JOHN MCKAY DIRECTOR/ SCREENPLAY WRITER
CRUSH is John McKay's first feature length film. He graduated from the National Film & Television School where he made the short film Doom and Gloom, which was selected for competition in Cannes and won prizes at Brest and Locarno Festivals. McKay was recently nominated for a BAFTA for Best Newcomer for his work on the Channel Four drama Psychos. Other short films include Wet and Dry, for Channel Four's Short and Curlies strand, Favourite, his NFTS graduation film, The Price, which won the Stella Screen Shorts competition. As a playwright, McKay's credits include Dead Dad Dog, performed at the Traverse and Royal Court Theatres, Onan and Me Myself Us, both performed at the Assembly Theatre. Radio scripts for the BBC include the Sony Award-nominated Aesthete's Foot (21 episodes), and Soft Top, Hard Sell. McKay has been commissioned to write and direct Knickers, a further feature film for FILMFOUR.
LEE THOMAS PRODUCER
Lee Thomas is founder and co-director of Pipedream Pictures Ltd, with director John McKay. Future projects include Knickers, a comedy feature set in the lingerie department of a large London store during World War II, with FilmFour, and Sunnystane, a coming of age comedy set in Scotland, for the BBC. Both are written and to be directed by John McKay. After a brief career in the City of London selling Japanese stocks to British fund managers, Thomas moved to Japan where his experiences ranged from physical theatre performer, to project scout for media giant Dentsu. Fluent in Japanese, he then set up his own production company (with Canadian Gary Schwartz) to direct and produce documentaries for Japanese TV. On his return to the UK he enrolled in the National Film and Television School, where he began his collaboration with John McKay. While in development on his own projects, Thomas has production managed a number of projects including Jump Boy, for Channel Four/ BBC, and Dr Dolittle and The Nativity for Jim Henson's Creature Shop, as well as several Japanese commercials. Recent productions include The Linesman, a short dance film for the BBC, and Ossie Ardiles: Made in Japan, an hour-long documentary about the emerging cultural status of football among Japanese youth.
ANDIE MACDOWELL
Andie MacDowell's film "Crush" will be featured in the premiere section of the 2002 Sundance Film Festival. The movie, written and directed by John McKay, has Andie starring as a single woman who meets regularly with her girlfriends to swap stories about their love lives, or lack thereof. Things take an interesting turn when her character 'Kate' becomes involved with a younger man. Recently Andie earned praise for her performance in the HBO original film, "Dinner with Friends." Daily Variety called her portrayal “arguably MacDowell’s best work yet” and USA Today says the film was “blessed by an on-the-mark performance by MacDowell.” She received critical acclaim and accolades for her performance as a repressed young wife in Steven Soderbergh's "sex, lies and videotape." The film won the Palme D'Or in Cannes in 1989 and garnered Andie the Los Angeles Film Critics Award for Best Actress as well as a Golden Globe nomination. In 1997, Andie was presented with the coveted Cesar D'Honneur for her body of work and the Golden Kamera Award from German's Horzu Publications.
In 1993, she starred in the holiday classic "Groundhog's Day" with Bill Murray. The following year, Andie earned the title of #1 female box-office draw worldwide with her performances in the smash hit romantic comedy "Four Weddings and a Funeral” and the western "Bad Girls" with Drew Barrymore.
In other comedies, Andie continued to partner with some of the top leading men including Gerard Depardieu in "Green Card," for which she earned another Golden Globe nomination, Michael Keaton in "Multiplicity," John Travolta in "Michael," Andy Garcia in "Just the Ticket" and Warren Beatty in "Town and Country. "
The "End of Violence," directed by Wim Wenders starring Andie and Bill Pullman, was selected to screen at the opening of the 50th Anniversary of the Cannes Film Festival in 1998. Her other dramatic performances include "The Player" and "Short Cuts," both directed by Robert Altman; "Unstrung Heroes," direct by Diane Keaton, and the ever popular "St. Elmo's Fire. " Coming in March, Andie stars in "Harrison's Flowers," a drama about photojournalists behind the scenes in war torn Balkans, with David Straithairn and Adrian Brody. She has also completed shooting her latest film "Ginostra" with Harvey Keitel, directed by Manuel Pradal.
IMELDA STAUNTON
Imelda Staunton combines a career in film and television comedy. Her most recent starring role in film is in the forthcoming release Rat, directed by Steve Barron. Other appearances include Oscar winners Shakespeare In Love and Sense and Sensibility, and Kenneth Branagh films Much Ado About Nothing and Peter's Friends. Her television appearances include a starring role in Is It Legal comedy series and the Dennis Potter award-winner The Singing Detective. Imelda Staunton provided the voice of Bunty in the animated blockbuster Chicken Run.
ANNA CHANCELLOR
Best known for her portrayal of "Duckface", Hugh Grant's rejected girlfriend in the blockbuster Four Weddings and a Funeral, Anna Chancellor has since appeared on film in Tom and Viv, the TS Eliot biopic, Princess Caribou, starring Phoebe Cates and Fairy Tale: A True Story, directed by Charles Sturridge. She has been a series regular on popular UK drama series Kavanagh QC, and has appeared in Dennis Potter's last dramas Cold Lazarus and Karaoke and the award winning drama Longitude, based on Diva Sobell's best-selling book.
KENNY DOUGHTY
Newcomer Kenny Doughty can be seen on screen in Julie Taylor's epic production of Titus, starring alongside Anthony Hopkins, Jessica Lange and Alan Cumming. Other screen appearances include Oscar winner Elizabeth and Michael Winterbottom's I Want You. Television appearances include the role of Young Scrooge in A Christmas Carol and the drama Anorak of Fire.
BILL PATERSON
Bill Paterson's career includes television, stage and screen. Notable television appearances include leading roles in Wives and Daughters, The Crow Road and Traffik, while his recent screen appearances include roles in Sunshine, directed by Ivan Szabo, Hilary and Jackie, directed by Anand Tucker and in Terry Gilliam's forthcoming feature The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, alongside Johnny Depp.
