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INTRODUCTION
By Eric Schlosser
On November 17 th , Fox Searchlight will release a film directed by Richard Linklater and
inspired by my book Fast Food Nation. The film isn’t a documentary. It isn’t a comedy or a satire.
And it isn’t a literal adaptation of my book. It’s a tough, unsettling look at what’s happening in
America right now.
Unlike most of the films released by Hollywood, this one wasn’t carefully designed to make
you feel good. There won’t be any bobble-head dolls or fast food giveaways linked to its characters.
FAST FOOD NATION was shot on the run, under difficult circumstances, with well-known actors
who worked for virtually nothing. The film shows a world that’s been deliberately hidden. It tries to
make you think about and care about people who are rarely depicted on screen. Characters come and
go, there are no superheroes or fancy special effects, and everything isn’t neatly resolved in the end.
The aim is to make you feel as though life’s unfolding before your eyes.
In the five years since FAST FOOD NATION was published, many of the issues it
addressed now generate headlines and provoke controversy. Food safety, the obesity epidemic,
marketing to children, illegal immigration, sustainable agriculture, organic foods--these topics have
become part of an ongoing cultural debate. Americans have become obsessed with food, watching
celebrity chefs on TV, trying the latest diet, and worrying about the latest health scare. On college
campuses, a campaign for good food produced the right way has become one of the few signs of
social activism. In the absence of other forms of protest, changing what you eat is increasingly
viewed as a way to change the world.
It’s been a real honor to work on FAST FOOD NATION with one of my favorite directors.
Richard Linklater has made a powerful and memorable film about a subject that couldn’t be more
timely or important. I hope that you see the film--not to find any answers, but to help start a
conversation about what’s going on in the USA today.
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FAST FOOD FACTS
Americans now eat about 13 billion hamburgers a year. If you put all those burgers in a straight
line, they would circle the earth more than 32 times.
About one out of every eight American workers has at some point received a paycheck from
McDonalds.
Americans currently spend about $134 billion dollars per year on fast food ---more than they
spend on college education, computers, software, or new cars.
There are approximately 3.5 million fast-food workers in the United States, the largest group of
minimum wage-earners in the country
The typical American child sees 20,000 junk food ads a year
Almost one out of every three toys that an American child receives every year comes from a fast
food restaurant
One out of every five American toddlers eats french fries every day
Four major meatpacking firms slaughter nearly 85% of the nation’s cattle, and the majority of the
nation’s beef comes from thirteen large slaughterhouses
Meatpacking is one of the most dangerous jobs in the United States. In 2001, the rate of serious
injury was three times higher than that in a typical American factory
In 2003 the Bush administration changed the way injuries are counted in the meatpacking
industry – and instantly, the injury rate dropped by 50 percent
Every year about 76 million Americans are sickened by something they ate
At a modern processing plant, a single cow or steer infected with E:coli O157:H7 can
contaminate 32,000 pounds of meat
A typical fast food hamburger patty can contain pieces of hundreds, if not thousands of cattle
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About the Production
The truth is hard to swallow.
Inspired by the incendiary bestseller that exposed the hidden facts behind America’s fast food
industry comes a powerful drama that takes an eye-opening journey into the dark heart of the All-
American meal. Richard Linklater’s FAST FOOD NATION traces the birth of an everyday, ordinary
burger through a chain of riveting, interlocked human stories – from a hopeful, young immigrant couple
who cross the border to work in a perilous meat-packing plant, to a teen clerk who dreams of life beyond
the counter; to the corporate marketing whiz who is shocked to discover that his latest burger invention –
“The Big One” – is literally full of manure. As the film traverses from pristine barbeque smoke labs to the
volatile U.S.-Mexican border, it unveils a provocative portrait of all the yearning, ambition, corruption and
hope that lies inside what America is biting into.
It all begins when Don Anderson (Greg Kinnear), the new marketing hot-shot at the fictional
Mickey’s Fast Food chain, discovers that nasty contaminants are getting into the frozen patties that form
“The Big One” – his company’s best-selling burger and the key to his corporate success. Determined to
find out how this could happen, Don sets out on a revelatory investigation into just what goes into the
making of Mickey’s meat. Leaving the cushy confines of his California boardroom, Don heads for the
ranches, slaughterhouses and cookie cutter strip malls of Cody, Colorado, where he discovers multiple
perspectives on a fast-food world he never knew existed – one fraught with hazards, fueled by desperation
and misinformation and resonant with deeply human effects.
FAST FOOD NATION is a Recorded Picture Company production directed by Richard Linklater
and written by Eric Schlosser and Linklater, based on material from Schlosser’s best-selling book of the
same name. The film is produced by Jeremy Thomas and Malcolm McLaren with Jeff Skoll, Ricky
Strauss, Chris Salvaterra, Ed Saxon, Peter Watson, Eric Schlosser and David M. Thompson executive
producing. The co-producer is Ann Carli. The creative team includes director of photography Lee Daniel,
editor Sandra Adair, production designer Bruce Curtis and costume designers Kari Perkins and Lee
Hunsaker. The film is financed by Jeremy Thomas’ HanWay Films, Participant Productions and the BBC.
The film features an accomplished ensemble cast that includes Patricia Arquette, Bobby
Cannavale, Paul Dano, Luis Guzman, Ethan Hawke, Ashley Johnson, Greg Kinnear, Kris Kristofferson,
Avril Lavigne, Esai Morales, Catalina Sandino Moreno, Lou Taylor Pucci, Ana Claudia Talancón and
Wilmer Valderrama.
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Taking a Bite Out of the American Meal:
The Story of FAST FOOD NATION
One out of every four Americans will consume a fast food meal today. But how many people
really know what goes into that ultra-quick bite to eat – from the epic struggles of the farm workers who
help produce it to the gruesome microbes of the packing plants that process it to the madcap escapades of
the marketing geniuses who advertise it? In 1997 Eric Schlosser met with legendary Rolling Stone editor
Jann Wenner and began an investigation of the fast food industry for the magazine. What began as a twopart
article for Rolling Stone became a bestselling book in 2001 – Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the
All American Meal. Thoroughly documented and compulsively readable, the non-fiction book stripped
the veil off an industry that had long operated in secret.
Acclaimed by critics, the book shot to the top of best-seller lists and stayed there for months,
compelling readers with its portrait of an industry that appeared to be rife with nightmare working
conditions, unsanitary practices and a penchant for disinformation that has contributed to an epidemic of
poor American health. So provocative, passionate and alarming were Schlosser’s revelations, that many
compared the book to Upton Sinclair’s industry-changing literary classic, The Jungle.
But Schlosser’s book was a work of investigative journalism. Which is why it was so unexpected
that Richard Linklater – the iconoclastic director who defined an entire generation with his debut film
SLACKER and has since become known for such diverse films as BEFORE SUNSET, SCHOOL OF
ROCK, WAKING LIFE and DAZED AND CONFUSED – would turn the factual material into a deeply
human and richly emotional ensemble drama.
“I was a huge fan of the book but I don’t really do documentaries,” states Linklater. “So it was
only when Eric Schlosser started talking about doing the film as a character piece about the lives of all the
people who are a part of this fast food world that I got interested. In this version of FAST FOOD
NATION, it’s through seeing real lives and real jobs and what people are actually striving for that the
issues behind the story emerge. I think I’m most proud that the movie makes you care about all kinds of
people that you might never even have thought about before.”
The idea for this quintessentially American project originated in England, when Malcolm
McLaren sent a copy of the book to producer, Jeremy Thomas. ‘I was very affected by the book – and
Malcolm and I agreed right away that it should be a feature film, not a documentary.”
Eric Schlosser, who had already been courted by a number of studios and production companies
about the book, was taken aback, yet intrigued by their unconventional approach. “As soon as people
started coming to me about doing a movie, I felt very strongly that I’d rather do nothing at all than to do
something that felt, ultimately, like a sellout,” Schlosser explains. “I had been trying, for more than a
year, to get a documentary based on the book off the ground. But once I got together with Jeremy
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Thomas, the idea of doing it as a fictional film – which sounded crazy at first – oddly began to make
sense. Jeremy is a true independent, one of the last producers who works entirely outside the Hollywood
system and makes films with real integrity.”
While on a book tour in Austin, Schlosser raised the idea with Richard Linklater -- who started
his career on the creative, rebellious fringes of indie movie-making but has also made hit forays into
mainstream Hollywood and seemed to combine the best of both worlds -- to work on the screenplay and
ultimately direct the feature.
Linklater had already been a vegetarian for years, but that didn’t stop him from being stunned by
the unsettling truth of the fast-food industry’s inside secrets and human consequences. Now, intrigued
with the idea of turning Schlosser’s themes into fictional characters, Linklater saw an opportunity to bring
the revelations at the heart of the book to a much wider audience through the thing he is best at – telling
moving, funny, relatable human stories. “I think having the chance to relate to believable characters takes
the audience beyond politics -- and allows people to make up their own minds about what they’ve
experienced,” he says. “For me, you always get to the point of things best through human storytelling.”
In making the film, Linklater stubbornly refused to indict any of his characters, each of whom has
clear reasons for his or her actions, no matter how unsettling. Due to this more directly human approach,
Linklater believes the movie of FAST FOOD NATION will hit people in a different way than the book.
“The book Fast Food Nation had its huge fans, and its huge enemies, too,” he admits. “But what we’ve
done on screen really isn’t the book. I think the people that had problems with the book might not
necessarily have problems with the movie. At the end of the day, the movie is really about different
people who each are doing what they believe is best. They are everyday people with lives, jobs and
responsibilities. If you care about them, you can be on any side of the political spectrum and still find
your way into this movie.”
The efforts to bring FAST FOOD NATION to the screen soon attracted the attention of
Participant Productions. Participant's mandate -- to produce movies that simultaneously entertain and
empower – clearly seemed to dovetail with the filmmakers' aspirations, and the company approached the
FAST FOOD NATION filmmaking team early on in the film's development.
"Of course, we were great admirers of Eric Schlosser’s book and great fans of Richard Linklater.
Their notion of relating the book's themes through intersecting plots and characters seemed ideal,
powerful and cinematic and would really speak to audiences on a personal level. We were very interested
in coming on board as soon as we could," says Ricky Strauss, President of Participant.
Participant and HanWay officially joined forces at the 2005 Cannes film festival, where
Participant picked up the film's North American rights. With the filmmaking team in place, they next
began collaborating on developing the script, casting the film’s panoply of diverse characters and
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undertaking the physical production of the film – returning just one year later to Cannes to exhibit the
film in competition.
Chewing On The Material:
Adapting FAST FOOD NATION
As it turned out, morphing the provoking facts and figures of Fast Food Nation into a complex
fictional world was much easier to casually chat about than to actually accomplish on the page. It took
Richard Linklater and Eric Schlosser a couple of years to turn the book’s real life tales of global workers,
go-getting corporations and unassuming consumers into entertaining big-screen characters who could
embody the material’s most controversial themes.
In addition to using Schlosser’s book, the duo turned for inspiration to a classic novel – Sherwood
Anderson’s Winesburg, Ohio, which tells the story of America through the lives of characters in one
small town at the end of the 19 th Century. The novel gave them an idea for a foundational structure for the
story: they would base most of it inside one prototypical, Middle American town indelibly linked to
multiple aspects of bringing burgers-and-fries to the world. Thus was born the imaginary locale of Cody,
Colorado, with its besieged ranching community, economically vital but dangerous meat-packing plants
and ever-proliferating fast food counters.
“We wanted to forge a town that had that kind of very American, fast food-like, strip mall
sameness,” says Linklater. Colorado came to the fore because it’s a state that has traditionally been at the
forefront of American agriculture and the meat industry. After a research trip there while writing the
script, Linklater was convinced it was the perfect location. “In Colorado, we met with ranchers, went to
a number of meat-packing plants and talked with a lot of people to hear their stories,” Linklater explains.
“It was a pretty crazy, eye-opening trip and just being there really helped me to focus on what this movie
was going to be.”
With fictional Cody turning into a fully fleshed-out world, Schlosser and Linklater next invented
their own national fast food restaurant chain, the enthusiastic but e.coli-spreading Mickey’s. They also
created UMP, a fictional meat-packing plant that resides on the outskirts of Cody, employing a largely
immigrant crew. Then, they began to flesh out the very heart of FAST FOOD NATION – its linked web
of characters, made up of the workers, bosses and customers who all have a hand in making “The Big
One.”
Explains Schlosser: “The characters each represent different parts of the fast food industry in
Cody: the minimum-wage workers in the fast food restaurant, the Mexican immigrants who work the
conveyer belts in the meat packing plants and the ranching community which is rapidly disappearing into
subdivision. Then there’s Don, the fast food executive, who starts the story and represents the corporate
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angle. But with all of the characters, we weren’t just trying to carve symbols but to create real, living,
breathing people you can relate to on a human level.”
For Schlosser, an award-winning correspondent for Atlantic Monthly, writing the script with
Linklater, an Academy Award ® nominee for his screenplay for BEFORE SUNSET, was an exciting
opportunity to switch gears. “I had been doing so much investigative reporting – which always requires
fact checking, footnoting, and legal review – that it was an enormous pleasure to be able to make things
up,” he remarks. “I started out as a playwright and a novelist and a screenwriter before I became a
journalist, so it was also a lot of fun to go back to those roots.”
As the story of FAST FOOD NATION began to come together, Linklater and Schlosser made
another bold decision – to tell part of the story, which interweaves the lives of the illegal immigrants who
are so central to the fast food industry into the mix, in Spanish. Later, Spanish-speaking actors Bobby
Cannavale, Catalina Sandino Moreno, Wilmer Valderrama and Ana Claudia Talancón would bring their
characters to life in their natural language.
“After reading the script, we felt it was important to make the film in the true spoken languages,
with subtitles,” explains Jeremy Thomas. “It gives the characters real credibility.”
When the script was at last completed, the filmmakers were thrilled that it seemed to touch upon
so many of the electrifying and controversial points of Schlosser’s book, yet in a fresh and dramatic way,
and without shoving any particular message down the audiences’ throat.
“It didn’t come off at all as some kind of lesson,” sums up Thomas. “It’s an entertaining and
enjoyable human story but ultimately, I think you take away from it that same exciting thing that you took
away from the book – a new view of where your food really comes from.”
Casting a “Nation”
With the script completed, the filmmakers of FAST FOOD NATION faced a potentially
daunting task: casting the film’s vastly diverse range of roles, which span a wide variety of ages,
ethnicities and personalities. Fortunately, it turned out that Linklater’s reputation and the success of
Schlosser’s book quickly drew a roster of award-winning actors willing to take on small but vital parts.
Indeed, many of the actors the filmmakers sought out were already big fans of the book.
“The book is a must-read,” says Ethan Hawke, who plays radical-minded Uncle Pete. “It’s
fascinating to get a better picture of how these fast food corporations work and how that affects our lives
and health and what we and our kids eat.”
“I thought the book was really well investigated and very enlightening,” comments Patricia
Arquette, who plays a Cody single mom. “I have a teenage son, so I’ve experienced the world of fast food
and that harried life of having five minutes to eat somehow.” Colombian-born Catalina Sandino Moreno,
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who portrays the migrant Sylvia, adds: “I found it quite scary to read. I didn’t know about the fast food
industry in America, so it was an eye-opener for me.”
The book also had a major influence on Bobby Cannavale, who takes on the role of Mike, the
meat-packing supervisor who exploits his female employees. “Reading the book changed my life,” he
explains. “I haven’t gone near fast food since then, and I got my ten-year-old son off fast food. The whole
thing about the advertising being geared toward children really freaked me out, so I got rid of my
television, too.”
But even those familiar with the book were surprised to find the screenplay adaptation so filled
with original and appealing characters. At the center of the story is Don Anderson, the loyal Mickey’s
marketing executive who hails his company’s hamburgers – but is forced to head off on a fact-finding
mission after discovering “The Big One” might be contaminated with “fecal material.” To play Don, who
links all the stories of FAST FOOD NATION together, the filmmakers chose Greg Kinnear, one of
today’s leading screen stars who also came to the fore this year as a failed self-help guru in the acclaimed
comedy LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE and as legendary football coach Dick Vermeil in INVINCIBLE.
Kinnear was attracted to the transformation that Don, who initially adores the burgers he markets,
undergoes in the course of his investigation. “I found Don quite interesting,” he says. “When he starts to
get an education in how the burgers are made and finds out who it affects, he’s forced to make some big
moral decisions in his life, personally and professionally.”
Kinnear also admired the way the film starts out about burgers but soon delves into even meatier
questions about the very social fabric of the United States. “FAST FOOD NATION is a great title, but
even it doesn’t really encapsulate the breadth of what this story’s about. There are so many different
issues involved—illegal aliens, dangerous workplace conditions, contaminated food issues, obesity,” he
says. “There might be a lot of places to point the finger, but I don’t think this story has a target. It’s much
smarter than that, and it ultimately lets viewers determine for themselves how they feel. It tells the whole
sociological story of fast food, encapsulated in a really interesting narrative with characters you believe
in.”
Patricia Arquette, a 2005 Emmy ® winner for her starring role on the NBC series “Medium” and
who has collaborated with Linklater before, was excited to be part of a project that looks at the kinds of
everyday, working-class American characters who usually don’t make it into motion pictures. Her
character, Cindy, a struggling single mom who has watched Cody change and encourages her daughter to
work at a Mickey’s fast food restaurant to help pay the rent, is a perfect example. “There haven’t been a
lot of stories about the American worker or the Middle American living experience,” she notes, “so I
think his movie provides a lot of interesting food for thought. I think it will not only make people think
but hopefully feel as well.”
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Cindy’s daughter and Mickey’s employee Amber is played by Ashley Johnson, best known for
her role as the youngest member of the Seaver family on TV’s “Growing Pains.” Amber appears to be a
typical teenager temporarily working in fast food – and worried about a wave of fast-food robberies -- but
undergoes a change of heart that finds her joining a home-grown environmental activist group. Johnson
confesses that, prior to reading the book of Fast Food Nation, her own diet consisted mainly of fast food,
but that didn’t last. “The book made me more aware of what was really going on,” she says. “When I
heard that they were making a movie out of it, I wanted to do anything I could to be involved because I
think it’s such a good message.”
Amber is inspired by a visit from her free-wheeling, cabinet-making Uncle Pete, who reminds her
that “revolutions are for the young.” Pete is played by Ethan Hawke, Richard Linklater’s longtime friend
and sometime collaborator, who says he knew that the director had been “kind of daydreaming about this
movie for years.”
As for the role of Pete, says Hawke, “Richard has this theory that whenever we have a change of
perspective or see things from a new angle, there’s somebody who makes that happen,” he says. “I think
my role as Uncle Pete is like that. He kind of breezes through town and through Amber’s life, and shows
her there’s another way to live.”
Deeper on the underside of Cody are three new arrivals to America: the trio of young Mexican
nationals – played by Catalina Sandino Moreno, Ana Claudia Talancón and Wilmer Valderrama – who
risk crossing the border with the help of a tough-minded coyote only to eventually find jobs at the UMP
meat packing plant
Moreno, who received an Oscar ® nomination for her moving performance as a drug mule in
MARIA FULL OF GRACE was impressed by the script and signed on to play shy but hopeful Sylvia,
who finds herself forced to work under harrowing conditions in her yearning to become a real American.
“I was really amazed by how they grabbed these three important stories from the book and turned them
into such great characters,” she says. “I was really excited to play Sylvia, a young woman who is driven
mainly by a strong desire for the American Dream. Like my character in MARIA FULL OF GRACE, she
is willing to leave everything behind for a new life.”
Sylvia’s fiery sister Coco is played by Ana Claudia Talancón, a major star in her native Mexico
but an exciting newcomer to American audiences. Talancón relished the chance to play the hot-tempered
character who stirs up trouble at the UMP plant. Yet she approached Coco with empathy. “Coco’s not
the good girl or the bad girl, she’s just a girl who would do anything it takes for a better life,” says
Talancón of her character. “She wants to do well. She wants to progress in America; she wants to meet
other people. I really love how she’s adventurous and not scared.”
Like others in the cast, Talancón felt transformed by all that she learned in the making of FAST
FOOD NATION. “Millions of people every day risk their own health by not knowing the background of
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the food they are eating,” she says. “It’s an issue that’s important to me and I think there’s a real necessity
to talk about it and make people think about it.”
Wilmer Valderrama, who became a star as a result of his role on the popular Fox series “That
’70s Show,” joined the ensemble as Raul, Sylvia’s boyfriend who accompanies Sylvia and Coco on the
perilous journey from Mexico to Colorado only to risk his life every day in the meat-packing plant.
Known primarily as a comedic actor on television, Wilmer had to convince the filmmakers that he could
handle the demands of this more dramatic role. He recalls: “I went in and met with Richard Linklater,
Ann Carli and the casting team and they had a lot of questions: Could I do a Mexican accent? Could I
really look Mexican? Could I really pull it off? I decided to do everything possible to convince them that I
was Raul.”
The effort paid off and Valderrama won the part. “I was so happy to be part of this very
immigrant story,” he says. “What I love is the fact that Richard has been able to capture what it’s really
like for an illegal immigrant to walk into that desert in Mexico and get into the back of a van.”
In the film, the driver of that van headed for America is Benny the coyote, who is played by Luis
Guzman, who was also seen in Steven Soderbergh’s similarly intertwined, multiple-point-of-view exposé
of the drug world, TRAFFIC. Benny smuggles Sylvia, Coco, Raul and several other Mexicans looking for
opportunity north of the border to Colorado – and Guzman had his own insight into Benny’s reasons.
“This is Benny’s personal protest to the government,” explains Guzman, who was born in Puerto Rico.
“He figures he pays enough taxes, and this is a way he can make money without having to pay them. He’s
just staying under the radar, trying to give people a better life.”
As with many of the other actors in the film, Guzman was attracted to the project because it was
more than just another entertaining screen story. “Every now and then as actors we have the opportunity
to be part of something important, and that’s why I’m here,” he says. “FAST FOOD NATION is a great
story that needs to be told.”
Once at the UMP plant, the immigrants from Mexico find themselves under the tight grip of the
anger-fueled UMP supervisor Mike, played by Bobby Cannavale. The acclaimed star who came to the
fore in the indie hit THE STATION AGENT, was approached by Linklater after the director
saw him perform opposite Ethan Hawke on the New York stage in the play “Hurlyburly.” Cannavale’s
character may be seen by some as a villain, but the actor views him through a different lens. “I think the
guy’s a little Machiavellian, but I don’t see Mike as bad guy, necessarily. He’s just a guy who is
desperate,” observes the actor. “Meat packing is probably one of the only stable jobs he can find in Cody.
I think he simply wants to rise as high as he can, and the only way for him to do that is to essentially
become a part of this machine.”
For the role of another mainstay of life in Cody – Rudy, the tough-as-leather, veteran rancher who
sees industry wiping out a traditional way of life – Linklater decided to recruit his long-time friend Kris
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Kristofferson, the accomplished actor who won a Golden Globe ® for A STAR IS BORN and is also a
Grammy ® and Oscar-winning singer-songwriter.
Kristofferson immediately related to the role. “I wouldn’t say Rudy’s an activist, but he’s
definitely environmentally correct,” he says. “I have a lot in common with Rudy. Like him, I feel
comfortable doing anything where I have to wear boots and Levi’s and work around animals.”
Kristofferson also enjoyed the deeper probing of the story. “Ultimately, this movie is about the power of
big money,” comments the actor. “It addresses a lot of the things that are going on in this country today.”
Joining the cast as two of Amber’s college-age pals who bring her into the fold of their
pragmatically-named “Environmental Policy Group” – and follow her plan to “free” the local feedlot
cows -- are pop singer Avril Lavigne, making her feature film debut, and rising star Lou Taylor Pucci,
who earned notices for his work in THUMBSUCKER. “This was the first movie I ever auditioned for,”
says Lavigne. “It was great because I had to walk out of my comfort zone, step into a whole new world
and challenge myself. Overall it was an amazing first experience for me.”
Pucci didn’t know much about the book Fast Food Nation, but when he learned Richard Linklater
had him in mind for the part of the shaggy-haired college rebel Paco, he was immediately intrigued, and
was won over by the screenplay. “Paco is funny,” says Pucci. “He’s really just a regular white kid whose
real name is Gerald, but he thinks he’s Che Guevara. Amazingly, he has the leadership capability to get
everybody to participate in his plan to free the cows.”
Veteran actor Esai Morales rounds out the cast as Tony, manager of the Mickey’s franchise in
Cody. Though fast food managers are often fodder for humor, Morales wanted to bring humanity to the
character. “Tony is someone who has always worked hard and believes in the American dream,” says
Morales. “He’s a company guy and likes to see himself as a Mickey’s mover-and-shaker. He’s a product
of the American system: he’s someone who puts his faith in the idea that if you work hard and play your
part, there’s a promotion up there for you.”
But even though his character remains a fast food fan to the end, Morales is more likely to see the
darker side of value meals after FAST FOOD NATION. “If we are what we eat,” he summarizes, “I
believe we really should examine our standards and practices a lot more closely than we do.”
Following The Meat:
Production Begins In Colorado, Mexico And Texas
The production of FAST FOOD NATION began in Colorado Springs, Colorado, the beautiful
mountain town that is home to soaring Pike’s Peak and the United States Air Force Academy, and would
stand in for the fictional Cody. Colorado Springs imbued the production with the quintessential Rocky
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Mountain atmosphere while its surrounding areas provided ample opportunity to capture the reality of the
ranching and meat-packing worlds that figure so prominently in the story.
In nearby Fountain, Colorado, Richard Linklater and his long-time collaborator, cinematographer
Lee Daniel, had the chance to shoot at a spectacular, sprawling ranch.
“The problems this family has faced trying to fight off eminent domain and keep a private
corporation from putting a toll highway across their property are unbelievable,” says Kris Kristofferson,
who filmed most of his scenes at the ranch. “These days, companies can do this. It doesn’t even have to
be for the public good anymore. It can just be to make money.”
After their powerful experience at the ranch, the production moved on to another eye-opening
location -- the Mexican desert, where for two weeks under the unrelenting desert sun they shot scenes of
Benny the coyote picking up migrants on their journey to America. The cast was deeply affected by the
harsh truth of the experience. Catalina Sandino Moreno, who made another suspenseful journey to the
U.S. in MARIA FULL OF GRACE, says: “It made our performances that much more real, because we
were actually in the Mexican desert trying to cross it in these terrible conditions, just as people do every
day.”
While in Mexico, Moreno also had a chance to talk to those who had made similarly hazardous
trips across the border. “I remember one woman saying that she heard that the van is where a lot of
people die because everyone is stuffed in there,” recalls Moreno. “She said there are sometimes three
rows of five people on top of each other in a van, so the first one that gets in and is on the bottom usually
dies.”
Says Luis Guzman of the desert shoot: “It was heavy. Being out there and doing these scenes of
people walking across this terrain… you really understand that they feel it’s the path to freedom.”
For some of the most gut-wrenching and unforgettable images in FAST FOOD NATION, the
crew next filmed in a location that has rarely been seen on screen before: a fully operational
slaughterhouse. Notorious for their myriad dangers, the slaughterhouse was rife with risk for the
production. Everyone in the cast and crew had to be outfitted in the full protective gear that is governed
by strict occupational safety rules – but nothing could protect them from the stark and gruesome reality of
what happens inside these places.
Richard Linklater vividly remembers the mixed emotions he went through when he scouted the
plant location. “I remember seeing cows getting ready to get whacked,” he says. “I found myself
suppressing my empathy, feeling like the artist in me was dying and the technician in me was taking his
place. I was very aware of that sensation. But in that environment, certain traits have to go away and
certain other traits have to get stronger. It’s just the way the human psyche works.”
The cast had a variety of reactions to the unusual experience. “To be in the slaughterhouse when
they were killing a cow, with the blood and the awful smell—I was not prepared for that,” admits Catalina
14

Sandino Moreno. “But I’m glad we filmed in a real slaughterhouse and not a studio. When it’s real
intestines that you are touching, it makes it feel incredibly real.”
Other actors found themselves getting surprisingly used to the machinations of the meat-packing
factory. “It’s weird, but once you’re there and you’re working, it’s almost like an office job,” says Ana
Claudia Talancón. “It’s not about the smell and the blood and the meat, it’s just ‘chop, chop, chop.’ It
becomes a normal thing. The actual plant workers that we used as extras were very nice. They are just
people trying hard to make a living, just like the characters in the story.”
Finally, the unit moved to Richard Linklater’s hometown of Austin, Texas for the duration of the
shoot, where The Texas School for the Deaf, local establishments such as the Alligator Grill and The
Saxon Pub, as well as several private residences, stood in for various Cody locations.
Working with a lightning fast production schedule and a tight squeeze of a budget, the entire crew
had to be intensely creative and resourceful. “We were always in the trenches,” Linklater comments.
“Every day we said, ‘What day and a half are we going to shoot today?’”
Yet what held the cast and crew of FAST FOOD NATION together was a shared sense that
what they were doing might give movie audiences a chance to meet people and encounter issues they’d
never really considered before, and maybe serve as an inspiration.
Sums up Ethan Hawke: “Film, art, books, and dialogue can all help push consciousness a little
bit. But human beings are the only ones who can really effect change.”
# # #
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About the Cast
Patricia Arquette (Cindy)
Emmy® Award winner Patricia Arquette portrays Allison Dubois, wife and mother of three who
also happens to be a gifted psychic able to communicate with the dead in the hit NBC television drama
“Medium.” Arquette is currently filming Richard Linklater’s 12 YEAR MOVIE AKA BOYHOOD, a
film in which the life of a young boy is continuously filmed from first grade through high school
graduation.
Arquette’s illustrious film career spans over 15 years with hits including Martin Scorsese’s
critically acclaimed BRINGING OUT THE DEAD opposite Nicolas Cage and Rupert Wainwright’s
STIGMATA opposite Gabriel Byrne. In addition, Patricia has appeared in Andrew Davis’ film HOLES
starring opposite Sigourney Weaver and Jon Voight; Michel Gondry’s HUMAN NATURE; THE
BADGE opposite Billy Bob Thornton; LITTLE NICKY opposite Adam Sandler; Sean Penn’s THE
INDIAN RUNNER; John Madden’s ETHAN FROME; Tony Scott’s TRUE ROMANCE; Tim Burton’s
ED WOOD; David O. Russell’s FLIRTING WITH DISASTER; John Boorman’s BEYOND
RANGOON; LOST HIGHWAY (in a dual role for David Lynch); Steven Frears’s HI LO COUNTRY
and Roland Joffe’s GOODBYE LOVER. Her tele-film credits include Lifetime’s WILDFLOWER,
directed by Diane Keaton, for which Arquette earned a CableAce Award as Best Lead Actress.
Born in Chicago and raised in Los Angeles, Arquette comes from a family of several actors: her
grandfather, Cliff Arquette, was a comedian, best known as TV personality “Charlie Weaver;” her
siblings Rosanna, Alexis, Richmond and David are all fellow actors. Her father was actor Lewis Arquette.
Bobby Cannavale (Mike)
With a breakthrough role in THE STATION AGENT, Bobby received a lot of attention as the
motor-mouthed hot dog vendor who befriends an outsider in his small New Jersey town. He and his costars,
Patricia Clarkson and Peter Dinklage, were nominated for a SAG Award for Outstanding
Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture and won the Audience Award at the 2003 Sundance Film
Festival.
Bobby Cannavale received an Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series for
his performance as Will Truman's boyfriend on “Will & Grace.” Recently he starred opposite Robin
Williams and Toni Collette in Patrick Stettner’s THE NIGHT LISTENER as well as SNAKES ON A
PLANE opposite Samuel L. Jackson and HAVEN co-starring Orlando Bloom and Bill Paxton.
Bobby’s film credits include Don Roos' HAPPY ENDINGS opposite Lisa Kudrow and
Maggie Gyllenhaal; ROMANCE AND CIGARETTES directed by John Turturro and co-starring Kate
16

Winslet, James Gandolfini and Christopher Walken; SHALL WE DANCE co-starring Richard Gere,
Susan Sarandon and Jennifer Lopez; Spike Lee's 3 AM; Kevin Costner's THE POSTMAN; Sidney
Lumet's NIGHT FALLS ON MANHATTAN and GLORIA; THE BONE COLLECTOR opposite
Angelina Jolie; and the critically acclaimed independent film WASHINGTON HEIGHTS.
His television appearances include several guest starring episodes of “Six Feet Under.” Bobby also
received rave reviews in the acclaimed Off-Broadway revival of David Rabe's “Hurlyburly,” starring
opposite Ethan Hawke, Josh Hamilton and Wallace Shawn.
His career began in the theatre and he has worked at the Lee Strasberg Institute, Naked Angels,
Circle Rep, The Public, Williamstown and The Roundabout.
Paul Dano (Brian)
Paul Dano became well-known to movie fans with his breakout role in the coming-of-age
drama, L.I.E., opposite Brian Cox. His mesmerizing portrayal of an innocent teenager forced to
navigate his adolescence virtually unsupervised garnered him an Independent Spirit Award for "Best
Debut Performance" as well as the "Best Actor" Award at the Stockholm Film Festival. Dano also
tied for the L.A. Outfest Grand Jury Award for "Outstanding Actor in a Feature Film."
Growing up in Manhattan and Connecticut, Dano began his acting career on the New York
stage with supporting roles on Broadway including "A Month In The Country" opposite Helen
Mirren; "A Christmas Carol" with Ben Vereen and Terrence Mann; and "Inherit The Wind" opposite
George C. Scott and Charles Durning.
In addition to a recurring role on "The Sopranos," Dano has consistently tackled different
roles in his feature career--from an introverted prep school student in Universal's THE EMPEROR'S
CLUB opposite Kevin Kline to an uninhibited coed in Fox's GIRL NEXT DOOR to a mysterious
drifter in Warner Brothers' TAKING LIVES.
Dano's more recent performances prove no exception to his ability to handle a wide variety of
roles. Opposite Gael Garcia Bernal, Dano plays the solidly Christian son of a pastor (played by
William Hurt) in THE KING. In Rebecca Miller's THE BALLAD OF JACK AND ROSE, he
portrays a sexual predator who sets his sights on Daniel Day-Lewis' teenage daughter. Currently,
Dano stars in the critically-acclaimed LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE which has already grossed over $55
million domestically. As part of an ensemble cast including Steve Carell, Toni Collette and Greg
Kinnear, Dano plays a Nietzsche devotee who has taken a vow of silence and is counting the days
before he can escape his crazy family by going to Flight School.
Upcoming films include Spike Jonze's WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE, based on
Maurice Sendak's children's classic; Adam Bhala Lough's independent film WEAPONS opposite
Nick Cannon and Mark Webber; and Paul Thomas Anderson's period drama THERE WILL BE
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BLOOD for Paramount Vantage in which he plays the second lead and nemesis to Daniel Day-Lewis'
character.
Dano is currently continuing his college studies in New York City.
Luis Guzman (Benny)
Luis Guzman can currently be seen in Todd Phillips’ SCHOOL FOR SCOUNDRELS starring
Billy Bob Thornton and Jon Heder. He recently wrapped ROGUE with Jason Statham and Jet Li.
Guzman has had co-starring and featured roles in several recent releases that include WAITING with
Anna Faris and Ryan Reynolds; DREAMER with Kurt Russell and Dakota Fanning; CARLITO’S WAY:
RISE TO POWER with Mario Van Peebles and Sean Combs; LEMONY SNICKETT’S SERIES OF
UNFORTUNATE EVENTS with Jim Carrey; ANGER MANAGEMENT with Adam Sandler and Jack
Nicholson; and CONFIDENCE with Ed Burns and Dustin Hoffman. Guzman has appeared opposite
Adam Sandler in PUNCH DRUNK LOVE, directed by Paul Thomas Anderson and George Clooney in
WELCOME TO COLLINWOOD.
He has appeared in three films for Sidney Lumet, GUILTY AS SIN, FAMILY BUSINESS and Q
& A; two films for Brian De Palma, SNAKE EYES and CARLITO’S WAY; two films for Paul Thomas
Anderson, MAGNOLIA and BOOGIE NIGHTS, and three films for Steven Soderbergh, TRAFFIC, THE
LIMEY (for which he received an Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor) and
OUT OF SIGHT.
Guzman's additional films include Anthony Minghella's MR. WONDERFUL; Ridley Scott's
BLACK RAIN; THE HARD WAY; CADILLAC MAN; TRUE BELIEVER and THE COUNT OF
MONTE CRISTO, directed by Kevin Reynolds.
Born in Puerto Rico, Guzman grew up in Manhattan. After graduating from City College, he
worked as a youth counselor while performing in street theater and independent films. Guzman's first big
break was a guest appearance on the series "Miami Vice.” His other television guest appearances include
"NYPD Blue," "Law & Order" and “Oz."
Ethan Hawke (Pete)
An Academy Award® nominated actor for his work in TRAINING DAY, an Academy Award
nominated writer for BEFORE SUNSET and a Lucille Lortel Award and Drama League Award
nominated actor for his stage work in "Hurlyburly," Ethan Hawke constantly challenges himself as an
artist. He has uniquely established a successful career acting on film and stage, as a novelist, a
screenwriter and a director.
On film, Ethan was last seen in LORD OF WAR opposite Nicolas Cage and Jared Leto. Ethan
also recently starred in Richard Linklater's critically acclaimed BEFORE SUNSET, the sequel to
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BEFORE SUNRISE, opposite Julie Delpy. Hawke co-wrote the script with Linklater and Delpy and the
three of them were nominated for a 2004 Academy Award for Adapted Screenplay. The screenplay also
garnered IFP SPIRIT and Writers Guild Awards. The film was nominated for a 2004 IFP Gotham Award
for Best Feature and received a Special Mention in Excellence for Filmmaking Award from The National
Board of Review.
Ethan made his feature film debut at the age of 14 in the science-fiction film EXPLORERS. He
then landed his first big role in the Academy Award-winning film DEAD POETS SOCIETY. He went on
to star opposite Jack Lemmon and Ted Danson in DAD and in the screen adaptation of Jack London's
classic WHITE FANG.
Other film credits include Richard Linklater’s THE NEWTON BOYS; RICH IN LOVE with
Albert Finney; WATERLAND with Jeremy Irons; A MIDNIGHT CLEAR; the true life adventure film
ALIVE; REALITY BITES; the critically acclaimed BEFORE SUNRISE; GATTACA; GREAT
EXPECTATIONS; HAMLET opposite Bill Murray and Julia Stiles; TAPE; ASSAULT ON PRECINCT
13 and TAKING LIVES, among others. He also played the voice of Jesse in Fox Searchlight Pictures
WAKING LIFE. Ethan starred opposite Denzel Washington in TRAINING DAY directed by Antoine
Fuqua, for which he was nominated for SAG and Academy Awards for Best Supporting Actor.
In 2001, Ethan made his directorial debut with his drama CHELSEA WALLS. The movie tells of
five stories set in a single day at the Chelsea Hotel and stars Uma Thurman, Kris Kristofferson and
Rosario Dawson. He directed Josh Hamilton in the short film STRAIGHT TO ONE and directed Lisa
Loeb’s music video “Stay” for REALITY BITES.
On stage, he performed in "The Seagull" at the National Actors Theater and in Jonathan Marc
Sherman's "Sophistry." Hawke starred in the Steppenwolf production of Sam Shephard's, "Buried Child"
directed by Gary Sinise. He was recently on stage opposite Kevin Kline in Lincoln Center Theatre's
"Henry IV" and headlined the New Group's revival of David Rabe's play "Hurlyburly."
Hawke wrote his first novel, The Hottest State, which was published in 1996 and is in its 19th
printing. He is currently directing the screen adaptation of the book starring Mark Webber, Catalina
Sandino Moreno and Michelle Williams. Hawke's second novel, Ash Wednesday was published in 2002.
Ashley Johnson (Amber)
Ashley Johnson most recently starred opposite Gregory Smith and Jordana Brewster in
NEARING GRACE, a Rick Rosenthal-directed film. She also starred alongside Hugh Grant and Julianne
Moore in 20 th Century Fox’s NINE MONTHS; with Mel Gibson in WHAT WOMEN WANT directed by
Nancy Myers and appeared in ANYWHERE BUT HERE starring Susan Sarandon and Natalie Portman.
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From 1990 to 1992, Johnson starred as “Chrissy Seaver” on ABC’S “Growing Pains.” Her other
notable television credits include “ER,” “Ally McBeal,” “Roswell,” “The Guardian,” and “Married to the
Kellys.”
Greg Kinnear (Don Anderson)
Academy Award nominee Greg Kinnear can currently be seen in the 2006 Sundance Film
Festival hit and Fox Searchlight Pictures release LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE. Kinnear most recently
starred in the football drama INVINCIBLE; THE MATADOR with Pierce Brosnan and in Richard
Linklater’s BAD NEWS BEARS opposite Billy Bob Thornton. Kinnear’s leading roles include the biopic
AUTO FOCUS with Willem Dafoe and the 20th Century Fox comedy STUCK ON YOU alongside
Matt Damon.
He has been seen battling on the big screen opposite Mel Gibson in the feature WE WERE
SOLDIERS and he lit up the small screen in the Norman Jewison HBO movie DINNER WITH
FRIENDS alongside Toni Collette, Dennis Quaid and Andie MacDowell. Amongst his other credits are
the romantic comedy SOMEONE LIKE YOU with Ashley Judd and Hugh Jackman; Sam Raimi’s
supernatural thriller THE GIFT alongside Cate Blanchett and Katie Holmes and director Neil LaBute’s
black comedy NURSE BETTY opposite Renee Zellweger, Morgan Freeman and Chris Rock.
Kinnear starred alongside Jack Nicholson in James L. Brooks’ Academy Award nominated film
AS GOOD AS IT GETS. His performance garnered him not only an Academy Award nomination, but
Golden Globe® and Screen Actors Guild nominations as well and he was named Best Supporting Actor
by the National Board of Review.
He made his feature film debut in the Sydney Pollack-directed remake SABRINA
co-starring with Harrison Ford and Julia Ormond. In 1996 he was named NATO ShoWest’s “Star of
Tomorrow.” He co-starred in Nora Ephron’s romantic hit comedy YOU’VE GOT MAIL with Tom Hanks
and Meg Ryan; Mike Nichols’ WHAT PLANET ARE YOU FROM with Garry Shandling and Annette
Bening and appeared in a cameo role as Captain Amazing in MYSTERY MEN.
Kinnear first gained prominence as the wisecracking host of E! Entertainment Television's “Talk
Soup.” Eventually taking on the additional role of executive producer on the show, Kinnear earned an
Emmy Award and established a cult-like following.
After three successful seasons with “Talk Soup,” Kinnear became the host and executive
producer of his own NBC late-night talk show, “Later with Greg Kinnear.”
Kris Kristofferson (Rudy)
Kris Kristofferson was born in Brownsville, Texas in 1936 where he grew up with horses,
Mexican and Country music, and Western movies. He lettered in football in high school and college and
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fought in the Golden Gloves and at Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar, where he earned a coveted
"Blue" boxing against Cambridge. After Oxford he got married, became a father, and served four and a
half years in the army, completing Jump School, Ranger School, and Flight School, then a three-year tour
of duty as a helicopter pilot in Germany. In June of 1965 he returned to the U.S. as an Infantry captain, en
route to the career school at Fort Benning, Georgia, and a subsequent assignment as a teacher of English
Literature at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, and made a fateful decision that would change the
course of his life and confound his family and friends.
He left the army and went to Nashville, Tennessee, to be a songwriter, supporting his family by
working as a janitor at a recording studio, then as a bartender, and finally flying helicopters to off-shore
oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico before his come-from-nowhere rise to the top of the charts in Nashville and
then Hollywood. Since then he's been inducted into the Songwriter's Hall of Fame and the Nashville
Songwriter's Hall of Fame, is a three time Grammy winner, won a Best Actor Golden Globe (A STAR IS
BORN), received several awards with the Highwaymen (with Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson and Waylon
Jennings), and the 2001 Diversity Award, and this year's American Veteran Association's "Veteran of the
Year." He's released eighteen solo albums, plus three with Rita Coolidge and three with the Highwaymen
and has appeared in some fifty films, many of them solid Westerns, including three with Sam Peckinpah,
THE LAST DAYS OF FRANK AND JESSE JAMES with Johnny Cash, and John Sayles' LONE STAR.
Avril Lavigne (Alice)
Avril Lavigne makes her feature film debut in FAST FOOD NATION. Her voice is featured in
the animated film OVER THE HEDGE. She recently completed filming THE FLOCK starring Richard
Gere.
Lavigne's debut album "Let Go" sold over fifteen million copies worldwide and earned eight
Grammy nominations. She won the title "Best New Artist" at the MTV Music Awards of 2002, four Juno
Awards and a World Music Award. Her second album, "Under My Skin," released in 2004, hit number
one on charts across the world and sold eight million copies. It earned two World Music Awards in 2004
for World's Best Pop/Rock Artist and World's Best-Selling Canadian Artist. Lavigne received five Juno
Award nominations in 2005, picking up three, including Fan Choice Award, Artist of the Year and Pop
Album of the Year. She also won the award for Favorite Female Singer at the eighteenth annual
Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards.
Avril's songs have been featured in the films, WIMBLEDON, PRINCESS DIARIES 2: THE
ROYAL ENGAGEMENT, NEW YORK MINUTE, LEGALLY BLONDE 2; RED WHITE AND
BLONDE and SWEET HOME ALABAMA among others. Her song, "I'm With You," earned an ASCAP
AWARD for Most Performed Song from a Motion Picture for BRUCE ALMIGHTY.
Lavigne is currently working on her third album due for release in spring 2007.
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Esai Morales (Tony)
Esai Morales most recently starred as Cesar Castillo in the San Francisco run of the musical, “The
Mambo Kings.” Morales spent three seasons playing Lt. Tony Rodriguez in the Emmy award-winning
series “NYPD Blue.” He most recently appeared in the independent films, THE VIRGIN OF JUAREZ
with Minnie Driver and AMERICAN FUSION directed by Frank Lin, as well as the CBS tele-film
HEARTLESS with Melanie Griffith.
In 2002, he was awarded Best Actor in a Television Series at the prestigious Alma Awards and
was honored as Entertainer of the Year at the 17th Annual Imagen Awards. Morales was nominated for
another Imagen Award in the category of Best Supporting Actor in a Television Series for Gregory
Nava’s PBS drama series “American Family.”
Morales made his film debut in BAD BOYS with Sean Penn. His next major film role was as the
50’s rock musician Richie Valen's half-brother Bob in the film LA BAMBA which remains the most
commercially successful Latino-themed motion picture to date.
His portrayals of ordinary Latino men struggling under extraordinary circumstances and conflicts
who always rise above convention can be seen in the films RAPA NUI, produced by Kevin Costner; the
Award-winning HBO film THE BURNING SEASON-THE CHICO MENDES STORY; the Gregory
Nava film MI FAMILIA starring Jimmy Smits and Edward James Olmos and THE DISAPPEARANCE
OF GARCIA LORCA.
Morales attended New York's prestigious High School for the Performing Arts. Shortly after he
finished his studies, Esai debuted on stage in “El Hermano” at the Ensemble Studio Theater and Joe
Papp's production of “The Tempest” with Raul Julia for New York's Shakespeare in the Park
festival. Other theater performances include “Tamer of Horses” for the Los Angeles Theater Center, for
which he was awarded the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award; Oscar Wilde's “Salome” with Al
Pacino at New York's Circle in the Square Theater on Broadway and “The Exonerated,” directed by Bob
Balaban.
Describing himself as an "actorvist," Esai has combined art and activism to build bridges of
understanding. He co-founded the National Hispanic Foundation for the Arts (NHFA), created to advance
the presence and quality of Latinos in media and tele-communications
Catalina Sandino Moreno (Sylvia)
Catalina Sandino Moreno made her screen debut as the title character in the critically acclaimed
film MARIA FULL OF GRACE. For her performance, Sandino was nominated for an Academy Award
for Best Actress in a Leading Role, a Screen Actors Guild Award® for Performance by a Female Actor in
a Leading Role and won an Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead. The film debuted in the U.S.
22

at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the Audience Award and won the Grand Special Prize
at the 2004 Deauville Film Festival.
Moreno has earned additional awards and nominations for her performance, including the Silver
Berlin Bear for Best Actress at the 2004 Berlin International Film Festival; the Golden Space Needle
Award for Best Actress at the 2004 Seattle International Film Festival and the award for Breakthrough
Actor at the 2004 Gotham Awards. She was recently named ShoWest’s International Star of the Year for
2005.
Born in Bogotá, Colombia, Moreno became interested in theatre and stage at an early age. While
still in high school, she enrolled in the Ruben Di Pietro theatre academy in Bogotá, where she acted in
such productions as "Acuerdo para Cambiar de Casa" by Griselda Gambaro, "The Dark Room" by
Tennessee Williams, and "Laughing Wild" by Christopher Durang. After making her film debut in
MARIA FULL OF GRACE Moreno relocated to New York City, where she attended The Lee Strasberg
Institute. She recently made her New York stage debut in the Frog & Peach Theatre Company's
production of Shakespeare's "King John."
Moreno’s latest project is JOURNEY TO THE END OF NIGHT, also starring Brendan Fraser,
Mos Def and Scott Glenn, filmed in Sao Paolo, Brazil. Scheduled for release in 2007, JOURNEY was
written and directed by Eric Eason.
Lou Taylor Pucci (Paco)
Lou Pucci emerged as one of the most promising actors of his generation following the
premiere of Mike Mills’ THUMBSUCKER at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival. In the funny,
exceptionally observant coming-of-age story, Pucci starred opposite Tilda Swinton, Vincent
D’Onofrio, Keanu Reeves and Vince Vaughn as Justin Cobb, a compulsive 17-year-old thumbsucker.
Pucci received both a Sundance Special Jury Prize for acting and the Best Actor Award at the Berlin
Film Festival for his performance.
Pucci’s forthcoming projects include Richard Linklater’s FAST FOOD NATION (Fox
Searchlight), an ensemble piece that explores the health risks involved in the fast food industry. Pucci
co-stars alongside Ethan Hawke, Greg Kinnear and Avril Levigne. In Martin Hynes’ independent
feature THE GO-GETTER, Pucci portrays a high school student on a road trip in search of his
estranged half brother. Zooey Deschanel and Jena Malone co-star. His future credits also include
Richard Kelly’s SOUTHLAND TALES and Kyle Neman’s FANBOYS. He recently wrapped David
and Alex Pastor’s CARRIERS, a thriller about four friends fleeing a viral pandemic with Chris Pine
and Piper Perabo.
Earlier this year, Pucci rejoined THUMBSUCKER co-star Vincent D’Onofrio for an guest
appearance on “Law & Order: Criminal Intent,” on NBC. Last year, he also starred with Kelli
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Garner (his love interest in the Mills film), in Green Day’s “Jesus of Suburbia” video for director
Samuel Bayer.
Pucci made his feature film debut as Kevin, the badly beaten young hitchhiker encountered
by Fairuza Balk's character in Rebecca Miller's 2002 award-winning Sundance Film Festival entry
PERSONAL VELOCITY. His credits also include Fred Schepisi’s EMPIRE FALLS with Paul
Newman and Ed Harris, Arie Posin’s THE CHUMSCRUBBER with Jamie Bell and Justin Chatwin
and Theo Avgerinos’s FIFTY PILLS, which premieres at the 2006 Tribeca Film Festival.
Pucci grew up in central New Jersey and had little interest in acting until his aunt bribed him
to try out for community theatre at age 10. Two years later, he appeared on Broadway as Friedrich in
"The Sound of Music." In addition to acting and singing, Pucci is also a master at slight of hand and
magic.
Ana Claudia Talancón (Coco)
With two of the most provocative films currently premiering at festivals, Ana Claudia Talancón
emerges as one of the most exciting new international talents today. Talancón also stars opposite Colin
Hanks in the 2006 Tribeca Film Festival midnight entry ALONE WITH HER, written and directed by
Eric Nicholas. Told entirely through the perspective of hidden surveillance cameras placed and
manipulated by a stalker (Hanks), ALONE is the harrowing story of a young man's attempts to win the
affections of an unsuspecting young woman (Talancón) as she becomes the object of his obsession and
ceaseless gaze.
She first garnered international attention for her performance as Amelia, the 16-year-old girl
whose religious devotion becomes enmeshed with a growing attraction to a new priest (Gael Garcia
Bernal) in Carlos Carrera's THE CRIME OF FATHER AMARO. Surrounded by controversy prior to the
Mexican release, the film garnered Academy and Golden Globe award nominations (foreign language
categories), and amassed the highest box office figures in the history of Mexican cinema.
Talancón made her screen debut opposite Diego Luna in Jose Buil and Maria Sistach's THE
COMET, for which she received an Ariel (Mexico's national film award) nomination for Best New
Actress. Her film credits also include the Sundance entry MATANDO CABOS, directed by Alejandro
Lozano; Renee Chabria's SUEÑO, produced by Marc Forster and starring John Leguizamo; the Mexican
smash LADIES NIGHT and Rafael Gutierrez' MUJER ALABASTRINA.
Born in Cancun, Mexico, Talancón studied with Albio Paz and at the Acting Workshop of Héctor
Mendoza and Raúl Quintanilla in Mexico City. Her early credits include Mexican, Argentine and
Brazilian telenovelas. Talancón divides her time between Los Angeles and Mexico City.
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Wilmer Valderrama (Raul)
Wilmer Valderrama is best known for his role as ‘Fez,’ on the hit series “That 70’s Show.”. He
will be seen making a splash on the big screen in five upcoming feature films including a starring role in
Paul Feig’s UNACCOMPANIED MINORS and starring as Ponch in the big screen version of CHIPS.
He is currently producing and hosting the second season of the smash-hit reality show he created for
MTV called “Yo Mamma.” The show is a no-holds-barred competition that pits the country’s toughest
smack talkers against one another. Wilmer also stars as the voice of Latino hero ‘Manny Garcia,’ in
“Handy Manny,” the new animated series for the Disney Channel.
His other upcoming films include a starring role in the indie film EL MUERTO, based on the
successful comic book and directed by Brian Cox and the lead role in the Wim Wenders produced short
film LA TORCEDURA. Wilmer will also be seen in the Sundance 2006 hit film THE DARWIN
AWARDS starring Winona Ryder and Joseph Fiennes. He lent his voice to the character of ‘Rodrigo’ in
the feature film CLIFFORD’S REALLY BIG MOVIE alongside John Ritter. Other feature film credits
include PARTY MONSTER and SUMMER CATCH.
Wilmer had a stint in the Los Angeles Times critic’s choice play “Blackout,” adapted from the
feature film “Drunks.” He also starred opposite Angelica Huston and Sir Ben Kingsley in the Actor’s
Fund of America all-star reading of the screenplay “Sunset Boulevard,” directed by Peter Hunt.
At the age of thirteen, Wilmer’s family moved to Los Angeles from Venezuela. He quickly learned
the language and began drama classes in high school to help assimilate him into American culture. He
performed in numerous plays, including “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” “Rumors,” “And Never Been
Kissed” and “The Impossible Years,” while making his professional debut in a Spanish Pacific Bell
commercial. Following his drama teacher’s suggestion, Wilmer got an agent and was immediately cast in
a CBS miniseries “Four Corners” as well as the Disney Channel’s “Omba Makamba.” As a junior in high
school, Wilmer was cast in the pilot that became “That 70’s Show.”
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About the Filmmakers
Richard Linklater (Director, Co-Screenwriter)
Before writer/director Richard Linklater made SLACKER, an experimental narrative revolving
around 24 hours in the lives of 100 characters, which garnered acclaim in 1991, he made many shorts and
completed a Super 8 feature, IT'S IMPOSSIBLE TO LEARN TO PLOW BY READING BOOKS (1988).
Linklater's additional credits include the 70's cult hit DAZED AND CONFUSED (1993);
BEFORE SUNRISE (1995); SUBURBIA (1997); THE NEWTON BOYS (1998), a western/gangster film
set in the 1920s; the animated feature WAKING LIFE (2001); the low-budget, real-time drama TAPE
(2001); the short documentary LIVE FROM SHIVA’S DANCE FLOOR (2003): the hit comedy
SCHOOL OF ROCK (2003); the critically-acclaimed BEFORE SUNSET (2004); the television pilot
“$5.15/Hr.” and the irreverent comedy BAD NEWS BEARS (2005). In addition to FAST FOOD
NATION, he also directed an adaptation of Philip K. Dick’s A SCANNER DARKLY this year.
Linklater also serves as the Artistic Director for the Austin Film Society, which he founded in
1985 to showcase films from around the world that were not typically shown in Austin. The Austin Film
Society shows over100 films a year and has given out $550,000 in grants to Texas filmmakers. In 1999,
the Austin Film Society received the first National Honoree Award from the Directors Guild of America
in recognition of its support of the arts.
Eric Schlosser (Co-screenwriter/Based on the book by/Executive Producer)
Eric Schlosser tried his hand at several professions (playwright, novelist and screenwriter) before
finally turning to non-fiction in his early thirties.
Schlosser’s first published article—an account of his week on duty with the New York Police
Department Bomb Squad—appeared in the Atlantic Monthly in 1993. Other assignments soon followed.
His two-part series, “Reefer Madness” and “Marijuana and the Law” (Atlantic Monthly, August and
September, 1994), won a National Magazine Award for reporting, and his article, “In the Strawberry
Fields” (Atlantic Monthly, November 1995), received a Sidney Hillman Foundation award. Schlosser has
been a correspondent for the Atlantic since 1996, and has also written for the New Yorker, the New York
Times, The Nation, and Vanity Fair.
In 1998 Schlosser wrote an investigative piece on the fast food industry for Rolling Stone
magazine, working with its legendary editor, Jann Wenner. What began as a two-part article for the
magazine turned into a bestselling book: Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All American Meal
(2001). Fast Food Nation was on the New York Times bestsellers list for more than two years, as well as
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on bestseller lists in Canada, Great Britain and Japan. It has been translated into more than twenty
languages.
Schlosser’s second New York Times bestseller, Reefer Madness: Sex, Drugs, and Cheap Labor in
the American Black Market (2003), was inspired by his Atlantic Monthly research on pornography,
illegal immigration and the war on drugs In the fall of 2003, his first play, “Americans,” was produced at
the Arcola Theater in London.
His most recent book, Chew on This: Everything You Don’t Want to Know about Fast Food, cowritten
with Charles Wilson, shares with young readers the fascinating and sometimes frightening truth
about what lurks behind those sesame seed buns. He is currently working on a book about the American
prison system.
Jeremy Thomas (Producer)
Cinema has always been a part of Jeremy Thomas’ life. He was born in London into a
filmmaking family; his father, Ralph, and uncle, Gerald, were both directors. As soon as he left school he
went to work in the film laboratories, ending up in the cutting rooms working on such films as THE
HARDER THEY COME, FAMILY LIFE and the GOLDEN VOYAGE OF SINBAD. He worked
through the ranks to become a film editor for Ken Loach on A MISFORTUNE.
After editing Philippe Mora’s BROTHER CAN YOU SPARE A DIME, he produced his first
film, MAD DOG MORGAN starring Dennis Hopper in Australia. He then returned to England to produce
Jerzy Skolimowski’s THE SHOUT which won the Grand Prix de Jury at the Cannes Film Festival. His
extensive experience includes three films directed by Nicolas Roeg: BAD TIMING, EUREKA and
INSIGNIFICANCE; Julien Temple’s THE GREAT ROCK ‘N’ ROLL SWINDLE; Nagisa Oshima’s
MERRY CHRISTMAS MR. LAWRENCE and THE HIT directed by Stephen Frears. In 1986 he
produced Bernardo Bertolucci’s epic, THE LAST EMPEROR. A commercial and critical triumph, the
film garnered nine Oscars including Best Picture.
His many credits include Karel Reisz's film of Arthur Miller’s screenplay EVERYBODY WINS;
Bertolucci’s THE SHELTERING SKY; LITTLE BUDDHA and STEALING BEAUTY and David
Cronenberg’s films NAKED LUNCH and CRASH. Thomas directed ALL THE LITTLE ANIMALS
starring John Hurt and Christian Bale, an official selection at the Cannes Film Festival. Other recent
credits include Fox Searchlight Pictures SEXY BEAST and THE DREAMERS, and BROTHER, THE
CUP, RABBIT-PROOF FENCE, YOUNG ADAM, TIDELAND and DON’T COME KNOCKING.
Thomas was chairman of the British Film Institute from 1992 -1997 and he has been the recipient
of many awards throughout the world, including the Michael Balcon British Academy achievement
award. He has served as president of the jury at the Tokyo, San Sebastian and Berlin Film Festivals and
served on the jury at Cannes.
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Malcolm McLaren (Producer)
Malcolm McLaren has proven to be a visionary of pop culture and a pop cultural icon for over
thirty years. An artist in the most post-modern sense of the word, time and time again, he has been at the
forefront. He is probably best recognized for his work in melding fashion with music: “the look of music
and the sound of fashion”.
He started in the early 1970s when he opened his legendary shop on the King's Road in London
with his then partner, Vivienne Westwood, creating fashion that would dress the Punk Generation and
inspire legions of fashion designers. Alongside the fashion, McLaren founded, managed and art directed
the iconic band, the Sex Pistols and went on to work with such artists as Boy George, Adam Ant and Bow
Wow Wow, before becoming a recording artist in his own right. His film of the Sex Pistols, THE GREAT
ROCK 'N' ROLL SWINDLE is a Punk classic today. McLaren's solo albums “Duck Rock” (1981),
“Fans” (1984), “Waltz Darling” (1989) and “Paris” (1993) were major breakthroughs of musical genres:
Hip Hop, Opera & R&B, lounge music, etc. Most recently, Quentin Tarantino chose McLaren's track,
“About Her” for his film, KILL BILL2. In 1985 McLaren went to Hollywood where he worked as a
development executive for Columbia Pictures and Steven Spielberg. In 1999, he ran for Mayor of
London, gaining10% of the popular vote.
Ann Carli (Co-Producer)
Ann Carli is a producer with nearly twenty years of experience and an exceptional eye for
recognizing and nurturing up-and-coming talent. During her eleven years overseeing the creative arm of
Jive/ Zomba Records as Senior Vice President of Artist Development, she helped the company grow into
the largest independent music entity in the world.
In 1993 she produced I LIKE IT LIKE THAT, the feature film debut of writer/ director Darnell
Martin. In 1996 Ann took the post of President of Will Smith Enterprises, overseeing the development of
numerous film and TV projects as well as the musical career of Will Smith. In 2000 she started her own
independent film production company, Fuzzy Bunny Films. Soon after she co-produced the Takeshi
Kitano feature film BROTHER, produced by Office Kitano and Jeremy Thomas’ Recorded Picture
Company. The film was released in 2001 and distributed domestically by Sony Picture Classics. She also
produced the feature film CROSSROADS, starring Britney Spears. CROSSROADS was directed by
Tamra Davis, written by Shonda Rhimes, and distributed domestically by Paramount Pictures.
In 2004 she was executive producer of the music documentary FESTIVAL EXPRESS, which
premiered to rave reviews at the Toronto Film Festival and was distributed domestically by Think Film
Inc. She was also producer of the BRITNEY SPEARS GREATEST HITS: MY PEROGATIVE DVD,
which went platinum round the world. In 2005 Ann produced artist Ciara’s DVD CIARA: GOODIES-
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THE VIDEOS, which made #2 on the DVD selling chart. She also produced multi-Grammy winner
Robert Kelly’s urban operetta on film TRAPPED IN THE CLOSET, which was nominated for a Grammy
and has become a cultural phenomenon.
Jeff Skoll (Executive Producer)
Jeff Skoll founded Participant Productions in January 2004 and serves as the Chairman. He most
recently served as Executive Producer on the films GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK., NORTH
COUNTRY, SYRIANA and AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH.
Skoll has been a leader in technology and philanthropy for many years. In 1996, Skoll joined
eBay as its first President and first full-time employee, and developed the business plan. In the months
before eBay went public in 1998, Skoll led the company's effort to give back to the community, creating
the eBay Foundation through an allocation of pre-IPO shares, an innovation that inspired a wave of
similar commitments nationwide.
In 1999, he launched his own philanthropic organization, the Skoll Foundation for which he
serves as founder and chairman. He created the foundation in alignment with his core belief that it is in
everyone's interest to shift the overwhelming imbalance between the "haves" and "have-nots." The
foundation takes up this challenge by focusing on social entrepreneurs - people who couple innovative
ideas with extraordinary determination, tackling the world's toughest problems to make things better for
us all.
In April 2005, Jeff launched the Gandhi Project in partnership with Silicon Valley entrepreneur
Kamran Elahian. Working with Palestinian voice actors and artists, an award-winning director dubbed the
epic film GANDHI into Arabic. It is being screened throughout Palestine in order to advance civil society
goals of peaceful resistance, self-reliance, economic development and local empowerment, and plans are
under way to expand screenings throughout the Arab world.
Ricky Strauss (Executive Producer)
Ricky Strauss joined Participant Productions, as President, in March 2005. He oversaw the
company's first slate of releases in 2006 – GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK., MURDERBALL,
NORTH COUNTRY and SYRIANA - to box-office success, and a total of 11 Oscar nominations. Most
recently, he oversaw the release of the critically acclaimed documentary AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH.
Ricky is a seventeen-year veteran of the motion picture industry with an outstanding track record
in feature film production and marketing. Most recently, he ran his own film and television production
company, Ricochet Entertainment, where he executive produced THE SWEETEST THING starring
Cameron Diaz, among other projects. In addition to his work as an independent producer at Ricochet, he
has also served as a marketing consultant for Sony Pictures Entertainment where he was responsible for
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creating ad campaigns for MAID IN MANHATTAN starring Jennifer Lopez and MONA LISA SMILE
with Julia Roberts.
Chris Salvaterra (Executive Producer)
Chris Salvaterra joined Participant Productions, as Executive Vice President of Creative Affairs
and Production, in 2004. The head of narrative features for Participant, he oversaw production on GOOD
NIGHT AND GOOD LUCK, SYRIANA and NORTH COUNTRY. Together, the films garnered 10
Oscar nominations.
Chris was previously Executive Vice President at Casey Silver Productions, where he associateproduced
HIDALGO and co-produced LADDER 49. Prior to this, Salvaterra was an executive at
Universal Pictures, where he helped oversee ONE TRUE THING and AMERICAN PIE. He is an active
philanthropist who supports the Dragon Slayers, a program in rural Alaska that trains youths to be
volunteer paramedics, and the Positive Coaching Alliance, which helps parents and coaches work with
youths to learn life lessons through sports.
Ed Saxon (Executive Producer)
Ed Saxon produced ADAPTATION which was nominated for four Academy Awards. His other
credits include PHILADELPHIA, BELOVED, DEVIL IN A BLUE DRESS, THAT THING YOU DO,
MARRIED TO THE MOB, and ULEE'S GOLD. Saxon won an Academy Award for THE SILENCE OF
THE LAMBS, the Best Picture winner in 1992. Actors in five of Saxon's films have been nominated for
Academy Awards as have three screenwriters.
In documentary film, Saxon was a producer of MANDELA which was nominated for an Oscar as
well as the acclaimed documentary COUSIN BOBBY which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival.
Saxon is a founding Advisory Board member of the Independent Film Channel and a member of the
board of The National Coalition for Haitian Rights.
Peter Watson (Executive Producer)
Peter Watson is the managing director of Recorded Picture Company, one of the UK's most
consistent producers of high quality independent cinema. RPC has a long history of working with some of
world's most distinguished directors (including recent films by Bernardo Bertolucci, David Cronenberg,
Takeshi Kitano and Philip Noyce) and in the past few years, of developing new British director talent
(Jonathan Glazer's SEXY BEAST; David Mackenzie's YOUNG ADAM).Watson was an instrumental
force behind RPC's growth in the late 1990s, re-structuring its library assets, masterminding its move into
distribution, and re-focusing its production financing rationales.
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Watson is a co-founder and deputy chairman of HanWay, RPC's sister international sales
company. His relationship with the film business first began in London where he spent four years at the
Entertainment Finance Division of Guinness Mahon & Co.
He executive produced RPC's production of Terry Gilliam's latest film TIDELAND, which had
its world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival 2005. His other producing credits include Jonathan
Glazer's SEXY BEAST, Takeshi Kitano's BROTHER and David McKenzie's YOUNG ADAM. He is a
graduate of Trinity College Dublin (BBS, MA). In January 2004, he was made a governor of the British
Film Institute.
David M. Thompson (Executive Producer)
David Thompson began his career at the BBC as a documentary maker. He began producing
drama while working for the BBC’s Everyman documentary series, where he produced the original
“Shadowlands,” which won the British Academy Award for Best Drama and an International Emmy.
Subsequent productions included the British Academy Award winning SAFE directed by Antonia Bird,
Alan Clarke’s THE FIRM and ROAD.
He was appointed Head of BBC Films in 1997, overseeing a slate of films for cinema and
television. Past BBC Films productions include the acclaimed MRS. BROWN starring Dame Judi Dench
and Billy Connolly; Stephen Daldry’s BILLY ELLIOT (BBC Films’ most successful film to date, earning
some $100m worldwide, won three major British Academy Film Awards and was nominated for three
Academy Awards); the Academy award-winning IRIS, starring Dame Judi Dench, Kate Winslet, Jim
Broadbent and directed by Richard Eyre; Stephen Frears’ DIRTY PRETTY THINGS; I CAPTURE THE
CASTLE, from the novel by Dodie Smith; Roger Michell’s acclaimed THE MOTHER; Ken Loach’s
award-winning SWEET SIXTEEN; SYLVIA, starring Gwyneth Paltrow; Michael Winterbottom’s
BAFTA and Berlin Golden Bear winner IN THIS WORLD; Lynne Ramsay’s RATCATCHER and
Morvern Callar and Pawel Pawlikowski’s LAST RESORT.
Recent releases include the Golden Globe winning LIFE AND DEATH OF PETER SELLERS,
featuring a star-studded cast led by Geoffrey Rush; Pawel Pawlikowski’s BAFTA winning MY
SUMMER OF LOVE; THE MIGHTY CELT, starring Gillian Anderson; Saul Dibb’s critically-acclaimed
debut feature BULLET BOY; Danny Boyle’s (Fox Searchlight Pictures) enchanting family film
MILLIONS; Judi Dench and Bob Hoskins in Stephen Frears’ MRS HENDERSON PRESENTS’; Woody
Allen’s first UK set film MATCH POINT, starring Scarlett Johansson and Jonathan Rhys Meyers; A
COCK & BULL STORY, Michael Winterbottom’s adaptation of TRISTAM SHANDY starring Steve
Coogan and Rob Brydon; Michael Caton-Jones’ powerful drama SHOOTING DOGS starring John Hurt;
IMAGINE ME & YOU, a romantic comedy with a difference, starring Piper Perabo and Lena Headey;
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and Fox Searchlight Pictures CONFETTI, featuring a host of Britain's leading comedic talent including
Martin Freeman.
Future releases include Fox Searchlight Pictures THE HISTORY BOYS, directed by Nicholas
Hytner and adapted from Alan Bennett's award-winning stage play and Andrea Arnold’s debut feature
RED ROAD, also in Competition at Cannes.
His numerous Executive Producer television credits include “A Rather English Marriage,”
Stephen Poliakoff’s “Perfect Strangers” and “The Lost Prince,” Emmy and Golden Globe award-winning
“Conspiracy” and “The Gathering Storm” starring Vanessa Redgrave and Albert Finney, Dominic
Savage’s highly acclaimed “Out of Control,” Francesca Joseph’s “Tomorrow La Scala!” and Sarah
Gavron’s multi award-winning “This Little Life.”
Lee Daniel (Director of Photography)
Lee Daniel lives in Austin, Texas and works internationally as a director of photography. He has
worked with Richard Linklater previously on the films SLACKER, DAZED AND CONFUSED,
BEFORE SUNRISE, SUBURBIA and BEFORE SUNSET. Daniel also shot the 1995 Edward Barkin
film, RIFT. Most recently, Daniel was cinematographer on the documentary film BE HERE TO LOVE
ME: A FILM ABOUT TOWNES VAN ZANDT.
Daniel got his start as a camera assistant on the thriller remake, DOA. His additional credits
include the PBS specials, “The Hunt for Poncho Villa,” “America's War On Poverty" and "And God
Spoke" and well over 100 commercials, music videos and industrials.
Bruce Curtis (Production Designer)
Bruce Curtis studied Fashion Design at Kent State and owned and operated his own boutiques
and galleries in Tampa and Minneapolis. Working for photographers and stylists opened the door to the
world of Production Design, where he began his career in music videos and advertising, including
designing shoots for Levis, Wrangler and Tommy. More recently Bruce hooked up with feature director
Richard Linklater, bringing his production design knowledge and experience to A SCANNER DARKLY
and BAD NEWS BEARS.
Sandra Adair, A.C.E. (Editor)
Sandra Adair’s career in editing spans over three decades. Her work includes television series,
documentaries, PBS specials and feature films. She began as an apprentice editor and moved up the
ladder to assistant editor to some of Hollywood’s top film editors in the early 1970’s. She started editing
small, low-budget films in the mid 1980’s and in 1990 Adair served as second editor on INTERNAL
AFFAIRS.
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Sandra is most known for her work with Richard Linklater, for whom she has edited, DAZED
AND CONFUZED, BEFORE SUNRISE, SUBURBIA, THE NEWTON BOYS, the Fox Searchlight
Pictures animated film, WAKING LIFE, TAPE, SCHOOL OF ROCK, BEFORE SUNSET, BAD NEWS
BEARS and A SCANNER DARKLY.
Friends of Dean Martinez (Music by)
As Friends of Dean Martinez finishes up its tenth year of creating, playing and recording, there
remains a lot to be said about the band itself--its surprising longevity, its stately aesthetic, and especially
its decade’s worth of releases culminating in 2005 with the exquisite Lost Horizon, out on Bill Elm’s own
Aero label.
Friends of Dean Martinez have weathered a number of lineup and label changes since 1994, the
year Bill Elm, Joey Burns, John Convertino and Van Christian first kicked up an instrumental ruckus.
From its earliest days, Friends of Dean Martinez--formerly Friends of Dean Martin, was a group project,
but Elm provided its momentum and center, the steel guitar lines that snagged each loping melody and
pulled it taut. The band’s first incarnation released The Shadow of Your Smile (1995) and Retrograde
(1997), both on Sub Pop.
When the original foursome split after Burns and Convertino left to form Calexico, Elm relocated
to Austin. With drummer David Lachance he released Atardecer (1999) under the FoDM banner, and
after fellow Giant Sand alum Mike Semple signed on to play guitar for that album’s support tour, the trio
released A Place in the Sun (2000). Both discs appeared on venerable avant-garde label The Knitting
Factory Works.
Then came a hectic period of touring and recording, a time that produced a series of records for
which Elm was more than ever the group’s core, with Semple and a handful of other musicians rotating in
and out of the lineup on each album. Germany’s renowned Glitterhouse Records brought out Wichita
Lineman in 2001 and Under the Waves in 2003. In the states, infamously outré label Narnack brought out
the two-disc On the Shore in 2003; Random Harvest followed in 2004.
Following On the Shore, the performance lineup of Friends of Dean Martinez began coalescing
into the form it takes today: Elm on guitar and keyboards, Semple on guitars, and Andrew Gerfers on
drums.
Kari Perkins (Costume Designer)
Kari Perkins first worked with Richard Linklater on DAZED AND CONFUSED. She has also
designed such films as Linklater's A SCANNER DARKLY, THE MUSIC OF ERICA ZANN, LEWIS &
CLARK & GEORGE, RETURN OF THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE and LOVE AND A 45.
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Lee Hunsaker (Costume Designer)
Lee Hunsaker has lived and worked in Austin, TX for 14 years. This is her fourth project working
with Richard Linklater. A few of her other design credits include THE KING, COME EARLY
MORNING, NIGHT OF THE WHITE PANTS and SCREEN DOOR JESUS.
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