Sean Justin Penn is an American actor and film director. He has won Academy Awards for his roles in the mystery drama Mystic River (2003) and the biopic Milk (2008).
Christopher Walken is an American actor. Prolific in film, television, and on stage, Walken is the recipient of numerous accolades. He has earned an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, as well as nominations for two Primetime Emmy Awards and two Tony Awards. His films have grossed more than $1.6 billion in the United States alone.
Catch Me If You Can is a 2002 American biographical crime comedy-drama film directed and produced by Steven Spielberg and starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hanks with Christopher Walken, Martin Sheen, Nathalie Baye, Amy Adams, and James Brolin in supporting roles. The screenplay by Jeff Nathanson is based on the semi-autobiographical book of the same name by Frank Abagnale Jr., who claims that prior to his 19th birthday, he successfully performed cons worth millions of dollars by posing as a Pan American World Airways pilot, a Georgia doctor, and a Louisiana parish prosecutor. The truth of his story is heavily disputed.
Don't Say a Word is a 2001 American psychological thriller film starring Michael Douglas, Brittany Murphy and Sean Bean based on the novel Don't Say a Word by Andrew Klavan. It was directed by Gary Fleder and written by Anthony Peckham and Patrick Smith Kelly. It was released on September 28, 2001, receiving negative reviews from critics and grossing $100 million against its $50 million budget.
Mary Stuart Masterson is an American actress and director. After making her acting debut as a child in The Stepford Wives (1975), Masterson took a ten-year hiatus to focus on her education. Her early film roles include Heaven Help Us (1985), At Close Range (1986), Some Kind of Wonderful (1987), and Chances Are (1989). Her performance in the film Immediate Family (1989) won her the National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actress, and she earned additional praise for her roles in Fried Green Tomatoes (1991) and Benny & Joon (1993).
Patrick Ray Leonard is an American songwriter, keyboardist, film composer, and music producer, best known for his longtime collaboration with Madonna. His work with Madonna includes her albums True Blue (1986), Who's That Girl (1987), Like a Prayer (1989), I'm Breathless (1990) and Ray of Light (1998). He scored Madonna's 2008 documentary I Am Because We Are, played keyboards with her at Live Aid (1985), and was musical director and keyboardist on The Virgin Tour (1985) and the Who's That Girl World Tour (1987).
State of Grace is a 1990 American neo-noir crime drama film directed by Phil Joanou and starring Sean Penn, Ed Harris and Gary Oldman, also featuring Robin Wright, John Turturro, and John C. Reilly. Written by playwright Dennis McIntyre, the film was produced by Ned Dowd, Randy Ostrow, and Ron Rotholz, with a musical score by Ennio Morricone.
True Blue is the third studio album by American singer-songwriter Madonna, released on June 30, 1986, by Sire Records. In early 1985, Madonna became romantically involved with actor Sean Penn, and married him six months later on her 27th birthday. Additionally, she met producer Patrick Leonard while on the Virgin Tour, and formed a professional relationship with him. The first songs they created together were "Love Makes the World Go Round", and the ballad "Live to Tell", which was featured on At Close Range, a film which Penn starred. On late 1985, Madonna and Leonard began working on her third studio album; she also enlisted the help of former boyfriend Stephen Bray, with whom she had worked on her previous record Like a Virgin (1984). Titled True Blue, the record saw Madonna co-writing and co-producing for the first time in her career. It is a dance-pop album that features influences of Motown sound, girl groups, and Latin pop. It was inspired by Madonna's love for Penn, to whom she dedicated the album.
Shanghai Surprise is a 1986 adventure comedy film directed by Jim Goddard and starring then-newlyweds Sean Penn and Madonna. The screenplay was adapted by John Kohn and Robert Bentley from Tony Kenrick's 1978 novel Faraday's Flowers. Produced by George Harrison's HandMade Films and distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Harrison himself appears in the film as a night club singer, and he wrote and recorded five original songs for the soundtrack: "Shanghai Surprise", "Someplace Else", "Breath Away from Heaven", "Zig Zag", and "Hottest Gong in Town". The film was a critical and commercial failure, and an official soundtrack album was never released.
Christopher Shannon Penn was an American actor. He was the brother of actor Sean Penn and musician Michael Penn. Noted as a skilled character actor, he was typically cast as a tough character, featured as a villain or a working-class thug, or in a comic role and had roles in such films as The Wild Life, Reservoir Dogs, The Funeral, Footloose, Rush Hour, Corky Romano, True Romance, Beethoven's 2nd, Short Cuts, The Boys Club, All the Right Moves, At Close Range, Pale Rider, and Starsky & Hutch. During his career Penn had won the Volpi Cup for Best Actor for his performance in The Funeral. He also provided the voice of corrupt cop Edward "Eddie" Pulaski in the video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.
Malibu's Most Wanted is a 2003 American comedy film written by and starring Jamie Kennedy and co-starring Taye Diggs, Anthony Anderson, Blair Underwood, Regina Hall, Damien Dante Wayans, Ryan O'Neal, and Snoop Dogg. The film is written by the creators of MADtv, Fax Bahr and Adam Small, who also serve as producers. The character of "B-Rad" originally appeared in Jamie Kennedy's hidden-camera show The Jamie Kennedy Experiment, but started in his stand-up routine when he was starting out; here, "B-Rad" is Brad, the son of Senator Bill Gluckman who is running for governor of California and fears his son is a distraction on the campaign trail, with Brad's aspirations of becoming a rapper and his glamorization of gang life. To that end, Gluckman's campaign manager hires two actors to stage an abduction to bring Brad to an inner city neighborhood where he will learn to behave himself.
"Live to Tell" is a song by American singer Madonna from her third studio album, True Blue (1986). The song was composed by Patrick Leonard as an instrumental for the score of Paramount's film Fire with Fire, but Paramount rejected it. Leonard then presented the track to Madonna, who decided to use it for At Close Range, a film starring her then-husband Sean Penn. Madonna wrote the lyrics, co-composed the melodies and co-produced it with Leonard. "Live to Tell" was released as True Blue's lead single in 1986, by Sire Records; afterwards, it was included on Madonna's compilation albums The Immaculate Collection (1990), Something to Remember (1995), and Celebration (2009). A pop ballad, the song includes instrumentation from guitars, keyboards, drums and a synthesizer, while the lyrics deal with deceit, mistrust and childhood scars; Madonna also recalled in an interview that she thought about her relationship with her parents while writing the lyrics.
The Anderson Tapes is a 1971 American crime film directed by Sidney Lumet and starring Sean Connery and featuring Dyan Cannon, Martin Balsam and Alan King. The screenplay was written by Frank Pierson, based upon a best-selling 1970 novel of the same name by Lawrence Sanders. The film is scored by Quincy Jones and marks the feature film debut of Christopher Walken.
In the Gloaming is a 1997 American television film written by Will Scheffer and directed by Christopher Reeve in his directorial debut. It stars Robert Sean Leonard, Glenn Close, David Strathairn, Bridget Fonda and Whoopi Goldberg. The movie is based on a short story in The New Yorker written by Alice Elliott Dark. The film premiered on HBO on April 20, 1997. It won four CableACE Awards and was nominated for five Primetime Emmy Awards.
Balls of Fury is a 2007 American sports comedy film directed by Robert Ben Garant, who also wrote the screenplay with Thomas Lennon, who also co-starred and produced with Roger Birnbaum, Gary Barber and Jonathan Glickman. The film stars Dan Fogler in his first lead role, with a supporting cast of George Lopez, Christopher Walken, Maggie Q, Terry Crews, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, James Hong and Jason Scott Lee. It was released in the United States on August 29, 2007, to generally negative reviews.
Who's That Girl is a 1987 American screwball comedy film directed by James Foley, and written by Andrew Smith and Ken Finkleman. It stars Madonna and Griffin Dunne, and depicts the story of a street-smart girl who is falsely accused of murdering her boyfriend and is sent to jail. After release, she meets a man, supposed to make sure she gets on her bus back to Philadelphia, and convinces him to help her catch those responsible for her confinement. While searching for an embezzler, they fall in love with each other.
Bruce Alfred Johnston Sr. was the leader of one of the most notorious gangs in the history of Pennsylvania, U.S. The gang started in the 1960s and was rounded up in 1978 after his son, Bruce Jr., testified against him. The 1986 film At Close Range is based loosely on Johnston's gang.
Christopher Walken is an American actor, whose career has spanned over 50 years with appearances in theater, film, and television. He has appeared in over 100 movies and television shows, including A View to a Kill, At Close Range, The Deer Hunter, King of New York, Batman Returns,Pulp Fiction, Sleepy Hollow, True Romance, and Catch Me If You Can, as well as music videos by recording artists such as Madonna and Fatboy Slim.
Joe Dirt 2: Beautiful Loser is a 2015 American comedy film directed by Fred Wolf and written by Wolf and David Spade. It is the sequel to the 2001 film Joe Dirt. The film stars Spade, reprising his role as the title character, as well as starring Brittany Daniel, Patrick Warburton, Mark McGrath, Dennis Miller, Christopher Walken, and Adam Beach. The film premiered on Crackle on July 16, 2015.
Father Figures is a 2017 American comedy film directed by Lawrence Sher, written by Justin Malen, and starring Owen Wilson, Ed Helms, J.K. Simmons, Katt Williams, Terry Bradshaw, Ving Rhames, Harry Shearer, June Squibb, Christopher Walken, and Glenn Close with supporting roles by Jack McGee, Ryan Cartwright, Ryan Gaul, Ali Wong, Retta, Jessica Gomes, and Katie Aselton. The film follows two adult brothers who set out to find their biological father by encountering the men that their mother used to date.
