Billy Bob Thornton is an American film actor, filmmaker, singer and songwriter. He received international attention after writing, directing and starring in the independent drama film Sling Blade (1996), for which he won an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor. For his role in A Simple Plan (1998) he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. He is also known for his film roles in One False Move (1992), Tombstone (1993), Dead Man (1995), U Turn (1997), Primary Colors (1998), Armageddon (1998), Monster's Ball (2001), The Man Who Wasn't There (2001), Intolerable Cruelty (2003), Bad Santa (2003) and Friday Night Lights (2004).
The Breakfast Club is a 1985 American indie teen coming-of-age comedy-drama film written, produced, and directed by John Hughes. It stars Emilio Estevez, Paul Gleason, Anthony Michael Hall, Judd Nelson, Molly Ringwald, and Ally Sheedy. The film tells the story of five teenagers from different high school cliques who serve a Saturday detention overseen by their authoritarian vice principal.
Molly Kathleen Ringwald is an American actress, writer, and translator. She began her career as a child actress on the sitcoms Diff'rent Strokes and The Facts of Life before being nominated for a Golden Globe for her performance in the drama film Tempest (1982). Ringwald became a teen idol following her appearances in filmmaker John Hughes' teen films Sixteen Candles (1984), The Breakfast Club (1985), and Pretty in Pink (1986). These films led to the media referring to her as a member of the "Brat Pack." Her final teen roles were in For Keeps and Fresh Horses.
John Wilden Hughes Jr. was an American filmmaker, producer, and screenwriter. He began his career in 1970 as an author of humorous essays and stories for the National Lampoon magazine. He went on in Hollywood to write, produce, and direct some of the most successful live-action comedy films of the 1980s and 1990s. He directed, wrote or produced such films as Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, Weird Science, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Planes, Trains and Automobiles, She's Having a Baby, and Uncle Buck, and wrote the films National Lampoon's Vacation, Mr. Mom, National Lampoon's European Vacation, Pretty in Pink, The Great Outdoors, National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, Home Alone, Dutch, and Beethoven.
Scream is a 1996 American slasher film directed by Wes Craven and written by Kevin Williamson. It stars David Arquette, Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, Matthew Lillard, Rose McGowan, Skeet Ulrich, and Drew Barrymore. Set in the fictional town of Woodsboro, California, Scream's plot follows high school student Sidney Prescott (Campbell) and her friends, who, on the anniversary of her mother's murder, become the targets of a costumed serial killer known as Ghostface.
Sling Blade is a 1996 American drama film written, directed by and starring Billy Bob Thornton. Set in Arkansas, it is the story of intellectually challenged Karl Childers and the friendship he develops with a boy and his mother. Karl was released from a psychiatric hospital where he had grown up due to having killed his mother and her lover when he was 12 years old. It also stars Dwight Yoakam, J. T. Walsh, John Ritter, Lucas Black, Natalie Canerday, James Hampton, and Robert Duvall.
Daniel Roland Lanois is a Canadian record producer and musician.
Sixteen Candles is a 1984 American coming-of-age teen comedy film starring Molly Ringwald, Michael Schoeffling, and Anthony Michael Hall. Written and directed by John Hughes in his directorial debut, it was the first in a string of films Hughes would direct, centering on teenage life. The film follows newly 16-year-old Samantha Baker (Ringwald), who deals with a seemingly unrequited crush on high school senior Jake Ryan (Schoeffling) while also being pursued by freshman Farmer Ted (Hall).
Office Killer is a 1997 American comedy-horror film directed by Cindy Sherman. It was released in the fall of 1997 and stars Carol Kane, Molly Ringwald and David Thornton.
The Gift is a 2000 American supernatural thriller film directed by Sam Raimi, and starring Cate Blanchett, Keanu Reeves, Giovanni Ribisi, Hilary Swank, Katie Holmes, and Greg Kinnear. It centers on a single mother in rural Georgia who becomes involved in a local missing person case after she experiences a psychic vision. The screenplay was written by Billy Bob Thornton and Tom Epperson based on the alleged psychic experiences of Thornton's mother.
George Loening Hickenlooper III was an American narrative and documentary filmmaker.
The 68th National Board of Review Awards, honoring the best in filmmaking in 1996, were announced on 9 December 1996 and given on 9 February 1997.
A sling blade or kaiser blade is a hand tool comprising a heavy, hooked steel blade at the end of a long handle that is usually made of wood. The blade is double-edged, and both sides are usually kept sharp. The tool is used to cut brush, briar, and undergrowth. Its use is somewhat similar to that of an axe, and it is sometimes viewed as a type of axe. Other common names for the tool are bush knife, ditch bank blade, briar axe, and surveyor's brush axe. On the East Coast of the United States some farmers call it a bush axe. The Plover, Wisconsin dialect refers to it as a ditch witch. Also historically used as a wildland firefighting tool to cut fireline, known as a brush hook. It is also sometimes referred to as a bush hook in south eastern North Carolina. Its use in wildland fire has been substantially superseded by the chainsaw.
Ghost Brigade is a 1993 American supernatural horror film set during the American Civil War and directed by George Hickenlooper. Starring Corbin Bernsen, Adrian Pasdar, and Martin Sheen, the film was also released under the alternate titles The Killing Box, Grey Knight, and The Lost Brigade.
Mark Polish and Michael Polish, known informally as the Polish brothers, are American twin filmmakers. Michael usually directs their films, and Mark often has an acting role.
Larry Meistrich is an American film producer. He was a founding member of the now defunct film production company The Shooting Gallery. Meistrich attended Johns Hopkins University graduating in 1989 with a degree in writing. While at Hopkins, he was a brother of Alpha Delta Phi. He produced Sling Blade, with Billy Bob Thornton, which won the Academy Award for Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay. He won an Independent Spirit Award for producing You Can Count on Me in 2001 and the film was also nominated for an Academy Award for Best Screenplay. Meistrich now is the founder and chairman of NEHST Studios. NEHST has combined with another studio to create DigiNext Films.
Daddy and Them is a 2001 American comedy-drama film written, directed by, and starring Billy Bob Thornton. It also stars John Prine, Laura Dern, Andy Griffith, Ben Affleck, Kelly Preston, Diane Ladd, Brenda Blethyn, Tuesday Knight, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Jim Varney in his final film role.
Kent Lon Wakeford was an American cinematographer, the co-founder of Wakeford / Orloff Productions, and founder of Kent Wakeford and Associates, two commercial production companies.
American musician Dwight Yoakam has starred in a number of films and television series ranging from 1992 to the present.
