Producer/director STEVEN SPIELBERG is one of the most influential, successful and respected filmmakers of his generation. Spielberg is a two-time winner of the Academy Award for Best Director, for his work on Saving Private Ryan and Schindler's List, for which he also won the Oscar for Best Picture as the film's producer. His production companies, Amblin Entertainment and DreamWorks SKG, have enjoyed monumental success in the entertainment industry.
Born in Cincinnati and raised in the suburbs of New Jersey and Arizona, Spielberg developed a love for photography and filmmaking at an early age. He had made several amateur films by the time he finished high school and began studies at California State University, Long Beach. His short film Amblin was screened at the Atlanta Film Festival in 1969, and opened the door for him to begin directing at Universal Studios.
Spielberg's first television film, Duel, was soon followed by his feature directing debut, The Sugarland Express, in 1974. Two of his early films, Jaws and Close Encounters of the Third Kind, were record-breaking box office successes. Spielberg went on to produce and/or direct eight of the twenty highest-grossing films in history, including Jurassic Park, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial and Raiders of the Lost Ark. In addition to the aforementioned films, he has directed 1941, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Always, Empire of the Sun, The Color Purple, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Hook, The Lost World: Jurassic Park and Amistad. He has also served as producer or executive producer on many highly successful films including Men in Black, Back to the Future, Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, Twister and The Mask of Zorro, among many others.
More recently, Spielberg executive produced, along with Tom Hanks, on the HBO series Band of Brothers, which chronicled the plight of American servicemen in action during World War II. He went on to direct, write and produce A.I. Artificial Intelligence. Most recently, he directed and produced Catch Me If You Can starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hanks.
Spielberg has been honored with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' Irving G. Thalberg Award, and has also received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Film Institute and the Directors Guild of America, as well as five Golden Globe Awards and three DGA Awards. In the fall of 2000, Spielberg became the first recipient of the Stanley Kubrick Britannia Award for Excellence in Filmmaking by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts - Los Angeles.
Producer BONNIE CURTIS continues a long business relationship with Steven Spielberg that began when she was hired as his assistant in 1990. In addition to producing Minority Report, she has since produced A.I. Artificial Intelligence and co-produced the epic blockbuster Saving Private Ryan.
Born in Texas and educated at Abilene Christian University, Curtis moved to Los Angeles and found production work on the films Dead Poet's Society and Arachnophobia before working with Steven Spielberg on Hook and Jurassic Park.
Curtis became a production associate on the celebrated Schindler's List and served as associate producer on The Lost World: Jurassic Park and Amistad.
Academy Award-winning producer GERALD R. MOLEN (Schindler's List) broke into the film business in 1957 with a job in Republic Studio's transportation department. It was the realization of a boyhood dream that began when his father opened a small restaurant across from the street from the same Studio City lot.
Two years later, Molen moved to Universal Studios and, in 1967, he was named head of the Transportation Department. After a seven year stint at Universal, he went on to work as Transportation Coordinator on the production of such films as Bound for Glory, Coming Home, Being There, Ordinary People and Absence of Malice.
Molen went on to join the Directors Guild of America as a unit production manager and served in that capacity on such films as The Postman Always Rings Twice, Tootsie, A Soldier's Story and The Color Purple. He earned the additional credit of associate producer on Batteries Not Included, executive producer on Bright Lights, Big City and Days of Thunder and co-producer on Rain Man.
Molen's first producing credit was on the film Hook in 1990. He then joined Steven Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment as its head of production. In that capacity he also served as executive producer on The Flintstones, Little Rascals, Caspar, Little Giants and Twister, among others. In addition, Molen served as producer on Jurassic Park and The Lost World: Jurassic Park.
Molen went on to produce (with Branko Lustig) Schindler's List. In 1993, he was awarded (as were Spielberg and Lustig) an Oscar for Best Film - one of the film's countless accolades.
Molen has also worked in front of the camera. He first appeared in the role of Dr. Bruner in Rain Man and, subsequently, acted in Days of Thunder, Jurassic Park and Amistad.
WALTER F. PARKES (Producer), one of the most active producers in Hollywood today, has two other summer 2002 releases to his credit: Road to Perdition, directed by Sam Mendes and starring Tom Hanks, Paul Newman and Jude Law, on which Parkes served as an executive producer; and the sequel Men in Black 2, produced by Parkes and his partner and wife Laurie MacDonald, which re-teams Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith under the direction of Barry Sonnenfeld. His upcoming films also include Catch Me If You Can, directed by Spielberg, and starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hanks; The Tuxedo, starring Jackie Chan and Jennifer Love Hewitt, and Ring, directed by Gore Verbinski and starring Naomi Watts.
Parkes previously served as an executive producer on Ridley Scott's Gladiator, starring Russell Crowe, which won five Academy Awards, including Best Picture, as well as Best Picture Awards from the Golden Globes, BAFTAs, and the Broadcast Film Critics, among others. Parkes and Laurie MacDonald had earlier produced the blockbuster Men in Black, for which they were named the ShoWest Producers of the Year.
His additional credits as an executive producer or producer include The Time Machine, The Mask of Zorro, Deep Impact, Amistad, The Peacemaker, Sneakers, which he also co-wrote, Volunteers, Project X and True Believer.
A three-time Academy Award nominee, Parkes earned his first nomination as
the director/producer of the 1978 documentary California Reich, which exposed neo-Nazi activities in California. He garnered his second Oscar nomination for writing (with Lawrence Lasker) the original screenplay for War Games, and his third nod for his work as a producer on the Best Picture nominee Awakenings.
Together with Laurie MacDonald, Parkes is the co-head of DreamWorks Pictures, the motion picture arm of DreamWorks SKG. During their tenure, they have overseen such successes as American Beauty, which won five Oscars and three Golden Globe Awards, both including Best Picture; and the Academy Award and Golden Globe-winning drama Saving Private Ryan, which was the top-grossing film of 1998.
Screenwriter SCOTT FRANK grew up in Los Gatos, California. He received a B.A. in Film Studies from the University of California at Santa Barbara in 1982.
His screenplays include Out of Sight, which won the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, the Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America as well as Best Screenplay awards from both the National Society of Film Critics and the Boston Society of Film Critics and was also nominated for an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay.
Scott Frank's other screenplay credits include Get Shorty (Writers Guild, Edgar and Golden Globe nominations), Malice, Dead Again and Little Man Tate. He currently is penning Flight of the Phoenix for Twentieth Century Fox.
JON COHEN (Co-Screenwriter) wrote two novels that have been sold to Hollywood: Max Lakeman and the Beautiful Stranger and The Man in the Window. He then began writing screenplays, two of which were optioned. His spec script Old City caught the attention of filmmaker Jan De Bont, who asked Cohen to write the Minority Report screenplay.
Editor MICHAEL KAHN, A.C.E. has won three Academy Awards as the editor of Steven Spielberg's films Raiders of the Lost Ark, Schindler's List and Saving Private Ryan. He has also earned Oscar nominations for Spielberg's Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Empire of the Sun, as well as Adrian Lyne's Fatal Attraction. He has also received two BAFTA Awards, for Fatal Attraction and Schindler's List.
He began his editing career on television films such as Hogan's Heroes and Eleanor and Franklin, for which he won an Emmy® Award. Among the many films he has edited are The Return of a Man Called Horse, The Eyes of Laura Mars, Ice Castles, 1941, Used Cars, Poltergeist, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, The Goonies, The Color Purple, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Always, Arachnophobia, Toy Soldiers, Hook, Alive, Jurassic Park, Caspar, Twister, The Lost World: Jurassic Park and Amistad.
Just prior to Minority Report, Kahn edited A.I. Artificial Intelligence and is currently editing Spielberg's latest film, Catch Me If You Can.
Director of photography JANUSZ KAMINSKI, ASC has had a long association with director Steven Spielberg. Kaminski received an Academy Award for his work on Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan. The famed cinematographer also won an Oscar, as well as a BAFTA Award, for this black and white cinematography for Schindler's List - as well as honors from the New York and Los Angeles Film Critics. He also earned an Oscar nomination for Spielberg's Amistad and collaborated with the director on The Lost World: Jurassic Park and A.I. Artificial Intelligence. Most recently, he shot Spielberg's Catch Me If You Can.
Kaminski's other film credits as cinematographer include Jerry Maguire, How to Make an American Quilt, Trouble Bound, Tall Tale and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. He made his directorial debut with the thriller Lost Souls after a decade as an acclaimed director of photography.
A native of Poland, Kaminski came to the United States in 1981. He studied cinematography at Columbia College in Chicago, receiving his B.A. in 1987. Relocating to Los Angeles, he became a cinematography felly at the American Film Institute, and began his professional career on the feature Fallen Angel. He also lensed two television projects: the Amblin production Class of '61, and the acclaimed cable movie Wildflower, directed by Diane Keaton.
Composer JOHN WILLIAMS is one of the world's most decorated and respected composers, with five Academy Awards, eighteen Grammy's®, three Golden Globes, a British Academy Award and 39 Academy Award nominations.
Williams has composed the music and served as a music director for more than 90 films, including: Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones, Star Wars: Episode 1 The Phantom Menace, Stepmom, Saving Private Ryan (Grammy), Amistad, Seven Years in Tibet, The Lost World, Rosewood, Angela's Ashes (Grammy), Sleepers, Nixon, Sabrina, Schindler's List (Academy Award and Grammy), Jurassic Park, Home Alone, Home Alone 2, Far and Away, JFK, Hook, Presumed Innocent, Born on the Fourth of July, the Indiana Jones trilogy (Grammy), The Accidental Tourist, Empire of the Sun (British Academy Award), The Witches of Eastwick, E.T. (Academy, Award, Golden Globe and Grammy), Superman (Grammy),Close Encounters of the Third Kind (Grammy),the Star Wars trilogy (Academy Award, Golden Globe, Grammy), Jaws (Academy Award, Golden Globe and Grammy), Fiddler on the Roof (Academy Award) and Goodbye Mr. Chips. His most recent project is Steven Spielberg's Minority Report.
In 1980 Williams was named 19th Conductor of the Boston Pops Orchestra. He currently holds the title of Boston Pops Laureate Conductor, which he assumed following his retirement in 1993. Williams also holds the title of Artist-in-Residence at Tanglewood.
Williams has written many concert pieces including two symphonies, a cello concerto premiered by Yo-Yo Ma and the Boston Symphony Orchestra at Tanglewood in 1994, concertos for the flute and violin recorded by the London Symphony Orchestra, concertos for the clarinet and tuba, and a trumpet concerto, which was premiered by the Cleveland Orchestra and its principal trumpet, Michael Sachs, in 1996. Williams' bassoon concerto, The Five Sacred Trees, which was premiered by the New York Philharmonic and principal bassoon player Judith LeClair in 1995, was recorded by Williams with Ms. LeClair and the London Symphony Orchestra, and has recently been released by Sony Classical to critical acclaim. In addition, Williams has composed the NBC theme The Mission, Liberty Fanfare composed for the rededication of the Statue of Liberty, We're Looking Good! composed for the Special Olympics in celebration of the 1987 International Summer Games, and themes for the 1984, 1985 and 1986 Summer Olympic games. His recent concert work Seven for Luck is a seven piece song cycle based on the texts of former US Poet Laureate Rita Dove, premiered by the Boston Symphony with Soprano Cynthia Haymoon at Tanglewood in 1998.
Williams composed his Celebration 2000, an orchestral work written to commemorate the new Millennium and to accompany the retrospective film The Unfinished Journey directed by Steven Spielberg. The film and music were premiered at the America's Millennium concert in Washington D.C.
Many of Williams' film scores have been released as recordings; the soundtrack album for Star Wars has sold more than four million copies. Williams' highly acclaimed series of albums with the Boston Pops Orchestra began in 1980. He has to date recorded over twenty successful albums with the Orchestra, including Summon the Heroes, the title track of which was the official theme for the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta.
Williams has led the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra on United States tours in 1985, 1989 and 1992 and on a tour in Japan in 1987. He led the Boston Pops Orchestra on tour in Japan in 1990 and 1993. In addition to leading the Boston Symphony Orchestra at Symphony Hall and Tanglewood, Williams has appeared as guest conductor with a number of major orchestras, including the London Symphony, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony, the Pittsburgh Symphony, the Dallas Symphony, the San Francisco Symphony and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, with which he has appeared many times at the Hollywood Bowl.
Williams holds honorary degrees from eighteen American universities, including Berkeley College of Music in Boston, Boston College, Northeastern University, Tufts University, Boston University, the New England Conservatory of Music, the University of Massachusetts at Boston, The Eastman School of Music and the Oberlin Conservatory of Music.
Minority Report marks production designer ALEX McDOWELL's first film for producer/director Steven Spielberg. His work as a production designer in theatrical motion pictures surfaced ten years ago with The Lawnmower Man following a successful initial career as the art director of many high-profile commercials and music videos.
His major theatrical credits include The Affair of the Necklace, Fight Club, The Crow and its sequel Crow: City of Angels, and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.
McDowell was born in Borneo and lived in Indonesia for seven years where his father worked as an engineer for Shell Oil. He attended Quaker boarding school in England and later studied fine art at the Central School of Art in London.
DEBORAH L. SCOTT's (Costume Designer) association with Steven Spielberg goes back to 1982 when she worked on E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial. Since then, Scott has designed the costumes for a number of successful films, including James Cameron's box office phenomenon Titanic, for which she won an Academy Award. Accomplished in both period and contemporary costuming, Scott's credits include Heat, Legends of the Fall, To Gillian on Her 37th Birthday, The Indian in the Cupboard, Hoffa, Defending Your Life and Back to the Future.
Visual effect supervisor SCOTT FARRAR joined Industrial Light & Magic in 1981 as a camera operator on Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and was promoted to Visual Effects Supervisor on Who Framed Roger Rabbit?. In 1985, Farrar received his first Academy Award for Best Visual Effects for his work on Cocoon.
Prior to joining ILM, Farrar worked as a freelance cameraman in the LA area. In 1975, he was invited to visit the set of the then-unknown Star Wars and saw the first motion control system in action. Inspired by what he saw, he began work for Robert Abel and Associates and eventually for Doug Trumble working on Star Trek: The Motion Picture.
His credits as visual effects supervisor include A.I. Artificial Intelligence, for which he received a BAFTA nomination and an Oscar nomination, Star Wars: Episode 1, The Mummy, Men in Black and Backdraft, among many others.
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