Grindhouse 2007 premiere
Monday March 26th, The Orpheum Theatre 842 S Broadway, Los Angeles, CA 90014
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- Actress
- Producer
- Director
This stunning and resourceful actress has been primarily a film player thus far. Only recently has she been opening herself up more to doing television (the series Gemini Division (2008), which she executive-produced), and animated voice-overs. Dawson's powerhouse talent stands out the most in edgy, urban filming that dates back to 1995 when she was only sixteen.
A rags-to-riches article entitled "Rosario Dawson: From Tenement to Tinseltown" probably says it all. Rosario was born on May 9, 1979 in New York City. Her mother, Isabel Celeste, of Puerto Rican and Afro-Cuban descent, is a singer, and her stepfather, who raised her, Greg Dawson, of Irish descent, is a construction laborer. Her parents, who married when both were teenagers, eventually divorced. Rosario and her younger brother, Clay Dawson, had it hard while growing up, and were cared for by family members, most of whom were poverty-stricken, and some of whom were HIV-positive.
Her career actually started as a child when she made a minor showing on the children's show, Sesame Street (1969). As the story goes, she was "discovered" as an adolescent on her front porch step by two photographers. One of them, Harmony Korine, was an aspiring screenwriter who thought the inexperienced sixteen-year-old was ideal for the controversial cult film Kids (1995), in which she would portray a sexually active adolescent. It took time for Rosario's film career to kick in after that, but by the late 1990s, she had nabbed several independent films. Since then, she has moved into main-stream hits (and misses) and has surprised viewers with her earthy, provocative, uninhibited approach to her roles.
Reflecting New York's tougher, tawdrier side as assorted streetwalkers, homeless mothers, drug addicts, etc., her film highlights have included Light It Up (1999), Edward Burns' Sidewalks of New York (2001), Spike Lee's 25th Hour (2002) and Shattered Glass (2003). For Oliver Stone, she portrayed the duped bride of Colin Farrell's famed B.C. Macedonian warrior, Alexander (2004) (as in "...the Great"), which featured a notoriously violent-tinged nude/sex scene.
Expanding her horizons beyond film, she has always expressed interest in singing. She hooked up with Prince for the re-release of his 1980s hit "1999" and appeared in The Chemical Brothers' video for the song "Out of Control" from the album "Surrender". She is also featured on the Outkast track, "She Lives in My Lap". On stage, she co-starred as Julia in a revival of "Two Gentlemen of Verona" at the Public Theater's "Shakespeare in the Park" and appeared in "The Vagina Monologues".
She lucked into and got to show off her singing chops in the film adaptation of the hit New York musical Rent (2005), when Daphne Rubin-Vega, the original Mimi, became pregnant and was unable to reprise her exotic dancer role. Rosario also appeared as a prostitute in the adaptation of the graphic novel Sin City (2005). Of late, she has turned to producing. One of those, Descent (2007), had her playing a college coed who is brutally attacked and raped by a fellow student. Her more popular ventures have thus far included the role of Valerie Brown in the live-action version of the comic strip Josie and the Pussycats (2001), the Will Smith starrer Men in Black II (2002), Eagle Eye (2008) with Shia LaBeouf and Seven Pounds (2008), again with Smith, in which she offered one of her more tender-hearted performances as a woman with a potentially fatal heart condition.
More recent millennium films opposite some of Hollywood's top leading movie men include the tense actioneer Unstoppable (2010) with Denzel Washington and Chris Pine; the comedy/fantasy Zookeeper (2011) opposite Dalekmania (1995); romantic dramedy 10 Years (2011) with Channing Tatum; crime drama Fire with Fire (2012) with Bruce Willis; romantic comedy Top Five (2014) with Chris Rock; and action adventure Zombieland: Double Tap (2019) with Woody Harrelson. She has also top-lined independent films with her own feisty characters such as the thriller Unforgettable (2017) and the title role in the dramedy Krystal (2017).
Focusing also on TV projects, Rosario has graced such action series/mini-series as Daredevil (2015), Iron Fist (2017) and The Defenders (2017), as well as the comedy Jane the Virgin (2014) and animated cartoon series The Last Kids on Earth (2019).
Off-camera, the still-single Dawson is highly active in political, social and environmental causes and has been involved with such organizations/charities/campaigns as the Lower East Side Girls Club, Global Cool, the O.N.E. Campaign, Oxfam, Amnesty International, Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, Control Arms, International Rescue Committee, Voto Latino (which she founded), Conservation International, Doctors Without Borders, National Geographic Society, The Nature Conservancy and Save the Children. In October 2008, she lent her voice to the RESPECT! Campaign, a movement aimed at preventing domestic violence.- Producer
- Actor
- Writer
Gallardo's first taste of fame came with the feature film 'El Mariachi', which he starred in and produced, with the film being directed by his close friend Robert Rodriguez. A critically acclaimed film, it was renowned for costing only $7,000 to make, and went on to win the 1993 Sundance Film Festival. Following his success with 'El Mariachi', Carlos proceeded to work as an actor and co-producer on the film which would help launch the English language careers of Salma Hayek and Antonio Banderas, 'Desperado'. This movie opened the door to many new projects, including 'Bravo' and 'Single Action', in which Carlos filled the roles of producer, director, actor and screenwriter. Carlos went on to be one of the Producers of the third film in the trilogy 'Once Upon a Time in Mexico', featuring Johnny Depp, Willem Defoe, Enrique Iglesias, Eva Mendez, Salma Hayek and Antonio Banderas. The Mariachi trilogy franchise has grossed over $246 million worldwide. In 2007, The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences recognized Carlos' long time work as a minority filmmaker and honored him with the award 'Oscar Night America', a recognition from the academy as a Latino filmmaker. Carlos also participated in a cameo role for Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino's award winning action thriller 'Planet Terror' in 2007. His other recent credits include the drama 'Jazzed up Hoodlums', directed by new up and coming talent, Stephen Marsh, action horror 'Dead Hooker in a Trunk', and the short futuristic western 'The Price.' In 2012, 'El Mariachi' was given the prestigious honor of being named by the US Library of Congress as one of only 25 films to be preserved as part of the National Film Registry, the world's largest archive of film, TV and sound recordings. Chee and Carlos met in late 2009 and they started working together in Bandido 2 and Redcon1. Redcon1 had its premiere in UK at The Raindance film festival and was released in across the UK in September 2018 and has won over 30 awards worldwide. Carlos has reunited with Robert Rodriguez for the up coming movie "RED 11" 2019. Carlos continues to find new directors to work with and help them achieve their goals in the film industry.- Actor
- Make-Up Department
- Special Effects
Actor/SFX wizard/stuntman/director Tom Savini was born in Pittsburgh. Inspired by the film Man of a Thousand Faces (1957), a young Savini became fascinated with the magic and illusion of film. He spent his youth in his room creating characters by tirelessly practicing make-up. Later, as a combat photographer in Vietnam, Savini saw first-hand the gruesome carnage for which he later gained fame, simulating it on screen.
He has acquired a remarkable cult following among film fans, primarily due to his ground-breaking SFX in the "splatter movie" explosion of the early 1980s. Along with fellow special make-up legends Dick Smith and Rob Bottin, Savini was one of the key SFX people behind the startling make-up & EFX seen in the fantasy/horror genre films of the 1980s-'90s. Savini was heavily influenced by the remarkable silent-era actor Lon Chaney, and he sought to emulate the amazing theatrical make-up effects that were a hallmark of Chaney's career. In Savini's insightful book "Grande Illusions", he speaks of his early attempts at applying prosthetics to his face using "spearmint gum", having misinterpreted that he was meant to actually use "spirit gum"! His first work was in low-budget fare, providing SFX and make-up for independently made horror films such as Deranged (1974) and Martin (1977).
He really caught the attention of horror buffs with his grisly effects in the cult George A. Romero-directed zombie film Dawn of the Dead (1978), and then in the controversial slasher film Friday the 13th (1980), the movie generally identified as the kickstart for the aforementioned "splatter movie" genre. Savini also contributed the incredible EFX & make-up to other splatter thrillers such as Maniac (1980), The Burning (1981), Creepshow (1982) and Romero's third "Dead" film, Day of the Dead (1985) (for which he won a Saturn Award). In 1990, Savini directed his feature film debut Night of the Living Dead (1990), the remake of the original zombie-classic.
Not content with only being behind the lens, however, Savini has appeared in dozens of films, and can be seen demonstrating his capable acting skills as "Morgan, the Black Knight" in Knightriders (1981), as "Blades", one of the biker gang members in Dawn of the Dead (1978) and as "Sex Machine", another leather-clad biker--but this time with a groin-mounted gun--in the wild vampire film From Dusk Till Dawn (1996).- Actress
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Tracie Thoms has had wide-ranging success in film, television and theatre throughout her busy career.
Tracie's currently a series regular opposite Oscar winner Octavia Spencer on the Apple series, Truth Be Told, while at the same time recurring on Fox's 9-1-1 and ABC's Station 19.
Tracie realized a long-held dream when she starred as 'Joanne' in the final weeks of the historic Broadway run of the iconic musical, Rent. She played the same key role in Sony's film of Rent opposite Rosario Dawson and Idina Menzel. She was seen opposite Bruce Willis and Joseph Gordon-Levitt in Rian Johnson's Looper, and with Denzel Washington in Safe House. She starred with Kurt Russell in Quentin Tarantino's Grindhouse: Death Proof and opposite Anne Hathaway in David Frankel's The Devil Wears Prada. She was featured in Columbia's remake of Annie with Jamie Foxx and Quvenzhané Wallis. She's also been featured in dozens of indie films throughout her career.
Tracie starred on Broadway most recently in the acclaimed production of James Lapine's Falsettos. She also starred opposite Dulé Hill and Mekhi Phifer in Stick Fly, and opposite Alfre Woodard in Drowning Crow. She starred Off-Broadway in Working at Encores! Off-Center, with Oscar nominee John Hawkes in the world premiere of David Auburn's Lost Lake at Manhattan Theatre Club, and she was a lead in the acclaimed The Exonerated at The Culture Project. She's been featured in The 24 Hour Plays, The 24 Hour Musicals, and 10 Things To Do Before I Die at New York's Second Stage.
Tracie was a series regular for six years on CBS' Cold Case. She starred for Fox in Wonderfalls and recurred on Hulu's The First, WGN's Gone, Lifetime's UnREAL, Netflix's Love and NBC's Lincoln Rhyme: Hunt for the Bone Collector. She's guest starred on Veep, Person of Interest, Suits, The Shield, The Good Wife, The Mindy Project, Criminal Minds, The Affair, The Good Doctor, Grey's Anatomy, Mad About You, Run, Curb Your Enthusiasm and NCIS: Los Angeles.
Tracie began studying acting in her hometown of Baltimore at age 9. She attended high school at the prestigious Baltimore School for the Arts. Later, she received a bachelor of fine arts degree from Howard University and a graduate degree in acting from New York City's renowned Juilliard School.- Producer
- Writer
- Director
Robert Anthony Rodriguez was born and raised in San Antonio, Texas, USA, to Rebecca (Villegas), a nurse, and Cecilio G. Rodríguez, a salesman. His family is of Mexican descent.
Of all the people to be amazed by the images of John Carpenter's 1981 sci-fi parable, Escape from New York (1981), none were as captivated as the 12-year-old Rodriguez, who sat with his friends in a crowded cinema. Many people watch films and arrogantly proclaim "I can do that." This young man said something different: "I WILL do that. I'm gonna make movies." That day was the catalyst of his dream career. Born and raised in Texas, Robert was the middle child of a family that would include 10 children. While many a child would easily succumb to a Jan Brady sense of being lost in the shuffle, Robert always stood out as a very creative and very active young man. An artist by nature, he was very rarely seen sans pencil-in-hand doodling some abstract (yet astounding) dramatic feature on a piece of paper. His mother, not a fan of the "dreary" cinema of the 1970s, instills a sense of cinema in her children by taking them on weekly trips to San Antonio's famed Olmos Theatre movie house and treats them to a healthy dose of Hollywood's "Golden Age" wonders, from Sergio Leone to the silent classic of Charles Chaplin and Buster Keaton.
In a short amount of time, young Robert finds the family's old Super-8 film camera and makes his first films. The genres are unlimited: action, sci-fi, horror, drama, stop-motion animation. He uses props from around the house, settings from around town, and makes use of the largest cast and crew at his disposal: his family. At the end of the decade, his father, a salesman, brings home the latest home-made technological wonder: a VCR, and with it (as a gift from the manufacturer) a video camera. With this new equipment at his disposal, he makes movies his entire life. He screens the movies for friends, all of whom desperately want to star in the next one. He gains a reputation in the neighborhood as "the kid who makes movies". Rather than handing in term papers, he is allowed to hand in "term movies" because, as he himself explains, "[the teachers] knew I'd put more effort into a movie than I ever would into an essay." He starts his own comic strip, "Los Hooligans". His movies win every local film competition and festival. When low academic grades threaten to keep him out of UT Austin's renowned film department, he proves his worth the only way he knows how: he makes a movie. Three, in fact: trilogy of short movies called "Austin Stories" starring his siblings. It beats the entries of the school's top students and allows Robert to enter the program. After being accepted into the film department, Robert takes $400 of his own money to make his "biggest" film yet: a 16mm short comedy/fantasy called Bedhead (1991).
Pouring every idea and camera trick he knew into the short, it went on to win multiple awards. After meeting and marrying fellow Austin resident Elizabeth Avellan, Robert comes up with a crazy idea: he will sell his body to science in order to finance his first feature-length picture (a Mexican action adventure about a guitarist with no name looking for work but getting caught up in a shoot-'em-up adventure) that he will sell to the Spanish video market and use as an entry point to a lucrative Hollywood career. With his "guinea pig" money he raises a mere $7,000 and creates El Mariachi (1992). But rather than lingering in obscurity, the film finds its way to the Sundance film festival where it becomes an instant favorite, wins Robert a distribution deal with Columbia Pictures and turns him into an icon among would-be film-makers the world over. Not one to rest on his laurels, he immediately helms the straight-to-cable movie Roadracers (1994) and contributes a segment to the anthology comedy Four Rooms (1995) (his will be the most lauded segment).
His first "genuine" studio effort would soon have people referring to him as "John Woo from south-of-the-border". It is the "Mariachi" remake/sequel Desperado (1995). More lavish and action-packed than its own predecessor, the movie--while not a blockbuster hit--does decent business and launches the American film careers of Antonio Banderas as the guitarist-turned-gunslinger and Salma Hayek as his love interest (the two would star in several of his movies from then on). It also furthers the director's reputation of working on low budgets to create big results. In the year when movies like Batman Forever (1995) and GoldenEye (1995) were pushing budgets past the $100 million mark, Rodriguez brought in "Desperado" for just under $7 million. The film also featured a cameo by fellow indie film wunderkind, Quentin Tarantino. It would be the beginning of a long friendship between the two sprinkled with numerous collaborations. Most notable the Tarantino-penned vampire schlock-fest From Dusk Till Dawn (1996). The kitschy flick (about a pair of criminal brothers on the run from the Texas Rangers, only to find themselves in a vamp-infested Mexican bar) became an instant cult favorite and launched the lucrative film career of ER (1994) star George Clooney.
After a two-year break from directing (primarily to spend with his family, but also developing story ideas and declining Hollywood offers) he returned to "Dusk till Dawn" territory with the teen sci-fi/horror movie The Faculty (1998), written by Scream (1996) writer, Kevin Williamson. Although it's developed a small following of its own, it would prove to be Robert's least-successful film. Critics and fans alike took issue with the pedestrian script, the off-kilter casting and the flick's blatant over-commercialization (due to a marketing deal with clothing designer Tommy Hilfiger). After another three-year break, Rodriguez returned to make his most successful (and most unexpected) movie yet, based on his own segment from Four Rooms (1995). After a string of bloody, adult-oriented action fare, no one anticipated him to write and direct the colorful and creative Spy Kids (2001), a movie about a pair of prepubescent Latino sibs who discover that their lame parents (Antonio Banderas and Carla Gugino) are actually two of the world's greatest secret agents. The film was hit among both audiences and critics alike.
After quitting the Writers' Guild of America and being introduced to digital filmmaking by George Lucas, Robert immediately applied the creative, flexible (and cost-effective) technology to every one of his movies from then on, starting with an immediate sequel to his family friendly hit: Spy Kids 2: Island of Lost Dreams (2002) which was THEN immediately followed by the trilogy-capper Spy Kids 3: Game Over (2003). The latter would prove to be the most financially-lucrative of the series and employ the long-banished movie gimmick of 3-D with eye-popping results. Later the same year Rodriguez career came full circle when he completed the final entry of the story that made brought him to prominence: "El Mariachi". The last chapter, Once Upon a Time in Mexico (2003), would be his most direct homage to the Sergio Leone westerns he grew up on. With a cast boasting Antonio Banderas (returning as the gunslinging guitarist), Johnny Depp (as a corrupt CIA agent attempting to manipulate him), Salma Hayek, Mickey Rourke, Willem Dafoe and Eva Mendes, the film delivered even more of the Mexican shoot-'em-up spectacle than both of the previous films combined.
Now given his choice of movies to do next, Robert sought out famed comic book writer/artist Frank Miller, a man who had been very vocal of never letting his works be adapted for the screen. Even so, he was wholeheartedly convinced and elated when Rodriguez presented him with a plan to turn Miller's signature work into the film Sin City (2005). A collection of noir-ish tales set in a fictional, crime-ridden slum, the movie boasted the largest cast Rodriguez had worked with to that date. Saying he didn't want to mere "adapt" Miller's comics but "translate" them, Rodriguez' insistence that Miller co-direct the movie lead to Robert's resignation from the Director's Guild of America (and his subsequent dismissal from the film John Carter (2012) as a result). Many critics cited that Sin City was created as a pure film noir piece to adapt Miller's comics onto the screen. Co-directing with Frank Miller and bringing in Quentin Tarantino to guest-direct a scene allowed Rodriguez to again shock Hollywood with his talent.
In late 2007, Rodriguez again teamed up with his friend Tarantino to create the double feature Grindhouse (2007). Rodriguez's offering, Planet Terror (2007), was a film made to be "hardcore, extreme, sex-fueled, action-packed." Rodriguez flirts with his passion to make a showy film exploiting all of his experience to make an extremely entertaining thrill ride. The film is encompassed around Cherry (Rose McGowan), a reluctant go-go dancer who is found wanting when she meets her ex-lover El Wray (played by Freddy Rodríguez) who turns up at a local BBQ grill. They then, after a turn of events, find themselves fending off brain-eating zombies whilst trying to flee to Mexico (here we go off to Mexico again). Apart from directing, Rodriguez also involves himself in camera work, editing and composing music for his movies' sound tracks (he composed Planet Terror's main theme). He also shoots a lot of his own action scenes to get a direct idea from his eye as the director into the film. In El Mariachi (1992), Rodriguez spent hours in front of a pay-to-use, computer editing his film. This allowed him to capture the ideal footage exactly as he wanted it. Away from the filming aspect of Hollywood, Rodriguez is an expert chef who cooks gourmet meals for the cast and crew. Rodriguez is also known for his ability to turn a low-budgeted film with a small crew into an example of film mastery. El mariachi was "the movie made on seven grand" and still managed to rank as one of Rodriguez' best films (receiving a rating of 92% on the Rotten Tomatoes film review site).
Because Rodriguez is involved so deeply in his films, he is able to capture what he wants first time, which saves both time and money. Rodriguez's films share some similar threads and ideas, whilst also having differences. In El Mariachi (1992), he uses a hand-held camera. He made this decision for several reasons. First, he couldn't afford a tripod and secondly, he wanted to make the audience more aware of the action. In the action sequences he is given more mobility with a hand-held camera and also allows for distortion of the unprofessional action sequences (because the cost of all special effects in the film totaled $600). However, in Sin City (2005) and Planet Terror (2007), the budget was much greater, and Rodriguez could afford to spend more on special affects (especially since both films were filmed predominately with green screen) and, thus, there was no need to cover for error.
Playing by his own rules or not at all, Robert Rodriguez has redefined what a filmmaker can or cannot do. Shunning Hollywood's ridiculously high budgets, multi-picture deals and the two most powerful unions for the sake of maintaining creative freedom are decisions that would (and have) cost many directors their careers. Rodriguez has turned these into his strengths, creating some of the most imaginative works the big-screen has ever seen.- Actress
- Producer
- Director
Rose McGowan is an American actress and director, known for her contribution to independent film. Since the age of nineteen, she has appeared in acclaimed films by Gregg Araki, Wes Craven, Brian De Palma, Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino. In 2014, her directorial debut Dawn (2014) was nominated for the Short Film Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival. Rose Arianna McGowan was born on September 5, 1973 in Florence, Tuscany, Italy, to American parents Terri and Daniel Patrick McGowan. She is the second eldest of six siblings, and has Irish, French, and English ancestry. As a young child, she was raised within the Italian chapter of the Children of God. During the early 1980s, her family severed ties with the community and migrated to Eugene, Oregon, USA. Following the divorce of her parents, Rose relocated to Gig Harbor, Washington, to live with her grandmother. At age 14, McGowan was accused of drug use by a family friend and committed to rehabilitation. She has consistently maintained the decision was unjustified. Upon release, she spent a year without a home and was emancipated from her parents by the age of 15. McGowan's career as an actor began with The Doom Generation (1995). Originally intended for Jordan Ladd, the character of Amy Blue was, coincidentally, awarded to McGowan by an associate of director Gregg Araki. For her performance, she was nominated at the 1995 Independent Spirit Awards for Best Debut Performance. Subsequently cast in Wes Craven's Scream (1996), she experienced further success when the project defied expectations to become one of the highest grossing films of the year. The innovative career of McGowan was overshadowed throughout much of the 1990s by her high-profile relationship with musician Brian Warner (aka Marilyn Manson). Strong performances in Going All the Way (1997), Lewis & Clark & George (1997), Southie (1998) and Jawbreaker (1999) were largely unseen by the general public. When the relationship ended between Rose and Manson in 2001, she remarked: "There is great love, but our lifestyle difference is, unfortunately, even greater". Rose continued to work solidly, appearing in a string of soft-sounding studio and independent films. Performances from this period included: a political activist in Showtime's The Killing Yard (2001), a grifter in Roads to Riches (2002) and a factory worker in "Stealing Bess" (aka Vacuums (2003)). She was re-introduced to the mainstream as Paige Matthews in Aaron Spelling's Charmed (1998), a popular television series for which she devoted five consecutive years. When "Charmed" finished its run in 2006, McGowan emerged in top form. Critics praised her efforts in Robert Rodriguez's Planet Terror (2007), and Quentin Tarantino's Death Proof (2007). In several interviews, McGowan has expressed a general apathy and disdain for Hollywood. Despite this, her work ethic remains strong. Following her recent marriage to LA-based artist Davey Detail, the actress has resolved to purse further projects as a director.- Actor
- Producer
Freddy Rodríguez was born in Chicago, Illinois, USA. He is an actor and producer, known for Planet Terror (2007), Poseidon (2006) and Harsh Times (2005). He has been married to Maria Elsie Rivera since 23 December 1995. They have two children.- Actress
- Additional Crew
Ashley Edner was born on 17 December 1990 in Downey, California, USA. She is an actress, known for Star Trek Beyond (2016), Britney Spears Live from Las Vegas (2001) and Listen Up (2004). She has been married to Kevin Tancharoen since 12 February 2022.- Jordan Ladd was born on 14 January 1975 in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA. She is an actress, known for Death Proof (2007), Never Been Kissed (1999) and Cabin Fever (2002). She was previously married to Conor O'Neill.
- Actress
- Producer
Electra Stone was born on 12 August 1986 in Caracas, Venezuela. She is an actress and producer, known for Planet Terror (2007), Machete (2010) and Death Proof (2007).- Elise Avellan was born on 12 August 1986 in Caracas, Venezuela. She is an actress, known for Planet Terror (2007), Grindhouse (2007) and Death Proof (2007).
- Stunts
- Actress
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
As an established and extremely talented stunt double and actress, Zoe Bell has made a name for herself through her unparalleled dedication, skills, and focus.
Zoe Bell was born on Waiheke Island, New Zealand, to Tish, a nurse, and Andrew Bell, a doctor. She has a background in gymnastics and martial arts. She began working as a stunt woman when she doubled Lucy Lawless on the cult favorite TV series Xena: Warrior Princess (1995). Bell also appeared as a double in the ABC thriller Alias (2001) and on an episode of Cleopatra 2525 in 2000 as a double for Vicki Pratti. In the action packed-documentary Double Dare (2004), Bell, along with legendary stunt-woman Jeannie Epper, give an insight into the career of women who take falls and punches for a living. Double Dare also gives a glimpse into the struggles of stunt-women to stay thin, employed, and sane in a male-dominated career.
After the cancellation of Xena, Bell's next gig was working with Quentin Tarantino in Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003) and Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004), playing the stunt double for Uma Thurman's role, The Bride. Bell was nominated for her work in Kill Bill, Vol. 1 in the categories of Best Stunt by a Stunt Woman and Best Fight for the Taurus World Stunt Awards, both of which she would win the following year for Kill Bill: Vol. 2. Bell also showed off her stunt-woman skills as a double for Sharon Stone in Halle Barry's Catwoman (2004).
Bell was injured in the final days of filming, requiring surgery, but she has since recovered and returned to work. Bell appeared along with legendary stunt woman Jeannie Epper in Amanda Micheli's acclaimed documentary Double Dare (2004), which offers a glimpse at the lives and careers of both women, as well as the friendship they share.
Bell debuted her acting career, with her already famous stunt skills, in the double feature Grindhouse (2007) written by Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez. She was hand-picked, by Tarentino himself, to star in his segment of the double feature, Death Proof (2007), about four women working in the film industry that are stalked by a murderer in his Death Proof car.
Bell, a native of New Zealand, resides in Los Angeles but hopes to someday own a home in New Zealand.- Producer
- Writer
- Actor
Quentin Jerome Tarantino was born in Knoxville, Tennessee. His father, Tony Tarantino, is an Italian-American actor and musician from New York, and his mother, Connie (McHugh), is a nurse from Tennessee. Quentin moved with his mother to Torrance, California, when he was four years old.
In January of 1992, first-time writer-director Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs (1992) appeared at the Sundance Film Festival. The film garnered critical acclaim and the director became a legend immediately. Two years later, he followed up Dogs success with Pulp Fiction (1994) which premiered at the Cannes film festival, winning the coveted Palme D'Or Award. At the 1995 Academy Awards, it was nominated for the best picture, best director and best original screenplay. Tarantino and writing partner Roger Avary came away with the award only for best original screenplay. In 1995, Tarantino directed one fourth of the anthology Four Rooms (1995) with friends and fellow auteurs Alexandre Rockwell, Robert Rodriguez and Allison Anders. The film opened December 25 in the United States to very weak reviews. Tarantino's next film was From Dusk Till Dawn (1996), a vampire/crime story which he wrote and co-starred with George Clooney. The film did fairly well theatrically.
Since then, Tarantino has helmed several critically and financially successful films, including Jackie Brown (1997), Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003), Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004), Inglourious Basterds (2009), Django Unchained (2012) and The Hateful Eight (2015).- Actor
- Producer
- Writer
Kurt Vogel Russell was born on March 17, 1951 in Springfield, Massachusetts and raised in Thousand Oaks, California to Louise Julia Russell (née Crone), a dancer & Bing Russell, an actor. He is of English, German, Scottish and Irish descent. His first roles were as a child on television series, including a lead role on the Western series The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters (1963). Russell landed a role in the Elvis Presley movie, It Happened at the World's Fair (1963), when he was eleven years old. Walt Disney himself signed Russell to a 10-year contract, and, according to Robert Osborne, he became the studio's top star of the 1970s. Having voiced adult Copper in the animated Disney film The Fox and the Hound (1981), Russell is one of the few famous child stars in Hollywood who has been able to continue his acting career past his teen years.
Kurt spent the early 1970s playing minor league baseball. In 1979, he gave a classic performance as Elvis Presley in John Carpenter's ABC TV movie Elvis (1979), and married the actress who portrayed Priscilla Presley in the film, Season Hubley. He was nominated for an Emmy Award for the role. He followed with roles in a string of well-received films, including Used Cars (1980) and Silkwood (1983), for which he was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture. During the 1980s, he starred in several films by director Carpenter; they created some of his best-known roles, including the infamous anti-hero Snake Plissken in the futuristic action film Escape from New York (1981) (and later in its sequel Escape from L.A. (1996)), Antarctic helicopter pilot R.J. MacReady in the horror film The Thing (1982), and Jack Burton in the fantasy film Big Trouble in Little China (1986), all of which have since become cult classics.
In 1983, he became reacquainted with Goldie Hawn (who appeared with him in The One and Only, Genuine, Original Family Band (1968)) when they worked together on Swing Shift (1984). The two have lived together ever since. They made another film together, Garry Marshall's comedy Overboard (1987). His other 1980s titles include The Best of Times (1986), Tequila Sunrise (1988), Winter People (1989) and Tango & Cash (1989).
In 1991, he headlined the firefighter drama Backdraft (1991), he starred as Wyatt Earp in the Western film Tombstone (1993), and had a starring role as Colonel Jack O'Neil in the science fiction film Stargate (1994). In the mid-2000s, his portrayal of U.S. Olympic hockey coach Herb Brooks in Miracle (2004) won the praise of critics. In 2006, he appeared in the disaster-thriller Poseidon (2006), and in 2007, in Quentin Tarantino's Death Proof (2007) segment from the film Grindhouse (2007). Russell appeared in The Battered Bastards of Baseball (2014), a documentary about his father and the Portland Mavericks, which debuted at the Sundance Film Festival in 2014. Russell starred in the Western films Bone Tomahawk (2015) and The Hateful Eight (2015), and had a leading role in the dramatization Deepwater Horizon (2016). He also co-starred in the action sequels Furious 7 (2015) and The Fate of the Furious (2017).
Russell and Goldie Hawn live on a 72-acre retreat, Home Run Ranch, outside of Aspen. He has two sons, Boston Russell (from his marriage to Hubley) and Wyatt Russell (with Hawn). He also raised Hawn's children, actors Oliver Hudson and Kate Hudson, who consider him their father. Russell is also an avid gun enthusiast, a hunter and a staunch supporter of the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution. He is also an FAA-licensed private pilot holding single/multi-engine and instrument ratings, and is an Honorary Board Member of the humanitarian aviation organization Wings of Hope.- Actor
- Producer
- Additional Crew
Danny Trejo was born Dan Trejo in Echo Park, Los Angeles, to Alice (Rivera) and Dan Trejo, a construction worker. A child drug addict and criminal, Trejo was in and out of jail for 11 years. While serving time in San Quentin, he won the lightweight and welterweight boxing titles. Imprisoned for armed robbery and drug offenses, he successfully completed a 12-step rehabilitation program that changed his life. While speaking at a Cocaine Anonymous meeting in 1985, Trejo met a young man who later called him for support. Trejo went to meet him at what turned out to be the set of Runaway Train (1985). Trejo was immediately offered a role as a convict extra, probably because of his tough tattooed appearance. Also on the set was a screenwriter who did time with Trejo in San Quentin. Remembering Trejo's boxing skills, the screenwriter offered him $320 per day to train the actors for a boxing match. Director Andrey Konchalovskiy saw Trejo training Eric Roberts and immediately offered him a featured role as Roberts' opponent in the film. Trejo has subsequently appeared in many other films, usually as a tough criminal or villain.
Trejo is of Mexican descent.- Actress
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Mary Elizabeth Winstead is an actress known for her versatile work in a variety of film and television projects. Possibly most known for her role as Ramona Flowers in Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010), she has also starred in critically acclaimed independent films such as Smashed (2012), for which she received an Independent Spirit Award nomination, as well as genre fare like Final Destination 3 (2006) and Quentin Tarantino's Death Proof (2007).
Winstead was born in Rocky Mount, North Carolina but largely raised in Sandy, Utah, which is where she discovered a love for the performing arts. She grew up training to be a ballerina and attended the Joffrey Ballet School training program at the age of 12. It was also around this time that she began to pursue a career in acting and soon started working steadily in television and film.
Winstead is also a recording artist and performs under the name "Got a Girl" alongside producer Dan the Automotor.- Marley Eve Shelton was born in Los Angeles, California, and grew up in Eagle Rock, CA. She is the daughter of Carol (Stromme), a teacher and singer, and Christopher Shelton, who worked as a director and producer. She has three sisters: Koren Shelton, Erin Shelton and Samantha Shelton. Both of her parents were involved in local theater projects, but as a teen, Marley was never interested in life on the stage. While at Eagle Rock High School, she was a varsity cheerleader, was voted Prom Queen and held part-time jobs at stores like "Contempo" and "Wet Seal". Shelton first captured the attention of film-goers as "Margaret", Tobey Maguire's love interest, in New Line's critically-acclaimed film, Pleasantville (1998), and has continued to appear in roles that show her versatility as an actress, including in Jerry Bruckheimer's Eleventh Hour (2008) on CBS. Shelton attended UCLA, where she majored in Film and Theatre. She supported herself through small parts in feature films, television movies and episodic appearances. Her "hobby" grew into a passion while she studied acting with Larry Moss and, as a result, she decided to pursue a career as an actress. Shelton made her feature debut in Grand Canyon (1991). Since then, she has starred in numerous box office hits, including The Sandlot (1993), Never Been Kissed (1999), The Bachelor (1999), Valentine (2001), Sugar & Spice (2001), Bubble Boy (2001), Just a Kiss (2002), Uptown Girls (2003), Don't Come Knocking (2005), Sin City (2005), Grindhouse (2007), Nixon (1995), Warriors of Virtue (1997), A Perfect Getaway (2009), W. (2008), Women in Trouble (2009) and The Mighty Macs (2009), Elektra Luxx (2010), Scream 4 (2011) and Decoding Annie Parker (2013). Shelton resides in Los Angeles with her husband, Beau Flynn, and their two daughters.
- Actress
- Producer
Sydney Tamiia Poitier (born November 15, 1973) is a Bahamian-American television and film actress.
Born in Los Angeles, Poitier is the daughter of Bahamian actor Sir Sidney Poitier and Canadian actress Joanna Shimkus. Her mother is of Lithuanian Jewish and Irish descent. She has an older sister, Anika. She also has four older half-sisters, Beverly, Pamela, Sherri, and Gina, from her father's first marriage. Poitier's great-uncle has claimed that the Poitier ancestors on her grandfather's side had migrated from Haiti and were probably part of the runaway slaves who had established maroon communities throughout the Bahamas, including Cat Island. He mentions that the surname Poitier is a French name, and there were no white Poitiers from the Bahamas.
Poitier attended NYU's Tisch School of the Arts where she earned a bachelor's degree in acting. She also studied at Stella Adler Studio of Acting.
Poitier began her career of acting in the late 1990s. In 2001, she landed her first role on television in the NBC drama series First Years. The series was canceled after three episodes. In 2003, she starred in the UPN sitcom Abby. That series was also canceled during its first season. Later that same year, she had a recurring role in Joan of Arcadia, where she played Rebecca Askew, the love interest of Joan's older brother, Kevin (Jason Ritter). She was also a regular on the first season of Veronica Mars. However, she left the show after only appearing in four episodes because of budget cuts.
In 2007, Poitier starred in Death Proof, director Quentin Tarantino's segment of the movie Grindhouse, as radio DJ Jungle Julia. The next year, she had a co-starring role in the new Knight Rider series, as FBI Agent Carrie Rivai. In 2011, she guest-starred on two episodes of Private Practice.- Actress
- Producer
- Writer
Statuesque 5'7" blonde beauty Sybil Danning reigns supreme as one of the sexiest, most dynamic, and commanding actresses to achieve cult B-movie queen status. Born in Austria as daughter of US Army major and Austrian mother she grew up on army bases in New Jersey, Maryland and Sacramento, CA.. Sybil started as a model then film debut as the beautiful tragic Lorelei, German legend who threw herself into the Rhine River in despair over a faithless lover then transformed into a siren who lured fishermen to destruction. As Nibelungen princess Kriemhild, she turns she-devil revenges death of her love Siegfried by her brutal Burgundian King brothers. Sybil studied 3 years with noted German drama coach Anne-Marie Hanschke, multiple mainstream European and American movies followed. When offered lead in prestigious Francis Durbridge play for Germany, Switzerland, and Austria; she chose Hollywood instead. Sybil's (Raid on Entebbe) Oscar nominated Best Foreign Film OPERATION THUNDER BOLT, aka MIVTSA JONATAN with Klaus kinski was her calling card. It was her impressive performance as vivacious Valkyrie warrior "St Exmin" for which she won multiple awards, science-fiction cult movie BATTLE BEYOND THE STARS that introduced Sybil to young and old worldwide. A studio contracted Sybil to produce an action figure based on St Exmin with street date April 2021. Male & female fans love her rare beauty, sexiness, & toughness as tough prison inmate, formidable swanky swordfighter, wicked werewolf queen, cunning femme fatale English professor, Queen of the Moon, wicked warden, alien queen, loyal LAPD officer, brave bounty hunter, etc. Sybil has 2 comics, RUGER(TM) currently in discussion for an action TV series. Away for a while due to personal reasons, Tarantino and Rob Zombie brought her back in GRINDHOUSE as Nazi Villain and HALLOWEEN as nasty nurse! Sybil's back in action!- Born Naveen William Sidney Andrews in London on January 17, 1969. His parents were both Indian immigrants from Kerala, India. In high school, he auditioned for drama school and was accepted at London's Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Two of his classmates were Ewan McGregor and David Thewlis. His studies paid off when he won a role in Hanif Kureshi's film, London Kills Me (1991). He is best known for his role as that 'Sikh bloke' in The English Patient (1996) and as Sayid in the popular television series Lost (2004). He splits his time between homes in Los Angeles and Hawaii, where Lost (2004) was filmed.
- Actress
- Soundtrack
Barbara Hershey was born Barbara Lynn Herzstein in Hollywood, California, to Melrose (Moore) and Arnold Nathan Herzstein, a horse racing columnist. Her father, born in Manhattan, was from a Jewish family (from Hungary and Russia), and her mother, originally from Arkansas, had English and Scots-Irish ancestry. Hershey was raised in a small bungalow, and had aspirations of being an actress from her earliest memories.
The multi-award-winning actress has been in some of Hollywood's most memorable films. She has been a winner of an Emmy and a Golden Globe for A Killing in a Small Town (1990). She won two consecutive Best Actress awards at the Cannes Film Festival, (which is unprecedented) for Shy People (1987) and A World Apart (1988). She won a Gemini Award for Anne of Green Gables: A New Beginning (2008) for PBS and a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Vienna International Film Festival.
Hershey was nominated for an Academy Award for The Portrait of a Lady (1996).
She's worked with some of the world's great directors, among them: Martin Scorsese, William Wyler, Woody Allen, Jane Campion and Darren Aronofsky.
The versatile actress was first discovered by a talent agent while she was attending Hollywood High School. She began working in television, The Monroes (1966), and film, With Six You Get Eggroll (1968), with Doris Day. And with roles in The Baby Maker (1970) and Boxcar Bertha (1972), Hershey quickly advanced to starring roles.
The 1980's catapulted Hershey's film career, when she starred in The Stunt Man (1980) with Peter O'Toole, The Entity (1982), The Right Stuff (1983), The Natural (1984) with Robert Redford, Hannah and Her Sisters (1986) with Woody Allen, Hoosiers (1986) with Gene Hackman, Tin Men (1987), Shy People (1987), The Last Temptation of Christ (1988), A World Apart (1988) and Beaches (1988) with Bette Midler.
Hershey returned to television in 1990 with her highly-lauded performance in A Killing in a Small Town (1990), Paris Trout (1991), Return to Lonesome Dove (1993), the British mini-series, Daniel Deronda (2002) and the last season of Chicago Hope (1994).
During the same period, Hershey remained active in features. She was nominated for an Oscar and Golden Globe for The Portrait of a Lady (1996). She also starred in Merchant-Ivory's A Soldier's Daughter Never Cries (1998) and the award-winning Australian film, Lantana (2001).
In the 2010 years, Hershey has performed in James Wan's cult-hit, Insidious (2010) and Darren Aronofsky's award-winning Black Swan (2010), playing Natalie Portman's insane mother.
Hershey resides in Los Angeles.- Director
- Writer
- Actor
Eli Raphael Roth was born in Newton, Massachusetts, to Cora (Bialis), a painter, and Sheldon H. Roth, a psychoanalyst, psychiatrist, and clinical professor. His family is Jewish (from Austria, Hungary, Russia, and Poland). He began shooting Super 8 films at the age of eight; after watching Ridley Scott's Alien (1979) and vomiting, and deciding he wanted to be a producer/director. With his brothers and friends, ketchup for blood, and his father's power tools, he made over 50 short films before attending film school at NYU, where he won a student Academy Award and graduated summa cum laude in 1994.
Eli worked in film and theater production in New York City for many years, doing every job from production assistant to assistant editor to assistant to the director. At the age of 20, Roth was development head for producer Fred Zollo, a position he soon left to write full time. To earn a living, Roth did budgets and schedules for the films A Price Above Rubies (1998) and Illuminata (1998), and often worked as a stand-in, where he could watch directors work with the actors. In 1995, Roth co-wrote the script that would eventually become Cabin Fever (2002) with friend Randy Pearlstein, and the two spent many years unsuccessfully trying to get the film financed. Roth left New York in 1999 to live in Los Angeles, and within four months got funding for his animation series Chowdaheads (1999). Roth and friend Noah Belson (Cabin Fever (2002)'s Guitar Man) wrote and voiced the episodes, which Roth produced, directed, and designed. The episodes were due to run on WCW's #1 rated series WCW Monday Nitro (1995) but the CEO was fired a day before they were scheduled to air, and the episodes never ran. Roth used the episodes to set up a stop motion series called The Rotten Fruit (2003) which he produced, directed, and animated, as well as co-wrote and voiced with friend Belson. Between the two animated series, Roth worked closely with director David Lynch, producing content for the website davidlynch.com.
In 2001, Roth filmed Cabin Fever (2002) on a shoestring budget of $1.5 million, with private equity he and his producers raised from friends and their family. The film was the subject of a bidding war at the 2002 Toronto Film Festival, eventually won by Lion's Gate, instantly doubling their investors' money. It went on to not only be the highest-grossing film for Lion's Gate in 2003, but the most profitable horror film released that year, garnering critical acclaim from The New York Times, Rolling Stone, Empire Magazine, and such filmmakers as Peter Jackson, Quentin Tarantino, and Tobe Hooper. Roth used the film's success to launch a slew of projects, including The Box (2009), a horror thriller he co-wrote with Richard Kelly. In May 2003, Roth joined forces with filmmakers Boaz Yakin, Scott Spiegel, and Greenestreet Films in New York to form Raw Nerve, LLC, a horror film production company.
In 2014, Eli married Chilean model and actress Lorenza Izzo.- Vanessa Ferlito is an American actress. She is known for playing Detective Aiden Burn in the first season of the CBS crime drama CSI: NY, as well as for her recurring portrayal of Claudia Hernandez in FOX drama 24, and for her starring roles as FBI Agent Charlie DeMarco in the USA Network series Graceland and as Tammy Gregorio on the CBS crime drama series NCIS: New Orleans. She has also appeared in a number of films, including Spider-Man 2 (2004), Shadowboxer (2005), Man of the House (2005), Gridiron Gang (2006), Death Proof (2007), Nothing like the Holidays (2008), Madea Goes to Jail (2009), Julie & Julia (2009), Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (2010), and Stand Up Guys (2012).
- Music Artist
- Writer
- Actor
Robert Bartleh Cummings, more famously known as Rob Zombie, was born in Haverhill, Massachusetts on January 12, 1965. He is the oldest son of Louise and Robert Cummings, and has a younger brother, Michael David (aka Spider One; b. 1968), who is the lead singer of Powerman 5000. Growing up, Zombie loved horror movies, which have greatly influenced his music and filmmaking career; in 1983, he graduated from Haverhill High School. After graduating, he moved to New York City to attend Parsons School of Design, also briefly working as a production assistant on Pee-wee's Playhouse (1986).
Zombie and his then-girlfriend, Sean Yseult, co-founded the band White Zombie, named after the Bela Lugosi classic horror film of the same name (White Zombie (1932)). The band released their debut studio album, 'Soul-Crusher', in 1987; their second, 'Make Them Die Slowly', followed in 1989, but generated little buzz.
Following the release of their fourth extended play, however, White Zombie caught the attention of Geffen Records, who in 1992 went on to release their third studio album, 'La Sexorcisto: Devil Music Volume One'. This album sold over two million copies in the U.S., becoming the band's breakout hit. White Zombie's fourth and final album, 'Astro-Creep: 2000 - Songs of Love, Destruction and Other Synthetic Delusions of the Electric Head', was released in 1995 to critical and commercial success, ultimately becoming their most successful album. The band released a remix album in 1996 and disbanded the same year, officially breaking up in 1998.
Rob Zombie began working on a debut album in 1997; 'Hellbilly Deluxe: 13 Tales of Cadaverous Cavorting Inside the Spookshow International' came out in 1998, selling over three million copies. Zombie formed his own record label, Zombie-A-Go-Go Records, in 1998.
Zombie composed the original score for the video game Twisted Metal III (1998) and designed a haunted attraction for Universal Studios in 1999. In 2000, he began working on his directional debut, House of 1000 Corpses (2003). Inspired mainly by classics such as The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974), the film was delayed until 2003 due to distributional issues. Though criticized for its explicit depictions of violence and gore, it went on to gross over $16 million and has garnered a cult following.
Zombie's second studio album, 'The Sinister Urge', was released in 2001 and sold over a million copies. In 2002, he married his longtime girlfriend Sheri Moon Zombie, who has appeared in all of his movies to date and often accompanies him on tour to choreograph dance routines and create costumes. Zombie released a sequel to 'House of 1000 Corpses' in 2005, entitled The Devil's Rejects (2005). Although it received much more positive reviews than its predecessor, it was still criticized for its violent content. He released his third studio album, 'Educated Horses', the following year.
In 2007, Zombie decided to focus on his work as a filmmaker for a while; the same year, he would release his most polarizing movie to date: Halloween (2007), a remake of the 1978 classic of the same name (Halloween (1978)). It received a mixed reception, but was a box office hit, and still currently resides as the top Labor Day weekend grosser. Zombie directed a fictitious trailer entitled 'Werewolf Women of the SS' (inspired by the exploitation flick Ilsa: She Wolf of the SS (1975)) for Grindhouse (2007). In 2009, Zombie directed Halloween II (2009), which was critically panned, and The Haunted World of El Superbeasto (2009), which was based upon one of his comic book series.
Also in 2009, Zombie began working on a new album; 'Hellbilly Deluxe 2: Noble Jackals, Penny Dreadfuls and the Systematic Dehumanization of Cool' came out the following year. In 2011, he directed a horror-themed commercial for Woolite, and began work on a new film, The Lords of Salem (2012). Unlike Zombie's previous efforts, 'The Lords of Salem' focused more on building suspense and a nightmarish, surreal atmosphere and less on brutal violence and excessive profanity. It ultimately received mixed reviews; just after its release, Zombie came out with his fifth studio album, 'Venomous Rat Regeneration Vendor', his lowest-selling to date.
Zombie lent his voice to the superhero movie Guardians of the Galaxy (2014). He also began work on 31 (2016), which tells the story of five carnival workers who are trapped and forced to fight for survival against a gang of murderous clowns. It premiered at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival in January, and will be released in September. In April, Zombie's sixth studio album, 'The Electric Warlock Acid Witch Satanic Orgy Celebration Dispenser', was released. Additionally, he has signed on to direct a film on the life of zany comic Groucho Marx, though a release date is uncertain.
Zombie is most recognized for his heavy metal style of music, influenced by his love of classic horror, and his exploitation/splatter-type movies. Overall, he has sold an estimated fifteen million albums worldwide, and his films have grossed over $150 million in total.