The film's international crew also included Costume Designer Caroline de Vivaise and Make-Up Artist Trefor Proud.
"We got lucky on this picture in a lot of areas," Bogdanovich says. "Cast is first among the luck areas that paid off, but we also got lucky with an extraordinary Director of Photography and a very, very fine Production Designer who's certainly right up there with the best I've ever worked with. I'd like to do every picture with him. Our Costume Designer was also terrific. Many of the costumes in the film, in fact, are authentic clothing of the period. "
Bogdanovich muses, "I once asked John Ford about something on a picture and he said, 'Oh, that was just luck…I mean, you have luck in pictures. Most of the time it's bad luck but every so often you have good luck. '"
Peter Bogdanovich- Director
After a short career as an actor with the New York and American Shakespeare Festivals, Director Peter Bogdanovich began directing plays off Broadway and in summer stock. He also wrote a series of monographs of film directors for the Museum of Modern Art and later began publishing books on the works of such artists as Fritz Lang, John Ford, Allan Dwan and Orson Welles. In 1966 he entered the world of filmmaking as an assistant director for Roger Corman and two years later got his first directing break piloting TARGETS starring Boris Karloff. The following year he caught the attention of both critics and the public with THE LAST PICTURE SHOW, starring Jeff Bridges and Cybill Shepherd, a brilliant look at small-town American life in the 1950s. The film received a New York Film Critics' Circle Award for Best Screenplay, British Academy Award for Best Screenplay, and eight Academy Award nominations, with two wins.
An unapologetic sentimentalist about the classic era of great moviemakers, Bogdanovich had a second huge hit the next year in WHAT'S UP, DOC?, a madcap comedy starring Barbra Streisand and Ryan O'Neal made in the style of Howard Hawks. One year later he recreated John Ford's vision of rural America with PAPER MOON, a Depression Era tale about a pair of unlikely con artists that nabbed an Academy Award for nine-year-old Tatum O'Neal in her screen debut.
Bogdanovich found less success with such subsequent efforts as DAISY MILLER and AT LONG LAST LOVE, but had another hit with SAINT JACK starring Ben Gazzara and Denholm Elliot in the story of an amiable and ambitious pimp living in Singapore. He scored another major triumph with 1985's MASK, starring Cher and Eric Stoltz in the true story of a boy whose face has been terribly disfigured by a rare disease and the mother who's instilled a sense of confidence and love in her son. The film was honored with an Academy Award.
Bogdanovich has also written numerous books on the history of film and the great filmmakers, including The Cinema of Orson Welles; The Cinema of Howard Hawks; The Cinema of Alfred Hitchcock; John Ford; Fritz Lang in America; Allan Dwan: The Last Pioneer; Pieces of Time: Peter Bogdanovich on the Movies; This is Orson Welles; A Moment With Miss Gish; and Who the Devil Made It.
Among the other awards Bogdanovich's films have earned are a Writer's Guild of America Award for Best Screenplay (WHAT'S UP, DOC?); three Academy Awards nominations, with one win, (PAPER MOON); Best Director, Brussels Festival (DAISY MILLER); an L. A. Film Critics Assoc. Awards Special Citation, and an Italian Film Critics Assoc. Barbari Award (WHO THE DEVIL MADE IT).
Steven Peros- Screenwriter
Screenwriter Steven Peros is an award-winning writer and filmmaker with credits in film, television, and theater. He is the co-author of two independent films, one of which, MURDERED INNOCENCE, received awards for Best Screenplay and Best Feature at the Long Island Film Festival. In 1998 Peros wrote and directed THE INSIDE MAN, a half-hour independent film that received the Audience Award at the Long Island Film Festival. As a television writer, Peros penned three episodes for THE LOT, which premiered to rave reviews in January 2001 on the American Movie Classics network.
Peros' roots in storytelling began with the stage where his 1994 full-length play Karlaboy received a Drama-Logue Critics Award for Outstanding Achievement in Writing. The Los Angeles World Premiere of the stage version of The Cat's Meow, upon which the film is based, had a nine-week sold-out run. In addition to his many film, television and stage credits, he also served as the director of development for Nederland Television in New York for three years. In this position he was Associate Producer and one of the creators of the A&E series The General Motors Playwrights Theater, which earned four ACE Awards.
Carol Lewis and Kim Bieber- Producers
When Carol Lewis and Kim Bieber first optioned the material from writer Steven Peros back in 1998, they made their wish list of directors and Peter Bogdanovich's name was at the top. They got him the script, he responded enthusiastically to the material and immediately signed on.
Carol Lewis comes to producing from a casting background. She had been an established casting director for over ten years, casting such studio films as U-571 and BREAKDOWN for director Jonathan Mostow and indie favorite, RED ROCK WEST, for director John Dahl. She is currently
re-teamed with Dahl, co-producing his new film WORST CASE SCENARIO.
Kim Bieber produced the stage production of The Cat's Meow at the Coast Playhouse in Los Angeles. She formerly ran the Los Angeles office of New York based Troma Films.
Lewis and Bieber have optioned another Steven Peros stage play, Karlaboy, also a Hollywood mystery, to be adapted for the screen. They are currently developing a slate of other projects.
Jean-Vincent Puzos- Production Designer
After working as an Art Director on such feature films as 1989's SUIVEZ CET AVION, Production Designer Jean-Vincent Puzos became Production Designer on a number of films primarily for the French cinema, including LA NOTE BLEU (BLUE NOTE) starring Sophie Marceau, Tykho Moon starring Julie Delpy, Michel Piccoli and Jean-Louis Trintignant, LA FIDELITE (FIDELITY) starring Sophie Marceau, and, most recently, LE ROMAN LA LULU starring Thierry Lhermitte.
Caroline de Vivaise- Costume Designer
Though de Vivaise has worked primarily on films for the French, her work is familiar to American fans of SHADOW OF THE VAMPIRE, starring Willem Dafoe and John Malkovich. Her most recent project is the film LISA, starring French film legend Jeanne Moreau.
Trefor Proud- Make-Up Artist
Make-Up Artist Trefor Proud has the distinction of having received an Academy Award for his make-up work on the critically acclaimed recounting of the relationship between collaborators Gilbert and Sullivan in TOPSY- TURVY. His next film was the Academy Award-winning epic GLADIATOR. Additional credits include BENT, SWEPT FROM THE SEA and Pierce Brosnan's first turn as Agent 007 in GOLDENEYE.
Bruno Delbonnel- Director of Photography
Director of Photography Bruno Delbonnel began his career as Second Assistant Operator for director Jean-Jacques Beineix on his internationally acclaimed French tragic drama BETTY BLUE. He followed that up by working on the Pyrenees team for Beineix's L'ILE AUX PACHYDERMS (THE ISLAND OF PACHYDERMS) starring Yves Montand. As Director of Photography, Delbonnel's credits include C'EST JAMAIS LOIN starring Jean-Louis Trintignant and LE FABULEUX DESTIN D'AMELIE POULAIN (AMELIE FROM MONTMARTE).
