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環球影片暨STUDIOCANAL 呈獻
WORKING TITLE製作
奧斯卡7項提名大熱作品《傳奇女王伊利沙白》台前幕後班底
《帝國驕雄》金像級最佳編劇 威廉尼古遜
《傳奇女王伊利沙白》導演 錫哈加培 作品

《傳奇女王伊利沙伯：黃金盛世》
Elizabeth: the Golden Age

1月17日延續不朽傳奇
《傳奇女王伊利沙白》《巴別塔》《娛樂大亨》《魔戒系列》
金球獎奧斯卡金像獎威尼斯國際影展蜚聲國際三料影后 姬蒂白蘭芝
《傳奇女王伊利沙伯》《閃亮的風采》金像影帝 謝菲路殊
《誘心人》《罪惡城》《案內人》金像級紅星 基夫奧雲
領銜主演
《沉默的羔羊前傳之揭開罪幕》雷士伊凡斯《重案夢幻組2》佐迪摩拉
《不羈逃情》森曼花摩頓主演《愛糖針》《墮落飄零燕》艾碧康妮絲
主演
化粧髮型: 《傳奇女王伊利沙伯》金像得主珍妮舒歌亞
選角:《哈利波特》系列費安娜慧雅
音樂: 《情陷紅磨坊》金球獎得主基克岩士唐阿拉韋夏華曼
服裝: 《傳奇女王伊利沙伯》艾莉珊蒂碧恩
剪接: 《傳奇女王伊利沙伯》基爾標葛A.C.E.
美術: 《珍珠港》傑韓迪薩戴斯
攝影:《傳奇女王伊利沙伯》雷美艾迪法華辛BSC
聯合監製: 《傳奇女王伊利沙伯》瑪莉李察斯
執行監製: 《傳奇女王伊利沙伯》《傲慢與偏見》狄寶娜希活米高赫徹
《傳奇女王伊利沙伯》《傲慢與偏見》麗莎翠仙
監製:《傳奇女王伊利沙伯》《傲慢與偏見》添比雲
《傳奇女王伊利沙伯》《傲慢與偏見》艾歷芬拿
《BJ單身日記》系列尊拿芬基雲迪舒
編劇:《帝國驕雄》威廉尼高遜《傳奇女王伊利沙伯》米高赫徹
導演:《傳奇女王伊利沙伯》錫哈加培

女王伊利沙白一世在位近半個世紀，
她不但平定國內的分裂，成功保持英國統一，
更帶領英國成為最強大、最富有的國家之一。
時值英國文化最輝煌的年代，
歷史上稱為「伊利沙白時期」，亦稱為「黃金時代」。

故事梗概

時為 1585 年，女王伊利沙白一世(姬蒂白蘭芝飾)雖已統治英國近三十個年頭，但其皇位仍被虎視眈眈，更受家族中人的背叛威脅，謀朝篡位之心昭然若揭。另一邊廂，彼岸奉行天主教原教旨主義的西班牙，其傀儡皇帝菲利浦二世成功取得教會支持，並掌握宗教法庭，正準備以強大的軍隊和航海艦隊向女王和英國宣戰，決心要把新教徒「異端者」伊利沙白從王位拉下來，恢復英國是天主教教會的榮耀。

內憂外患，形勢告急，威脅迫在眉睫！

對外戰事一觸即發，女王的內心同時也在交戰：設法控制及隱藏自己對華特雷利(基夫奧雲飾)的愛意。伊利沙白一世深明人民對自己的期望，也不能否認身為女王必須效忠、以致奉獻整個身體和靈魂予國家。即使多麼不情不願，她仍努力把這份被禁止的愛沉澱，同時鼓勵心腹侍從貝絲接近雷利，繼續不著痕跡地親近雷利。

然而，不久她便察覺這是一個愚昧的決定。雷利和貝絲日久生情，他倆的親暱行為教伊利沙白一世妒火中燒！愛情和權力的恆久角力 ── 甘作平凡但被愛的尋常女子？還是萬人之上的孤高女王？女王伊利沙白一世再次被迫在兩者之間作出痛苦抉擇。

奧斯卡金像、金球影后姬蒂白蘭芝，剛榮獲威尼斯國際影展影后，與導演錫哈加培再結片緣，夥拍兩度提名奧斯卡《帝國驕雄》編劇威廉尼古遜，與兩位奧斯卡級男星，曾演前集《傳奇女王伊利沙伯》及《閃亮的風采》的金像影帝謝菲路殊，以及曾演出《誘心人》、《罪惡城》的紅星基夫奧雲，帶領原裝幕後金像班底，延續上集《傳奇女王伊利沙白》的不朽傳奇。

Production Information

Academy AwardR winner CATE BLANCHETT returns to her star-making role from Working Title Films' 1998's seven-time OscarR-nominated Elizabeth. She is reunited with her collaborators from the worldwide crossover hit-Academy AwardR winner GEOFFREY RUSH and Golden Globe- and BAFTA-nominated director SHEKHAR KAPUR-in this gripping historical drama laced with treachery and romance: Elizabeth: The Golden Age. Signing on to the new epic is Golden Globe winner and OscarR nominee CLIVE OWEN (Children of Men) as Sir Walter Raleigh, a dashing seafarer in whom Elizabeth finds newfound temptation.

It is 1585 and, having reigned over England for nearly three decades, Queen Elizabeth I (Blanchett) continues to face bloodlust for her throne and the lingering threat of familial betrayal. A channel away, a destructive wind of fundamentalist Catholicism blows across 16th century Europe, with Spain's Philip II (JORDI MOLLA), its figurehead. Backed by the Church in Rome and armed with the Inquisition, Philip-with his powerful army and sea-dominating armada-presents an imminent threat to Queen and Country…the dark and pious king is determined to wrest the Protestant "heretic" from the throne and restore England to the glory that is the Roman Catholic Church.

Preparing to go to war to defend her empire, Elizabeth also struggles to balance ancient royal duties with an unexpected vulnerability in her love for Raleigh-despite his status as a commoner-who remains forbidden for a Queen sworn body and soul to her country. Unable and unwilling to pursue her passion, Elizabeth encourages her favoured lady-in-waiting, Bess (ABBIE CORNISH), to befriend Raleigh and keep him near.

But such a strategy places Elizabeth at the centre of their courtship, where she has no choice but to observe their growing intimacy. In the dashing and adventurous Raleigh, she sees not only an intellectual and spirited equal, but also a clarion of lands beyond, the unexplored globe, infinite…freedom. By electing Bess to take her place, she is ultimately forced to make the anguishing choice between being a woman and being a Queen.

And as she charts her course abroad, Elizabeth's trusted advisor, Sir Francis Walsingham (Rush), continues his masterful puppetry of her court at home-and her campaign to solidify absolute power. Through an intricate spy network, Walsingham uncovers an assassination plot that could topple the throne. But as he unmasks traitors that may include Elizabeth's own cousin Mary Stuart (double OscarR nominee SAMANTHA MORTON of In America), he unknowingly sets England on a course of destruction.

Elizabeth: The Golden Age tells the thrilling tale of an era…the story of one woman's crusade to control love, crush enemies and secure her position as a beloved icon of the Western world.

Directed by Shekhar Kapur, from an original screenplay by WILLIAM NICHOLSON (Gladiator) and MICHAEL HIRST (Elizabeth), Elizabeth: The Golden Age is produced by Working Title's TIM BEVAN and ERIC FELLNER and JONATHAN CAVENDISH. The executive producers are DEBRA HAYWARD, LIZA CHASIN and Hirst.

The filmmakers have assembled a stellar team of behind-the-scenes film artisans to re-create and re-imagine the glittering court of Elizabeth I (along with the gritty reality of day-to-day life in the 16th Century), often using some of England's most historic sites as a backdrop to the epic drama-as well as shooting at the legendary Shepperton Studios outside of London. Many of the craftsmen return to work with Kapur, having served in similar capacities on Elizabeth, and include director of photography REMI ADEFARASIN; editor JILL BILCOCK; costume designer ALEXANDRA BYRNE; and makeup and hair designer JENNY SHIRCORE. New collaborating artists include production designer GUY HENDRIX DYAS and composers CRAIG ARMSTRONG and AR RAHMAN.

ABOUT THE PRODUCTION

"I am called the Virgin Queen.
Unmarried, I have no Master.
Childless, I am Mother to my people.
God give me strength to bear this mighty burden."

-Queen Elizabeth I

Released in 1998, the bold and visceral Elizabeth started out as a well-pedigreed art-house hit, and-buoyed by a bravura turn by then star-on-the-rise Cate Blanchett, an accomplished cast, superlative storytelling and sensual production values-it grew into an international phenomenon. Elizabeth was nominated for a total of seven OscarsR (including Best Picture and Best Actress for Blanchett, with makeup designer Jenny Shircore winning), 11 BAFTAs (winning six) and three Golden Globes (with Blanchett walking away with a statue). The magic seemed to lay in the filmmakers' vision of a great historical epic told in an iconoclastic and contemporary way-an approach rendering it accessible to a modern audience-and in Shekhar Kapur's direction (a reinvention of period drama through a decidedly Eastern sensibility).

During production of Elizabeth, the filmmakers discussed the idea of telling the story of Elizabeth I-from the young girl to the Queen who ruled nearly 45 years-in a trilogy of films. Says producer Tim Bevan, "Elizabeth the First's entire reign could not be told effectively in one film-it was so long and so much happened during it, and she encountered so many extraordinary people."

Encouraged by the global success of Elizabeth, the discussions continued over the intervening years, and approximately five years after the completion of Elizabeth, the team felt the time was right to commission writers Michael Hirst (who penned the first film) and William Nicholson to begin work on the screenplay that would become Elizabeth: The Golden Age.

In Elizabeth, the story focused on the early (and somewhat uncertain) years of the fledgling ruler's reign. The young queen faced an uphill struggle to hold on to her throne, outfoxing conspirators and deceivers at every turn. Never certain which of her court and advisers could be trusted, the headstrong and savvy Elizabeth emerged at the end of the film as a Queen, firmly in charge of her destiny…

Elizabeth: The Golden Age commences a decade after the period covered in Elizabeth and examines the glorious middle years of her rule. On a political level, the film explores Elizabeth's conflict with Philip II of Spain, who-as the ruler of his own Catholic empire with the considerable backing of the Church in Rome, not to mention the might of the ruthless Inquisition-was regarded as the most powerful man in the world. Religiously devout, he had sworn to blanket the world in Catholicism, whatever the cost.

When Elizabeth succeeded to the throne as a Protestant in 1558, nearly half of England's population remained Catholic, but-in one of many characteristically skillful moves-she chose to view her people as her subjects, dogma notwithstanding. She reasoned they loved her before they were either Protestant or Catholic. ("I have no wish to open windows into men's souls," she explained…basically meaning "think what you like, but act as my Protestant subjects." Throughout her reign, Elizabeth I proved extremely tolerant to her Catholic subjects and constantly protected them against virulent protests and cries to persecute, many of which arose from the floor of her own Parliament.) The new film sets about to examine the notion of religious tolerance set against fundamentalism-a timely subject that resonates today.

Director Kapur believes that "by delving into history, you wind up telling a contemporary story about ourselves. Why make a film today that is not relevant to today's times? Why make a film that's not relevant to today's individual, political or psychological attitudes? Elizabeth: The Golden Age is about Cate Blanchett, who is interpreting Elizabeth for modern times. It's about the conflict between fundamentalism and tolerance, the search for the self, divinity. It's about mortality and immortality. It's all things we deal with in our personal lives every day."

On a more personal level, The Golden Age looks beyond the political conflicts to deal with Elizabeth as a woman, inwardly conflicted while on her voyage from mortality to divinity-due in large part to one of the greatest romantic involvements in her life, the larger-than-life adventurer and soldier Sir Walter Raleigh. At the heart of this is the exploration of a triangular relationship among Elizabeth, Raleigh and her favourite lady-in-waiting, Bess Throckmorton. The Queen plays a costly game of chess with the dashing Raleigh and the beautiful Bess…eventually experiencing a vicarious relationship with Raleigh (through the young Throckmorton) that she denies herself. In some ways, Elizabeth hopes to keep Raleigh's mind and spirit to herself, while giving him her body in the form of Bess. In that costly gamble, she ends up losing the game and, ultimately, control of Raleigh's heart.

Marking their third collaboration together (he produced both Bridget Jones films), Jonathan Cavendish produces the film with Working Title Films' Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner. Cavendish states, "The opportunity to work with Shekhar was an attractive one, and it turned out to be an enormously stimulating experience. He's very collaborative. He's constantly bringing in new ideas, rejecting old ones, and has the bravery and the imagination to keep questioning things. He operates on metaphorical and mythical levels, always keeping two or three ideas going below the surface, so the scene appears to be about one thing, but is often much more about something else altogether."

With a script in the works, the filmmakers set about reuniting the creative team whose work on Elizabeth had made it the subject of such acclaim-specifically director of photography Remi Adefarasin, costume designer Alexandra Byrne and hair and makeup designer Jenny Shircore, all Academy AwardR-nominated, with Shircore winning hers. Also returning to the project would be editor Jill Bilcock, who received a BAFTA nomination for her editing of Elizabeth. Finally, the filmmakers signed production designer Guy Hendrix Dyas, whose bold vision is evident in such films as X2 and Superman Returns.

Casting the Film:

The Return of the Queen

As the story is about Elizabeth, it was, of course, essential to secure Cate Blanchett in the part. "Without Cate as Elizabeth, Elizabeth: The Golden Age could not have been made," Kapur simply states.

Interestingly enough, the OscarR winner and prolific Blanchett was not immediately attracted to the idea of returning to the role. Kapur and Rush campaigned Blanchett over dinner, and it was only later that she agreed to portray the ruler once again. Blanchett explains, "It helped, however, when I played Hedda Gabler in a production in Sydney, and then again 18 months later in New York. I had a sense that through returning to a role, you can delve deeper into it.

"I've learned much more about filmmaking since Elizabeth," the actor continues. "That said, it is a tricky role and there are times when I thought I've got it all wrong and I wanted to start again. I think that's the testament to a really powerful, complex character-there are an infinite number of ways you can approach her…and because film is temporal, this is the way we chose to do it at the time. Elizabeth is a character who continues to fascinate people; it's why so many versions of her life have been told. What is revealed about her depends on where you shine the light."

"For Cate," Kapur acknowledges, "this is a far more challenging part, where she is much more active than reactive-Elizabeth is now far more complex. Cate has given a performance that maintains the vulnerability she expressed in Elizabeth, but now, it is underneath the surface of this much stronger woman."

The concept of appearances-literally, that Elizabeth I lived and reigned at the centre of a theatrical stage-is one of the things that intrigued Blanchett: "Elizabeth explored denial, what one had to extricate from oneself in order to lead. She made herself into an icon, an image that she polished and honed for political ends…and I surmise for emotional protection. The journey of The Golden Age, in many ways, is about acceptance. What I have tried to do in this film is to create a sense of a hollow woman-without a companion, a husband, a child-searching for what replaces that void.

"Elizabeth had a vigilant sense of self-control," Blanchett continues. "She was very controlling about her image. What the film deals with, among other themes, is that as she began to age, her availability to be married and form alliances with other countries-a very powerful weapon-was ebbing away. Her physical attractiveness and ability to bear children was questioned. It deals with the political pressure, as well as pressure from within. Things that she's kept suppressed for so long come flooding to the surface, especially in the relationship she forms with Raleigh."

For Blanchett, her relationship with Raleigh proved to be the most motivating aspect of stepping back into the role. As the script began to evolve, an exploration of a love triangle that develops among Elizabeth, Raleigh and Bess was brought to the fore.

Another draw for the leading lady was the opportunity to re-team with director Kapur. "We connect," she shares. "We always understand where one another is coming from. He comes up with ways of entering a scene which are completely unique, but at the same time, he is intensely collaborative and genuinely loves what actors bring to the scene. He will reshape a scene around a moment an actor brings, if it feels right."

Supplies Kapur: "Cate has a remarkable combination of talent, control, understanding, intellect and emotion. These qualities-along with incredible discipline-allow her to seamlessly shift between different sides of the character she plays. I've never seen her when she's not at work on the role. She works all the time. If she has two minutes off, she'll be listening to her lines on tape, and thinking about them. She's unbeatable."

Adds producer Tim Bevan: "Cate realized in the first movie that she was talking to contemporary women; what she's done in this film is explore the price of having it all. For Elizabeth, it's career, the price of being omnipotent and the price of being a woman in a man's world. I think that will speak directly to all women."

Geoffrey Rush etched a memorable portrait of Elizabeth's great adviser Walsingham in Elizabeth, and re-signed to the role even before the acceptance of their Queen. The OscarR winner was more than eager to again plumb the depths of such a powerful man, whom some considered as slippery as he was savvy. Rush comments, "Walsingham was the great spymaster. He moved his way into a very powerful position in Elizabeth's court and, by the 1580s, he was masterminding one of the greatest espionage networks throughout Europe. He was an intellectual of that age and was the person that created the powerful notion of the ruler being a divine figure. He was a person of great discipline and control, as was his Queen."

In The Golden Age, this control is threatened when Walsingham uncovers his brother's betrayal. Though not historically accurate, the plot point is included for a specific reason, as Rush explains, "Shekhar was interested in exploring what happens when powerful public figures are eaten away by their personal dilemmas…and through his brother's involvement in a plot, we see Walsingham's uncertainty and vulnerability exposed."

The opportunity to take the character further than had been explored in Elizabeth was a determining factor in Rush's decision to return to the role. Walsingham had served as a mentor to the young Elizabeth, guiding the uncertain woman into the responsibilities of leadership as dictated by a staunch and philosophical standpoint. Now, decades later, the great adviser finds himself reduced to a more statesmanlike role, with much of his political clout and influence over Elizabeth having waned.

Offers producer Cavendish, "Walsingham's journey in this film is extremely moving. His powers are failing him. He's not quite on top of his game any longer. And Geoffrey lends a gravitas to the characterization which is quite astonishing to watch."

As with Blanchett, Rush was persuaded to return by having Kapur in the director's chair again: "Shekhar is one of the most adventurous and aesthetic filmmakers with whom I have worked," the actor notes. "When he talks to the actors or any one of the crew, it is always in very appealing images rather than instructions. He communicates very imaginatively and during the shooting of a film, imagination is a great thing to keep alive. He does it with great humour and great playfulness-and sometimes very refreshing seriousness-about the deeper aspects of our characters' lives. It gives you something more to play with, something that's not bound up with the minutiae of psychological motivations and historical accuracy. These events are so complicated that you have to find a dramatic form-in the end, the story you tell has to capture the primal elements of what's going on between these people, these nations."

Into the court of this accomplished ruler and her fading lion comes the bold explorer Sir Walter Raleigh-a colourful figure who conjures almost as many myths as Elizabeth I does. Filmmakers were intent upon casting an actor with the abilities and the physical attributes to bring the hero alive. Enter Clive Owen, whose commanding, primal and edgy performance in Closer netted him an OscarR nomination and mature performance in 2006's Children of Men was roundly lauded. As Sir Walter Raleigh, an ambitious seaman who manages to inveigle his way into the Court and into the Queen's heart, Owen effortlessly captures the spirit of the role. Commends Bevan: "Into the mix came Clive Owen, who read the part of Raleigh and decided that one was for him-which unconditionally, was fantastic."

Says the director: "Clive is an amazing actor and has the personality and the face I totally believe as Raleigh. He's undeniably credible as the free electron that comes in and creates chaos."

For Owen, it was the jumble of Old World and contemporary qualities that made playing the character so enjoyable. He offers, "Raleigh had a breath of fresh air about him, a freedom, an energy. He was a complicated mixture-attractive and very well educated, but also outspoken and incredibly arrogant at the same time. His cavalier attitude impressed as many as it offended."

Blanchett describes her character's affection for Raleigh not so much as love, but as a combination of love and envy: "It isn't the youthful ebullience that she experienced with Dudley in Elizabeth. It is a more wistful vicariousness, that 'If only I could be him.' I think it is possible to fall in love with someone that you want to emulate, and somehow to be with them is to live through them, to be inside them, and to see the world through their eyes-to live another life, be another person. As cultured, well-read, eloquent and intelligent as Elizabeth was, she had never left the shores of England, and in Raleigh, she saw a hero who had discovered a new world and had literally travelled to where the maps end."

About the relationship the film explores between Elizabeth and Raleigh, Owen explains, "Raleigh may have been many things, not the least of which was ambitious. His priority at first is to secure funding for another expedition, and his plan is to win favor with the Queen, so that she would fund his trip. But he is unexpectedly impressed by her and attracted to her. He had an honesty about him, which set him apart from most people at court, and she probably found that very attractive."

Too, Owen was quite a fan of the first film. "The most striking thing about Elizabeth was Shekhar's perspective, where he chose to put the camera," the actor offers. "The events felt epic, bold, hugely important. He's applying the same tools here. As actors, we're not restricted by his pre-conceived ideas. If he sees actors working in a particular way, he'll work to develop that. It's a very inspiring and creative way of working."

The weight of playing an historical figure also struck Owen, but he adopted a philosophy that dovetailed with the filmmakers' views on their subjects: "There is an element with any film that explores a real character-at a certain point, the film has to take over from history, and it's my responsibility to play Raleigh as the filmmakers see his function."

The third corner of the triangle, Elizabeth's young and attractive lady-in-waiting, Elizabeth "Bess" Throckmorton, was a pivotal role for filmmakers to fill. Jonathan Cavendish explains, "We wanted someone who expressed freshness, youth and energy, somebody upon whom Elizabeth could reflect as being a younger version of herself. We wanted someone who wasn't widely known, but who also had the acting ability and charisma to hold her own opposite Cate." Abbie Cornish fulfilled those criteria, with her eye-opening performance in the Australian coming-of-age film Somersault going a long way toward attesting to considerable talent.

Her co-star Geoffrey Rush, with whom she worked in the recent Australian release Candy, states, "The camera absolutely adores her. There's no training, no technical background, it's just a pure innate artistry. She's one of those great talents that constantly alerts one to what's going on underneath."

The 25-year-old Cornish relished the prospect of playing a character from a world that was completely unknown to her, opposite an impressive cast. She states, "There is something intriguing about Bess, in that she carries both light and dark. Shekhar has an ability to dive in and explore something endlessly and without limits, without any boundaries."

The sexual and romantic politics were as intriguing to Blanchett, who supplies, "It became interesting for me to play the notion of a Queen who had made a choice that she would use her virginity, her status as a single Queen, as a political tool. Given her mother, Anne Boleyn's, fate-and also the fate of many women at that time in childbirth-marriage and all that it then entailed had little to recommend for Elizabeth I. What would she gain? She dispatches Bess like Prospero does Ariel to have an experience that she can't have. And while she's in control of the chess game between Bess and Raleigh, of their moving towards one another, there's pleasure in it. Of course, the rules change when they fall in love and Elizabeth realizes she no longer has control of the game."

There are bigger games on the horizon for the Protestant Queen-literally just across the sea-in the form of the Catholic ruler King Philip II of Spain. The role was filled by Spanish star Jordi Molla, who surprised and delighted filmmakers with his unexpected interpretation of the role. Says Molla: "Shekhar described Philip like a bat-always praying, in the darkness-yet, at the same time, the most powerful man in the world. I liked the idea of expanding that notion, the thought that he was this powerful man, but he was also a man with a huge complex. I wanted to play him with a very weak voice and an unusual gait…peculiarities that could have made him the object of ridicule and provide a reason for his complex." (Part of his hostility toward the usurper Elizabeth-beyond her religious beliefs-might have been due to the fact that Philip had been married to Elizabeth's older half-sister, Mary I, the daughter of King Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon, who ruled England for less than five years before dying childless, with the throne then passing to Henry's second daughter, Elizabeth I. During Mary's brief reign, her zealous campaign to return England to Catholicism resulted in 280 executions for heresy…hence her nickname, "Bloody Mary.")

Another Mary who figured into the history of England was Mary Queen of Scots, Elizabeth's cousin, the daughter of James V of Scotland and Mary of Guise, remembered for her beauty, misfortune and political ineptitude. Under the laws of English succession, Mary was next in line to the throne after Elizabeth I-and in the eyes of many Catholics, she was the rightful queen. This sentiment led to Mary's imprisonment under Elizabeth for 19 years.

Determined not to spill the blood of another queen, Elizabeth demurred each time the idea of Mary's execution was brought to her by political allies. Eventually, Mary's continual implication in plots to assassinate Elizabeth and place herself on the throne proved her undoing (the final one, the Babington Plot, some consider a conspiracy launched by Walsingham-which The Golden Age explores). When Mary was executed for treason at Fotheringhay Castle in 1587, Elizabeth was 44 years old. And it was Mary's execution that fueled Philip's launching of the Armada against Elizabeth and her country.

Double OscarR nominee Samantha Morton (for Woody Allen's Sweet and Lowdown and for wrenching performance as an Irish immigrant in the drama In America) welcomed the chance to embody such a legendary and controversial woman. Morton says, "I found Mary a fascinating character, and I found Shekhar's attitude towards her very exciting, refreshing and very daring-not with the intention of courting controversy, but to capture her essence. He approaches every character in a fresh and original way. He chooses not to bring any baggage in regards to what has already been said or done, and while he has a healthy respect for the subject matter, he gives an actor complete artistic freedom within that."

Of his choices, director Kapur reflects, "I wouldn't say we've taken liberty with history, because all history is interpretation. Say you have a conversation with me today and tomorrow, when you tell somebody about that conversation-one day old-you'd be giving your interpretation of it. So 400 years later, interpretations differ. Remember that over these years, history was written by people who took them down for the ruling courts-they wrote the history for the ruler of the time, and if that ruler didn't like it, then they'd have the writer's head chopped off. So history had to be interpreted at that time in favour of the ruler. So what I do, today, here and now, is simply tell a story, and I'm attracted to this story for modern reasons…for reasons that resonate within myself."

Costumes and Makeup Fit For a Queen

Returning costumer Alexandra Byrne created, yet again, a spectacular wardrobe for Cate Blanchett as Elizabeth. Byrne explains, "The benefit of doing the first film meant that I already knew the period very well, having done the necessary research for Elizabeth. In a way, that allowed me more freedom to look at the period more tangentially this time, to read more about Elizabeth, as opposed to just looking at reference material.

"The more I read about her," she continues, "the more references I discovered to her amazing appearance, her astounding dresses and her beauty, and I felt that it was important to give some sense of that to an audience today, by making her look, perhaps, more accessible to us than historical dramas normally do."

Byrne's inspiration for the tone she sought came from the work of Spanish fashion designer Balenciaga, who had interpreted various historical paintings in his 1950s couture, including some Elizabethan pieces. Alexandra Byrne: "That was the big leap for me…Elizabeth was a fashion icon in her time and I felt this was the way to make her more relevant to an audience today."

Offers Blanchett, "Elizabeth stage-managed her appearance according to what image she needed to portray-and we've definitely worked that concept into the film. Some costumes and makeup are much more revealing and quite connected to the subtext of the film. Morag Ross created 16 wigs, many to reflect her state-some perky, some tragic. We talked much about the public and the private self. Alex Byrne has created the most astonishing costumes. Her sense of colour is emotional, as well as visually arresting. One of the most exciting costume progressions was as Elizabeth moved toward Tilbury and hardened her heart to Raleigh-it was clothing as armor ending in the vision on the white horse, Elizabeth as warrior, her Joan d'Arc."

Geoffrey Rush concurs, "Most audiences have a sort of idea of what the period must have been like, but we seldom think about how funky and vibrant, sexy and exciting aspects of it might have been. Alex has successfully tweaked and played with what the portraiture of the clothes looked like. She's made them seem more alive and much more accessible to our 21st Century eyes."

For Byrne, returning to the evolution of the character of Elizabeth allowed her to expand on the artistic vision of the first film. She says, "In Elizabeth, we find a girl, a princess, actually, who became a queen. She made conscious choices about how to present herself, sometimes reinforcing her confidence by her costume. Now, she has established her reign, she's firmly on the throne, her palaces to her liking, and her style of dress reflects that. She's confident, and she's queen…and she's on a journey toward immortality."

One of the challenges facing Byrne was the fact that there is no iconic "crowned Queen sitting on a throne scene. We establish that with the red dress at the opening of the film-formal robes, while she's at the job of being queen. From that, we establish that she has both formal and informal attire, always very conscious of her public personae."

Perhaps one of the leader's most important public appearances was in front of her troops before the battle with the Spanish Armada. Actress, director and designer were in complete accord that her costume would convey her willingness to be seen as one of her soldiers, someone willing to serve, fight and die beside them. The resulting look-a valiant woman-at-arms, clad in almost medieval-looking armor, hair down, astride a white horse-echoes another famous female militarist. Per Byrne: "In a way, it's both a PR exercise and a reality. It obviously touches all the images for the audience of Joan of Arc…but whether the queen wore armor like that and rode astride, we don't know, but in terms of telling our story, it's a very key moment."

Also of importance to Kapur was the relationship between Elizabeth and Bess, the fact that they're "the same person-Bess is the mortal side of Elizabeth the divine. It became more about what she was wearing in reaction to her other half. It proved very interesting, as these are two very different actresses, and yet they had to reflect each other, sometimes echo each other. And then, in between them, you have Raleigh."

An Elizabethan man of average means-and Raleigh is a commoner, dependent upon financial support for his livelihood-would, in all probability, possess a single suit of clothes, so production did not have the luxury of outfitting him as they would their courtiers. Byrne explains, "There are lots of contemporary engravings of Raleigh, but bizarrely, he's in court dress in the middle of the West Indies or wherever, which is obviously how they wanted to perceive him at court. The reality is that a gentleman of that time maybe had one suit of clothing-he would have gone to sea in those clothes, where they would have gotten wet, then dried; they would have gotten torn, they would have been repaired. Also, he would have had to put on more practical layers. So we worked with the idea that his clothes had gone to sea with him and they had evolved over the journey…and remember, it was four months there and four months back."

The designer worked with Owen on the evolution of the design, assuring the actor that "the britches would be fine! He was a little alarmed by them. But by the end [of production], I think he was quite keen on them…the way they have become a part of him. They give you a certain way of walking and a certain scale. He wears them like no one else!"

Jenny Shircore notably won both the AcademyR and BAFTA Awards for her makeup and hair design on Elizabeth; she welcomed the opportunity to evolve Elizabeth's look, maturing her from a young girl fulfilling her destiny to become the Queen of England. Now, in Elizabeth: The Golden Age, she was just as enthusiastic to continue Elizabeth's journey, taking her from middle-aged woman to eternally divine.

Shircore's earlier research revolved around the portraiture of the period, and she returned to that reference material to establish Elizabeth's look during her middle years. She recounts, "A luminous creature is the vision Shekhar had for Elizabeth, both in Elizabeth and Elizabeth: The Golden Age, and that's what we have sought to achieve. Along with that, we've also conveyed a sense of this very powerful woman, who managed a very controlled and carefully constructed image."

Adds Morag Ross, Blanchett's personal makeup artist on the film, "For me, it was about creating an essence of Elizabeth. There have been several productions about Elizabeth I and we felt it was important-in order to catch people's attention-to try something new while still presenting the familiar image. I like to think that we've achieved that iconic image, with a bit of a twist."

Capturing the Period:

The Look and the Sets

In keeping with the director's "fresh and exciting" take on the subject matter, young and innovative production designer Guy Hendrix Dyas-who began as an illustrator/concept illustrator for multiple heavy-duty projects and graduated to designing such blockbusters as X2 and Superman Returns-was brought onboard to collaborate with Kapur and his Elizabeth veterans Adefarasin, Byrne and Shircore, along with editor Bilcock.

Per Dyas: "It was clear from my first meeting with the producers that they had a very strong idea of what they wanted for the film, having been talking about it and developing it for years. It was very important to expand the world that had been created in Elizabeth, and I thought it was a fantastic conceptual idea of Working Title's to create a very bold and modern period film.

"It was an exciting challenge to be charged with creating the scale they were talking about," continues Dyas. "The big difference between Elizabeth and Elizabeth: The Golden Age, in terms of the design, is the scale of Elizabeth against her environment. In Elizabeth, she is dwarfed by the architecture around her. It really helped add to her sense of isolation, of a young woman lost in the politics of the time. In Elizabeth: The Golden Age, she is now very much in charge of her world, and for that reason, she needed to appear metaphorically bigger against the architecture."

This notion informed the team as they scouted locations and began to work on set designs. In the end, they chose to bring The Golden Age to the majestic and architecturally significant cathedrals in the south of England, Wells and Winchester, where the scale is still grand but the detail within the architecture is scaled down (e.g., rather than one massive stone column, we see Elizabeth walking around a cluster of columns that take up the same area). This working within a different sense of scale makes her appear stronger within the environment. Simultaneously, there are more classically feminine cosmetic features in these locations-floral motifs in the stone carvings, more "delicate" gargoyles, a warmer and creamier colouring in the stone. All of this physically reinforces the concept that the Queen has clearly become more comfortable in the spaces she inhabits.

Dyas welcomed the opportunity to work at these locations: "It was imperative to do it. No matter how big our combined imaginations are, the architecture of these cathedrals is incredible, simply spectacular, and it would be foolish of us not to take advantage of these spaces. They bring tremendous scale to the project and Shekhar and Remi Adefarasin are brilliant at looking at a space and very quickly deciphering ways to make it seem even larger and more dramatic."

Having appropriated the ecclesiastical spaces of several cathedrals to resemble a palace environment, Dyas and his team more than had their work cut out for them in linking these spaces together via the sets designed and constructed at Shepperton Studios. The results: the Privy Chamber and the Queen's Private Quarters, both created with massive attention to detail and authenticity.

Dyas' years of experience as an illustrator came into play with his up-close and intensive attention to detail-considering how water runs down a wall, how wood ages in different environments. These building blocks were combined to produce a "visual language" for the film's design. This environmental approach had the advantage of not only producing stunning sets that agreed with the period locations, but also provided the performers with a credible, authentic world in which to create their characters.

Another distinct advantage to Dyas' all-encompassing design? Kapur is known for on-the-spot decisions with regard to camera locations. Dyas observes, "If he decides to shoot an actor's head right up against a particular wall, I'd be in a lot of trouble if that wall wasn't as realistic as it could possibly be, and as high-definition cameras come into play, these high levels of finish will become even more necessary."

All of this only added to the workload of the design team, as some of the textures and finishes they hoped to create could only be achieved by actually going through the processes as originally executed by the craftsmen centuries ago. "I have to ensure I give Shekhar the freedom to point the camera in any direction and feel that what he is looking at is authentic and real, and that the audience isn't going to be distracted by something looking out of place."

Dyas guesses that designing the Queen's Private Chambers set was one of the most difficult challenges of his career-Kapur had charged him to come up with a set devoid of walls, the idea being to create a slightly skewed array of arches and columns through which the director and his DP could shoot without physical restrictions. This would provide them with the ability to move the camera around, to create depth, continually varying the shots while maintaining a living, visual sense that would be inherently interesting to the audience. Part of Kapur's filming style involves off-camera voices, with the audience having to search for the speakers-the camera often tracking around until the characters are discovered. Dyas created the ultimate Kapur set-a visual puzzle with an endless array of potential camera angles and placement.

Authenticity was achieved not only through considered design, but also with consideration of the materials that would be utilized in construction. Using real materials-granite for the floors in both the Privy Chamber and the Queen's Private Chambers; beautiful and elaborate woodwork created from a mixture of wood enhanced by patterns sculpted in plaster, then stained and waxed to match the wood of its time-the designer created a set that not only appears real, it sounds and feels real as well. Comments Jonathan Cavendish, "Guy is remarkable, a massive talent. His attention to detail and his drive for perfection is extraordinary."

In addition to the palace sets, Dyas was charged with creating Raleigh's ship The Tyger, an outstanding construction (built to actual scale) that would be used as Raleigh's men defended England against the Spanish Armada. In order to maximize the expenditure of the production, The Tyger-when re-dressed and shot from another side-also cleverly functioned as a Spanish ship for the film.

Kapur explains, "We could not compromise on the ship. Doing a film with the Spanish Armada as a backdrop, it was absolutely essential for us to have a vessel that we could shoot in and around to show what life was like at sea. Raleigh's character is seductive and attractive because of his life at sea, so the boat was hugely important."

The final structure measured 180 feet in length, and was constructed from four-inch thick planks of timber screwed to an enormous steel frame. The Tyger sat on a gimbal, a large structure that provides movement, imitating a ship at sea in a variety of conditions-everything from calm to stormy to under attack. The build took several months, as once the steel frame was bolted to the gimbal, each timber frame was treated with a vigorous process-the wood was burned to remove some of the outer fibers, leaving only tougher, core fibers and resulting in a sea-battered and aged effect.

After the aging process, the painters came in, and scaffolding was built to allow the crew to work on the decks, adding the details that combined to create the appearance of a rugged war ship of the period: replete with railings, stairs and beautifully carved figureheads. Sails were also sewn, then aged, torn and fixed (in a rough, sailorly way), to give a sense that cannon balls had ripped through them.

Then came the enormous and incredibly complicated job of rigging the ship, which involved using historically accurate methods to tie thousands of feet of tar-covered rope. "It must be every designer's dream, at least once in their career, to get the opportunity to design and build a vessel of some kind," offers Dyas. "Quite frankly, the older the vessel, the more character, the more interesting it is. To construct The Tyger and see Clive looking so heroic on its deck-well, it was a great honour and one of the highlights of my career."

On the Road:

Location Shooting of Elizabeth: The Golden Age

The locations in Elizabeth: The Golden Age provided the production with a tour of some of the most magnificent cathedrals in the country-as well as churches, stately homes and national parkland-and the opportunity to set the story against extraordinary backdrops, all of which have played their own parts in English history.

Location shooting began with Westminster Cathedral, the largest and most important Catholic Church in England and Wales. To stand in the centre of the cathedral-the immense space that unfolds, uncluttered by supports or pillars-is simply awe-inspiring. This expansiveness is typical of the cathedral's exotic Byzantine style-favoured by its architect, John Francis Bentley-which lent it so perfectly to standing in as Spain's El Escorial Palace, circa 1588, with few changes needed. Here, the production shot over two nights, capturing scenes featuring Philip II of Spain, the most powerful man in the world at that time.

Observes Kapur, "It was such a fantastic place in which to shoot. It was difficult, because it's so huge and you want to encompass all of it into the frame, but you have to be selective. Scale is the ability of the camera to move and keep moving. And to keep finding things."

Production next traveled to Hatfield House, Hertfordshire, the home of the Marquess of Salisbury, and one of Britain's most famous stately homes. Here, the filmmakers dressed the North Entrance Hall and the Armoury, replacing the wood paneling with stone, and transforming it into Mary Queen of Scots' Private Quarters at Chartley Hall, where she was incarcerated for a time prior to her execution. The filmmakers also used parts of Hatfield House-specifically the Marble Hall, the Grand Staircase and the Long Gallery-for Walsingham's London house.

St. Bartholomew's Church is one of London's treasures and one of her best-kept secrets. The beautiful Norman Church is concealed by the narrow streets and passages of Smithfield, and here, production shot one of the pivotal moments in the film: the execution by beheading of Mary Queen of Scots (which actually took place at Fotheringhay Castle, razed in 1627). With a need to telescope the last three horrific but magnificent hours of Mary's life into just a few minutes of film, the filmmakers picked key moments from historical record and wove them into a master shot that sees Mary enter (ignoring the Protestant prayers of the Dean of Peterborough), mount the scaffold, disrobe to reveal a crimson shift (the colour of Catholic martyrdom) beneath her black dress, grant her executioner forgiveness and, finally, place her head on the block.

Recalls historical researcher Justin Pollard: "The scene had a startling effect on both the crew and the 100-plus actors and extras in the room. Despite the lights and cameras, it felt as though we were actually witnessing the execution." Adding to the effect of those present was the musical theme of the film's composers, Craig Armstrong and AR Rahman, which rose over the largely silent scene and echoed around the ancient walls of the church as Samantha Morton (as Mary) took her last steps.

On to Winchester Cathedral, a magnificent structure in the West of England, the building of which was begun in 1079, 13 years after William the Conqueror invaded England from Normandy. The east end of the Church was extended around 1200 and the Nave was completely remodeled around 1400. The production spent four days filming in Winchester Cathedral, which is seen in the film as St. Paul's Cathedral (the original St. Paul's was gutted in the Great Fire of London in 1666 and then demolished to make way for the present cathedral).

With its huge vaulted ceilings and enormous stained-glass windows, Winchester is remarkably similar to what the old St. Paul's Cathedral would have looked like. The production used the Lady Chapel as the Chapel Royal (where Elizabeth comes to pray and meets her would-be assassin), and also filmed in the spectacular Nave (where one of the more dramatic scenes of The Golden Age takes place-Elizabeth calling all to arms against the Spanish Armada).

Under Elizabeth, London experienced a tremendous amount of construction, and filmmakers embraced an idea of production designer Dyas to show St. Paul's as a work-in-progress, complete with scaffolding. This had the added advantage of providing director Kapur with the opportunity to shoot through obstructions. (As some restoration work was actually going on in Winchester Cathedral at the time of filming, the filmmakers cast the real stonemasons, who cut real stone during the scene, as extras.)

Next, it was on to St. John's College, Cambridge, the second largest of the constituent Colleges of the University of Cambridge. St. John's was founded in 1511 by Lady Margaret Beaufort, mother of King Henry VII (and so Elizabeth's great grandmother) on the site of the medieval hospital of St. John. The first court in St. John's was constructed mostly between 1511 and 1520, and so it makes a perfect setting for one of the great fabled scenes from Elizabeth's reign: the first meeting between the Queen and Raleigh, where he purportedly threw down his cloak to cover a muddy puddle in the road…hence preventing the Royal Feet from getting dirty.

But is the story true? Comments historical researcher Pollard: "Well, it isn't recorded in any contemporary document and the earliest reference to it I know is Thomas Fuller's in 1663. But it is certainly the sort of thing Raleigh might have done and just the sort of showmanship that the Queen liked. We decided to use the scene, partly because it is so iconic, and partly because it still, all these centuries later, provides a wonderful way to first bring Raleigh and the Queen together."

The production remained in Cambridge to film the Royal Barge (where Walsingham tackles the touchy subject of Elizabeth and marriage while traveling down the River Thames on their way to London). The barge itself has its own historical value, having been used in the classic A Man For All Seasons, among other films. There, production was hampered by torrential rain, proving a challenge for everyone, especially the costume and art departments, who battled against wind and rain to keep the actors (and props) dry and looking suitably regal.

Another wonderful Norman cathedral provided the production with its next location: Ely Cathedral, built on what was, in the 12th century, an "island" in the vast expanse of marsh land known as the Fen. In this flat, watery world, the cathedral seemed to float on the wetland, gaining it the title "The Ship of the Fen." Ely did not appear as itself, but politely subbed for Elizabeth's court at Whitehall.

"The choice of this location and, indeed, the other cathedrals," explains Pollard, "is to give us a sense of scale-an idea of the grandeur and majesty of the court at one level and of the vulnerability and frailty of humanity set against its cold, stone facades at another. It is also, of course, a chance to celebrate the range and virtuosity of England's architectural heritage."

The production spent almost two weeks at Ely, filming first in the Nave the key scenes in which Elizabeth confronts the Spanish Ambassador with the Spanish plot, and her reaction to the news that Mary has been executed. This last scene is typical of Kapur's signature style, shot from high in the octagon of the Cathedral, revealing her as a frail human form against the vast stone vault. Says Pollard: "The building becomes part of the story itself: a grand, echoing, unmoving riposte to Elizabeth's emotions."

Next, on to the Lady Chapel, remodeled by production designer Dyas as a backdrop for Raleigh's first presentation at court-another iconic Raleigh moment, where he introduces the potato and tobacco, brought back from the New World. Too, the unit filmed Elizabeth's banquet in honour of Archduke Charles of Austria, a potential suitor. Again, Pollard: "The arrival of Elizabeth's suitor provides the occasion for a lavish banquet, in which we hope we have created some of the exotic flavour of court life as a background for action, which centres on Elizabeth, Walsingham, Bess Throckmorton and Raleigh."

In the 1580s, the world was barely half-explored by Europeans, with the tempting promise of strange lands and fabulous riches just beyond the horizon. Filmmakers chose to flavour what might have been a traditional banqueting scene with this sense of the exotic-such things as a wonderful selection of period dishes prepared from original recipes and illustrations, including heron pies, crystallized fruits, stuffed peacocks, march panes and sugar elephants. For entertainment, the royal occasion boasts a parade of animals from the royal menagerie, including New World parrots, an Indian python, a monkey and even a zebra. (Pollard muses, "Such animals were often presented to the crown as gifts from other rulers, and there was considerable competition to acquire particularly rare examples.")

Next stop, the West Country, to Brean Down-one of the most dramatic landmarks on the Somerset coast-to film Elizabeth's famous Tilbury speech, in which she rouses the troops just prior to the confrontation with the Spanish Armada. Explains producer Cavendish: "The Tilbury speech marks the moment both in history-and in our film-where Elizabeth takes complete command of the battle against the Spanish Armada. In doing so, she starts moving from her mortal presence to a more divine one."

Adds Pollard, "Seeing Cate crest the ridge of Brean Down on horseback-in the armor and mailcoat made especially for the film, the sea breeze streaming her red hair behind her-it's easy to see what effect Elizabeth's arrival must have had on this hopelessly outnumbered band of men. With the sun sparkling on her polished armor plates, she must have looked more angel than human, and every man and boy there hoped she would prove to be an angel of victory."

The rocky peninsula, capped with a row of Tudor tents (replicated in CG for wider shots to afford scope and scale to the encampment), was chosen because the combination of its inspiring landscape and fantastic quality provided a spectacular backdrop for the watershed moment. But the stunning location also provided a host of challenges…standing nearly 100 meters (around 328 feet) above sea level, cast and crew had to make their way up the steep cliff by shuttle bus, with the fitter members of the crew (along with the horses) making the journey on foot.

Staying in the West Country, the production relocated to Wells Cathedral, the present building of which was begun in 1180. The impressive structure, along with the surrounding buildings associated with the cathedral, has survived eight centuries and still dominates the lovely city of Wells, in the heart of Somerset. An extraordinary staircase links the North Transept with the Chapter House and was used to substitute for the main entry into Whitehall Palace, which, according to Pollard, is "the portal of the palace-the point between the world outside and the rarefied environment of the court within."

Before returning to Shepperton, final locations included: Waverley Abbey, the slowly crumbling ruins of an almost-forgotten monastery, seen in the film as the meeting place for the Catholic conspirators; Dorney Court, home of the Palmer family for more than 450 years and a Grade 1 listed building, used in the film as Raleigh's house; and, finally, to Petworth Park, the stunning parkland landscaped by "Capability" Brown and immortalized in Turner's paintings-where the production filmed a riding sequence involving a private moment between Elizabeth and Raleigh.

****

For director Shekhar Kapur, the decision to return to the subject matter of one of the greatest rulers that ever lived was an easy one. For him, in Elizabeth I, history shows us a cunning strategist, an intellectual head of state and a born leader. Yet even in the face of such larger-than-life subject matter, what continues to interest the filmmaker most is the solitary woman who bore it all…the Queen who herself had to answer to a higher power: "For all the will and power we as human beings think we have, we are ultimately subject to the larger forces of Destiny. It was this thought that governed the way I not only approached this film, but the way I shot it. It's operatic and it's mythic…especially now, four centuries later."

Universal Pictures Presents, in association with StudioCanal, a Working Title Production of a Shekhar Kapur Film: Cate Blanchett, Geoffrey Rush, Clive Owen in Elizabeth: The Golden Age, starring Rhys Ifans, Jordi Molla, Abbie Cornish and Samantha Morton. Casting is by Fiona Weir. The music is by Craig Armstrong and AR Rahman. Makeup and hair designer is Jenny Shircore. The costume designer is Alexandra Byrne. The editor is Jill Bilcock, ACE; the production designer is Guy Hendrix Dyas; and the director of photography is Remi Adefarasin, BSC. The co-producer is Mary Richards. The executive producers are Debra Hayward, Liza Chasin and Michael Hirst. Elizabeth: The Golden Age is produced by Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner and Jonathan Cavendish, and written by William Nicholson and Michael Hirst. The film is directed by Shekhar Kapur. A Universal Release c2007 Universal Studios. www.elizabeththegoldenage.net

ABOUT THE CAST

Since graduating from Australia's National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA), CATE BLANCHETT (Elizabeth) has worked extensively in the theater, significantly with Company B, a loose ensemble of actors (including Geoffrey Rush, Gillian Jones and Richard Roxburgh) based at Belvoir Street, under the direction of Neil Armfield. Her roles have included Miranda (The Tempest), Ophelia (Hamlet - for which she was nominated for a Green Room Award), Nina (The Seagull) and Rose (The Blind Giant Is Dancing).

For the Sydney Theater Company (STC), she appeared in Caryl Churchill's Top Girls, David Mamet's Oleanna (awarded The Sydney Theater Critics Award for Best Actress), Michael Gow's Sweet Phoebe (also for the Croyden Warehouse, London) and Timothy Daly's Kafka Dances (also for The Griffin Theatre Company, for which she received the Critics Circle award for best newcomer).

For the Almeida Theatre in 1999, Cate played Susan Traherne in David Hare's Plenty on London's West End.

Her television credits include lead roles in Bordertown and Heartland, both for the Australian Broadcasting Commission.

Her film roles include Susan Macarthy in Bruce Beresford's Paradise Road; Lizzie in Thank God He Met Lizzie, an anti-romantic comedy directed by Cherie Nowlan, for which Cate was awarded both the Australian Film Institute (AFI) and the Sydney Film Critics awards for Best Supporting Actress; and Lucinda in Oscar and Lucinda, opposite Ralph Fiennes and directed by Gillian Armstrong, a role that earned her an AFI nomination for Best Actress.

In 1998, Cate portrayed Queen Elizabeth I in the critically acclaimed Elizabeth, directed by Shekhar Kapur, for which she received a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Drama and a BAFTA for Best Actress in a Leading Role, as well as Best Actress Awards from the Chicago Film Critics Association, the London Film Critics Circle, the Toronto Film Critics Association, the Online Film Critics, Variety Critics and the U.K. Empire Award. She also received a Best Actress nomination from the Screen Actors Guild and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

In 1999, Cate appeared in Pushing Tin with John Cusack, a black comedy about air traffic controllers directed by Mike Newell; An Ideal Husband, directed by Oliver Parker; and The Talented Mr. Ripley, directed by Anthony Minghella, for which she received a BAFTA nomination for Best Supporting Actress. Cate also starred in The Gift, directed by Sam Raimi, and in Sally Potter's The Man Who Cried, which premiered at the Venice Film Festival and for which Cate was awarded Best Supporting Actress by the National Board of Review and the Florida Film Critics Circle.

In 200l, Cate appeared in Bandits with Bruce Willis and Billy Bob Thornton, directed by Barry Levinson, for which she received a Golden Globe Award nomination and a Screen Actors Guild nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress. Cate has also appeared in The Shipping News, alongside Kevin Spacey and directed by Lasse Hallstrom, based on the 1994 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by E. Annie Proulx. She was also seen as Galadriel, Queen of the Elves, in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, the first installment of Peter Jackson's trilogy, based on J.R.R. Tolkien's fantasy novels. Cate was honoured by the National Board of Review as the 2001 Best Supporting Actress for her outstanding supporting performances in Bandits, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring and The Shipping News. She reprised her role as Galadriel in 2002 for the second installment of the trilogy, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, and again in 2003 in the final installment, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.

In 2002, Cate was also seen in the title role of Charlotte Gray, directed by Gillian Armstrong and based on Sebastian Faulks' best-selling novel. Cate also appeared in Heaven, opposite Giovanni Ribisi and directed by Tom Tykwer, which premiered at the Berlin Film Festival (where the film was awarded the Golden Camera Award).

In 2003, Cate was seen in Veronica Guerin, the fact-based story of the Irish journalist who was slain in her homeland in 1996 by drug dealers, which was directed by Joel Schumacher. Her performance earned her a Golden Globe nomination in the category of Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama and a nomination by the Washington, D.C. Area Film Critics Association for Best Actress. She also starred in the Columbia Pictures' thriller The Missing, opposite Tommy Lee Jones for director Ron Howard; the film was released in November 2003.

In early 2004, Cate appeared in the film Coffee & Cigarettes for director Jim Jarmusch. In this United Artists release, Cate played two roles opposite each other - herself and the role of her cousin. Her performances earned her a Best Supporting Female nomination for the 2005 Independent Spirit Awards.

In July 2004, Cate returned to the Sydney Theatre Company to play the title role in Andrew Upton's adaptation of Hedda Gabler. The play was a critical success, earning her the prestigious Helpmann Award for Best Female Actor in a Play. She also starred in her first Australian film in several years, Little Fish, directed by Rowan Woods, for which she was awarded Best Actress by the Australian Film Institute.

Cate received an Academy AwardR for her portrayal as Katharine Hepburn in The Aviator, directed by Martin Scorsese. She was also honoured with the BAFTA Award and a SAG Award for her role in the 2005 release. Additionally, she was recognized by several critics' organizations and received a nomination from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.

In 2006 Cate was seen in Babel, opposite Brad Pitt, directed by Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu. The film received a Golden Globe Award and was nominated for numerous awards, including an Academy AwardR and a SAG Ensemble Award. Cate was also seen in The Good German, co-starring with George Clooney, directed by Steven Soderbergh. She received a Golden Globe nomination, a SAG nomination and an Academy AwardR nomination for Notes on a Scandal, opposite Judi Dench. Also in 2006, Cate and her husband, Andrew Upton, were named co-directors of the Sydney Theatre Company. Their debut season begins in 2009.

Cate won the Best Actress Prize at this year's Venice Film Festival for her portrayal of Bob Dylan in Todd Haynes' I'm Not There. She is currently in production on the fourth installment of Indiana Jones, with Harrison Ford, directed by Steven Spielberg and has also completedfilming on The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, co-starring Brad Pitt and directed by David Fincher, both of which will be released in 2008.

GEOFFREY RUSH (Walsingham), one of today's most respected actors, started his career in Australian theater, and has since appeared in over 70 theatrical productions and more than 20 feature films.

Rush won an Emmy, Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Award for his captivating performance in HBO Films' The Life and Death of Peter Sellers, in which he portrays the title character. This November he can be seen starring in Candy, opposite Heath Ledger, for director Neil Armfield. Rush was most recently seen in Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, where he reprised his role as Captain Barbossa. His other recent film credits include the box-office giant Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest and the Academy AwardR-nominated Munich for director Steven Spielberg.

Rush caught the eye of many for his starring role in director Scott Hicks' feature film Shine. His role portraying David Helfgott in Shine garnered him an Academy AwardR for Best Actor. He also won Golden Globe, SAG, BAFTA, Film Critics Circle of Australia, Broadcast Film Critics, AFI, New York Film Critics Circle and Los Angeles Film Critics Association awards. Rush also received an Academy AwardR nomination for his performance in Philip Kaufman's Quills and an Academy AwardR nomination and a Golden Globe nomination for Shakespeare in Love.

His other film credits include Intolerable Cruelty, Finding Nemo, Ned Kelly, Lantana, Frida, The Tailor of Panama, House on Haunted Hill, Mystery Men, Elizabeth, Les Miserables, A Little Bit of Soul, Children of the Revolution, On Our Selection, Twelfth Night, Oscar and Lucinda and Starstruck.

Rush received a degree in English at the University of Queensland before continuing at the Jacques Lecoq School of Mime and Theater in Paris. Returning to Australia, he starred in the theater production King Lear and appeared alongside Mel Gibson in Waiting for Godot. Recently, he received rave reviews for his role in Exit the King.

He was a principal member of Jim Sharman's pioneering Lighthouse Ensemble in the early 1980s, playing leading roles in numerous classics. His work onstage garnered many accolades, including the Sydney Critics Circle Award for Most Outstanding Performance, the Variety Club Award for Best Actor and the 1990 Victorian Green Room Award for his lauded performance in Neil Armfield's The Diary of a Madman. He also received Best Actor nominations in the Sydney Critics' Circle Awards for his starring roles in Gogol's The Government Inspector, Chekhov's Uncle Vanya and Mamet's Oleanna. In 1994 he received the prestigious Sidney Myer Performing Arts Award for his work in theater.

Geoffrey resides in Melbourne, Australia, with his wife Jane and their two children.

CLIVE OWEN's (Raleigh) performance in the title role of Mike Hodges' sleeper hit Croupier had critics comparing him to the likes of Bogart, Mitchum and Connery.

Owen first came to the U.K. public's attention as the star of the television series Chancer. U.S. audiences later saw him starring opposite Catherine Zeta-Jones in Jack Gold's telefilm adaptation of The Return of the Native, which aired on CBS. More recently, he starred in the BBC's Second Sight police dramas, in which he performed as DCI Ross Tanner, and which aired on PBS's Mystery!

His U.K. telefilm credits also include Andrew Grieve's Lorna Doone, Andy Wilson's An Evening With Gary Lineker, Diarmuid Lawrence's The Echo and David Blair's Split Second.

Owen's feature films also include Beeban Kidron's Vroom; Stephen Poliakoff's Close My Eyes and Century; Sean Mathias' Bent; Joel Hershman's Greenfingers; and Robert Altman's star-studded Gosford Park. His acclaimed stage work includes portraying Romeo at the Young Vic, starring in Sean Mathias' staging of Noel Coward's Design for Living, and playing the lead role in Patrick Marber's original production of Closer at the Royal National Theatre.

In the fall of 2001, he starred in London in Laurence Boswell's staging of Peter Nichols' A Day in the Death of Joe Egg and in "The Hire" series of BMW Internet short features, in which he was directed by (respectively) John Frankenheimer, Ang Lee, Wong Kar-Wai, Guy Ritchie and Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu.

Clive's next films only added to his already brilliant and diverse choice of film credits. He chose Beyond Borders, a romantic war drama co-starring Angelina Jolie; Mike Hodges' thriller I'll Sleep When I'm Dead; the action war drama King Arthur; and Sin City, which co-starred Bruce Willis, Benicio Del Toro, Rosario Dawson and Jessica Alba.

In 2005, Clive won a Golden Globe and was nominated for an Academy AwardR for his role as Larry in Closer, directed by Mike Nichols. The film also starred Julia Roberts, Jude Law and Natalie Portman.

Clive was seen in 2005 in Derailed, opposite Jennifer Aniston, and went on to star in Spike Lee's 2006 Inside Man, opposite Denzel Washington and Jodie Foster, and the more recent Children of Men, co-starring Julianne Moore and Michael Caine, under the direction of Alfonso Cuaron. He was most recently seen starring in the action thriller Shoot 'Em Up, with Paul Giamatti and Monica Bellucci for writer/director Michael Davis.

RHYS IFANS (Robert Reston) is one of Britain's finest contemporary actors. He was born and raised in Wales, attending youth acting schools at Theatre Clwyd, Mold, and appeared in many Welsh-language television programmes before embarking on his film career.

His breakout performance came in 1999, in Roger Michell's Notting Hill, opposite Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant, for which he received a BAFTA Film Award nomination for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role. Prior to that, Rhys starred in Charles McDougall's Heart, Kevin Allen's Twin Town (alongside his brother Llyr Evans), Anthony Hopkins' August and Karl Francis' Streetlife.

Since 1999, he has appeared in more than 20 films, including Andy Hurst's You're Dead; Clare Kilner's Janice Beard; Edward Thomas' Rancid Aluminum; Dominic Anciano's Love, Honour and Obey; Ed Bye's Kevin & Perry Go Large; Howard Deutch's The Replacements; Steven Brill's Little Nicky; Michel Gondry's Human Nature; Ronny Yu's Formula 51; Mike Figgis' Hotel; Lasse Hallstrom's The Shipping News; and Shane Meadows' Once Upon a Time in the Midlands.

More recently, Rhys starred in Jeff Balsmeyer's Danny Deckchair; Mira Nair's Vanity Fair; Roger Michell's Enduring Love, for which he was nominated for a Best British Actor Award by Empire magazine; Martha Fiennes' Chromophobia; Francesca Joseph's Four Last Songs; and Peter Webber's Hannibal Rising. He most recently completed filming Pawel Pawlikowski's The Restraint of Beasts.

In the theater, he has appeared at the Donmar Warehouse in Robert Delamere's Accidental Death of an Anarchist and Michael Sheen's Bad Finger; at the National Theatre in Matthew Warchus' Volpone and Roger Michell's Under Milk Wood; at the Duke of York Theatre in Hettie MacDonald's Beautiful Thing; at the Royal Court Theatre in James MacDonald's Thyestes; and at the Royal Exchange in Braham Murray's Smoke and Ronald Harwood's Poison Pen.

On television, most recently, he played the role of Peter Cook in Terry Johnson's Not Only but Always, for which he won the BAFTA TV Award for Best Actor. He also appeared in Shakespeare Shorts (BBC); Trial & Retribution (YTV); The Two Franks (S4C); Judas and the Gimp (BBC); Night Shift; Spatz (S4C); Burning Love (S4C); and Review (S4C). In 2005, Rhys made a guest appearance for the rock band Oasis in the video for their single "The Importance of Being Idle," for which he accepted their award for Video of the Year at the 2005/2006 NME Awards.

JORDI MOLLA (King Philip II of Spain) is one of Spain's best-recognized artistic personalities: an actor, director, painter and writer.

Jordi trained as an actor at the Barcelona Institute of Theatre, also taking acting classes in Italy, Hungary and England. As an actor, he has worked in many films for such prestigious directors as Bigas Luna, Pedro Almodovar, Peter Greenaway, Montxo Armendariz, Ricardo Franco and Fernando Colomo.

Jordi first received acclaim in Bigas Luna's Jamon, Jamon in 1992. Since then, he has appeared in films including Montxo Armendariz' Historias del Kronen (1994); Pedro Almodovar's La Flor de Mi Secreto (1994); Gerardo Vera's La Celestina (1996), for which he received a Goya Award nomination for Best Actor; Ricardo Franco's La Buena Estrella (1997), for which he won the Butaca Award for the Best Catalan Film Actor and the Best Actor Award at the Ondas Awards, as well as sharing the Best Actor Award at the Mar del Plata Film Festival and receiving a Goya Award nomination for Best Actor; Fernando Colomo's Los Anos Barbaros (1998); Bigas Luna's Volaverunt (1999) Mateo Gil's Nobody Knows Anybody (1999), for which he was nominated for the Fotogramas de Plata's Best Movie Actor Award; Gerardo Vera's Segunda Piel (1999), for which he also received a Goya Award nomination for Best Actor; Bigas Luna's Son de Mar (1999); Peter Greenaway's The Tulse Luper Suitcases, Part 1 and Part 2 (2003/04); Daniel Calparsoro's Ausentes (2005); and Antonello Belluco's Antonio Guerriero di Dio / Il Santo (2006). More recently, he starred in Renzo Martinelly's The Stone Merchant, Miguel Courtois' Gal and Angelo Longoni's telefilm Caravaggio. Upcoming for Molla are Mary McGuckian's A.R.T. in Las Vegas and Steven Soderbergh's Che.

In 2001, Jordi made his Hollywood debut in the critically acclaimed Blow, opposite Johnny Depp and Penelope Cruz, as Colombian drug smuggler Diego Delgado. He followed this, in 2003, with Michael Bay's comedy crime thriller Bad Boys II, opposite Martin Lawrence and Will Smith, and, in 2004, starred in John Lee Hancock's The Alamo, opposite Dennis Quaid, Billy Bob Thornton and Jason Patric.

Jordi has also directed two short films: Walter Peralta, for which he won the National Short Film Award at the Alcala de Henares Short Film Festival, and No Me Importaria Irme Contigo. His first feature film as a director, God's on Air, was released in 2002, and was nominated for the Golden Biznaga at the Malaga Spanish Film Festival.

Additionally, Jordi has written two books ("Las Primeras Veces" and "Agua Estancada") and is a self-trained painter.

Touted as Australian film's most accomplished up-and-coming actress, ABBIE CORNISH (Bess) won the attention of critics and audiences alike with her sensual, steamy performance in Cate Shortland's Somersault. A stirring glimpse into a 16-year-old girl's escape into serial sex, Somersault swept the board at the 2004 Australian Film Institute Awards, winning every single feature-film award, including Best Actress in a Leading Role for Abbie. Cornish also won the FCCA Award for Best Female Actor, the IF Award for Best Actress and Best Breakthrough Performance at the 2005 Miami Film Festival. She was also named Australian Star of the Year at the Australian International Movie Convention in 2005.

Prior to Somersault, Abbie played a tortured young poet in Samantha Lang's detective mystery The Monkey's Mask, a scheming teen in Horseplay and a rave-party casualty in the more recent One Perfect Day. Her subsequent roles include the short Everything Goes, an adaptation of a Raymond Carver story, in which she stars with Hugo Weaving; Candy, the story of a young couple and their struggle with heroin addiction, in which she stars with Heath Ledger and Geoffrey Rush; and Ridley Scott's A Good Year, opposite Russell Crowe.

Abbie's acting career began on the Australian Broadcasting commission series Children's Hospital, playing a quadriplegic. In 1997, she landed a part in a television series called Wildside. Other television credits include Close Contact, Water Rats, Outriders, Life Support, White Collar Blue and Marking Time.

Abbie will next appear in Kimberly Pierce's Stop Loss, opposite Ryan Phillippe, the story of a soldier who refuses to return to Iraq after a visit home. She is also set to star as the lead in filmmaker Jane Campion's Bright Star, which chronicles the affair between the 19th-century poet John Keats (Ben Whishaw) and Fanny Brawne (Cornish).

SAMANTHA MORTON (Mary Stuart) has been hailed as one of the foremost actresses of her generation. Her career to date has seen her work with some of the most respected directors in the world, including Steven Spielberg and Woody Allen. The diverse and often difficult choices of roles she has made are reflected in the list of accolades that she has received, including a Golden Globe and two Academy AwardR nominations.

Morton grew up in Nottingham, England. At 13 she joined Central Television's Junior Workshop, where she was quickly spotted and cast in early television roles, including Cracker and Peak Practice. Acclaimed theatre work included two award-winning plays at London's Royal Court Theatre: Ashes and Sand and Stargazy Pie and Sauerkraut.

Aged 17, Morton was cast as Tracy in the award-winning television drama Band of Gold. The television films Emma and Tom Jones quickly followed and led to her playing the title role in Robert Young's acclaimed telefilm Jane Eyre.

Morton first came to the attention of International film audiences as Iris in Carine Adler's harrowing Under the Skin. It was a role that earned her unanimous critical acclaim and the Boston Film Critics Award for Best Actress.

In 1999, Woody Allen cast her as the mute Hattie in Sweet and Lowdown, for which she received both Academy AwardR and Golden Globe nominations for Best Supporting Actress. Notable roles in Alison Maclean's Jesus Son, Julien Temple's Pandemonium, Eric Style's Dreaming of Joseph Lees and Amos Gitais' Eden followed.

In 2002, Morton starred as the title role in Lynne Ramsay's critically acclaimed Morvern Callar. She then went on to appear opposite Tom Cruise as the pre-cog Agatha in Steven Spielberg's Minority Report, Maria Gonzales in Michael Winterbottom's Code 46, Sarah in Jim Sheridan's In America (for which she received her second OscarR nomination for Best Actress) and Claire in Roger Michell's Enduring Love (for which she received a British Independent Film Award Best Actress nomination).

Films in 2005 and 2006 included the New Zealand epic River Queen, The Libertine, opposite Johnny Depp, and Lassie. She also received a half-lifetime achievement award from Dennis Hopper's Cinevegas Film Festival.

This autumn Morton will be seen in Control, playing Deborah Curtis in Anton Corbijn's film about the life of the late Joy Division singer Ian Curtis, and as a Marilyn Monroe impersonator in Harmony Korine's highly anticipated Mister Lonely.

Earlier this year Morton played the part of Myra Hindley, opposite Jim Broadbent, in the NBC/Channel 4 film Longford (which aired in the States on HBO). Her performance earned her a BAFTA and, more recently, an Emmy nomination.

Samantha recently filmed Synecdoche, New York with director Charlie Kaufman, opposite Philip Seymour Hoffman and Michelle Williams, for release in 2008.

ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS

SHEKHAR KAPUR (Directed by) started his career a far distance from the film industry, taking his degree with honours in economics from the University of Delhi and starting work as a chartered accountant, a corporate planner for Burma Oil and a management consultant in the U.K. After several years, he decided to leave this world behind him and returned to India to pursue a career in the film and entertainment industry.

In addition to his success as a commercial director, Kapur has directed some of India's most celebrated and successful films to date-including Mr. India, which is widely regarded as India's greatest-ever mainstream film for children; the acclaimed Masooum; and one of India's most controversial films, Bandit Queen, which caught the attention of the worldwide film community when it became the rage at the Cannes Film Festival. After this film, Kapur directed Elizabeth, his first English-language film. Elizabeth was nominated for seven OscarsR, including Best Picture and Best Actress. After Elizabeth, Kapur went on to direct the film version of the best-selling book The Four Feathers for Paramount/Miramax.

Kapur's creative interests are not limited solely to directing. As a young man, he worked as a leading actor in Indian film, as India's first celebrity male model and as a chat-show host for three seasons of On the Other Hand, for Channel 4 India. It was Kapur who brought the idea of the hit show Bombay Dreams to Andrew Lloyd Webber, co-creating the base story with Webber and persuading him to bring on the now-acclaimed Indian composer AR Rahman for the music. Kapur also founded the Intent Corporation with best-selling author and guru Deepak Chopra, to "provoke and platform the emerging Asian culture to the rest of the world." Through Intent, he has founded Virgin Comics and Imagination, a venture with Richard Branson's Virgin brand-involving approximately 100 artists and writers in Bangalore and in New York who create new characters for multimedia exploitation in the international marketplace.

Kapur has many other projects in development, including the feature film Paani (Water), which tells the tale of a major city 20 years from now, in which water has all but run out; an animated rap musical entitled A Suitable Cockroach, currently in production with Prana Studios, one of India's leading animation companies; and the film and stage musical of Rasputin, written by Michael Hirst, the writer of Elizabeth and co-author of Elizabeth: The Golden Age.

This film brings Kapur back to his passion for directing and continuing the story and journey of Elizabeth I, and reunites him with much of the acclaimed cast and crew from the original picture. The highly anticipated Elizabeth: The Golden Age has been an incredible journey for all concerned and Kapur is very much looking forward to what is yet to come.

WILLIAM NICHOLSON (Written by) was born in 1948 and grew up in Sussex and Gloucestershire. He was educated at Downside School and Christ's College, Cambridge, and then joined BBC Television, where he worked as a documentary filmmaker. There his ambition to write, directed first into novels, was channeled into television drama. His plays for television include Shadowlands and Life Story, both of which won the BAFTA Best Television Drama award in their year; other award winners were Sweet As You Are and The March. In 1988 he received the Royal Television Society's Writer's Award.

His first play, an adaptation of Shadowlands for the stage, was Evening Standard Best Play of 1990 and went onto a Tony Award-winning run on Broadway. He was nominated for an OscarR for the screenplay of the film version, which was directed by Richard Attenborough and starred Anthony Hopkins and Debra Winger.

Since then he has written more films: Sarafina, Nell, First Knight, Grey Owl and Gladiator (as co-writer), for which he received a second OscarR nomination. He has written and directed his own film, Firelight, and three further stage plays, Map of the Heart, Katherine Howard and The Retreat from Moscow, which ran for five months on Broadway and received three Tony Award nominations.

His novel for older children, "The Wind Singer," won the Smarties Prize Gold Award on publication in 2000 and the Blue Peter Book of the Year Award in 2001. Its sequel, "Slaves of the Mastery," was published in May 2001, and the final volume in the trilogy, "Firesong," in May 2002. The trilogy has been sold in every major foreign market, from the U.S. to China.

He has just completed a new sequence of novels for older children, called "The Noble Warriors: Seeker" (2005), "Jango" (2006) and "Noman" (2007). His novels for adults are "The Society of Others" (2004) and "The Trial of True Love" (2005).

He lives in Sussex with his wife, Virginia, and their three children.

British screenwriter MICHAEL HIRST (Written by/Executive Producer) has been partly responsible for the resurgence of filmic and television interest in Tudor royalty, having penned not only the BAFTA and multi-OscarR-nominated Elizabeth (himself earning a BAFTA nomination for Best Screenplay), but also all ten episodes of the immensely popular and critically lauded continuing Showtime series The Tudors. The series-which places a rock star-like Henry VIII in the middle of a highly sensual court full of beauties and intrigue-received four Emmy nominations. Hirst is also at work writing the second season of the continuing drama.

Hirst's feature film screenplay credits-in addition to Shekhar Kapur's Elizabeth and Elizabeth: The Golden Age (with William Nicholson)-include Jim McBride's Uncovered, Istvan Szabo's Meeting Venus, Simon Callow's The Ballad of Sad Cafe (from the play by Edward Albee), Pat O'Connor's Fools of Fortune, Krzysztof Zanussi's Wherever You Are (co-written with the director) and Nicholas Meyer's The Deceivers. Hirst also wrote the telefilm Have No Fear: The Life of Pope John Paul II, among other projects for the medium.

Upcoming for Hirst (in addition to The Tudors, Series 2) is a television version of Camelot, along with the feature film projects Rasputin, Cry of the Icemark, The Balance of Power, Wuthering Heights and The Royal Physician's Visit.

WORKING TITLE

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

Founded in 1983, Working Title has made more than 85 films that have grossed over $3.5 billion worldwide. It's films have won 4 Academy Awards (for Tim Robbins' Dead Man Walking, Joel and Ethan Coen's Fargo, and Shekhar Kapur's Elizabeth), 24 BAFTA Awards and prestigious prizes at the Cannes and Berlin Film Festivals. Bevan and Fellner have been honoured with two of the highest film awards given to British filmmakers; the Michael Balcon Award for Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema at the Orange British Academy Film Awards (2004) and the Alexander Walker Film Award at the Evening Standard British Film Awards. They have both been honoured with CBEs (Commanders of the British Empire).

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

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

Last year saw the release of Paul Greengrass'

United 93 to critical acclaim worldwide leading to two BAFTA wins (for Best Direction and Best Editing) and an Academy Award nomination for Best Directing.

Forthcoming releases in 2007 include Shekhar Kapur's Elizabeth: The Golden Age, the long-awaited follow up to the successful Elizabeth, starring Cate Blanchett, Geoffrey Rush and Clive Owen; Joe Wright's Atonement, adapted from the book by Ian McEwan, starring James McAvoy, Keira Knightley and Romola Garai; and Adam Brooks' Definitely, Maybe starring Ryan Reynolds, Isla Fisher, Derek Luke, Abigail Breslin, Elizabeth Banks and Rachel Weisz.

Films in pre-production and production include Nick Moore's Wild Child, starring Emma Roberts; Beeban Kidron's Hippie Hippie Shake, starring Cillian Murphy, Sienna Miller, Emma Booth and Max Minghella; Kevin Macdonald's State of Play starring Brad Pitt; Ron Howard's Frost/Nixon, adapted by Peter Morgan from his play of the same name starring Frank Langella and Michael Sheen; and Joel and Ethan Coen's Burn After Reading, starring George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Frances McDormand and John Malkovich.

JONATHAN CAVENDISH (Produced by) is joint managing director of Little Bird and has served as producer on many feature films, including the original Bridget Jones's Diary and Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, as well as Gangster No. 1, directed by Paul McGuigan and starring Malcolm McDowell and Paul Bettany; Ordinary Decent Criminal, starring Kevin Spacey, Linda Fiorentino, Peter Mullan and directed by Thaddeus O'Sullivan; Croupier, starring Clive Owen and directed by Mike Hodges; Nothing Personal, directed by Thaddeus O'Sullivan and starring James Frain and Ian Hart; Into the West, directed by Mike Newell and starring Ellen Barkin and Gabriel Byrne, which won Best European Film at six international film festivals; and December Bride, directed by Thaddeus O'Sullivan and starring Donal McCann and Saskia Reeves, which won 17 international awards, including the Special Jury Prize at the European Film Awards.

His most recent films include Marc Evans' psychological chiller Trauma, starring Colin Firth and Mena Suvari; Churchill: The Hollywood Years, written and directed by Peter Richardson; and The Key, a drama for the BBC directed by David Blair and written by Donna Franceschild. Bernard and Doris, starring Susan Sarandon and Ralph Fiennes, is in post-production.

Cavendish has also produced or executive-produced several features and series for television, which include most recently The Many Lives of Albert Walker (2002), a drama based on extraordinary real events, starring John Gordon Sinclair; Dirty Tricks (2000) for Carlton Television, starring Martin Clunes; All for Love (1998), a television film directed by Harry Hook and starring Anna Friel, Miranda Richardson and Richard E. Grant; The Writing on the Wall (1996), a television series starring Dennis Haysbert and William H. Macy; The Hanging Gale (1994), a television series starring the McGann brothers and Michael Kitchen, which was nominated for four BAFTA awards including Best Serial; and In the Border Country (1991), a television film starring Juliet Stevenson and Sean Bean, which won the Best Film Award at the Chicago Film Festival and Best Film at the BANFF TV Festival.

DEBRA HAYWARD (Executive Producer) serves as head of film for Working Title Films and is creatively responsible for the company's entire slate of motion pictures in conjunction with her U.S. counterpart, Liza Chasin.

Hayward joined Working Title in 1989 as a producer's assistant on such films as Fools of Fortune and Dakota Road and then moved to the development department, where she worked on such diverse films as 1991's London Kills Me and 1993's Map of the Human Heart.

Hayward most recently served as executive producer on Pride & Prejudice (with Keira Knightley heading an impressive ensemble cast), Nanny McPhee (with Emma Thompson and Colin Firth), the romantic comedy Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason and Wimbledon (starring Kirsten Dunst and Paul Bettany). She served in the same capacity on last year's Phillip Noyce-directed political thriller Catch a Fire and the upcoming Atonement, the adaptation of Ian McEwan's novel starring Keira Knightley.

She also served as co-producer on the suspenseful thriller The Interpreter, starring Academy AwardR winners Nicole Kidman and Sean Penn and directed by OscarR winner Sydney Pollack. Additional recent co-producer credits include Ned Kelly, starring Heath Ledger and Orlando Bloom; Richard Curtis' worldwide hit Love Actually; the international hit Johnny English, starring Rowan Atkinson, Natalie Imbruglia and John Malkovich; and the award-winning About a Boy. She also executive-produced The Guru and 40 Days and 40 Nights.

Hayward's additional co-producing credits include the worldwide smash Bridget Jones's Diary, Captain Corelli's Mandolin, the lauded Elizabeth, The Matchmaker and The Borrowers. As a development executive, she was instrumental in helping to bring such films as Notting Hill, Plunkett & Macleane, French Kiss, Moonlight and Valentino, Panther, Four Weddings and a Funeral and Posse to the screen. She also served as associate producer on Loch Ness.

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

She is currently executive-producing Definitely, Maybe, written and being directed by Adam Brooks and starring Ryan Reynolds, Rachel Weisz, Isla Fisher, Derek Luke, Elizabeth Banks, Kevin Kline and Abigail Breslin; and Atonement, directed by Joe Wright and starring Keira Knightley and James McAvoy. She recently executive-produced Smokin' Aces, directed by Joe Carnahan and starring Jeremy Piven, Ryan Reynolds, Ben Affleck, Alicia Keys, Ray Liotta and Andy Garcia.

Liza served as co-producer on The Interpreter, starring Academy AwardR winners Nicole Kidman and Sean Penn and directed by Academy AwardR winner Sydney Pollack. She executive-produced the box-office success Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, starring OscarR winner and Golden Globe nominee Renee Zellweger, Hugh Grant and Colin Firth. Liza served as producer on the international hit Wimbledon, starring Kirsten Dunst and Paul Bettany, and as executive producer on the highly acclaimed Thirteen, which won the best director slot at the Sundance Film Festival for Catherine Hardwicke and stars Holly Hunter (in an OscarR-nominated performance) and Evan Rachel Wood. She also co-produced Richard Curtis' worldwide hit, the ensemble romantic comedy Love Actually.

Over the past several years, Liza has been involved in the development and production of such acclaimed films as Dead Man Walking, Fargo, Notting Hill and O Brother, Where Art Thou? Liza served as co-producer of About a Boy, directed by Chris Weitz and Paul Weitz, starring Hugh Grant, Toni Collette and Rachel Weisz; Bridget Jones's Diary, starring Renee Zellweger; and executive producer of High Fidelity, starring John Cusack. She also co-produced the Academy AwardR- and Golden Globe-nominated critical success Elizabeth, starring Cate Blanchett.

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

REMI ADEFARASIN (Director of Photography) is one of the most accomplished cinematographers of his day. He first made his mark in British television in the early '80s working with Mike Leigh on a variety of productions, including Grown-Ups, Home Sweet Home and Four Days in July. Other notable television credits include Angela Pope's Sweet as You Are, Adrian Shergold's Christabel, Beeban Kidron's Great Moments in Aviation, Nigel Finch's The Lost Language of Cranes, Philip Saville's The Buccaneers and, most recently, Band of Brothers, for which he received an Emmy Award nomination for Best Cinematography.

In the '90s he expanded his repertoire into feature films, working with director Anthony Minghella on Truly, Madly, Deeply; Angela Pope on Captives and Hollow Reed; Anthony Minghella once more as second-unit cinematographer on The English Patient; Peter Howitt on Sliding Doors; and Shekhar Kapur on Elizabeth, for which he won the BAFTA Award for Best Cinematography and was nominated for an Academy AwardR for Best Cinematography, an ASC Award and the Chicago Critics Award.

More recent feature film credits include Terence Davies' The House of Mirth, P.J. Hogan's Unconditional Love, Paul Weitz and Chris Weitz's About a Boy, Peter Howitt's Johnny English, Rob Minkoff's The Haunted Mansion, Paul Weitz's In Good Company, Woody Allen's Match Point and Scoop, and Michael Apted's Amazing Grace. His cinematography will also be seen in the upcoming holiday comedy release Fred Claus, starring Vince Vaughn and an ensemble cast.

After obtaining his master's degree from the prestigious Royal College of Art in London, GUY HENDRIX DYAS (Production Designer) moved to Japan, where he began his career as an industrial designer for the Sony Design Centre in Tokyo. In 1993, Guy was hired as an art director by Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), and he eventually moved to Los Angeles, California, to pursue a career in film design.

As a production designer, his credits include Bryan Singer's X2: X-Men United; Terry Gilliam's The Brothers Grimm; and Bryan Singer's Superman Returns. As an assistant art director, his credits include The Cell and Swordfish; and as conceptual artist his credits include such films as Pearl Harbor, Vanilla Sky, Planet of the Apes and The Matrix Reloaded.

Dyas is currently designing the upcoming Fourth Installment of the Indiana Jones Adventures and Superman: Man of Steel, the follow-up to the hit Superman Returns.

JILL BILCOCK (Editor) is one of the world's leading editors, having worked with directing heavyweights such as Sam Mendes, Baz Luhrmann and Fred Schepisi. An award-winning editor at an early age in her native Australia, Bilcock's earlier feature film credits include Fred Schepisi's A Cry in the Dark, for which she was nominated for an AFI Best Editing Award; Baz Luhrmann's Strictly Ballroom, for which she received the AFI Award for Best Editing; P.J. Hogan's Muriel's Wedding, for which she was nominated for the AFI Award for Best Editing; Fred Schepisi's I.Q.; Jocelyn Moorhouse's How to Make an American Quilt; Baz Luhrmann's William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet, for which she received both the AFI Best Editing Award and a BAFTA nomination for Best Editing; and Shekhar Kapur's Elizabeth, for which she also received a BAFTA nomination for Best Editing.

Other early credits include Strikebound, The More Things Change, Dogs in Space, Till There Was You, Say a Little Prayer, You Seng, Erotique and Head On.

More recently, Jill collaborated once again with Baz Luhrmann on Moulin

Rouge!, for which she received the American Film Institute Award for Editor of the Year, the Australian Film Institute Award for Best Editing, the American Cinema Editors Award for Best Edited Feature Film-Comedy or Musical, and both an Academy AwardR nomination and BAFTA nomination for Best Editing. Other recent credits include Sam Mendes' Road to Perdition; Japanese Story, starring Toni Collette, for which she received the AFI Award for Best Editing; The Libertine, starring Johnny Depp; and Phillip Noyce's political thriller Catch a Fire, starring Tim Robbins.

Jill is also the recipient of the AFI Byron Kennedy Award for outstanding creative enterprise, and the IF Living Legend Award.

ALEXANDRA BYRNE (Costume Designer) has established herself as one of the finest costume designers working in the industry today. Although she has costumed only five feature films, she has earned Academy AwardR nominations for three: Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet, for which she also received a BAFTA nomination; Shekhar Kapur's Elizabeth, for which she also received the International Film Critics Award; and Marc Forster's Finding Neverland, for which she also received a BAFTA nomination. Her other feature film credits include Joel Schumacher's The Phantom of the Opera, for which she received a Costume Designers Guild nomination, and John Madden's Captain Corelli's Mandolin.

Alexandra has also worked extensively in television and the theater, both as costume and set designer. Her television costume credits include most notably Roger Michell's Persuasion, for which she received the BAFTA TV Award for Best Costume Design, and Roger Michell's The Buddha of Suburbia, for which she received a BAFTA TV Award nomination for Best Costume Design.

In the theater, Alexandra received a Tony nomination for Best Scenic Designer for Roger Michell's Some Americans Abroad.

JENNY SHIRCORE (Makeup and Hair Designer) received both the Academy AwardR and the BAFTA Award for Best Makeup for her work on Shekhar Kapur's Elizabeth. Her feature film credits since include Roger Michell's Notting Hill; Paul McGuigan's Gangster No. 1; Michael Apted's Enigma; Shekhar Kapur's The Four Feathers; Neil Jordan's The Good Thief; Stephen Frears' Dirty Pretty Things; Gregor Jordans' Ned Kelly; Peter Webber's Girl With a Pearl Earring; Mira Nair's Vanity Fair; Joel Schumacher's The Phantom of the Opera; Stephen Frears' Mrs. Henderson Presents; Kenneth Branagh's As You Like It; Tom Vaughan's Starter For 10; and Michael Apted's Amazing Grace.

Earlier credits include Rasputin; The Secret Agent; In the Bleak Midwinter; Mary Reilly; Sister My Sister; The Dwelling Place; Second Best; The Secret Rapture; The Secret Garden; The Big Man; Erik the Viking; Paperhouse; Stormy Monday; Wish You Were Here; A Month in the Country; and Personal Services.

She has also worked in television, where her credits include most notably Roland Joffe's 'Tis Pity She's a Whore; Piers Haggard's Pennies From Heaven; Bill Hayes' The Oresteia; Peter Duffell's Caught on a Train; Jack Gold's Macbeth; and Elijah Moshinsky's A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Award-winning Scottish-born musician CRAIG ARMSTRONG (Music by) has proved his versatility by fluidly shifting between musical genres, equally at home writing film scores or theatrical and classical compositions, producing/composing/arranging for world-class recording artists and recording his own solo albums.

His work on Baz Luhrmann's groundbreaking musical Moulin Rouge! earned him AFI's Composer of the Year, a Golden Globe for Best Original Score of the Year and a BAFTA for Achievement in Film Music. His score for The Quiet American garnered him the Ivor Novello Award for Best Original Film Score. His other feature film scoring credits include the Oliver Stone drama World Trade Center; the OscarR-winning bio-pic Ray (which netted him another BAFTA nomination); the romantic comedy Must Love Dogs; and the worldwide ensemble comedy smash Love Actually. His scores can also be heard in The Magdalene Sisters, Kiss of the Dragon, The Bone Collector, The Clearing, Plunkett & Macleane, Best Laid Plans and Orphans. His work as co-composer on William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet (again with Baz Luhrmann) also earned him a BAFTA for Achievement in Film Music. He also composed additional music for the features The Negotiator and Goldeneye.

As a composer/producer/arranger, Armstrong has worked with a wide variety of artists, including U2, Madonna, Luciano Pavarotti, Massive Attack, Tina Turner, Suede, Pet Shop Boys, Michael Hutchence, Future Sound of London, Paul Buchanan and Texas. Armstrong has recorded four solo albums: "Piano Works," "As If to Nothing," "The Space Between Us" and "Hope." He has composed two original works that premiered at the Edinburgh Festival ("20 Movements" in 1996 and "Chamber Opera" in 1993), and wrote "The Broken Heart" for the Royal Shakespeare Company (premiered 1994).

AR RAHMAN (Music by) has redefined contemporary Indian music. In a country where film scores are the most popular kind of music, Rahman (dubbed the "Mozart of Madras" by Time magazine) is one of the most successful artists of all time-according to BBC estimates, he has sold more than 100 million albums from his more than 50 movie scores.

Rahman was born into a musically affluent family (his father, RK Shekhar, was a composer, arranger and conductor for Malayalam movies), and he started playing piano at an early age. His father died when he was only nine, and the family rented out musical instruments to make ends meet. Rahman then joined noted composer Ilayaraja's troupe as a keyboardist and computer programmer. After working with a string of notable composers, Rahman struck out on his own, composing jingles and scores for popular Indian television features. During this period, he also obtained a degree in Western classical music from Trinity College of Music, London, and set up his own in-house studio called Panchathan Record Inn at Chennai (arguably Asia's most sophisticated studio).

In 1991, filmmaker Mani Ratnam offered Rahman the chance to score the film Roja-its runaway success brought nationwide fame to the composer, who won the Indian National Award for Best Music Composer (the first time ever for a debutante). He has since won the Indian National Award three more times (for the films Minsaara Kanavu, Lagaan and Kannathil Muthamittal), the most ever by any composer. Time rated the score from Roja in the top 10 of the 100 best movie soundtracks of the world. Themes from Rahman's scores have even made it into the soundtracks of such U.S. features as Lord of War and Inside Man.

Rahman has won 17 Filmfare Awards (the Indian OscarR), three MTV awards, four IIFAs, six Tamil Nadu State Awards, six Zee Awards and four Screen Awards; in 2000, Rahman was conferred the prestigious Padmashree (the highest civilian honour in India) by the government of the country in recognition of outstanding contribution to the Indian film industry.

His other film scores include Gentleman, Thiruda Thiruda, Kaadhalan, Bombay and Minssara Kannavu-these hits were also dubbed into Hindi as well. Other hits in Tamil include Alai Payuthey, Kandukondian Kandukondian, Jeans, Mudalvan, Kannathil Muthamittal and Boys. Hindi titles include Rangeela, Dil Se, Tall, 1947 Earth, Pukar, Lagaan, Zubeida, Meenaxi, The Legend of Bhagat Singh, Yuva and Tehzeeb. His more recent film scores include Swades, Ah-Aah, Bose: The Forgotten Hero, The Rising, Water and Rang De Basanti.

In 1997, in a move celebrating 50 years of Indian independence, Sony Music signed Rahman as its first recording artist from South Asia. The resulting album, "Vande Mataram," appealed to India's youth and brought with it a renewed spirit of nationalism. In 2001, Rahman received an invitation from Andrew Lloyd Webber to compose for the stage musical Bombay Dreams-which ran for two years in London's West End and later on Broadway. Rahman's work has also been heard in the Chinese film Warriors of Heaven and Earth and in the concert piece for violinist Vanessa Mae, "Raga's Dance." His two recent world tours have played to sold-out audiences around the globe.

Rahman also takes the time to give back through his involvement with numerous charitable organizations, such as Save the Children-India, serving as global ambassador for the World Health Organization's Stop TB Partnership and performing concerts and forwarding proceeds to the 2004 tsunami victims.

-elizabeth: the golden age-

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