(Warner Bros.) Writer/directorBERNARD ROSE is a graduate of the National Film and TelevisionSchool at Beaconsfield, England, and was the winner of a BBC awardfor young filmmakers as a teenager. His previous features include“Paperhouse,” which took first place at the AvoriazFilm Festival, “Chicago Joe and the Showgirl,” “Candyman”and the Icon Production “Immortal Beloved,” which starredGary Oldman and Isabella Rossellini.
Rose’s television work includes “BodyContact” and “Smart Money” for the BBC, as wellas several popular and critically noted music videos, includingUB40’s “Red Red Wine” and Frankie Goes to Hollywood’s“Relax” and “Welcome to the Pleasure Dome.”
Producer BRUCE DAVEY co-produced the 1995Academy Award-winning Best Picture, “Braveheart,” producedby his Icon Productions partner, Mel Gibson. Davey is Presidentand Chief Executive Officer of Icon Productions, Inc., a companyhe formed with Gibson in 1988.
Davey executive produced Icon’s firstfilm, “Hamlet”; produced “Forever Young,”“The Man Without a Face” and “Immortal Beloved”;and co-produced “Airborne,” “Maverick,” “Braveheart”and “Dad and Dave on Our Selection.”
After beginning his career as an accountantand business manager in his native Australia, Davey met Mel Gibsonin 1980 and began handling the actor’s financial affairs.In 1989, Davey moved to Los Angeles and, with Gibson, co-foundedIcon Productions, where he is currently responsible for all aspectsof the company’s day-to-day operations.
STEVE McEVEETY (Executive Producer) is VicePresident of Production at Icon Productions, a position he assumedin 1991 when he served as production manager for the company’s“Forever Young.” He executive produced Icon’s AcademyAward-winning “Braveheart,” as well as “The ManWithout a Face” and “Immortal Beloved,” and produced“Airborne.” Most recently McEveety executive producedIcon’s suspense-thriller “187.”
A native of Los Angeles, McEveety is a third-generationfilmmaker whose father is a writer/producer. He began acting atage seven on such television shows as “My Three Sons,”“Gunsmoke” and “Star Trek.”
McEveety studied film at Loyola MarymountUniversity and began his career in post production on such animatedfilms as “The Black Cauldron” and “Tron.”He then served as either unit production manager or assistantdirector on films including “Hot Shots,” “Flatliners,”“Welcome Home, Roxy Carmichael” and “The Trip toBountiful.”
COUNT LEO TOLSTOY (writer) was born to awealthy family of landowners in 1828 in Russia’s Tula province.He studied Oriental laguages and law at the University of Kazanand then led a life of pleasure until 1851, when he fought asa member of an artillery regiment in the Crimean War. After participatingin the defense of Sebastopol, Tolstoy wrote The Sebastopol Stories,which established his reputation.
He married in 1862 and had 13 children overthe next 15 years. During that time he managed his vast estates;studied and implemented educational methods in order to help thelocal peasant population; and wrote his two greatest works: Warand Peace (1865-68) and Anna Karenina (1874-76).
A Confession, which he wrote from 1879-92,marked a change in his life and works; he became an extreme rationalistand moralist. In a series of pamphlets he wrote after 1880, Tolstoyrejected the Church and State, renounced the demands of the fleshand denounced ownership of private property. His writing earnedhim many followers in Russia and abroad, but also generated strongopposition. In 1901, Tolstoy was excommunicated by the RussianOrthodox Church.
He died in 1910 during a journey, at thesmall railway station of Astapovo in Russia, seven years beforethe revolution that transformed Russian history and politics.
Production designer JOHN MYHRE collaborateswith producer Bruce Davey for the third time with “Anna Karenina”and director Bernard Rose for the second. His prior Icon Productionsprojects were “Immortal Beloved,” on which he servedas art director (and which Rose directed) and “Airborne.”
Myhre worked as art director on such filmsas “My Summer Story,” “What’s Eating GilbertGrape?,” “Welcome Home, Roxy Carmichael,” “HearNo Evil,” “Blind Fury,” “Amazing Grace andChuck,” “Salmonberries,” “Popcorn” and“Russkies.” His television work includes two PBS productions:“Lincoln and Seward” and “The Sunset Gang.”
In addition, Myhre has worked on televisionand music videos for such clients as McDonald’s, The Pretenders,The Features, and Love and Money.
Director of photography DARYN OKADA hasbuilt a successful career as a cinematographer for televisioncommercials, TV series and specials, and feature films. Amonghis films credits are “The War of the Roses,” “SurvivalQuest,” “Boris and Natasha,” “Wild HeartsCan’t Be Broken,” “Captain Ron,” “Airborne,”“My Father, The Hero,” “Big Bully” and “BlackSheep.”
Okada’s television work includes theCBS miniseries “In a Child’s Name,” for which hereceived an American Society of Cinematographers Achievement Awardnomination. Other credits include “Blind Vengeance,”“The Dave Thomas Show,” “Elvis,” “Eyesof Terror,” “Seperated by Murder,” “A Mother’sInstinct” and “Vanishing Point.”
Editor VICTOR DU BOIS previously workedwith Bedford Falls Productions as a director of multiple episodesof their hit series “thirtysomething” and their criticallyacclaimed series “My So-Called Life.” He also editedthe Bedford Falls-produced telefilm “Extreme Closeup”and the feature film “Leaving Normal” for director EdwardZwick.
Du Bois previously worked with Icon Productionsas an additional editor on Mel Gibson’s “Braveheart”;his other editing credits include “Flamingo Kid” forABC-TV; “Class of ‘96” and “Birdland”for director Peter Horton; the pilot for “The Marshall”;the HBO telefilms “Cosmic Slop” and “Soul of theGame”; and “When Summer Comes” for NBC-TV.
Du Bois is a recipient of the 1988 AmericanCinema Editors Award and has twice been nominated for Emmy Awards.
Italian costume designer MAURIZIO MILLENOTTIhas been nominated for two Academy Awards, for Franco Zeffirelli’sfilms “Othello” and “Hamlet.” He began hiscareer as an assistant to famed designers Piero Tosi and GabriellaPescucci during the 1970s, and in 1981 became a designer in hisown right. Among his early films were Sergio Corbucci’s “BelloMio Belazza Mia,” Fellini’s “E La Nave Va,”Emilio Greco’s “Un Caso Di Incoscenza” and AlbertNegrin’s telefilm “Il Duce,” starring Susan Sarandon,Anthony Hopkins and Bob Hoskins.
Millenotti won his first Oscar nominationin 1985, for “Othello,” and his second in 1990, for“Hamlet,” which was also an Icon production. He hascontinued to work with a distinguished roster of internationaldirectors, and most recently collaborated with director SteveBarron on the live-action production of Carlo Collodi’s “Pinnochio.”
SIR GEORG SOLTI (Music Director), one ofthe world’s most celebrated conductors, was born in Budapestand studied piano, composition and conducting with Bela Bartokand several other of the most prominent musicians of his era.Although he made his concert debut as a pianist, he soon becamea conductor for the Budapest Opera, later joining Toscanini ashis assistant at the Saltzburg Festival. Before the outbreak ofWorld War II, Solti went to Switzerland as a refugee; he earnedfirst prize there in 1942 at the Concours International in Genevafor his piano performance.
Solti began his affiliation with the ChicagoSymphony Orchestra in 1954 at its Ravinia summer festival. Hefrequently conducted guest engagements there until 1969, whenhe became Music Director of the Orchestra, a position he heldfor 22 years. He currently holds the title of Music Director Laureateand continues his association with the Orchestra several weekseach year in concerts and recordings.
For his outstanding contribution to music,Solti received a knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britainin 1972. From 1979 to 1984, he served as Principal Conductor andArtistic Director of the London Philharmonic Orchestra and, subsequently,was named its Conductor Emeritus.
In 1996, Solti received a Grammy LifetimeAchievement Award, bringing his lifetime total of Grammys to 32-- more than any other classical or popular recording artist.He continues to conduct, tour and record with prominent orchestrasaround the world.
