ABOUT THE CREW
Director BARRY SONNENFELD again applies his unique comedic sensibilities to the task of exposing the operations of America's most clandestine bureaucracy in Men in Black II.
Sonnenfeld most recently produced and directed Big Trouble starring Tim Allen and Rene Russo and directed the pilot to the TV series he produced, "The Tick," starring Patrick Warburton.
The filmmaker earned a bachelor of arts degree in political science before pursuing his master of fine arts degree in film studies at New York University. He won a Best Cinematographer Emmy and photographed the Academy Award(r) nominated documentary In Our Water.
Sonnenfeld broke into theatrical features as cinematographer on the Coen Brothers' Blood Simple. He later collaborated with them on Raising Arizona and Miller's Crossing. His other credits as director of photography include Big, Throw Momma from the Train, When Harry Met Sally and Misery.
Since making his feature directorial debut in 1991 with The Addams Family, he has directed such box office hits as Men in Black, Wild, Wild West, Get Shorty, For Love or Money and Addams Family Values, Big Trouble. He also produced Steven Soderbergh's Out of Sight and the caper comedy The Crew with Richard Dreyfuss.
ROBERT GORDON'S previous screenwriting credits include the Hugo and Nebula award winning Galaxy Quest and the romantic comedy Addicted to Love. He holds a Masters in Film from the California Institute of the Arts. Next year Gordon will make his directing debut from his original script, The Fictionals. He lives in Los Angeles.
Writer BARRY FANARO previously scripted the comedy The Crew which Barry Sonnenfeld produced. He also co-wrote the screenplay for the comedy Kingpin directed by the Farrelly Brothers.
Fanaro began his career as a television comedy writer on such shows as "Benson" and "Archie Bunker's Place." He served four years as Executive Producer/ Writer of "The Golden Girls," winning two Emmys and a Writers Guild Award.
Since the release of the original MIB, producers WALTER F. PARKES and LAURIE MACDONALD have been among the industry's most successful producing teams. The original movie earned the duo the ShoWest Producers of the Year award from the National Association of Theatre Owners.
Most recently, Parkes and MacDonald served as executive producers on Gladiator, the Best Picture Academy Award(r)-winning epic blockbuster, winner of five Oscars(r), directed by Ridley Scott and starring Russell Crowe distributed by DreamWorks Pictures and Universal Pictures. The film, which earned more than $440 million at the worldwide box office, also won the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture-Drama, the 'Critics' Choice' Award for Best Picture, as well as Best Film from BAFTA. They also produced the box office hit The Mask of Zorro for Columbia Pictures, starring Antonio Banderas, Anthony Hopkins and Catherine Zeta-Jones.
In addition to their roles as producers, Parkes and MacDonald head the Motion Picture arm of DreamWorks SKG. Together they have overseen development and production of all of DreamWorks' film releases including the Best Picture of 1999, American Beauty, Almost Famous which won the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture-Musical or Comedy, and Steven Spielberg's acclaimed Saving Private Ryan, which was 1998's highest-grossing release.
Upcoming projects that the Parkes-MacDonald team are either producing or executive producing include the DW/Fox co-production of Steven Spielberg's sci-fi thriller Minority Report starring Tom Cruise, Catch Me If You Can starring Leonardo Di Caprio and Tom Hanks, and DreamWorks Pictures' and Warner Bros. Pictures' remake of H.G. Wells' classic The Time Machine.
Parkes, a three-time Academy Award(r) nominee, earned his first nomination as director/producer of the 1978 documentary The California Reich, which exposed neo-Nazi activities in California. He garnered his second Oscar(r) nomination for writing (with Lawrence Lasker) the original screenplay for WarGames, and his third nod for his work as a producer on the Best Picture nominee Awakenings. Parkes' additional credits as an executive producer or producer include Gladiator, A.I., Amistad, Deep Impact, The Peacemaker, Small Soldiers, Sneakers, which he also co-wrote, Volunteers, Project X and True Believer.
MacDonald began her producing career as a documentary and news producer at KRON, the NBC affiliate in San Francisco. She later joined Columbia Pictures, where she served as a Vice President of Production. After four years, she started a production company with her husband Walter F. Parkes. Prior to taking her post at DreamWorks, MacDonald ran Amblin Entertainment with Parkes. MacDonald's additional credits as an executive producer or producer include, Twister, The Peacemaker, Amistad, The Mask of Zorro, and Gladiator.
Co-producer GRAHAM PLACE is teaming with Barry Sonnenfeld for the seventh time in their moviemaking careers.
Place recently produced Sonnenfeld's Big Trouble. They previously teamed on The Addams Family, For Love or Money, Get Shorty, Men in Black and Wild Wild West, as well as the television series "Maximum Bob," and "The Tick."
Place has served as UPM, line producer or co-producer on such films as Nell, Light of Day and the Coen Brothers' Miller's Crossing, Barton Fink and The Hudsucker Proxy.
Director of Photography GREG GARDINER recently worked with Barry Sonnenfeld on Big Trouble. His work will also soon be seen in To End All Wars and Orange County.
Gardiner's other film credits as director of photography include Where's Marlowe?, Homegrown, Somebody is Waiting, and Suture.
For television, he has photographed the Sonnenfeld-directed pilot of the series "The Tick" and the tele-features "Mr. Murder," "The Patron Saint of Liars," "Miracle in the Woods," "The Right to Remain Silent" and "The Sentinel," among others.
Production designer BO WELCH received an Academy Award(r) nomination for his work on Men in Black. He has also earned Oscar(r) nominations for his designs on The Birdcage and A Little Princess.
Welch won the BAFTA Award for Best Production Design for his work on Edward Scissorhands. Among his other film credits are Wild Wild West, Primary Colors, Wolf, Batman Returns, Grand Canyon, Joe Versus the Volcano, Ghostbusters II, The Accidental Tourist, Beetlejuice, The Lost Boys and Swing Shift.
Welch has also directed for television, most recently an episode of the comedy series "The Tick."
Editors STEVEN WEISBERG and RICHARD PEARSON collaborated on editing Men in Black II.
Weisberg most recently edited Big Trouble for Barry Sonnenfeld and also worked with the director on the television series "The Tick." He also edited the critically praised comedy feature Nurse Betty. Among Weisberg's other feature film credits as editor are Message in a Bottle, Permanent Midnight, Great Expectations, The Cable Guy and A Little Princess.
Pearson received an Emmy nomination for his work on the 1998 mini-series, "From the Earth to the Moon." He also did the title design for the acclaimed series. Among his feature credits as editor are The Score, Drowning Mona, Bowfinger and Muppets from Space.
Composer DANNY ELFMAN was nominated for an Academy Award(r) for his score of the original Men in Black and won a Grammy for Best Instrumental Composition for the main theme.
Elfman was also nominated for an Oscar(r) for his score of Good Will Hunting.
The Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films has honored him four times with their Saturn Award for his music on Sleepy Hollow, Men in Black, Mars Attacks! and Nightmare Before Christmas. He was also nominated for his creation of the main title theme music for the popular television series "The Simpsons."
Elfman is currently working on the score for the upcoming film Red Dragon. His other credits include Spider-Man, Planet of the Apes, The Family Man, Proof of Life, A Simple Plan, Dolores Claiborne, The Grammy Nominated Dick Tracy, Edward Scissorhands, The Grammy Award winning Batman, To Die For, Dead Presidents, Sommersby, Batman Returns, Darkman, Beetlejuice, Mission Impossible, and Peewee's Big Adventure.
Costume designer MARY E. VOGT recently worked with director Barry Sonnenfeld on Big Trouble and previously collaborated with him on Men in Black. She currently working on the live action/ cartoon feature Looney Tunes.
Vogt's work will soon be seen in Unconditional Love. Her previous credits include Inspector Gadget, Nick of Time, Drop Zone, Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult, Batman Returns, The Hard Way, Crazy People, Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad, Project X and Stakeout.
Vogt won the 1994 Saturn Award for costume design on Hocus Pocus.
Academy Award(r)-winner RICK BAKER won an Oscar(r) for his makeup effects on Men in Black. It is one of six Oscars(r) he's won - along with an additional four nominations. His other Academy Award winners were An American Werewolf in London, Harry and the Hendersons, Ed Wood, The Nutty Professor and How the Grinch Stole Christmas.
Baker has received Oscar(r) nominations for Best Makeup on Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes, Coming to America, Mighty Joe Young and Life. He is also the recipient of three BAFTA awards and six Saturn awards from the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films.
Baker's creations were most recently featured in Planet of the Apes. Among Baker's other movie credits are Escape from L.A., Batman Forever, Wolf, The Rocketeer, Gorillas in the Mist, Ratboy and The Incredible Shrinking Woman. He also did makeup effects for Michael Jackson's classic "Thriller" video.
Visual Effects Supervisor JOHN ANDREW BERTON, JR. joined Industrial Light & Magic's computer graphics team in 1990 to work on the feature film Terminator 2: Judgement Day. He holds a B.A. degree in Communications and Film from Denison
University, and an M.A. in Art Education/Computer Graphics from Ohio State University. Prior to ILM, Berton created computer animation and electronic music for both commercial and artistic productions including Cranston/Csuri Productions, Ohio Supercomputer Center, Ohio State University and Mental Images GmbH.
His film credits include The Mummy Returns, The Mummy and Deep Rising, Men In Black, Star Wars Trilogy Special Edition, Casper, The Mask, Baby's Day Out, The Flinstones, Jurassic Park, Death Becomes Her and Star Trek VI.
