Cassian Elwes | |
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Born | Cassian Cary Elwes 7 August 1959 London, England |
Occupation(s) | Film producer, talent agent |
Spouse(s) | Priscilla A. Woolworth (m. 1988;div. 2000)Holly Wiersma (m. 2006;div. 2013) |
Children | 2 |
Parent(s) | Dominick Elwes Tessa Kennedy |
Relatives | Damian Elwes (brother) Cary Elwes (brother) |
Cassian Cary Elwes (born 7 August 1959) is a British independent film producer and talent agent.
Cassian Elwes was born on 7 August 1959 in London, England. He is the son of Dominic Elwes, a portrait painter, and Tessa Kennedy, an interior designer. He is the elder brother of actor Cary Elwes and artist Damian Elwes. He is the stepson of Elliott Kastner, an American film producer.
Elwes began his producing career with 1984's Oxford Blues starring Rob Lowe and Ally Sheedy and has enjoyed continuing success in film. His earlier roles include Men at Work with Emilio Estevez and Charlie Sheen, The Chase with Charlie Sheen, Kristy Swanson, and Henry Rollins, and The Dark Backward with Judd Nelson, Bill Paxton, and Rob Lowe. In 1989 he produced the independent film Never on Tuesday which featured a cast of cameos including Charlie Sheen, Emilio Estevez, Judd Nelson, Nicolas Cage, and Cary Elwes.
The Hollywood Reporter has said that Elwes was "involved in a virtual who's who of every great independent film of the last ten years"[ citation needed ] with films such as Thank You for Smoking , Half Nelson , and Frozen River (the last two of which garnered Oscar nominations for Ryan Gosling and Melissa Leo respectively).
"What people lose sight of," Elwes said to Screen International, "is that these films cost a tenth of the films that they competed against at the Academy Awards. The privilege was the recognition."[ citation needed ]
Elwes is an expert in the field of arranging financing and distribution for independent films having done so for 283 films during his tenure at William Morris Independent.
Since leaving William Morris Independent,[ when? ] Elwes has been involved in arranging financing and distribution for 23 films including Lawless , directed by John Hillcoat, ( The Road ), starring Shia LaBeouf and Tom Hardy, and the thriller The Paperboy , directed by Lee Daniels ( Precious ), starring Matthew McConaughey and Zac Efron. Elwes produced the period drama The Butler , which was directed by Lee Daniels and featured an ensemble cast, including Forest Whitaker, Oprah Winfrey, John Cusack, Jane Fonda, Terrence Howard, Vanessa Redgrave, Alan Rickman, Liev Schreiber, and Robin Williams, among others.
Additionally, he produced Dallas Buyers Club starring Matthew McConaughey and Jennifer Garner, Ain't Them Bodies Saints starring Rooney Mara, Casey Affleck and Ben Foster, and Hateship, Loveship starring Kristen Wiig, Guy Pearce, Hailee Steinfeld and Nick Nolte.
On 29 October 2013, Elwes launched the Cassian Elwes Independent Screenwriter Fellowship, in conjunction with The Black List, to award one writer an all-expenses-paid trip to the 2014 Sundance Film Festival and mentorship from Elwes. Elwes and The Black List plan to award the fellowship annually. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
From 1994 to 2009, he co-headed William Morris Independent as an agent at The William Morris Agency, representing independent films and independent film producers; a position he held until the merger of that agency with Endeavor.[ when? ] [6] [7]
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Ivan Simon Cary Elwes is an English actor and writer. He is known for his leading film roles as Westley in The Princess Bride (1987), Robin Hood in Robin Hood: Men in Tights (1993), and Dr. Lawrence Gordon in the Saw film series. Elwes' other performances in films include Glory (1989), Hot Shots! (1991), The Jungle Book (1994), Days of Thunder (1990), Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992), Twister (1996), Kiss the Girls (1997), Liar Liar (1997), Cradle Will Rock (1999), Shadow of the Vampire (2000), The Cat's Meow (2001), Ella Enchanted (2004), The Alphabet Killer (2008), A Christmas Carol (2009), No Strings Attached (2011), and The Hyperions (2022). He has appeared on television in a number of series including The X-Files, Seinfeld, From the Earth to the Moon, Psych, Life in Pieces, Stranger Things, and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.
Emilio Estevez is an American actor and filmmaker.
Judd Asher Nelson is an American actor. He is best known for his roles as John Bender in The Breakfast Club, Alec Newbury in St. Elmo's Fire, Joe Hunt in Billionaire Boys Club, Nick Peretti in New Jack City, Billy Beretti in Empire, and Jack Richmond in the television series Suddenly Susan.
Rated X is a 2000 American television film starring brothers Charlie Sheen and Emilio Estevez, with the latter also directing. Based on the nonfiction book X-Rated by David McCumber, the film chronicles the story of the Mitchell brothers, Jim and Artie, who were pioneers in the pornography and strip club businesses in San Francisco in the 1970s and 1980s. The film focuses on the making of their most profitable film, Behind the Green Door. It also portrays Artie's descent into drug addiction.
Kristen Carroll Wiig is an American actress, comedian, screenwriter, producer, and singer. First breaking through as a performer with the Los Angeles comedy troupe The Groundlings, Wiig achieved nationwide stardom during her seven-season tenure as a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live from 2005 to 2012.
Tiptoes is a 2003 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Matthew Bright, in what is, as of 2023, his last film. The film stars Gary Oldman, Kate Beckinsale, Patricia Arquette and Matthew McConaughey. The film's plot revolves around an average-sized man (McConaughey) who struggles with revealing to his pregnant fiancée (Beckinsale) that his entire family are little people, as he worries that their unborn child may be born with dwarfism. The film attracted controversy for the casting of non-dwarf actor Gary Oldman as a dwarf. Oldman is also 11 years older than McConaughey, despite playing his twin brother.
Lee Daniels is an American film and television producer, director and screenwriter. His first producer credit was Monster's Ball (2001), for which Halle Berry won the Academy Award for Best Actress, making Daniels the first African-American film producer to solely produce an Oscar-winning film. He made his directorial debut with Shadowboxer in 2005 and has since then directed the films Precious (2009), The Paperboy, The Butler (2013) and The United States vs. Billie Holiday (2021). Of these, Precious was the most critically acclaimed, and was nominated for six Academy Awards, including two nominations for Daniels, for Best Director and Best Picture. Other films he has produced include The Woodsman (2004), Tennessee (2008), Pimp (2018) and Concrete Cowboy (2020).
Matthew David McConaughey is an American actor. He had his breakout role with a supporting performance in the coming-of-age comedy Dazed and Confused (1993). After a number of supporting roles, his first success as a leading man came in the legal drama A Time to Kill (1996). His career progressed with lead roles in the science fiction film Contact (1997), the historical drama Amistad (1997), and the war film U-571 (2000).
The Way is a 2010 American-Spanish drama film directed, produced and written by Emilio Estevez and starring Martin Sheen, Deborah Kara Unger, James Nesbitt, and Yorick van Wageningen. In it, Martin Sheen's character walks the Camino de Santiago, a traditional pilgrimage route in France and Spain.
Never on Tuesday is a 1989 American comedy film written and directed by Adam Rifkin. The film was released on VHS video rental by Paramount Home Entertainment in 1989 and was originally slated to be re-released in the United States on DVD format through City Light Entertainment before the company went out of business.
The Paperboy is a 2012 American crime drama film co-written and directed by Lee Daniels and based on Pete Dexter's 1995 novel of the same name. The novel was inspired by a true story. It follows Miami reporter Ward Jansen who returns to his hometown in Florida to investigate a murder case involving a death row inmate. The film stars Matthew McConaughey, Zac Efron, Nicole Kidman, David Oyelowo, John Cusack and Macy Gray.
The Butler is a 2013 American historical drama film directed and co-produced by Lee Daniels and with a screenplay by Danny Strong. It is inspired by Wil Haygood's Washington Post article "A Butler Well Served by This Election".
Reach Me is a 2014 American drama film directed and written by John Herzfeld. The film stars Sylvester Stallone, Kyra Sedgwick, Terry Crews, Thomas Jane, Kevin Connolly, Lauren Cohan, Kelsey Grammer, and Tom Berenger. The film was produced by Rebekah Chaney, Cassian Elwes, Buddy Patrick, John Herzfeld.
Matthew McConaughey is an American actor who made his breakthrough by starring in the Richard Linklater-directed coming of age comedy Dazed and Confused in 1993. His first lead role was in the 1996 film adaptation of the John Grisham novel A Time to Kill. The following year, McConaughey played the lawyer Roger Sherman Baldwin opposite Morgan Freeman and Anthony Hopkins in the Steven Spielberg-directed historical drama Amistad, and also starred opposite Jodie Foster in the Robert Zemeckis-directed science fiction drama Contact. In 1998, he appeared in the Linklater-directed comedy-drama The Newton Boys. During the 2000s, McConaughey was typecast as a romantic comedy lead in the films The Wedding Planner (2001), How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days (2003), Failure to Launch (2006), and Ghosts of Girlfriends Past (2009).
Hateship, Loveship is an American drama film directed by Liza Johnson and written by Mark Poirier, based on the 2001 short story "Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage" by Alice Munro. The film stars Kristen Wiig, Hailee Steinfeld, Guy Pearce, Jennifer Jason Leigh and Nick Nolte. It premiered at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival on September 6, 2013.
Dear White People is a 2014 American satirical dark comedy-drama film written, directed and co-produced by Justin Simien. The film focuses on escalating racial tensions at a fictitious, prestigious Ivy League college from the perspective of several black students. It stars Tyler James Williams, Tessa Thompson, Kyle Gallner, Teyonah Parris, Brandon P. Bell, Brittany Curran, Marque Richardson and Dennis Haysbert.
Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, known collectively as the Daniels, are an American filmmaker duo. They began their career as directors of music videos, including ones for "Houdini" (2012) by Foster the People and "Turn Down for What" (2013) by DJ Snake and Lil Jon, both of which earned them nominations at the Grammy Awards.
The Midnight Man is a 2016 horror film directed by Travis Zariwny and starring Gabrielle Haugh, Lin Shaye and Grayson Gabriel.
Best Sellers is a 2021 comedy-drama film directed by Lina Roessler and written by Anthony Grieco. It stars Michael Caine, Aubrey Plaza, Scott Speedman, Ellen Wong, Veronica Ferres, and Cary Elwes.
A Haunting in Cawdor is a 2015 American horror thriller film written and directed by Phil Wurtzel and starring Cary Elwes.