Day Care, Radio, The Animal, and Darkness Falls (which he also executive produced). He recently oversaw and executive produced The Fog, XXX: State of the Union, Are We There Yet?, and Man of the House. Dauchy previously spent three years working for Barry Levinson and Paula Weinstein at their Baltimore/Spring Creek Pictures, where he helped develop such blockbusters as The Perfect Storm and Analyze This.

RUDD SIMMONS (Executive Producer) previously served as executive producer of The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, The Royal Tenenbaums, and The Hi-Lo Country. He also produced the feature films Dead Man Walking and High Fidelity, as well as a segment of Jim Jarmusch's Coffee and Cigarettes. A longtime collaborator of Jarmusch's, Simmons' credits include Night on Earth, Mystery Train, and Down by Law.

CHARLES NEWIRTH (Executive Producer) joined Revolution Studios in May 2000, and is responsible for the physical production of all of Revolution Studios' motion pictures. Now in its seventh year of operation, Revolution Studios has released 40 films, including America's Sweethearts, Black Hawk Down, xXx, Anger Management, Daddy Day Care, Hellboy, 13 Going On 30, Click, Are We There Yet? and Rocky Balboa. At Revolution Studios, Newirth served as executive producer on Maid in Manhattan, The One, America's Sweethearts, Christmas with the Kranks, Freedomland, and Perfect Stranger.

Prior to joining Revolution Studios, Newirth produced 1999's sleeper hit Galaxy Quest. He also produced the popular Robin Williams hit Patch Adams and Home Fries starring Drew Barrymore.

Newirth's other credits as an executive producer include Brad Silberling's City of Angels starring Nicolas Cage and Meg Ryan; Rob Reiner's true-life drama Ghosts of Mississippi with Alec Baldwin, Whoopi Goldberg, and James Woods; The American President, also for director Rob Reiner, starring Michael Douglas and Annette Bening; and Jon Turteltaub's Phenomenon starring John Travolta. In addition, Newirth co-produced Robert Zemeckis' Academy AwardR-winning blockbuster Forrest Gump. He also served as a co-producer on the Barry Levinson films Toys and Bugsy, and as an associate producer on Levinson's Avalon.

A native New Yorker, Newirth broke into the film industry as a location manager on such films as Flashdance, Pretty in Pink, and Ferris Bueller's Day Off. He later moved up to production manager on Throw Momma From the Train and RoboCop before getting his first producing credit as an associate producer on Andrew Davis' The Package.

BRUNO DELBONNEL, A.F.C. (Director of Photography) received an Academy AwardR nomination, the ASC award, and the Cesar Award for best cinematography for his work on the 2004 film A Very Long Engagement.

For his previous collaboration with director Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Amelie, he received an Academy AwardR nomination, BAFTA nomination, ASC nomination and the European Film Award for Best Cinematographer.

He is slated to re-team with Jeunet on the upcoming adaptation of the award-winning bestselling novel Life of Pi. He is also set to photograph Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince for director David Yates.

Delbonnel recently photographed Infamous, about the life of Truman Capote, directed by Douglas McGrath. He photographed The Cat's Meow for director Peter Bogdanovich, released in 2001.

His French film credits include Ni Pour, Ni Contre, Marie, Nonna, La Vierge et Moi, C'est Jamais Loin and Tout Le Monde N'a Pas Eu La Chance D'Avoir Des Parents Communistes. Delbonnel has also shot many commercials, including a spot for PBS ("Bucket Brigade") for which he was nominated for the 2005 AICP Award for Best Cinematography.

Originally a student of fine art, Manhattan native MARK FRIEDBERG (Production Designer) married his passions for both film and painting by cutting his teeth as Production Designer on a series of influential low-budget movies that came about during the New York indie film movement of the early-90's.

Friedberg's previous work on small but noteworthy endeavors such as Alexandre Rockwell's In the Soup and Maggie Greenwald's The Ballad of Little Jo earned great attention leading to his collaboration with a variety of filmmakers ranging from industry stalwarts Garry Marshall (Runaway Bride) and Mel Brooks (The Producers, 2005) to independent mavericks like Mira Nair (Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love), Ang Lee (The Ice Storm), Ed Harris (Pollock), Todd Haynes (Far from Heaven), and Jim Jarmusch (Broken Flowers).

Other projects completed but not yet released include Charlie Kaufman's Synecdoche, New York, which just completed principal photography, and The Darjeeling Limited, about three brothers' train ride across the Indian sub-continent for director Wes Anderson (with whom Friedberg had previously worked on The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou).

This is FRANCOISE BONNOT, A.C.E.'s (Editor) third collaboration with director Julie Taymor: she also edited Frida and Titus.

For Bonnot, cinema runs in the family. When she was born, her mother, Monique Bonnot, was a well-known film editor working with the legendary Jean-Pierre Melville. Once grown-up, Bonnot also became an editor and her brother Alain became a film director. Francoise Bonnot married famous French film director Henri Verneuil and their son, Patrick Malakian, carried on the family tradition by also becoming a film director.

Bonnot became Costa Gavras's longtime collaborator and received an Academy AwardR for Best Film Editing in 1969 for Z and the British Academy Award for Missing in 1982. She re-edited Jean-Jacques Annaud's Black and White in Color, which won the Best Foreign Film Academy AwardR in 1976. She was nominated for the Eddie award in 1994 for John Frankenheimer's The Burning Season, and has been nominated several times for the French Best Editing Cesar Award (Michel Drach's Le Passe Simple, Costa Gavras's Hanna K., and Nicole Garcia's Place Vendome).

During her career, she worked with other great directors, including Roman Polanski on The Tenant which was awarded the Cannes Festival Golden Palm in 1976, Volker Schlondorf (Swann in Love), Jean-Pierre Melville (L'Armee des Ombres), Michael Cimino (Year of the Dragon, The Sicilian) and Roland Joffe (Fat Man and Little Boy).

ALBERT WOLSKY's (Costume Designer) work was most recently seen in Robert Towne's Ask the Dust, starring Colin Farrell and Salma Hayek. His designs will next be seen in Charlie Wilson's War.

A two-time Academy AwardR winner for his designs on Bob Fosse's All that Jazz and Barry Levinson's Bugsy, Wolsky has also been nominated for OscarsR on Levinson's Toys, the family adventure The Journey of Natty Gann, and Alan Pakula's drama Sophie's Choice.

Wolsky was born in Paris, France, in 1930. He graduated from City College of New York and began to work in the travel industry before leaving to pursue his life's work in costume design at age 30. He worked as an assistant to costume design legend Helene Pons on the original Broadway production of "Camelot."

Wolsky earned his first film credit as costume designer on The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter. In 1999, he was honored with the Costume Designers Guild Lifetime Achievement Award.

Among the more recent films for which he has designed costumes are Sam Mendes' Road to Perdition, for which the Costume Designers Guild honored him with an Excellence for Costume Design nomination, the Jennifer Lopez comedy Maid in Manhattan, and the sci-fi comedy Galaxy Quest, which earned him a Saturn Award nomination. Other movies on which Wolsky has been costume designer include Runaway Bride, You've Got Mail, The Jackal, Red Corner, Striptease, Up Close & Personal, The Pelican Brief, Fatal Instinct, Enemies: A Love Story, Cookie, Crimes of the Heart, Legal Eagles, Down and Out in Beverly Hills, The Falcon and the Snowman, Moscow on the Hudson, To Be or Not to Be, Star 80, Tempest, The Jazz Singer, Manhattan, Grease, An Unmarried Woman, The Turning Point, Lenny, The Gambler, Harry and Tonto, Up the Sandbox, The Trial of the Cantonsville Nine, Little Murders, Lovers and Other Strangers, Where's Poppa? and Popi. For television, Wolsky created costumes for the 1976 NBC special "Beauty and the Beast," starring George C. Scott and Trish Van Devere, which earned him an Emmy Award.

Composer ELLIOT GOLDENTHAL creates works for orchestra, theatre, opera, ballet and film. In 2003, he was honored with the Academy AwardR and a Golden Globe for Best Original Score for Frida, directed by Julie Taymor. A double OscarR nominee that year, Goldenthal also received an OscarR nomination for Best Original Song ("Burn it Blue," performed by Caetano Veloso). The score was released on the Decca/UMG Label and was on Billboard's World Music Chart and Latin charts for over 40 weeks.

In 2006, Goldenthal's original 3-act opera Grendel, directed by Julie Taymor, premiered at the Los Angeles Opera, becoming one of the most successful productions in their history. It had its east coast debut as the centerpiece of the Lincoln Center Festival in New York, and was added to the Los Angeles Opera's permanent repertoire. Goldenthal was one of the two finalists for the 2006 Pulitzer Prize in music for his work on this opera.

Goldenthal's large-scale symphonic piece, Fire Water Paper, a commemorative tribute created for the 20th anniversary of the Vietnam War, commissioned by the Pacific Symphony Orchestra, was released in April of 1996 on Sony Classical Records featuring soloist Yo Yo Ma. It debuted at the Pacific Symphony Orchestra and was later performed in critically acclaimed performances at Carnegie Hall and at The Kennedy Center, with Seiji Ozawa conducting the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

Goldenthal was commissioned by the American Ballet Theater to create a new 3-act ballet of Othello, which debuted at the Metropolitan Opera in May of 1997. Othello was co-produced by the ABT in partnership with the San Francisco Ballet and was choreographed by the world-renowned Lar Lubovitch. In June of 2003, PBS's prestigious arts series "Great Performances" broadcast a two-hour special of Othello filmed with the San Francisco Ballet and Goldenthal's original score was nominated for an Emmy. This year, ABT performed Othello at The Metropolitan Opera House, The Dorothy Chandler Pavilion and The Kennedy Center.

He has composed music for more than a dozen theatrical productions including Juan Darien: A Carnival Mass, directed by Taymor and first produced in 1988. Juan Darien opened the season at the Vivian Beaumont Theater at Lincoln Center in 1996, winning rave reviews, as well as four Drama Desk and five Tony nominations, including Best Musical and Best Original Score.

Goldenthal composed the scores for Heat, Titus, Interview with the Vampire, Michael Collins, Batman Forever, A Time to Kill, Drugstore Cowboy, Alien 3 and many other films. He was nominated for two Golden Globe Awards, two Tony Awards, and three Chicago Film Critics Awards. He received the L.A. Film Critics Award for Best Original Score for his work on Neil Jordan's The Butcher Boy.

DANIEL EZRALOW's (choreographer) latest work can be seen in Cirque du Soleil's current hit show "Love" as well as in Ezralow's own touring Dance Theatre show "Why," which premiered to glowing reviews in Milano, Italy, in spring, 2007. Ezralow's show "Aeros," created with the Romanian Olympic Gymnastic Team, continues its successful tour worldwide, while his fifth new work with the renowned Hubbard Street Dance Chicago premiered at Symphony Hall Chicago with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

Ezralow began his career as a dancer with 5X2 Plus, Lar Lubovitch, Paul Taylor and Pilobolus. He was one of the original dancer-choreographers to create MOMIX and is a founding member of ISO Dance. He has also created original work for numerous pre-eminent dance companies through the world, including the Paris Opera Ballet, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, London Contemporary Dance Company, and Batsheva, to name a few. His work with ISO Dance and his multi-media one man show "Mandala" have both toured worldwide to sold out audiences receiving standing ovations and glowing reviews.

Working extensively in film and television, Ezralow has choreographed for such directors as Julie Taymor, Ron Howard, Lina Wertmuller, Marco Belocchio, Nakano Hiroyuki, Dominique Sena, and Julian Temple. He has created the award winning dance special "Windows," shown extensively on Bravo, and received an Emmy Award for his work on the PBS special "Episodes."

In the theater, he has choreographed Julie Taymor's Broadway production of "The Green Bird" and her "Flying Dutchman" for the Los Angeles and Houston Operas. He has choreographed and associate directed a new contemporary music theatre production of "Tosca: Amore Disperato," which premiered and performed extensively in Italy, including the Arena di Verona. He has also choreographed Maggio Musicale's production of "Aida" with Zubin Mehta conducting, directed and choreographed "The Adventures of Emilio Salgari" at the Filharmonic di Verona, and he created the choreography, stage movement and appeared with Vittorio Gassman in an adaptation of Melville's' "Moby Dick" at Theatre Champs Elysees.

In the music world, he has created choreography and staged shows for such artists as Josh Groban, Faith Hill, Andrea Bocelli, U2, David Bowie, Sting, Pat Metheny, Lucio Dalla, Ricky Martin, and many more.

Ezralow is also the recipient of The American Choreography Award's Innovator's award, an American Choreography Award for Outstanding Choreography in a Television Special, an Emmy nomination for the 1998 Academy AwardsR, a Positano Award for Excellence in Choreography, and a Nijinsky Award, not to mention numerous other award nominations for his outstanding choreography in special events, live performance, opera, rock videos, commercials, film, and television programs around the world. He has also been a recipient of an NEA Fellowship Grant.

Ezralow's choreographic vision and performance participation have also been seen in innovative advertising campaigns for Gap Clothing, Danone Yogurt, New York Times Men's Fashion, Issey Miyake, Ermengilda Zegna, Hugo Boss, Xerox-Fuji, Ilford Film, Eveready Battery, Sapporo Beer, and Raymond-Weil Watches.

His image and movement grace the covers of and are featured throughout the best selling dance photography books The Fugitive Gesture and Breaking Bounds. He is the subject a feature documentary film entitled The Journey of a Dancer: Daniel Ezralow, which explores in depth Ezralow's creative process, his life and his work.

Born and raised in a house dedicated to classical music in Winterthur, Switzerland, Matthias "TEESE" GOHL (Songs Producer, Supervising Music Producer) studied jazz composition at Berklee College in Boston, MA. After years of composing for and touring with local Jazz groups he turned to Theater Music and Sound Design. He has worked at the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, MA, New York University, Trinity Repertory Theater in Providence, R.I., and Theater For A New Audience in NY. His theatre collaborators include Elliot Goldenthal, Anne Bogart, Oscar Eustis, Bill Alexander, Tina Landau, Brian Jucha and Andre Serban.

While in Cambridge he collaborated with Elliot Goldenthal on his score for Pet Semetary and has since produced most of his twenty film scores, including Interview with the Vampire, Michael Collins, two Batman features, Titus, and the OscarR winning score for Julie Taymor's Frida. Highlights of other film scores he has produced include John Corigliano's OscarR winning score for The Red Violin and Barrington Phelong's score for Hillary & Jackie.

As a composer for documentary films, he has worked with Ken Burns and PBS on "The West", "Frank Lloyd Wright" and "Jazz", Roger Sherman's "Alexander Calder" and "The Sweetest Sound", and Stephen Ives' most recent film "New Orleans", and Michael Kantor's Emmy Award winning series "Broadway".

Teese works as musical director for Carly Simon, as arranger for Dave Stewart and other Rockers, and he is looking forward to his job as music supervisor on Julie Taymor's upcoming Broadway production of "Spider-Man: the Opera," with music by Bono & the Edge.

Writer, performer, and music producer T BONE BURNETT (Songs Producer) was born Joseph Henry Burnett, January 14, 1948 in St. Louis, Missouri. He grew up in Fort Worth, Texas, where he began making records in 1965, producing Texas blues, country, and rock and roll bands, and occasionally, himself. He now lives and works in Los Angeles as a producer and recording artist.

In 1975, he toured with Bob Dylan's Rolling Thunder Review tour before forming his own group, the Alpha Band, with others from the tour. Burnett returned to recording solo in the late 1970s and has gone on to record numerous critically acclaimed albums - including 1992's Grammy nominated "The Criminal Under My Own Hat" - under his own name. His most recent album is 2006's The True False Identity, his first album of new original songs in 14 years. Burnett also released last year "Twenty Twenty - The Essential T Bone Burnett," a 40-song retrospective spanning his entire career of music-making.

In the last nine years, he has written music for two Sam Shepard plays - Tooth of Crime (Second Dance) and The Late Henry Moss - and in 2005 composed music for a production of Bertolt Brecht's Mother Courage and Her Children by Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre Company.

A prolific and versatile producer, T Bone Burnett has produced highly successful recordings for Sam Phillips, Elvis Costello, Roy Orbison, Counting Crows, the Wallflowers and Gillian Welch, among others. He was musical director for the concert film Roy Orbison and Friends: Black and White Night, which featured Orbison and an all-star band of Bruce Springsteen, Elvis Costello, Tom Waits, Bonnie Raitt, Burnett, and many others.

Burnett recently won a Grammy for his work on the soundtrack to the hit motion picture Walk the Line, for which he also composed the original score. Burnett won four Grammys, including Producer of the Year, for the Coen Brothers' film O Brother, Where Art Thou? and its documentary spin-off Down From the Mountain; he also won a Grammy for his work in producing the Tony Bennett and k.d. lang album "A Wonderful World." He received an OscarR nomination for Best Original Song (with Elvis Costello) for "Scarlet Tide," performed by Allison Krauss, from the acclaimed soundtrack he produced for Cold Mountain, directed by Anthony Minghella. He scored and wrote three songs for Wim Wenders' Don't Come Knockin'. Most recently, he collaborated with Elvis Costello on Steve Zaillian's All The King's Men.

In 2002, Burnett joined forces with the Academy AwardR-winning filmmakers Joel and Ethan Coen to form DMZ Records, a joint venture with Columbia Records, and produced the new label's inaugural releases: a new album by the legendary bluegrass musician Ralph Stanley and the Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood soundtrack. DMZ has since released several critically-acclaimed soundtrack albums, produced or executive-produced by Burnett, including Cold Mountain, A Mighty Wind, Crossing Jordan and The Ladykillers (2004), which reunited Burnett with the Coen Brothers for the first time since O Brother, Where Art Thou? Burnett also served as executive roducer for the highly lauded debut album from Ollabelle, released on DMZ/Columbia Records in March 2004. He produced the debut album "Future Perfect" from experimental band Autolux for DMZ/Columbia, which was released in October 2004, as well as the new album from Cassandra Wilson, "Thunderbird," which was released in March, 2006. He produced a forthcoming project, "Raising Sand," from Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, and he is currently at work on albums with John Mellencamp and blues legend B.B. King.

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