ABOUT THE CASTGABRIEL SUNDAY ("Archie Williams," & Editor, Writer, Co-Producer) has always enjoyed being an entertainer. At age 10, he began his career as a professional magician and juggler. He appeared in countless stage productions and avidly studied Shakespeare, improv and musical theater. Being a movie buff, Sunday soon moved into film production, and at 16, documented his time on the road with three of his mentors in Cream Pies and Seltzer Bottles: On the road with Wavy Gravy, Patch Adams and Ram Dass. This led him to work with David Lee Miller, Eric J. Adams and Regenerate in Los Angeles, an up-and-coming nonprofit concentrating on films made by youth for youth, including their next project, My Suicide. Sunday was cast as the lead, and also co-edited, co-produced and co-wrote. During the four-year process of My Suicide, Sunday appeared in various Disney Channel shows including Now You See It, starring opposite Frank Langella. He also appeared on CBS's Criminal Minds and WB's Jack and Bobby, while performing in various stand-up club's around LA. He currently studies with The Steppenwolf West Theater in LA and recently played roles in Judd Apatow's Year One opposite Jack Black, directed by Harold Ramis, and Taking Woodstock, directed by Ang Lee. For his next feature film, Sunday (partnering with My Suicide director David Lee Miller), is producing, co-writing and starring in the upcoming feature film about the life and times of schizophrenic musician/artist Daniel Johnston, where he will play the role of a young Daniel. Production is slated to begin in 2010. Sunday currently lives in Los Angeles where he resides in a Castle with ten other artist/filmmakers. In the summer he teaches stilt walking, didgeridoo and magic at a Wavy Gravy's circus performing arts camp.
BROOKE NEVIN ("Sierra") Brooke Nevin has been a mainstay on American television since her debut 10 years ago as one of the stars on the Nickelodeon series "Animorphs". She has since shared the screen with such renowned talents as Ray Liotta, Natasha Richardson, Treat Williams and George Hamilton. Her many television appearances include series regular work on USA's hit sci-fi show "The 4400" and a recurring role on CBS's "Worst Week", as well as guest appearances on "Grey's Anatomy", "Without A Trace", "Eli Stone" and "Charmed". Sci-fi fans around the globe recognize her portrayals of "Buffy" the vampire on "Smallville" and the shotgun-wielding "Kat" on "Supernatural" as some of their favorite guest roles on the two internationally syndicated series. In the world of feature film, Nevin's diverse talent has been showcased in parts ranging from romantic lead to comedic supporting to thriller action movie star. Nevin may currently be seen as the quirky love interest "Addy" in the multiple award-winning indie Sherman's Way with James LeGros and Michael Shulman. Other starring feature credits include the lead in I'll Always Know What You Did Last Summer, The Comebacks, and the upcoming comedic thriller Infestation for Mel Gibson's Icon Productions.
DAVID CARRADINE ("Jesse Gabriel Vargas") is an artist, musician, sculptor, writer, composer, Kung-Fu master, film and television icon, and the eldest son of the legendary character actor John Carradine. Carradine starred in the iconic TV series Kung Fu. Originally developed by and for Bruce Lee, it catapulted Carradine to superstardom for the next three years, until he left the series to pursue his film career. Carradine received the Best Actor Award from the National Board of Film Review, as well as a Golden Globe nomination, for his portrayal of Woody Guthrie in Hal Ashby's Bound for Glory (1976). He won critical acclaim for his work as Cole Younger in Walter Hill's The Long Riders (1980), which many believe is his best work to date. Kung Fu also received seven Emmy nominations in its first season, including one for Carradine as Best Actor. Other notable film credits include You and Me (1972), Martin Scorsese's Mean Streets (1973), Robert Altman's The Long Goodbye (1973), and Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill (2003-4).
JOE MANTEGNA ("Dr. Gafur Chandrasakar") earned a Tony Award for his performance as Richard Roma in David Mamet's Pulitzer Prize-winning play, Glengarry Glen Ross. His additional Broadway credits include the role of Bobby Gould in Mamet's Speed-the-Plow and a role in the musical Working, in which he made his Broadway debut. In his hometown of Chicago, Mantegna also starred in the Mamet plays A Life in the Theatre and The Disappearance of the Jews, both at the Goodman Theatre. He directed Mamet's Lakeboat in Los Angeles and later made his feature-film directorial debut on the playright's own adaptation. Mantegna also conceived and co-authored the Off Broadway play Bleacher Bums, which was subsequently produced for television and earned him an Emmy Award. Mantegna made his feature-film acting debut in Compromising Positions and has since starred in the David Mamet films House of Games, Things Change, and Homicide, in roles that Mamet created specifically for him, as well as in Alice, Celebrity, The Godfather Part III, Bugsy, Searching for Bobby Fischer, Liberty Heights, Forget Paris, Suspect, Up Close and Personal, The Money Pit, Weeds, Baby's Day Out, Airheads, Queen's Logic, Wait Until Spring, Bandini and An Eye for an Eye. Mantegna's television credits include the cable films The Rat Pack, for which he was nominated for an Emmy Award for his portrayal of Dean Martin, as well as State of Emergency, A Call to Remember, My Little Assassin, The Water Engine, Boy Meets Girl, Jerry and Tom and a series of films based on Robert Parker's Spenser novels, including Small Vices, Thin Air and Walking Shadow. Mantegna earned an Emmy Award nomination for his role in the critically acclaimed mini-series The Last Don, based on Mario Puzo's best-selling novel and he also starred in its sequel, The Last Don II.
MARIEL HEMINGWAY ("Charlotte Silver", Co-Executive Producer) is the granddaughter of celebrated author Ernest Hemingway. Hemingway made her film debut at 14 along with older sister Margaux in the controversial rape drama Lipstick. She received a Supporting Actress Oscar¨ nomination for her work in Woody Allen's Manhattan (1979), playing Allen's teenage lover, then starred in Personal Best (as an athlete who has a lesbian experience), and Star 80 (as murdered Playboy model Dorothy Stratten). Hemingway has also been busy on the small screen, starring in the prime-time dramatic series Civil Wars from 1991-93 as well as guest starring on such hit series as Tales from the Crypt, Roseanne and Becker. An internationally known advocate for suicide prevention, Hemingway recently narrated the Regenerate documentary To Save a Child, an educational documentary designed to help school teachers identify early mood disorders that may indicate suicidal tendencies.
NORA DUNN ("Gretchen Williams") has frequently played acerbic character roles in films and TV. Dunn is best known from her work as a regular cast member on Saturday Night Live from 1985 to 1990. During her five-year run, she played several talk show hosts and was one of the Sweeney Sisters, along with Jan Hooks. She made her film debut in Mike Nichols' Working Girl (1988) as a jaded office worker, followed by Savage Steve Holland's How I Got Into Holland (1989) as an SAT coach. She followed those films with work in television, in the NBC drama Sisters as the lesbian TV producer Norma Lear, followed by the CBS comedy The Nanny as Dr. Reynolds. In the late '90s, she returned to the screen in such films as Bulworth, Drop Dead Gorgeous and Three Kings. She also used her vocal talent to provide voices for the animated TV shows Futurama, The Wild Thornberrys and Histeria! Recently, Nora has appeared in Pineapple Express and the HBO hit series Entourage.
ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS
DAVID LEE MILLER (Director, Producer, Writer) previously wrote and directed the feature film Breakfast of Aliens (Hemdale), and has written screenplays for Ivan Reitman Productions (Universal), Goldie Hawn (Disney), and the Spider-Man animated series (Fox/Marvel). He wrote, directed and scored Zoo-Opolis! (Pacific Arts/Orion), and wrote the Simon & Schuster Picture Storybooks Baby (Disney) and The Goonies (Amblin). Miller has also adapted two of Max Lucado's best-selling children's books from the You Are Special series, for animated production. Miller directed The Voyager Company's best-selling Mozart CD-ROM and was the Head of Voyager's pioneering Criterion Collection, creating the industry's first interactive laserdisc special editions of great classic and contemporary motion pictures with renowned filmmakers (Scorsese, Spielberg, Bogdanovich, etc.). Miller's video and PC game credits include The Weakest Link (Activision), All Dogs Go To Heaven (MGM), and the five title Explorers series (The Learning Company/Mattel). David is the co-founder of Regenerate, a By Youth - For Youth nonprofit media organization (www.regenerate.org). David is a graduate of Stanford University's film & journalism programs, and Princeton University's creative writing program.
TODD TRAINA (Producer), founder of Red Rover Films, has consistently produced unique and varied projects, with a focus on independent film. This year Traina was named one of Variety's "Ten Producers to Watch". Traina served as Executive Producer on the 2007 Sundance Audience Award-Winning drama Grace is Gone, starring John Cusack. Traina recently completed the thriller Night Train starring Danny Glover, Steve Zahn, and Leelee Sobieski, and the horror film Stag Night starring Kip Pardue, Breckin Meyer and Vinessa Shaw, on which he served as Executive Producer. Traina is also an Executive Producer on Blackwater Transit, starring Lawrence Fishburne, Karl Urban and Stephen Dorff. Traina recently produced Rhino Films' feature film What We Do Is Secret, starring Shane West, Bijou Phillips and Tina Majorino. The film premiered at this year's Los Angeles International Film Festival. In 2006 Todd produced the highly acclaimed Punk's Not Dead, a feature-length documentary about the Punk Rock movement featuring interviews with over 100 bands.
ERIC J. ADAMS (Producer, Writer) is a producer, investigative journalist, and the author of six books, including the suspense/thrillers Birdland (Hodder & Stoughton) and Plot Twist (St. Martin's Press). Eric wrote and directed To Save A Child, an award-winning documentary on suicide and a number of other documentary and short films. For his new company, Sleeperwave Films, Eric has relied on his unique background to develop a number of film properties based on true stories, including Vanished, the story of the most successful escape from San Quentin Prison.
LARRY JANSS (Producer) is a filmmaker, professional photographer and a successful Southern California businessman and entrepreneur. A native of Thousand Oaks, California, he studied film at the California Institute of the Arts and was mentored by documentary filmmaker Saul Landau and cinematographer Haskell Wexler. In 1970, he began working in film as a production assistant and second cameraman on Landau's film, Que Hacer, an early "mockumentary" about CIA intrigue during the Allende elections in Chile. He was promoted to production manager and sound recordist for Paul Jacobs and the Nuclear Gang, a documentary on the effects of low-level radiation in St. George, Utah, which won an Emmy Award and resulted in a successful class action lawsuit against the federal government. The term "revival" also applied to his beginnings in real estate, as he specialized in taking dilapidated properties and turning them into growing concerns. One of his most successful projects was the Theater of High Street, a 1927 Vaudeville house that became a performance arts center for the city of Moorpark, California.
JORDAN J. MILLER (Writer, Editor, Co-Producer), a recent graduate of UCLA Film School, Jordan, 22, began his filmmaking career at age 13, working for Showtime and premiering his original extreme sports skateboarding films at the X-Dance Film Festival four years running, where he was dubbed "the X-Dance Kid" as the youngest filmmaker ever at any Sundance-related film festival. Jordan has directed and edited music videos for Atlantic Records, Blue Torch TV, and numerous LA-area commercials. He is the co-founder and youth creative director of the nonprofit By Youth - For Youth media arts group Regenerate, and his Public Service Announcements and films play nationwide on broadcast television, cable, and at numerous youth assemblies, special events, and film festivals. An accomplished drummer, Jordan recently directed the short film The Farmer's Daughter, starring Karen Black and Gabriel Sunday, and is currently directing a music video for Tim Kasher's Saddle Creek Records band, Cursive.
HAROLD RAMIS (Executive Producer) is one of the great comedic minds of his generation. Ramis wrote for Chicago's renowned Second City troupe and the National Lampoon radio show before co-scripting the antic fraternity house romp, National Lampoon's Animal House (1978). Ramis moved to the director's chair with Caddyshack (1980) and Stripes (1981), a Bill Murray vehicle produced by Ivan Reitman. Working with Dan Aykroyd, he shaped the script for the comic blockbuster Ghostbusters (1984), which Reitman helmed and which featured Aykroyd, Murray, Ramis and Ernie Hudson. Throughout the late 1980s, Ramis carved a secondary career as a character player, making appearances as Diane Keaton's live-in lover in Baby Boom (1987) and offered a somewhat dramatic turn in Stealing Home (1988). Returning behind the camera, he had a surprise hit with the genial romantic comedy Groundhog Day (1993). After a cameo as Jack Nicholson's psychiatrist in As Good As It Gets (1997), Ramis tackled the popular comedy Analyze This (1999). Most recently, Ramis starred alongside Seth Rogen and Katherine Heigl in Knocked Up and will next be seen in the comedy Year One which he also wrote, produced, and directed, and stars Jack Black and Gabriel Sunday.
POLLY ANTHONY (Executive Producer) Polly Anthony began her career in the Promotion Department at Sony Music and rose to become President of Epic Records, a division of Sony, while working with artists such as Celine Dion, Michael Jackson, Rage Against the Machine, and Jennifer Lopez. From Epic, she became President of Dreamworks Records and then served as Co-President of Geffen Records, where she worked with Mary J. Blige, Snoop Dogg, Common, and Nelly Furtado, among others, before assuming the position of Head of Television and Film for Universal Music Group in 2006. In this post, Polly guided Universal Music's attachment to such projects as "Cane" (CBS / 2007) as an executive producer and "Off The Record" (HBO / 2007) as a co-executive producer.
JIMMY IOVINE (Executive Producer) is Chairman of Interscope Geffen A&M Records, whose artists include U2, Dr. Dre, Sheryl Crow, Mary J. Blige, Eminem, Gwen Stefani, The Black Eyed Peas and The Game. He is also a record producer has worked with bands including U2, Tom Petty & The Hearbreakers, Stevie Nicks, Dire Straits and Patti Smith. He is also credited with having discovered Eminem. Iovine co-produced the hit Eminem movie, 8 Mile and in 2004, he and Paul Rosenberg signed a first-look feature deal with Paramount Pictures and MTV Films for their Interscope Shady Aftermath banner.
STEVEN JAY RUBIN (Executive Producer) is the founder and president of Fast Carrier Pictures, Inc. He made his producing debut for Showtime in 2001 on the baseball comedy, Bleacher Bums. In 2002, for the Hallmark Channel, he produced the true World War II drama Silent Night, starring Linda Hamilton, nominated for four Canadian Academy Awards. In 2006, he produced the feature-length documentary, East L.A. Marine: The Untold Story of Guy Gabaldon, a World War II story that will be distributed by Hart Sharp Entertainment in spring 2007. As a film historian, he was nominated for Best Commentary in 2004 by the DVD Exclusive Academy for his hosting work on the Special Edition DVD release of The Great Escape, a film he also covered in a documentary that debuted on Showtime in 1993. As a marketing executive with a specialty in publicity and promotion, Rubin spent 22 years working on the campaigns for over 150 movies and television series. He is also the author of seven books, including Reel Exposure: How to Publicize and Promote Today's Motion Pictures (Broadway Press, 1991), The Complete James Bond Movie Encyclopedia (McGraw-Hill, 2002), and Combat Films: American Realism 1945-1970 (McFarland Books, 1981).
JULIA PISTOR (Executive Producer) started producing films in 1995 when she joined Nickelodeon Movies as Associate Producer of Harriet the Spy. During her 11-year tenure, she oversaw the development, production, and release of an impressive slate of live-action and animation features released through Paramount Pictures, successfully extending the Nick brand into a leading provider of kid and family movies. Pistor produced the 2006 hit Nacho Libre, starring Jack Black, as well as the live-action Charlotte's Web, Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, and The Spiderwick Chronicles. Most recently, Pistor founded an independent production and consulting company that creates and advises on all forms of content across all platforms (TV, features, interactive, etc.). She is currently producing several projects including Firebreather, a TV Movie at the Cartoon Network; Mediator, Meg Cabot's book series at The N/Teen Nick, feature thriller The Adoration of Jenna Fox with director Brad Silberling attached at Fox 2000, family movie Magician's Elephant, Newberry Award winning author Kate DiCamillo's new hot book at Fox 2000, and the family film Captain Abdul's Pirate School at Paramount.
KENNETH HERTZ (Attorney, Executive Producer, Producer's Rep) is a Senior Partner in the Beverly Hills law firm of Goldring Hertz and Lichtenstein LLP. Hertz and his partners specialize in representing talent and new media companies in the entertainment industries. The firm's clients include Will Smith, Beyonce Knowles, No Doubt, Gwen Stefani, The Black Eyed Peas, will.i.am, Herbie Hancock, Britney Spears and Ne-Yo. Prior to joining the firm, he was in charge of music business and legal affairs for The Walt Disney Company. Hertz is also a principal in Membrain - an entertainment marketing and strategy consulting firm. Membrain consults a number of firms engaged in businesses operating in the entertainment content, fashion, technology and marketing industries (Membrain's clients include JibJab, BigChampagne, Hasbro Toys and Tiger Electronics, McDonald's, David Blaine, Maverick Entertainment, and Paul Frank Industries). Hertz is a frequent speaker and commentator on the subjects of entertainment, marketing and convergence, is often quoted in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and Wall Street Journal, has appeared on CNBC's monthly newsmagazine "Business Nation," and is currently an adjunct professor of law at USC.
MY SUICIDE is a Regenerate and Archie Film presentation, in association with Interscope Films, Red Rover Films, and Luminaria. The film is directed by David Lee Miller, screenplay by David Lee Miller, Eric J. Adams, and Gabriel Sunday (based on a story by David Lee Miller and Jordan J. Miller). Produced by David Miller (Breakfast of Aliens), Eric J. Adams, Todd Traina (Grace is Gone, Punk's Not Dead). Executive producers are Harold Ramis (Ghostbusters, Groundhog Day), Larry Janss (Paul Jacobs and the Nuclear Gang, The Rites of Pwo), Jimmy Iovine (8 Mile, Get Rich or Die Tryin'), Polly Anthony, Steven Jay Rubin (Bleacher Bums), Karyn Rachtman (Pulp Fiction, Boogie Nights), Ken Hertz, Michael McDonough, Karen Dean Fritts, and Alana Henry. Portions of profits from MY SUICIDE support nonprofit organizations Regenerate, the Nick Traina Foundation, Boys & Girls Clubs of America, and School of the Pacific Islands Foundation.