Preliminary Production Information
Writtenand Directed by Evan Oppenheimer
TribecaFilm Festival Screenings:
Thursday,May 8 at 6:45pm at United Artists (102 North End Avenue @ Vesey) New York City
Friday,May 9 at 10:15pm at United Artists (102 North End Avenue @ Vesey) New York City
Dear All,
If you are interested to cometo the premier, call 1-866- 265-8499.or go online to www.tribecafilmfestival.org Seats are limited. If you are interested to write a story in your newspaper oron TV station, about it, contact David Klineberg. I wrote music for the film andI will be there. This is one of the best features I scored and personally thebest experience with a film director. If you come to the screening either onThursday or Friday, feel free to introduce yourself.
My best,
Nenad
Nenad@NenadBach.com
presscontact:
David Klineberg
mPRm Public Relations
330 7th Ave., Suite 2200
NY, NY 10001
212-268-3080 x107 (p), 212-268-3105 (f)
dklineberg@mprm.com
www.mprm.com
salescontact:
JeffDowd & Associates
1201 Pearl St.
Santa Monica, CA 90405
310 581-5555
jeffdowd@aol.com
Justice
Director’s Statement
When I firstshowed the script for Justice to people, there were a few who respondedwith a quick "I don't want to be involved with a movie about September11." To which my response was,"It's not a movie about September 11! It's a movie about a comic book writer, and a Latina activist, and aMuslim street vendor. And it'sabout what we've all been through in New York in the last year or two. Besides, the movie's funny!"
But, now thatit's done, I'll admit that Justice IS a September 11 movie. In that September 11 is the driving force behind the plot, and it has aprofound impact on many of the characters in the movie. And, certainly, September 11 was an inspiration for the movie -- but notthe primary inspiration. For me, the primary inspiration for the script was thedeath of my friend Joe Wood, who disappeared while hiking on Mt. Rainier almostfour years ago (In the film, the character of Woody is loosely based on him). As wary as I am of drawing "lessons" from tragic, senselessloss, I did learn some things from Joe's death, things that became evident toall New Yorkers after 9/11. Ilearned that sometimes people who you think will always be around won't be. And I learned that we who are left behind have to figure out how to getthrough -- and that we need help to do it. But let me give the main character of Justice, Drew Pettite, the last word. This is a voiceover(eventually cut, for various reasons) that he used to speak over the end of themovie:
"Life stillfeels very tenuous to me. Maybe that helps me live life to the fullest, maybe itjust makes me neurotic, I don’t know. What do you do when something is gone,forever? Nothing. All you can do is let time pass. And, after a while, maybe thehappy memories aren't quite so painful anymore. Because at some point...allthat’s left is just to let go."
Evan Oppenheimer
Justice
Synopsis
Short Synopsis
In a city searching for heroes, a maverick comic bookwriter, Drew, creates a new kind of superhero based on an (unwitting) real-lifeNew Yorker. When a spunky VillageVoice reporter, Mara, comes sniffing around the story and enters Drew's life, hehas to juggle his new friendships and success while confronting his troublingpast. He soon discovers thehard-won wisdom of his hometown: that the human spirit is resilient, and thatinspiration comes in many forms.
Justice
Principal Cast
ErikPalladino Drew Pettite
MichaelJai White Tre
DaphneRubin-Vega Roberta
AjayNaidu Mohammed
CatherineKellner Mara Seaver
MarisaRyan Julia
TomGuiry The Red Anarchist
DavidPatrick Kelly Marty
JoelleCarter Monique
MichaelEaly Woody
LeoFitzpatrick The Egg Machine
LarryPine The Legend
HelenaLewis Helena
AlanCox Palm Sunday
DanCantor Terrence the Ugly American
TimKang Bodega Owner
GloriaIrizarry Luiza
FirdousBamji Samir Khan
MoniqueGuesnon Day-Old Bagel Lady
ScottMiller Cigarette Man
WaleedZuaiter Pretzel Vendor
ShoshanaStern First Patron
JimmyWallick Second Patron
EvanLee Oppenheimer He Got Next
DanZiemann Perry
EmoryVan Cleve Big Guy
Justice
Principal Crew
Writerand Director
EvanOppenheimer
Producers
AmyR. Baird
AmeliaDallis
Directorof Photography
LukeGeissbuhler
Music
NenadBach
Editor
AllisonEve Zell
CastingDirectors
FeliciaFasano
MaryVernieu
ProductionDesigner
BethKuhn
SoundDesigner
BillMontei
SoundRecordist
PaulBacca
CostumeDesigner
DonaMandel
Props
KirstenKane
MusicSupervisor
DavidHnatiuk
ComicBook Art
DavidJerrel Anderson
AssociateProducer
MartinSchepelern
Justice
CASTBIOS
ErikPalladino (Drew Pettite)
Erik Palladinowill soon be seen in the independent “Ladder Days” written and directed byC. Jay Cox (Sweet Home Alabama). Hemost recently completed production on the independent “Dead and Breakfast”starring opposite Jeremy Sisto and Ever Caradine. On television, he cancurrently be seen in a recurring role on “Law and Order: Special VictimsUnit”.
Palladino, whowas born and raised in Yonkers is the youngest of three brothers. His father owns a heating contractor business in the Bronx and his motheris a schoolteacher. At 14, he beganperforming with the Children’s Reparatory Company from New Rochelle. He becamea full-on theater arts student when he auditioned for and was accepted atMarymount Manhattan College where he later received his Bachelor of Arts degree. Palladino was one of the founding members of the “Just About Had It”theatre company. He spent the nextfew years performing on the New York stage including various Off-Broadwayproductions.
Upon his move toLA, Palladino landed a recurring role on “Murphy Brown”. He later became well known for his character Dr. Dave Malucci on “ER”which he played for 3 seasons. Onthe big screen, he was seen in Jonathan Mostow’s “U-571” starring oppositeMatthew McConaughey, Bill Paxton and Harvey Keitel. Palladino also starred opposite James Earl Jones and Robert Forester inthe Golden Space Needle Award winning independent film “Finder’sFee” which won the audience award for best film. Some other features include “Can’t Hardly Wait”, and theindependents “This Space Between Us”, “The Week the Girl Died”, and “Roadkill”.
In his leisuretime, Palladino enjoys boxing and hanging out with his 2 dogs, Daisy and Leroy. He splits his time between New York and Los Angeles.
MichaelJai White (Tre)
Michael played the lead character in the hitmovie Spawn. He also starred in ExitWounds and Universal Soldier: TheReturn, and stars in the forthcoming Quentin Tarantino film KillBill.
AjayNaidu (Mohammed)
Ajay starred in the cult hit movie OfficeSpace. He has also appeared in movies ranging from Suburbiato K-Pax to The Guru.
DaphneRubin-Vega (Roberta)
Nominated for a Tony Award for"Rent", Daphne also starred on Broadway in "The Rocky HorrorPicture Show". On film, she's played opposite Kevin Bacon in WildThings and Robert DeNiro in Flawless.
CatherineKellner (Mara Seaver)
CatherineKellner recently starred alongside Shirley Knight ("Divine Secrets of Ya-YaSisterhood") in Eve Ensler's (Vagina Monologues) new play NecessaryTargets, focusing on the atrocities suffered by Bosnian women during the yearsof Balkan conflict. Kellner also recently starred in the independent film"Outpatient”, which was named Best Picture at the 2003 NoDance FilmFestival. She is also co-starring in the feature film "The Grey"opposite Mark Boone Jr.
Kellner was recently seen in the highly anticipated WWII drama "PearlHarbor" with Ben Affleck, Kate Beckinsale, Alec Baldwin and directed byMichael Bay ("Armageddon"). She can be seen alongside Anson Mount in"The Truth About Tully, " a Skoras Entertainment and BlackwatchPictures release. "Tully" was screened to much success at the 2000London Film festival as well as the 2000 Los Angeles Independent and TorontoFilm Festivals. Kellner has also starred in Tom Gilroy's "SpringForward" opposite Ned Beatty and Liev Schreiber. The film was well-receivedat last year's Toronto Film Festival.
Kellner also starred in"Restless" the first English-language film set in contemporaryBeijing, China, and the first ever U.S.-China film co-production. Kellner wasseen in last summer's Paramount hit "Shaft" starring Samuel L.Jackson. The film reunited her with John Singleton, acclaimed director of"Rosewood," in which she played Fanny. Other memorable film creditsinclude: "30 Days'" "200 Cigarettes,""Restaurant," "Kicking and Screaming," "Six Degrees ofSeparation," "No Way Home (with Tim Roth)" and "Day at theBeach."
Ontelevision, Kellner was featured in HBO's "There's a Nightmare in myCloset," Hallmark Entertainment's "Harvest of Fire," MTV's DaftPunk video, which was directed by Spike Jonze, and ABC's critically acclaimedseries "High Incident." Kellner has an impressive background intheater as well. She has co-starred in nearly 20 stage productions, includingthe Broadway classic "The Iceman Cometh" opposite Kevin Spacey. Shehas also worked extensively with the NY Stage and Film Powerhouse Theatre.During that time, she collaborated with Canadian playwright George F. Walker andstarred in two plays by Steve Martin--Romeo and Juliet at Antioch and WASP.Additionally, she starred inThe Roundabout Theatre Company's You Never Can Tellfor which she was named "Best New Young Actress" by the New YorkPress. Kellner is a graduate of NYU's Tisch School of the Arts Graduate ActingProgram. She splits her time between New York and Los Angeles.
Marisa Ryan (Julia)
Witha starring role in HBO’s new series, “Mind Of The Married Man” and threemajor features to be released by the end of the year, Marisa Ryan has alreadybroken through a variety of mediums and is well on the road to stardom. Ryan hasestablished herself not only as a talented actress but is building herreputation as a director, having completed two films in that capacity.
Inaddition to her television series, Ryan has been working on an impressive slateof feature films. She plays the delightful camp slut in the film, “Wet HotAmerican Summer” (an Official Selection in Sundance Film Festival) and has asupporting role in Penny Marshall’s feature, “Riding In Cars With Boys” asDrew Barrymore’s sister. Ryan is also appearing in the Untitled Todd SolondzProject.
Overthe past few years, Ryan has appeared in several independent films including,“Love Always” with Moon Zappa and Beverly D’Angelo, “DelicatessenStory” for Showtime, “Lunchtime Special” with Scott Cann, “Nobody’sChildren,” opposite Jeremy Sisco and Eric Michael Cole, and “Slaves For TheUnderground,” a favorite at the Sundance Film Festival. Ryan is a regular at the Sundance Film Festival with roles in “With orWithout You” and “Cure for Boredom.”
Onthe small screen, Ryan has appeared as a series regular on “New YorkUndercover,” “Falcone,“ and had a recurring role on Dick Wolf’s NBCdrama, “Deadline,” in addition to appearing on the hit HBO show, “Sex AndThe City,” and the new CBS drama, “Hack.” Ryan also was chosen for the starring role in ABC’s mini movie series,“Que Creek.”
Ryangot her first break with a starring role on the successful CBS series, “MajorDad.” She began her training at the High School for the Performing Arts. She continued at the Royal Theatre in London where she was featured in aplay directed by Alan Rickman entitled The Other Sides. Additional theatercredits include Another Part of the Forest and Little Foxes, both of which werepart of the Lillian Helman Festival held at the Seattle Reperatory, TheCleveland Playhouse and New York’s Roundabout Theatre as well as Something SoRight at the Playwright Horizons and Picnic at the Cherry Lane Theatre in NewYork.
Ryanresides in New York.
LeoFitzpatrick (The Egg Machine)
Leo was the starof Larry Clark's controversial film Kids. He played Selma Blair's disabled boyfriend in Storytellingand currently appears on the HBO series "The Wire".
David Patrick Kelly (Marty)
DP's renownedroles range from Luther in The Warrios(he uttered the famous line, "Warriors, come out and play") to JerryHorne in "Twin Peaks" to T-Bird in The Crow.
Michael Ealy (Woody)
Michael Ealy’sreputation continues to grow from his breakout roles over the past year in thehit films, Barbershop, KissingJessica Stein and Bad Company.
A native ofSilver Spring, Maryland, Michael graduated college with a degree in English. Shortly after, Michael headed to New York where he performed in severalstage productions, including the Off-Broadway hits “Joe Fearless” and“Whoa Jack,” for which he earned an Adelco Award nomination for hisperformance. It would not be longbefore Michael nabbed guest-starring roles in NBC’s “Law & Order” andShowtime’s hit series “Soul Food.”
On the heels ofhis television breakthroughs, he was then cast in the critically-acclaimed film KissingJessica Stein for Fox Searchlight, where he played Greg, the delivery boywith a strong craving for sex. Michaelthen segued into the role of G. Mo, the best friend of Jake Hayes (Chris Rock),in Bad Company for director JoelSchumacher.
While visitinghis friends in Los Angeles, Michael heard about auditions for Barbershop.He landed the role of Ricky Nash, a two-strike offender working at the localbarbershop under the supervision of his friend Calvin (Cube). The film also starred Eve, Sean Patrick Thomas and Cedric the Entertainerand was a boxoffice hit this past September.
He promptly movedto Los Angeles to further pursue acting, but suddenly found himself in Miami, ashe was cast in the pilot for the HBO series “Baseball Wives,” from theLevinson/Fontana Company. Michaelhas since then returned to Miami to film a cameo role in the highly anticipatedsequel The Fast and the Furious 2which is due out June 2003 from Universal and director John Singleton. Most recently, Ealy completed a dramatic arc on the Emmy-winning series“ER” for NBC.
Michael continuesto reside in Los Angeles.
LarryPine (The Legend)
Larry Pine played Dr. Ostrov in Vanyaon 42nd Street. His numerous other films include TheRoyal Tenenbaums, Dead Man Walking,and The Shipping News. He also playedArnold Zelman on "Oz".
TomGuiry (The Red Anarchist)
Tom played Staff Sergeant Ed Yurek in BlackHawk Down. His career began playing the lead in TheSandlot and Lassie, and he hassubsequently starred in Tigerland and U-571.
JoelleCarter (Monique)
Joelle was one of John Cusack's "TopFive Break-Ups" in High Fidelity.She has also appeared in American Pie 2and Swimming.
Justice
CREWBIOS
Evan Oppenheimer (Writer and Director)
Justice is Evan Oppenheimer's second feature film. His first, TheAuteur Theory, was screened in theaters nationwide, including The PioneerTheater in New York, The Sunset Five in Los Angeles, The Lumiere in SanFrancisco, and The High Museum of Art in Atlanta. Made on a shoestring budget of$70,000, it appeared in over thirty festivals worldwide, garnering numerousawards, including the "Best Feature" award at the 2000 BreckenridgeFilm Festival, hosted by NBC film critic Jeffrey Lyons. It is appearing onShowtime and The Movie Channel throughout 2003, and is also available on homevideo from Pathfinder Pictures. Reviewers have called it "ingenious","among the best first features I have ever seen", "one of thebest independent films of the year", and "easily the funniest indiefilm since Clerks".
Evan Oppenheimerreceived a B.A. in English from Yale University. He was an editor for threeyears at Atheneum Publishers; among his books was the definitive biography of Lawrence of Arabia, named a New York Times "Best Book of theYear". Evan then moved on to NYU Film School, where he spent half of histime making films and the other half captaining the varsity baseball team. Hisstudent film Cross Road Blues won first prize at the University Film & VideoAssociation Student Film Festival.
(Full festivallist and reviews attached)
AmyBaird (Producer)
A graduate ofEmerson College, Amy worked in the Behind-The-Scenes television specialsdepartment at ZM Productions. As aDevelopment Associate she worked on numerous Disney Telefilms, a syndicatedseries for MTM entitled The Cape and numerous television specials anddocumentaries including the Emmy Award winning “Photographs That ChangedThe World,” a tribute to LIFE Magazine’s 60th anniversary.
The last year atZM Productions Amy was the in-house Production Manager, overseeing the dailyproduction and development of a number of television and film projects. Amy’s most recent credit with ZM was as an Associate Producer on theNBC television pilot Payback.
Amy has producedtwo features: Killing Cinderella and Justice. She has also produced six short films: Clutch (LA), The BusStop (LA), The Elevator (LA), Nipply Ray (NY), Dig A HoleAnd Find A Finger (NY), Martyr (NY) and Close To The Wind(NY).
Most recently,Amy Associate Produced for BridgNorth Films on the new Miramax documentaryentitled Comedian with Jerry Seinfeld.
Justice
BIOS
Nenad Bach(Original Music)
Nenadis a recording artist, composer, and performer who has recorded for Sony,Polygram and many other labels. Two of his albums reached No. 1 in Europe, andto date he has sold over one million records. In addition, he has performed allover the world with a wide range of artists, including Luciano Pavarotti, Bono& The Edge (U2), Brian Eno, Indigo Girls, Richie Havens, Garth Hudson &Rick Danko (The Band), Vince Welnick (Grateful Dead), Martin Sheen, MichaelYork, John Malkovich, Ellen Burstyn, and many more. He performed at Woodstock'94, and in 1998 he made a compilation album with Bruce Springsteen, LeonardCohen and Allen Ginsberg. In March 1999, he opened the Miss Universe pageant inEurope with his new song "Miss Universe." Nenad also writes andrecords music for film and theater. He has scored many features and short films.One such project was "King of Cool," a biopic about the life of SteveMcQueen, which premiered on American Movie Classics (AMC), to over 65 millionhouseholds. Another was "Life beyond Timothy Leary". Subsequently,Nenad scored the Mladen Juran film "Transatlantic", which was theCroatian entry for consideration as Best Foreign Film in the 1999 AcademyAwards. He just finished scoring a new film directed by Burt Young called"Murder on Mott Street".
Finally,Nenad is also a record producer with a special interest in documenting thefascinating but little-known musical traditions of his homeland, Croatia. Hismost recent work includes the production of three new acappella albums:"Fire on the Sea," by Klapa Fortunal; "Following theCross," a collection of Lenten chants based on 600-year-old Gregorian Chants never previously recorded; and just released "Novaljo,Novaljo," by Klapa Navalia. Nenad's work and his life story have beenfeatured on all the major US TV networks (CBS, ABC, NBC), on CNN, on SkyChannel, and on TV channels in Russia, France, Germany, Italy, Great Britain,Spain, Japan, and many other countries. Press coverage has been similarlywidespread, ranging from The New York Times to Billboard, from The WashingtonPost to Corriere Della Sera, and from The Boston Globe to the New York DailyNews. Nenad's most recent solo record is "Thousand Years of Peace"which will be released in 2003. The album was recorded in Nenad's own recordingstudio, which he also uses for his scoring and production work and which wasdesigned to accommodate anything from acappella vocals to rock and roll tosymphonic orchestras on a location.
Heis currently in preproduction for a new solo album, which is due for release inFall 2003. Nenad sang in the new recordings of "We Are Family" benefitfor the Sept. 11th fund as well as scored the film "The Making and theMeaning of We Are Family". His label just signed a contract for theworldwide promotion and distribution of "The Pharos Cantors" (GlagoliticChants based on Gregorian Chants). He also recently completed work as a languageconsultant for the literature and film project for all four of the HarryPotter books.
Throughhis singing and songwriting Nenad's goal is to spread the message of joy anduniversal peace.
Festival List -- TheAuteur Theory
Awards and Honors
Best Feature, 2000 BreckenridgeFilm Festival
Best Feature, 2000 Westchester FilmFestival
Best American Feature, 2000 SaoPaulo Film Festival (unofficial award)
Closing Night Film, 2001 SanFrancisco Independent Film Festival
Closing Night Film, 2000DancesWithFilms Festival
Closing Night Film, 2001 DialogueFilm Festival (Seoul)
Best Feature Finalist, 2000 AustinFilm Festival
Special Commendation, 2000 CanadianInternational Film Festival
InternationalFestivals Location
Sao Paulo Brazil
Mar del Plata Argentina
Calcutta India
Bombay India
Brussels Belgium
Bermuda Bermuda
CIFF Canada
Athens Greece
Umea Sweden
Filmstock England
Avignon France
Dialogue (Seoul) South Korea
DomesticFestivals Location
Fort Lauderdale Florida
St. Louis Missouri
Avignon/New York New York, NY
New Haven Connecticut
DancesWithFilms Los Angeles, CA
Westchester White Plains, NY
South Beach Miami, FL
Atlanta &nb
