Present
THE DARK TOWER
“The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed.”
|
|
Columbia Pictures and MRC present in association with Imagine Entertainment a Weed Road production, The Dark Tower. Starring Idris Elba, Matthew McConaughey, Tom Taylor, Claudia Kim, Fran Kranz, Abbey Lee, and Jackie Earle Haley. Directed by Nikolaj Arcel. Produced by Akiva Goldsman, Ron Howard, and Erica Huggins. Screenplay by Akiva Goldsman & Jeff Pinkner and Anders Thomas Jensen & Nikolaj Arcel. Based on the novels by Stephen King. Executive Producers are G. Mac Brown and Jeff Pinkner. Director of Photography is Rasmus Videbaek. Production Designer is Christopher Glass. Editors are Alan Edward Bell, ACE and Dan Zimmerman, ACE. Costume Designer is Trish Summerville. Music by Tom Holkenborg.
The Dark Tower has been rated PG-13 by the Motion Picture Association of America for: Thematic Material Including Sequences Of Gun Violence And Action. The film will be released in theaters nationwide on August 4, 2017.
ABOUT THE PRODUCTION
“The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed.” With these words, Stephen King sparked an entire universe that makes its long-awaited screen debut with The Dark Tower, the motion picture from Columbia Pictures, MRC, and Imagine Entertainment, starring Idris Elba as the gunslinger Roland Deschain, sworn to protect the universe, and his perpetual nemesis, Walter O’Dim, the man in black, played by Matthew McConaughey.
In a career spanning 50 years and over 80 books, King has amassed a towering reputation as one of our greatest storytellers. The author of innumerable bestsellers, he has been honored by the President of the United States with the National Medal for the Arts, by the National Book Foundation with the Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters, and countless awards and prizes. His name is recognized everywhere as a master of blending our everyday world with the supernatural.
And there is one work that is at the center of his entire canon: The Dark Tower, the eight-novel epic telling of an eternal battle between good and evil, with the fate of multiple worlds at stake. “I started The Dark Tower when I was 22 years old, when I had just graduated from college, so it’s spanned my entire career,” says King. Over time, he says, as the books and stories piled up, “I started to realize that I had all these characters that were referring back to this other world, Mid-World, the world of The Dark Tower. It had become the centerpiece of my fictional universe –characters who showed up in other books would show up in The Dark Tower and vice versa.” Even King himself would become a character in later novels. The Dark Tower series of books would become the nexus for most of the King universe and crosses over into many of King’s other books.
King was influenced to create his magnum opus by blending together several unlikely sources. “I was very much under the influence of Lord of the Rings – even though I’m not crazy about elves and orcs and walking trees, I loved what Tolkien did. And around that same time, I saw the movie The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, and Clint Eastwood’s Man with No Name was also an influence. And there’s a poem by Robert Browning called ‘Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came,’ and I used that to start an epic fantasy. I wrote the line ‘The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed,’ and I didn’t know anything about where he lived, what Mid-World was or how it connected to our world or anything else.”
It’s an epic that has inspired millions of readers – not least of which was a young boy in Denmark whose imagination was sparked by the events in Mid-World. Now grown, director Nikolaj Arcel was determined to be the one to bring The Dark Tower to the screen. Growing up with the Dark Tower books, Arcel became so immersed in the stories that the Danish native taught himself English. He recounts, “When I was about 13, there were almost no Stephen King stories translated into Danish. I became infatuated with the few books that I’d read in Danish, even at that age. And so I had to start picking up his English-version novels and I had to teach myself to read adult novel-style English at a very early age. Stephen King taught me English.”
Arcel recalls that when he read The Gunslinger at 17, he was so into the novel that he created a song, “The Gunslinger,” with his band. (And he still has it on cassette tape.)
For Arcel, the way King weaves together the personal and the larger-than-life elements of the story is why it’s connected to so many readers. “It’s as small as a 14-year-old boy, who has visions, who thinks he’s crazy, and it’s as big as a hero fighting a great villain and trying to save the entire universe. It expands from the very intimate to the very epic.”
And at the center of the story is the Dark Tower. “The Tower is a thing of beauty, it’s a thing of awe, with a powerful presence – it holds the whole world together. I think it’s beyond our comprehension,” says Arcel, “I think every single fan of the books will have their own idea of what the Dark Tower is.”
So who better to ask what it is than the man who created it? “You have to imagine an axle or a spindle, with all of these worlds connected to it,” says King. “You know what happens to a car if you cut the axle – it doesn’t run anymore. The Tower is the stabilizing force, and the Gunslingers are this ancient group of knights dedicated to the idea of protecting the Tower. But they have been wiped out – there’s only one left, Roland. And standing opposite him is an agent of chaos who wants to bring the Tower down.”
“Roland is not a cowboy; he’s a Gunslinger, and a very skilled shooter,” says Elba. “When we meet him, he’s the last in a long line of the protectors of the Tower.”
“The Tower is a magnetic vortex holding the universes together, and if that Tower falls, the universe goes into anarchic chaos, blackness and demons come out, and they take it all over,” says McConaughey. “If that Tower maintains itself, it’s still holding a semblance of balance in the universe. So, what Walter’s going to do is bring down that Tower.”
Because this particular series of novels helped to shape Arcel’s entire artistic sensibilities, he became a perfect choice to direct. “I love films that take us to new worlds, have new ideas and mythologies, and world building,” he says. “Getting this chance to direct a movie of stories that I had dreamt about was incredible – especially coming directly off the boat from Denmark!”
Producer Erica Huggins recalls, “Nikolaj just wanted this project, he knew it well, and the moment we met him, we knew he was the right guy. He brought innocence to the project, and he also found his own way into how he would tell the story.”
That way in – Arcel’s vision – was to try to stay true to King’s “mix of modern day and the fantastic. This is what Stephen King does best.” In The Dark Tower, the fantastical elements would take care of themselves; to make those feel like a Stephen King story, Arcel sought to keep it grounded. “We had to keep it real; this world is so immense and so complex, and in the novels, at times, even abstract. I really wanted Mid-World, the characters, and everything to feel as real as every day. I didn’t want to have some kind of lofty genre and have everyone speaking in odd ways. I wanted it to feel like anybody could take this journey to Mid-World, and understand it, and be there, and feel that these are real people.”
Arcel also wanted the emotional quality of King’s story to permeate the film. “It didn’t feel cynical, or cold; it felt like it was very much about family, friendship, and heart, and the bond of people coming together to fight for the greater good.”
When it came to the screenplay adaptation, because King’s approach is, in his words, so “instinctive” (“I’m not somebody who plans things out in advance,” he says), the filmmakers faced an unusual challenge in bringing The Dark Tower to the screen. With so much material, where to begin? “How do you present this to the moviegoing audience, so they’ll understand it and feel like they’re immediately in the story, whether or not they’ve read the books?” King asks. The answer for the screenwriters came in looking at The Dark Tower as a whole, drawing elements from several of the books in the series. “It’s a classical thing – they call it in medias res, which means ‘begin in the middle of the story.’ You begin in the middle and then fill everybody in, and it just moves ahead like a freight train from that point,” King continues.
Not only did King himself bless the screenplay adaptation, which is by Akiva Goldsman & Jeff Pinkner and Anders Thomas Jensen & Nikolaj Arcel; the author was intimately involved in every step of the creative process of the film and an invaluable creative partner throughout the entire process.
Key to the film, obviously, would be in the casting of King’s iconic characters: Roland Deschain, the Gunslinger, and Walter, the man in black, the personification of an evil force.
Roland Deschain, AKA the Gunslinger, is the last of the long Line of Eld – a legacy of Gunslingers who are peacekeepers and protectors of the Tower, which protects the universe. After the slaughter of the rest of the gunslingers, Roland is now on a quest to save what is left of his world by reaching the mysterious Tower.
“When Stephen King created Roland, he created a character that was based on the biggest badass of the day,” says producer Ron Howard. “Over time, the character of Roland evolved beyond any one specific look or inspiration; the character just became Roland. We took that initial approach in casting Roland for the film – asking ourselves, ‘Who is the biggest badass of today? Who personifies Roland?’ That conversation started with Idris Elba. He is the embodiment of Roland, and he is also a phenomenal actor and has the chops to be able to bring the complex character of Roland to life.”
Arcel says for him it was a natural to cast Idris Elba as The Gunslinger. “I’ve been a fan of his since ‘The Wire,’ he’s a magnetic performer. The only question was whether we would have similar visions for the character, his journey, and psychology, so it turned out that he did. It just clicked, and he was formidable.”
“As the last in the line of protectors, Roland is very respected, but by the time we meet him his heart has been broken and blackened,” says Elba. “He’s basically a ghost looking for something he can’t find: The Man in Black, who has goaded and taunted him for years, and who destroyed Roland’s world and in it everyone he loved. On this journey, Roland is propelled by fury to take revenge against his old nemesis.”
Elba says he was excited to take on the role of the Gunslinger as he knew Stephen King to be a creator of deep, complex, and big-universe characters. “He is a very clever, master character builder,” says Elba. “Roland has had a massive journey throughout the books.”
Walter is Roland’s mystical foe and a modern day psychotic who destroyed the Mid-World. He is now on a mission to bring all worlds into chaos, which bringing down the Tower will do.
“The essence of the character is a casual and playful but ruthless and terrifying villain, all while seemingly in total control,” Howard continues. “Matthew McConaughey is the perfect embodiment for the role of the Man in Black – he’s incredibly charming, laid back, and mischievous with deep intensity.”
“Walter has traveled many worlds, throughout many ages – he knows contemporary New York and where he can buy a burger, and at the same time, with his sphere of magic, he can also go to the court of some king,” says Arcel. “His plan for the universe is to bring about the age of the Crimson King – the devil.”
“Walter’s not just a guy with one-dimensional evil; he has an interesting way of seeing the world, with a certain delight – even if on the wrong side of the light and dark spectrum,” Arcel continues. “We had a lot of fun with the character, and Matthew and I added a lot of layers that were very true to the book – how Walter speaks and moves.”
McConaughey was excited by the opportunity to bring such a dynamic character to life. “It’s an original – it was great that I could come in at the ground level and create a character, and hopefully be part of an original story where I am the author of the Man in Black.”
At the heart of the interplay between Walter and Roland is a dynamic that is both simple and complex. Ultimately, McConaughey says, “Walter is the quintessential bad guy in the mythic battle of good versus evil. If the Tower comes down, Walter takes the seat next to the Crimson King.”
But King has created a multilayered villain in Walter. “Walter walks a fine line with Roland; it’s an interesting little affection that Walter has for Roland,” says McConaughey. “He certainly doesn’t fully believe in Roland’s code of honor and valor and values. But Walter enjoys the game, and he doesn’t want it to end too soon, even if he wins. Roland is the most talented one out there, and when he’s down and losing it, through paranoia or pain, Walter resurrects him, lifts him up, so he stays in the game.”
Still, though Roland and Walter have been locked in this battle for an eternity, from McConaughey’s point of view, it’s been a one-sided battle. “Walter can’t be touched,” he says. “If someone comes at him, he may be a mirage – he might not even be what you think. He doesn’t even break a sweat.”
Between these battling forces comes a young boy from our world who could tip the balance either way. 14-year-old JAKE lives an ordinary life in New York City with his mother Laurie (Katheryn Winnick) and stepfather Lon (Nicholas Pauling). Plagued by outlandish dreams that he doesn’t understand, he draws detailed sketches of otherworldly images which he sees: the Gunslinger, the Man in Black, and the unearthly world in which they live – Mid-World, in which he gets sight of the Tower.
“In many ways, the story is seen through Jake’s eyes, and we’re seeing it in a compelling way because we believe, as he believes, that he might be crazy,” says Huggins. “It’s a terrifying journey that we take with him in the first part of the movie until he realizes that he’s not crazy, he really is seeing this other world, and he’s part of something bigger than himself. To portray that, Nik was looking for a real kid who you knew would be inspired by these fantastical events. Tom Taylor is an amazing actor, but the element that set him apart was that he came to it with a certain amount of purity.”
Jake follows the clues in his dreams and finds a way to travel to Mid-World, where he searches for Roland Deschain. After meeting the Gunslinger, the boy becomes embroiled in the fight to protect the universe, spanning across the dimensions from Mid-World to New York City.
At first, Roland is suspicious of Jake. “Roland doesn’t really want to have anything to do with this kid; he’s never had to deal with a kid before. But when Jake reveals his visions and that he saw a man in black, Roland is suddenly very interested. Jake has seen information that Roland needs to find Walter.”
Connecting with Jake reawakens Roland’s connection to the world around him and his role in the coming battle. “Roland doesn’t realize he still has feelings and this young boy helps him discover that he’s not a dead soul,” Elba says. “It’s a great, gradual process as they get to know each other. It’s an interesting and sweet journey in the film.”
Arcel says that Taylor was able to hold his own, even opposite a force like Elba. “He was an acting machine,” Arcel says. “In between scenes he’d be playing soccer, but when he got in front of the camera, he would be totally focused. He has a great energy and amazing instincts for a 14-year-old kid.”
ABOUT THE ACTION
“The gunslinger is ridiculously fast,” says Idris Elba. “There’s no looking when he’s putting his guns in and out of his belt; that was our focus. As a kid, you play pretend, and now here I am – it’s like a living playground of the imagination.”
To master the Gunslinger’s moves required both firearm training and an extreme physical fitness. For the latter, Elba trained extensively in boxing and mixed martial arts training, both before and during filming.
Stunt Supervisor Grant Hulley says that the largest-scale stunts in the film are seen in the Dixie Pig sequence, as Roland tries to save Jake from Walter. “It’s an enormous area where the real gunslinger in Roland is revealed. He is firing multiple shots and goes through hundreds of rounds, diving across a chasm. The action progresses to the Dixie Pig creatures inside aquariums getting shot, with the water-filled tanks exploding.”
FOR THE FANS
Over the years, Stephen King has established an astounding fan base of die-hard disciples, and the writer has millions of followers on social media. Because the Dark Tower series is the nexus for most of the King universe and crosses over into so many of King’s other books, it was important to the filmmakers to make a few sly nods to King’s other written works which the fans may recognize.
“We had a lot of fun planting hidden Stephen King references in the film,” says Arcel. “I wanted fans to sitting in the audience, thinking, ‘Oh is that from another Stephen King story?’”
ABOUT THE CAST
Golden Globe and SAG winning actor Idris Elba (Roland) showcases his creative versatility both on-screen in television and film as well as behind the camera as a producer and director. He is the first actor to receive dual SAG awards in one evening. He continues to captivate audiences and secure his position as the one to watch in Hollywood, with a string of well-received performances in high-profile films as well as and multiple critically acclaimed television series.
Prior to his big screen debut, Elba’s career skyrocketed on the small screen in some of UK’s top rated shows, including “Dangerfield,” “Bramwell” and “Ultraviolet.” In 2000, “Ultraviolet” was purchased by Fox in the United States, offering Elba a break into the American marketplace. He soon moved to New York and earned rave reviews for his portrayal of Achilles in Sir Peter Hall’s off-Broadway production of “Troilus and Cressida.” Shortly thereafter he landed a part on the acclaimed television series “Law & Order.”
Soon after his move to the states, Elba landed the role of Stringer Bell, the lieutenant of a Baltimore drug empire on HBO’s critically acclaimed series “The Wire.” Elba’s portrayal of the complex but deadly Bell is arguably one of the most compelling performances in TV history. In 2005, his performance earned him a NAACP Image Award nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series.
In 2005 Elba began his film career in such projects as HBO’s “Sometimes in April” (NAACP Image Award nomination), Tyler Perry’s Daddy’s Little Girls (BET Award nomination), The Reaping alongside Hilary Swank, and the horror thriller 28 Weeks Later. In 2007, Elba starred in Ridley Scott’s Golden Globe nominated American Gangster with Denzel Washington, Russell Crowe, Ruby Dee, and Josh Brolin. The cast went on to receive a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination. Following, he starred in Guy Ritchie’s RocknRolla with Tom Hardy, opposite Beyoncé Knowles in Obsessed (NAACP Image Award Nomination), The Losers (NAACP Image Award nomination), Legacy (which he also executive produced), Ghost Rider with Nicolas Cage, Ridley Scott’s Prometheus with Michael Fassbender and Charlize Theron, Thor with Natalie Portman and Chris Hemsworth, Guillermo del Toro’s Pacific Rim alongside Charlie Hunnam, Charlie Day and Rinko Kikuchi, No Good Deed alongside Taraji P. Henson (which he also Executive Produced), The Gunman with Sean Penn and Javier Bardem, and 100 Streets.
In 2013, Elba starred as Nelson Mandela in The Weinstein Company biopic Mandela: The Long Walk to Freedom. His performance earned him a Golden Globe nomination and a NAACP Image Award nomination. In 2015, Elba was seen in Beasts of No Nation, directed by Cary Fukunaga for Netflix, which earned him a SAG award, London Evening Standard award, and Film Independent Spirit Award, and nominations for a Golden Globe, BAFTA, and NAACP. In 2016, Elba was seen in Star Trek Beyond, and his voice was heard in Zootopia and The Jungle Book.
Elba will next be seen in The Mountains Between Us, Molly’s Game and Thor: Ragnarok.
Elba returned to television in 2009 when he joined the cast of NBC’s hit television show “The Office” as Michael Scott’s less-than-amused boss, Charles Minor. In 2010, Elba landed the title role of John Luther in the BBC crime drama mini-series “Luther.” Following the first season, Elba was nominated for an Emmy for his performance in Luther as well as for his guest appearance on Showtime’s “The Big C.” His performance in the first season of “Luther” earned him a NAACP Image Award, a BET Award, and a Golden Globe. In 2012, Elba earned an Emmy nomination for the second season of “Luther.” The third installment of the BBC mini-series aired in September 2013. His performance earned him an Emmy and Golden Globe nomination as well as a NAACP Image Award. In 2015, Elba reprised his role as Luther for the two-part final installment of the series, for which he earned a Critics’ Choice Award and nominations for a Golden Globe, SAG, NAACP and BAFTA TV award. In April 2016, Elba will be seen in the TV mini-series “Guerrilla” for Showtime.
In 2013 Elba made his directorial debut with the teleplay “The Pavement Psychologist” for Sky/Sprout Pictures as part of Sky’s “Playhouse Presents” series, starring Anna Friel, which Elba also wrote. He also created, directed and starred in the music video “Lover of Light” by Mumford and Sons, which has received more than 9 million You Tube views to date. In 2014, Elba starred in and produced a two-part documentary titled “King of Speed” for BBC Two and BBC America with his production company Green Door Pictures. In 2015 Elba and Green Door Pictures released the documentary “Mandela, My Dad and Me,” which follows Elba during the making of his album “mi Mandela.”
In winter 2015, Elba launched his clothing line Idris Elba + Superdry, which combines vintage Americana styling with Japanese inspired graphics, available in both the UK and US.
Texas native MATTHEW McCONAUGHEY (Walter) is one of Hollywood’s most sought-after leading men. A chance meeting in Austin with casting director and producer Don Phillips led him to director Richard Linklater, who launched the actor’s career in the cult classic Dazed and Confused. Since then, he has appeared in over 40 feature films that have grossed over $1 billion; and has become a producer, director, and philanthropist – all the while sticking to his Texas roots and “jk livin” philosophy.
In 2016 McConaughey voiced Buster Moon in the holiday release of Illumination project’s Sing. The film was a holiday box office success, grossing over $600 million at the box office. In addition, that same year, he was seen in Gold and Free State of Jones as well as featured as the voice of Beetle in Kubo and the Two Strings, which was nominated for an Academy Award®. McConaughey most recently wrapped White Boy Rick and will begin production on Serenity with Anne Hathaway.
2014 was a game-changing year for McConaughey. For his riveting portrayal of Ron Woodruff in Dallas Buyers Club, McConaughey received an Academy Award®, Golden Globe Award, Screen Actors Guild Award and Gotham Award for Best Actor, the Best Actor Award at the Rome Film Festival as well as the Desert Palm Achievement Actor Award at the Palm Springs Film Festival. He also made the move to TV starring alongside Woody Harrelson in the HBO dramatic series “True Detective.” The show was met with rave reviews from critics and fans alike and earned McConaughey a Critics’ Choice and TCA Award for Best Actor in a Drama Series as well as an Emmy Nomination. Later that year he starred in Interstellar, directed by Christopher Nolan, also starring Anne Hathaway and Jessica Chastain.
In 2012 McConaughey was spotlighted in four diverse career-changing performances. He won a Spirit Award for his portrayal of Dallas Rising in Steven Soderbergh’s Magic Mike, and was named the year’s Best Supporting Actor by both the New York Film Critics Circle and the National Society of Film Critics for his work in Magic Mike and Richard Linklater’s Bernie. McConaughey also received acclaim for his performance in Lee Daniels’ The Paperboy and was a Spirit Award nominee for playing the title role in William Friedkin’s Killer Joe.
He followed this up in 2013 with the release of Jeff Nichols’ Mud, which received rave reviews and was a sleeper hit in the national box office top 10 for five weeks, and Martin Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street, which opened in December 2013.
His other films include Brad Furman’s The Lincoln Lawyer, Ben Stiller’s Tropic Thunder, McG’s We Are Marshall, Jill and Karen Sprecher’s Thirteen Conversations About One Thing, Bill Paxton’s Frailty, Jonathan Mostow’s U-571, Ron Howard’s EDtv, Richard Linklater’s The Newton Boys, Steven Spielberg’s Amistad, Robert Zemeckis’ Contact, Joel Schumacher’s A Time to Kill, and John Sayles’ Lone Star.
In 2008, McConaughey started The just keep livin Foundation (www.jklivinfoundation.org), which is dedicated to helping boys and girls transform into men and women through programs that teach the importance of decision-making, health, education, and active living. The Foundation has partnered with Communities in Schools (CIS) – the nation’s largest, non-profit, dropout-prevention organization –in West Los Angeles to implement fitness and wellness programs in two large urban high schools. Through an afterschool program, they are able to give kids a healthy start in life and the promise of a healthy future.
TOM TAYLOR (Jake) was recently named a Screen Star Of Tomorrow at just 15 years old.
He is best known for the role of Tom Foster in the award-winning psychological drama “Doctor Foster.” The BBC mini-series was nominated as Best Mini-Series at the 2016 BAFTAs, as well as winning National Television Awards 2016 for New Drama and a TV Choice Award 2016 for Best New Drama. “Doctor Foster” will return for a second season later in the year.
Taylor has most recently been seen in the BBC’s much-loved “The Last Kingdom” alongside Alexander Dreymon as well as TNT’s “Legends” developed by Howard Gordon and starring Sean Bean.
In 2012, Taylor starred in the feature film Broken Hearts directed by Anoosh Varda.
Claudia Kim (Arra) is a South Korean model and actress whose beauty and charm have driven her to international fame.
Kim gained international attention in Marvel’s Avengers: Age of Ultron; Kim played the world-renowned scientist Dr. Helen Cho, who is on the cutting edge of modern regenerative medicine. The film, directed by Joss Whedon, hit theaters to a hailstorm of critical and fiscal global success, earning a staggering $312.9 million domestically and $875.3 million worldwide after just ten days in theaters, tying with The Dark Knight as the second-fastest film to do so.
In 2016, Kim starred alongside Kristen Stewart and Nicholas Hoult in the film Equals, directed by Drake Doremus. The movie follows a futuristic love story set in a world where emotions have been eradicated. Equals was released on May 26, 2016.
Kim also appeared in the Netflix original series “Marco Polo,” the thirteenth-century medieval epic. The show follows title character Marco Polo’s early years through the courts of Kublai Khan. Kim stars as Khutulan amongst international co-stars such as Lorenzo Richelmy, Benedict Wong, and Joan Chen. The series debuted on December 12, 2014, and its second season premiered on July 1, 2016.
Kim made her entertainment debut in 2005 when she won the Korea-China Supermodel Contest, which generated an image as both model and actress. From there, she subsequently went on to appear in supporting roles in a variety of Korean dramas, including soap opera Queen of the Game (2006), action series The Fugitive: Plan B (2010), romantic drama series Romance Town (2011), medical drama Brain (2011), and spy comedy 7th Grade Civil Servant (2013); as well as a leading role as ‘Kim Soo-hyun’ in the sitcom Standby in 2012.
Kim’s work in Queen of the Game earned her the New Star Award at the 2006 SBC Drama Awards. She also won both the Excellence Award and Best Actress in a Comedy/Sitcom at the 2012 MBC Entertainment Awards for her work in Standby.
Kim’s beauty naturally lends itself to any of her acting roles, but it has also offered her separate and prestigious opportunities in the world of beauty and fashion. Early in 2015, Bobbi Brown Cosmetics announced Kim as the first Asian ambassador for the brand. As the face of Bobbi Brown in Asia, Kim will appear in a series of online how-to videos, TV spots, print ads, and on-counter visuals. The campaign will be exclusive to South Korea until June, at which point it will extend to other parts of Asia. This marks the first time that the brand has appointed a face for one-market exclusively rather than globally.
She currently resides in Seoul, Korea.
FRAN KRANZ (Pimli) wanted to be an actor ever since he landed a leading role in his 9th-grade play and has worked consistently as a professional actor since high school. Kranz co-stars in the Mary Pickford biopic The First, opposite Cary Elwes and Sophie Kennedy Clark. He produced and stars opposite Lily Rabe and Finn Wittrock in Casey Wilder Mott’s adaptation of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, which recently premiered at the 2017 Los Angeles Film Festival.
Kranz’s other feature credits include the Netflix film Rebirth, Mojave, opposite Garrett Hedlund and Oscar Isaac, The Truth About Lies, the horror comedy Bloodsucking Bastards, The Living, Last Weekend, opposite Patricia Clarkson, Murder of a Cat, opposite J.K. Simmons and Greg Kinnear, Joss Whedon’s adaptation of Much Ado About Nothing, The Cabin in the Woods, directed by Drew Goddard and produced by Whedon, M. Night Shyamalan’s The Village, Ridley Scott’s Matchstick Men, The TV Set, Diary of a Wimpy Kid 2, Orange County, Antoine Fuqua’s Training Day and Donnie Darko.
On television, Kranz is well-known for playing the role of Topher, the sarcastic, tech wunderkind, on Joss Whedon’s Fox sci-fi series “Dollhouse,” alongside Eliza Dushku. He also played the lead role in the CBS comedy series “Welcome to the Captain,” created and directed by John Hamburg. He has appeared on such acclaimed series as “Elementary,” “The Good Wife,” “Dallas,” “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia,” “Private Practice” and “Frasier.”
Kranz starred on Broadway opposite Rose Byrne and James Earl Jones in the much-praised revival of “You Can’t Take It with You.” He made his Broadway debut in director Mike Nichols’ “Death of a Salesman” opposite Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Andrew Garfield, which won the 2012 Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play. He also starred in the critically acclaimed staging of “Bachelorette” at the Second Stage Theatre Off-Broadway.
Kranz attended high school at the Harvard-Westlake School in Los Angeles, where he was active in theater, and also studied at the prestigious Oxford Tradition program, where he won a Best Actor Award for his portrayal of Petruchio in “The Taming of the Shrew.” Kranz went on to Yale University, where he was a member of the improv troupe “The Ex!t Players” and performed in such plays as “Angels in America,” “Bright Room Called Day,” “Henry IV,” “Anthony & Cleopatra,” and “Twelfth Night.”
Australian actress ABBEY LEE (Tirana) made her feature debut alongside Tom Hardy, Charlize Theron and Nicholas Hoult in the Warner Brothers blockbuster Mad Max: Fury Road, directed by George Miller. The film went on to win six Academy Awards®. She followed that up with acclaimed director Sean Baker’s short feature Snowbird, Lionsgate/Paramount’s Gods of Egypt and Paramount/Dreamworks’ comedy Office Christmas Party with Jason Bateman, T.J. Miller, and Kate McKinnon. She also starred as the villain opposite Elle Fanning in Neon Demon, written and directed by auteur filmmaker Nic Refn. The movie was distributed by Amazon and premiered at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival. Lee will soon be seen in Welcome the Stranger, in which she stars in opposite Caleb Landry Jones and Riley Keough. She is currently filming the lead role in the independent feature Elizabeth Harvest with Ciaran Hinds. She also recently became the new face of Calvin Klein.
As a teenager, JACKIE EARLE HALEY (Sayre) left an indelible impression with his generation when he played Kelly Leak, a motorcycle riding, home-run-hitting hellion in Michael Ritchie’s acclaimed film The Bad News Bears and two sequels. Peter Yates then cast him to play Moocher in the Academy Award®-winning sleeper Breaking Away.
Like so many child stars, Haley’s transition to adult actor proved elusive. After disappearing from screens for nearly 15 years, his spectacular return – as sex-offender Ronnie McGorvey in Todd Field’s impeccably directed film Little Children – earned him numerous accolades, including an Academy Award® nomination and the coveted New York Film Critics Circle Award.
Martin Scorsese cast him in his mind-bending thriller Shutter Island, playing opposite Leonardo DiCaprio in the pivotal role of insane asylum patient George Noyce. In Will Ferrell’s comedy Semi-Pro, Haley played Dukes, the long-haired basketball fanatic and big-time stoner. When Zack Snyder’s Watchmen introduced Haley to the critical and discerning world of Comic-Con, he won them over playing a character that fanboys held very near and dear to their hearts: the iconic Rorschach. He also did two seasons on Fox’s comic-based series “Human Target,” where Haley’s character, Guerrero, was a fan favorite. And taking on yet another genre, Haley played the infamously terrifying Freddy Krueger in Sam Bayer’s 2010 re-imagining of the horror classic A Nightmare On Elm Street.
To add to the list of legendary directors that he has worked with, Tim Burton chose Haley to play Willie Loomis, the drunken servant to Johnny Depp’s iconic Barnabas Collins, in Dark Shadows, which was based on the popular late ’60’s soap opera of the same name.
Haley also had the honor to work with one of his favorite directors, Steven Spielberg, in the feature film Lincoln opposite Daniel Day-Lewis.
Haley also co-starred in sci fi drama Robocop with Joel Kinnaman, Gary Oldman, Michael Keaton, and Abbie Cornish. And London Has Fallen, with Gerald Butler, Radha Mitchell, and Morgan Freeman.
Most recently, Haley appeared in the first season of Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg’s “Preacher,” playing the infamous Odin Quincannon. He then finally got to work in his home state of Texas on a James Cameron production directed by Robert Rodriguez: Alita: Battle Angel.
Haley is currently working on a new iteration of Ben Edlund’s long-lived comic book parody “The Tick.”
But one of the things Haley is most proud of was something he’s wanted to do since he was nine years old: he directed his first feature film, Criminal Activities, a crime thriller that stars John Travolta, Dan Stevens and Michael Pitt.