Casting director Russell Boast, producer Annabelle K. Frost, producer Nana Greenwald, writer-director Tamar Halpern, animator David Kuhn, producer-director Sheldon Larry and broadcast journalist May Lee have been hired as full-time faculty at Chapman University’s Dodge College of Film and Media Arts.
The new faculty members have worked on some of the most prominent film and television projects of the past 30 years, including the Harrison Ford starrer The Fugitive, David Fincher’s Seven and Disney’s Pocahontas. They will assume their new roles on Monday, Aug. 28, at the start of the 2023-24 academic year.
“This is an awe-inspiring group of teachers, whose range of experience adds a wealth of valuable knowledge to our already-impressive faculty,” said Stephen Galloway, dean of Dodge College. “I can only wish I’d had professors like this when I was in film school.”
Russell Boast, CSA, head of casting and co-head of the Screen Acting program at Dodge College,...
The new faculty members have worked on some of the most prominent film and television projects of the past 30 years, including the Harrison Ford starrer The Fugitive, David Fincher’s Seven and Disney’s Pocahontas. They will assume their new roles on Monday, Aug. 28, at the start of the 2023-24 academic year.
“This is an awe-inspiring group of teachers, whose range of experience adds a wealth of valuable knowledge to our already-impressive faculty,” said Stephen Galloway, dean of Dodge College. “I can only wish I’d had professors like this when I was in film school.”
Russell Boast, CSA, head of casting and co-head of the Screen Acting program at Dodge College,...
- 8/3/2023
- by Bruce Haring
- Deadline Film + TV
North Country
This review was written for the festival screening of "North Country".
TORONTO -- "North County" is an occasionally inspired but much more often didactic story of a woman mineworker, who initiates a class-action sexual harassment lawsuit against a Minnesota mining company. The issue of sexual politics so dominates the story that it's a relief when an emotional showdown involves family rather than workplace issues. Not so surprisingly, these are the movie's best scenes.
Audiences sometimes do respond to issues-oriented movies. When Sally Field held up that strike sign in "Norma Rae", she even won an Oscar. But the issue of sexual harassment in an iron mine may be a tough sell. Whether the movie wins over any hearts and minds, boxoffice may be modest.
"North Country" is the first American film by director Niki Caro, whose "Whale Rider" became New Zealand's most financially successful movie. This is a thoroughly competent and polished work. But one might have hoped she would tackle something a little more artistically daring than Michael Seitzman's predictable fictitious adaptation of of Clara Bingham and Lura Leedy Gansler's "Class Action: The Landmark Case that Changed Sexual Harassment Law." Despite the presence of movie stars such as Charlize Theron, Frances McDormand, Woody Harrelson and Sissy Spacek, the movie feels like an accomplished telefilm.
The world in which the movie takes place is portrayed -- and not without cause -- as one in which men are abusive and women silent victims. This begins right away when Josey Aimes (Theron) escapes a violent husband with her two youngsters. Then she returns to her Northern Minnesota hometown to a glowering father Hank (Richard Jenkins), whom she will never please in a million years. Bars are no escape either as guys make clumsy passes or sneering remarks.
When her old friend Glory (McDormand) suggests she come work with her and a few other women at the mines, Josey immediately seizes the opportunity to bring home enough money to get a house for her and the kids. Glory does warn her about the male miners' rough treatment of women, but she shrugs this off.
Things go from bad to worse. First it's foul language and sex toys in lunch pails. This escalates to sexual come-ons, feces on walls and finally an attack by Bobby Sharp (Jeremy Renner), a guy she used to make out with in school. The only nice guy in sight is Glory's husband, Kyle (Sean Bean). But he's permanently sidelined by a mining accident.
OK, another nice guy does turn up, this being local hockey hero, Bill White (Harrelson). He has returned from New York where, it is implied, the big city and law school have civilized all that North Country redneck behavior. When Josey has finally had enough harassment, it is to Bill she goes to file her lawsuit.
A courtroom scene begins the movie and intermittently Caro and Seitzman cut back to the hearing, making the film one giant flashback. Gradually, the hearing takes over to become the story's focus. Here the corporate boys prove the worst chauvinists of all, playing rougher with Josey than any of her male co-workers would.
But unless you're a lawyer or political activist, the best scenes involve parents and children. Specifically, these concern Josey and her troubled relationship with her dad, and Josey's teenage son, who grows increasingly embarrassed and angry over his mother's notoriety.
Hank, never happy with what he believes are his daughter's loose morals, is humiliated to see her take a job at his very workplace. Meanwhile, the trial causes Josey's son Sammy (Thomas Curtis) to learn the truth about his birth and the identity of his biological father. It devastates him.
These sequences bring out the best in the actors: Spacek as Josey's mom finds the courage to stand up to her husband; Jenkins finds the heart to re-evaluate his daughter; and Theron and Curtis find a ways to communicate.
The movie certainly doesn't look like a telefilm. Chris Menges' camera gives the iron mines a rugged masculinity that fits in nicely the film's political themes. Designer Richard Hoover captures the small company town atmosphere in superb location work and his set designs.
NORTH COUNTRY
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. presents in association with Participant Productions a Nick Wechsler production
Credits:
Director: Niki Caro
Writer: Michael Seitzman
Based on the book by: Clara Bingham, Laura Leedy Gansler
Producer: Nick Wechsler
Executive producers: Helen Bartlett, Nana Greenwald, Doug Claybourne, Jeff Skoll
Director of photography: Chris Menges
Production designer: Richard Hoover
Costumes: Cindy Evans
Music: Gustavo Santaolalla
Editor: David Coulson
Cast:
Josey: Charlize Theron
Glory: Frances McDormand
Kyle: Sean Bean
Hank: Richard Jenkins
Bobby: Jeremy Renner
Sherry: Michelle Monaghan
Bill White: Woody Harrelson
Alice: Sissy Spacek
Sammy: Thomas Curtis
Running time -- 127 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
TORONTO -- "North County" is an occasionally inspired but much more often didactic story of a woman mineworker, who initiates a class-action sexual harassment lawsuit against a Minnesota mining company. The issue of sexual politics so dominates the story that it's a relief when an emotional showdown involves family rather than workplace issues. Not so surprisingly, these are the movie's best scenes.
Audiences sometimes do respond to issues-oriented movies. When Sally Field held up that strike sign in "Norma Rae", she even won an Oscar. But the issue of sexual harassment in an iron mine may be a tough sell. Whether the movie wins over any hearts and minds, boxoffice may be modest.
"North Country" is the first American film by director Niki Caro, whose "Whale Rider" became New Zealand's most financially successful movie. This is a thoroughly competent and polished work. But one might have hoped she would tackle something a little more artistically daring than Michael Seitzman's predictable fictitious adaptation of of Clara Bingham and Lura Leedy Gansler's "Class Action: The Landmark Case that Changed Sexual Harassment Law." Despite the presence of movie stars such as Charlize Theron, Frances McDormand, Woody Harrelson and Sissy Spacek, the movie feels like an accomplished telefilm.
The world in which the movie takes place is portrayed -- and not without cause -- as one in which men are abusive and women silent victims. This begins right away when Josey Aimes (Theron) escapes a violent husband with her two youngsters. Then she returns to her Northern Minnesota hometown to a glowering father Hank (Richard Jenkins), whom she will never please in a million years. Bars are no escape either as guys make clumsy passes or sneering remarks.
When her old friend Glory (McDormand) suggests she come work with her and a few other women at the mines, Josey immediately seizes the opportunity to bring home enough money to get a house for her and the kids. Glory does warn her about the male miners' rough treatment of women, but she shrugs this off.
Things go from bad to worse. First it's foul language and sex toys in lunch pails. This escalates to sexual come-ons, feces on walls and finally an attack by Bobby Sharp (Jeremy Renner), a guy she used to make out with in school. The only nice guy in sight is Glory's husband, Kyle (Sean Bean). But he's permanently sidelined by a mining accident.
OK, another nice guy does turn up, this being local hockey hero, Bill White (Harrelson). He has returned from New York where, it is implied, the big city and law school have civilized all that North Country redneck behavior. When Josey has finally had enough harassment, it is to Bill she goes to file her lawsuit.
A courtroom scene begins the movie and intermittently Caro and Seitzman cut back to the hearing, making the film one giant flashback. Gradually, the hearing takes over to become the story's focus. Here the corporate boys prove the worst chauvinists of all, playing rougher with Josey than any of her male co-workers would.
But unless you're a lawyer or political activist, the best scenes involve parents and children. Specifically, these concern Josey and her troubled relationship with her dad, and Josey's teenage son, who grows increasingly embarrassed and angry over his mother's notoriety.
Hank, never happy with what he believes are his daughter's loose morals, is humiliated to see her take a job at his very workplace. Meanwhile, the trial causes Josey's son Sammy (Thomas Curtis) to learn the truth about his birth and the identity of his biological father. It devastates him.
These sequences bring out the best in the actors: Spacek as Josey's mom finds the courage to stand up to her husband; Jenkins finds the heart to re-evaluate his daughter; and Theron and Curtis find a ways to communicate.
The movie certainly doesn't look like a telefilm. Chris Menges' camera gives the iron mines a rugged masculinity that fits in nicely the film's political themes. Designer Richard Hoover captures the small company town atmosphere in superb location work and his set designs.
NORTH COUNTRY
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. presents in association with Participant Productions a Nick Wechsler production
Credits:
Director: Niki Caro
Writer: Michael Seitzman
Based on the book by: Clara Bingham, Laura Leedy Gansler
Producer: Nick Wechsler
Executive producers: Helen Bartlett, Nana Greenwald, Doug Claybourne, Jeff Skoll
Director of photography: Chris Menges
Production designer: Richard Hoover
Costumes: Cindy Evans
Music: Gustavo Santaolalla
Editor: David Coulson
Cast:
Josey: Charlize Theron
Glory: Frances McDormand
Kyle: Sean Bean
Hank: Richard Jenkins
Bobby: Jeremy Renner
Sherry: Michelle Monaghan
Bill White: Woody Harrelson
Alice: Sissy Spacek
Sammy: Thomas Curtis
Running time -- 127 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
- 11/1/2005
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
North Country
TORONTO -- "North County" is an occasionally inspired but much more often didactic story of a woman mineworker, who initiates a class-action sexual harassment lawsuit against a Minnesota mining company. The issue of sexual politics so dominates the story that it's a relief when an emotional showdown involves family rather than workplace issues. Not so surprisingly, these are the movie's best scenes.
Audiences sometimes do respond to issues-oriented movies. When Sally Field held up that strike sign in "Norma Rae", she even won an Oscar. But the issue of sexual harassment in an iron mine may be a tough sell. Whether the movie wins over any hearts and minds, boxoffice may be modest.
"North Country" is the first American film by director Niki Caro, whose "Whale Rider" became New Zealand's most financially successful movie. This is a thoroughly competent and polished work. But one might have hoped she would tackle something a little more artistically daring than Michael Seitzman's predictable fictitious adaptation of of Clara Bingham and Lura Leedy Gansler's "Class Action: The Landmark Case that Changed Sexual Harassment Law." Despite the presence of movie stars such as Charlize Theron, Frances McDormand, Woody Harrelson and Sissy Spacek, the movie feels like an accomplished telefilm
The world in which the movie takes place is portrayed -- and not without cause -- as one in which men are abusive and women silent victims. This begins right away when Josey Aimes (Theron) escapes a violent husband with her two youngsters. Then she returns to her Northern Minnesota hometown to a glowering father Hank (Richard Jenkins), whom she will never please in a million years. Bars are no escape either as guys make clumsy passes or sneering remarks.
When her old friend Glory (McDormand) suggests she come work with her and a few other women at the mines, Josey immediately seizes the opportunity to bring home enough money to get a house for her and the kids. Glory does warn her about the male miners' rough treatment of women, but she shrugs this off.
Things go from bad to worse. First it's foul language and sex toys in lunch pails. This escalates to sexual come-ons, feces on walls and finally an attack by Bobby Sharp (Jeremy Renner), a guy she used to make out with in school. The only nice guy in sight is Glory's husband, Kyle (Sean Bean). But he's permanently sidelined by a mining accident.
OK, another nice guy does turn up, this being local hockey hero, Bill White (Harrelson). He has returned from New York where, it is implied, the big city and law school have civilized all that North Country redneck behavior. When Josey has finally had enough harassment, it is to Bill she goes to file her lawsuit.
A courtroom scene begins the movie and intermittently Caro and Seitzman cut back to the hearing, making the film one giant flashback. Gradually, the hearing takes over to become the story's focus. Here the corporate boys prove the worst chauvinists of all, playing rougher with Josey than any of her male co-workers would.
But unless you're a lawyer or political activist, the best scenes involve parents and children. Specifically, these concern Josey and her troubled relationship with her dad, and Josey's teenage son, who grows increasingly embarrassed and angry over his mother's notoriety.
Hank, never happy with what he believes are his daughter's loose morals, is humiliated to see her take a job at his very workplace. Meanwhile, the trial causes Josey's son Sammy (Thomas Curtis) to learn the truth about his birth and the identity of his biological father. It devastates him.
These sequences bring out the best in the actors: Spacek as Josey's mom finds the courage to stand up to her husband; Jenkins finds the heart to re-evaluate his daughter; and Theron and Curtis find a ways to communicate.
The movie certainly doesn't look like a telefilm. Chris Menges' camera gives the iron mines a rugged masculinity that fits in nicely the film's political themes. Designer Richard Hoover captures the small company town atmosphere in superb location work and his set designs.
NORTH COUNTRY
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. presents in association with Participant Productions a Nick Wechsler production
Credits:
Director: Niki Caro
Writer: Michael Seitzman
Based on the book by: Clara Bingham, Laura Leedy Gansler
Producer: Nick Wechsler
Executive producers: Helen Bartlett, Nana Greenwald, Doug Claybourne, Jeff Skoll
Director of photography: Chris Menges
Production designer: Richard Hoover
Costumes: Cindy Evans
Music: Gustavo Santaolalla
Editor: David Coulson
Cast:
Josey: Charlize Theron
Glory: Frances McDormand
Kyle: Sean Bean
Hank: Richard Jenkins
Bobby: Jeremy Renner
Sherry: Michelle Monaghan
Bill White: Woody Harrelson
Alice: Sissy Spacek
Sammy: Thomas Curtis
Running time -- 127 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
Audiences sometimes do respond to issues-oriented movies. When Sally Field held up that strike sign in "Norma Rae", she even won an Oscar. But the issue of sexual harassment in an iron mine may be a tough sell. Whether the movie wins over any hearts and minds, boxoffice may be modest.
"North Country" is the first American film by director Niki Caro, whose "Whale Rider" became New Zealand's most financially successful movie. This is a thoroughly competent and polished work. But one might have hoped she would tackle something a little more artistically daring than Michael Seitzman's predictable fictitious adaptation of of Clara Bingham and Lura Leedy Gansler's "Class Action: The Landmark Case that Changed Sexual Harassment Law." Despite the presence of movie stars such as Charlize Theron, Frances McDormand, Woody Harrelson and Sissy Spacek, the movie feels like an accomplished telefilm
The world in which the movie takes place is portrayed -- and not without cause -- as one in which men are abusive and women silent victims. This begins right away when Josey Aimes (Theron) escapes a violent husband with her two youngsters. Then she returns to her Northern Minnesota hometown to a glowering father Hank (Richard Jenkins), whom she will never please in a million years. Bars are no escape either as guys make clumsy passes or sneering remarks.
When her old friend Glory (McDormand) suggests she come work with her and a few other women at the mines, Josey immediately seizes the opportunity to bring home enough money to get a house for her and the kids. Glory does warn her about the male miners' rough treatment of women, but she shrugs this off.
Things go from bad to worse. First it's foul language and sex toys in lunch pails. This escalates to sexual come-ons, feces on walls and finally an attack by Bobby Sharp (Jeremy Renner), a guy she used to make out with in school. The only nice guy in sight is Glory's husband, Kyle (Sean Bean). But he's permanently sidelined by a mining accident.
OK, another nice guy does turn up, this being local hockey hero, Bill White (Harrelson). He has returned from New York where, it is implied, the big city and law school have civilized all that North Country redneck behavior. When Josey has finally had enough harassment, it is to Bill she goes to file her lawsuit.
A courtroom scene begins the movie and intermittently Caro and Seitzman cut back to the hearing, making the film one giant flashback. Gradually, the hearing takes over to become the story's focus. Here the corporate boys prove the worst chauvinists of all, playing rougher with Josey than any of her male co-workers would.
But unless you're a lawyer or political activist, the best scenes involve parents and children. Specifically, these concern Josey and her troubled relationship with her dad, and Josey's teenage son, who grows increasingly embarrassed and angry over his mother's notoriety.
Hank, never happy with what he believes are his daughter's loose morals, is humiliated to see her take a job at his very workplace. Meanwhile, the trial causes Josey's son Sammy (Thomas Curtis) to learn the truth about his birth and the identity of his biological father. It devastates him.
These sequences bring out the best in the actors: Spacek as Josey's mom finds the courage to stand up to her husband; Jenkins finds the heart to re-evaluate his daughter; and Theron and Curtis find a ways to communicate.
The movie certainly doesn't look like a telefilm. Chris Menges' camera gives the iron mines a rugged masculinity that fits in nicely the film's political themes. Designer Richard Hoover captures the small company town atmosphere in superb location work and his set designs.
NORTH COUNTRY
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. presents in association with Participant Productions a Nick Wechsler production
Credits:
Director: Niki Caro
Writer: Michael Seitzman
Based on the book by: Clara Bingham, Laura Leedy Gansler
Producer: Nick Wechsler
Executive producers: Helen Bartlett, Nana Greenwald, Doug Claybourne, Jeff Skoll
Director of photography: Chris Menges
Production designer: Richard Hoover
Costumes: Cindy Evans
Music: Gustavo Santaolalla
Editor: David Coulson
Cast:
Josey: Charlize Theron
Glory: Frances McDormand
Kyle: Sean Bean
Hank: Richard Jenkins
Bobby: Jeremy Renner
Sherry: Michelle Monaghan
Bill White: Woody Harrelson
Alice: Sissy Spacek
Sammy: Thomas Curtis
Running time -- 127 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
- 9/14/2005
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
McDormand on 'Class' docket
Frances McDormand and Charlize Theron can't get enough of each other. McDormand is in negotiations to join Theron in the Warner Bros. Pictures drama Class Action. The Oscar winners are currently teamed up on Aeon Flux for MTV/Paramount Pictures. Written by Michael Seitzman, Class Action is a fictionalized account of the first successful sexual harassment prosecution in the United States, Jensen v. Eveleth Mines. Whale Rider helmer Niki Caro is on board to direct. Pending a deal, McDormand would play the role of Glory, a tough but tender iron miner who befriends and mentors Theron's character, Josie, a harassed mine worker who becomes the key plaintiff in the case. Industry Entertainment's Nick Wechsler is producing, with Nana Greenwald, Helen Bartlett and Doug Claybourne serving as executive producers. Courtenay Valenti is overseeing for the studio. McDormand's recent credits include Catwoman, City by the Sea and Something's Gotta Give. She is repped by Endeavor and Frank Frattaroli at Artists Independent Network.
- 7/14/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
McDormand on 'Class' docket
Frances McDormand and Charlize Theron can't get enough of each other. McDormand is in negotiations to join Theron in the Warner Bros. Pictures drama Class Action. The Oscar winners are currently teamed up on Aeon Flux for MTV/Paramount Pictures. Written by Michael Seitzman, Class Action is a fictionalized account of the first successful sexual harassment prosecution in the United States, Jensen v. Eveleth Mines. Whale Rider helmer Niki Caro is on board to direct. Pending a deal, McDormand would play the role of Glory, a tough but tender iron miner who befriends and mentors Theron's character, Josie, a harassed mine worker who becomes the key plaintiff in the case. Industry Entertainment's Nick Wechsler is producing, with Nana Greenwald, Helen Bartlett and Doug Claybourne serving as executive producers. Courtenay Valenti is overseeing for the studio. McDormand's recent credits include Catwoman, City by the Sea and Something's Gotta Give. She is repped by Endeavor and Frank Frattaroli at Artists Independent Network.
- 7/14/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Warners annexes Sorensen's pitch on Sealand strife
Warner Bros. Pictures has picked up a pitch from writer Sean Sorensen about the Principality of Sealand, which bills itself as the smallest country in the world. Industry Entertainment's Nick Wechsler and Robert DiNozzi are producing, with Peter Dowling acting as co-producer. Industry's Nana Greenwald and Sorensen will act as executive producers. Sorensen, a conceptual artist who used to write coverage for Paramount Classics and contributed articles to Flaunt magazine, developed a friendship with the family who founded the principality in the late 1960s. Sealand is an old World War II anti-aircraft platform six miles off the coast of England; entrepreneur and pirate radio pioneer Roy Bates moved his family onto it in 1965, declared its independence in 1967 and began issuing its own currency and passports. Sorensen optioned the rights with money he received as a winning contestant on the Fox game show Greed.
- 10/13/2003
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.