Based on the incredible true story of one of boxing’s most charismatic and colorful champions, Bleed for This centers on Rhode Island native Vinny Pazienza (Miles Teller), AKA “The Pazmanian Devil.” When a near-fatal car accident leaves him with a broken neck and the prognosis that he may never walk again, Vinny teams with trainer Kevin Rooney (Aaron Eckhart) and stages a triumphant return to the ring. LONG SYNOPSIS After cocky Rhode Island boxer Vinny Pazienza (Miles Teller) takes a brutal beating from Junior Welterweight Champion Roger Mayweather in 1988, fight promoter Lou Duva (Ted Levine) urges him to retire. Instead, Pazienza moves up two weight classes under the guidance of his shrewd, new trainer Kevin Rooney (Aaron Eckhart). Rooney’s radical strategy pays off when Pazienza, 14 pounds heavier, takes down French boxer Gilbert Delé in front of a hometown crowd to become Super Middleweight champion of the world. Pazienza doesn’t have much time to relish the victory, however. Shortly after the bout, a head-on car crash leaves him with a broken neck. Initially told he may never walk again, doctors recommend spinal fusion surgery that would guarantee mobility but effectively end his boxing career. Pazienza chooses the far riskier “halo” spine-stabilization treatment, requiring him to wear a circular metal brace screwed directly into his skull for six months. Recovering in the modest home he shares with his fiercely devoted father Angelo (Ciarán Hinds) and anxious mother Louise (Katey Sagal), Pazienza secretly starts weight training in the basement with the help of a reluctant Rooney, and begins to rebound emotionally as well as
physically. Little over a year after the accident, the man fondly known as “The Pazmanian Devil” returns to the ring to do battle with Super Middleweight Champion Roberto Duran (Edwin Rodriguez) in the biggest fight of his life. Executive produced by Martin Scorsese and based on a true story, Bleed For This artfully blends action, humor and tragedy to portray one of the greatest comebacks in the history of sports. Bleed for Thi s is written and directed by Ben Younger (Boiler Room, Prime). Story is by Ben Younger, Pippa Bianco and Angelo Pizzo. The movie stars Miles Teller (Whiplash, The Spectacular Now), Aaron Eckhart (The Dark Knight, Thank You For Smoking), Katey Sagal (“Sons of Anarchy,” “Married With Children”), Ted Levine (Shutter Island, The Silence of the Lambs) and Ciarán Hinds (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2). Cinematography by Larkin Seiple (Cop Car, Swiss Army Man). Production design is by Kay Lee (Blue Caprice, Julia). Costume designer is Melissa Vargas (In Stereo, Uncertain Terms). Produced by Bruce Cohen, p.g.a., Emma Tillinger Koskoff, Chad A. Verdi, p.g.a., Noah Kraft, Ben Younger and Pamela Thur. Executive producers are Martin Scorsese, Joshua Sason, Michelle Verdi, Myles Nestel and Lisa Wilson.
ABOUT THE PRODUCTION
Bleed for This began as a passion project for Rhode Island-based entrepreneur and producer Chad A. Verdi, who saw nearly every one of Vinny Pazienza’s matches during the boxer’s heyday. “About 10 years after Vinny finished boxing I noticed that the rights to his story came up for sale,” Verdi recalls. “My wife and I thought Vinny’s story would make a great movie so we acquired the rights.” Verdi, who runs East Greenwich, Rhode Island-based Verdi Productions, spent years developing the story before teaming with filmmaker Ben Younger. Best known for writing and directing the taut 2000 financial thriller Boiler Room, Younger says he was initially attracted to the project because of its larger-than-life characters rather than its action elements. “I couldn’t have had less of an interest in boxing,” he says. “I was not a fight fan, I’m not a boxing aficionado and I’d never heard of Vinny Paz.” That all changed after Younger had lunch in Los Angeles with Verdi and producer Noah Kraft. “When Chuck and Noah pitched me Vinny’s story, the idea that somebody was actually able to come back despite those odds — that’s what drew me in,” says Younger. “I kept thinking, there’s no way I would have come back from a broken neck like Vinny did. If it were me, I would have taken the spinal fusion and been grateful I could walk, but Vinny wouldn’t do that. He wouldn’t give up on his dream.” Once Younger signed on to write the screenplay and direct Bleed for This , he began interviewing Vinny, his friends, and his family. “Before I even got into the fight stuff, I just want to talk to people and hear them tell the story in their own words,” Younger explains “Vinny himself is a very compelling character so it was pretty entertaining to hear him tell me what happened.” Although “based-on-a-true-story” Hollywood movies often exaggerate characters to make them seem more dramatically compelling on screen, Younger says he took the opposite approach after viewing a trove of old VHS tapes recorded by Vinny’s family members. “We saw all these great moments — everything from the costumes they wore back then to a family dynamic that was insanely colorful. In fact, I couldn’t portray Vinny’s family as they actually were because the audience wouldn’t believe it. I had to pull back rather than embellish.” Younger’s take on the material won over legendary filmmaker Martin Scorsese, who came on board as executive producer. “Marty really loved Ben’s script and said it’s one of the best he’s ever read,” says Verdi, who’d teamed with Scorsese and his producing partner Emma Tillinger Koskoff on three other projects. “Ben captured Vinny’s character very well in that he’s cocky in the ring or when it pertains to other fighters, but outside the ring, he’s one of the nicest people you ever wanted to meet.”
A Boxing Star is Born In the wake of his critically acclaimed performance as an intense young drum student in Oscar-nominated Whiplash, Miles Teller jumped at the chance to portray Vinny “Paz” Pazienza. For Teller, who initially earned plaudits in the teen-friendly romance The Spectacular Now and plays a key supporting role in the blockbuster Divergent series, Bl eed for This presented the opportunity to portray a more mature character. “I didn’t want to play somebody’s son and I didn’t want to play a student or anything,” Teller explains. “I was looking for a more challenging type of adult role to play.” The actor responded to Younger’s script on multiple levels. “I really fell in love with the story and wanted to explore what it was like to be a 27-year-old Italian-American champion boxer in the ’80s. To me, that’s a cool guy to play. But the thing that really made me want to do this project is the fact it’s such an incredible story about one of the greatest comebacks ever — forget sports — I mean, just in general.” From the outset, Teller knew it was essential that he be able to deliver authentic boxing performances on screen. To that end, he trained with Los Angeles-based Darrell Foster, a former Golden Gloves champion whose previous clients include Sugar Ray Leonard and Will Smith. “I didn’t want to fake box and that was Darrell’s mentality too,” Teller says. “He didn’t want to teach me movie boxing or show me how to throw fake punches. Darrell’s like: ‘By the end of this movie you’ll be able to mess some dude up if he’s talking to your girl.’” Teller landed the role in March 2014 and spent the next eight months getting into fighting shape. “I started working with Darrell and this nutritionist who put me on a regimen where we’d work out once or twice a day, six days a week. I started losing body fat and shocking the body so I’d be ready to do the boxing down the road.” Teller maintained the fitness regime while filming The Fantastic Four and Insurgent, the second installment of the Divergent franchise. “From April to the end of August 2014 I worked out and dieted very intensively,” he says. After promoting Whiplash in September, Teller continued to prepare himself ahead of the late-autumn shoot. “I weighed 188 pounds and was 19 percent body fat when I got the movie,” Teller says. “From there I went to 168 pounds and got my body fat down to six percent. It’s not just about going to the gym and looking jacked. It’s not about wanting to take my shirt off and look cool or anything. These boxing scenes last all day. The first boxing match you see in the movie we filmed for 13 hours pretty much non-stop.” Teller’s pre-production regimen also encompassed an hour and a half of daily dialect coaching, physical therapy for a tight hip, four hours of boxing and two hours of weights. “When people see this movie they’ll have no idea how much work went into it,” the actor says. “For eight months I didn’t have pizza. I didn’t eat a sandwich. I didn’t have any of that stuff. Every hour of my day was dictated for me.”
In case the diet and training regimes weren’t challenging enough, Teller had to wear the cumbersome “Halo” apparatus during the filming of most of the movie’s second act. “The halo hurt my head and I had to wear it all day. It’s such an absurd thing to relate to, trying to imagine having this thing drilled into your head, plus the fact I’m doing a Providence accent in front of people who are from there — Bleed for This had more challenges than anything I’ve ever done before.”
The Real Vinny Paz For Vinny Pazienza, watching his life take shape as a motion picture offered its share of odd moments, but the on-set recreations only underscored the boxer’s truly surreal rehabilitation process. “The craziest thing is that what you see in the movie actually happened to me and I made it out alive,” the former boxer says. “I look back and go ‘What the hell was I thinking, working out with screws in my skull and a broken neck with the screws right on the cusp of touching the muscles that they shouldn’t be touching. The whole thing is a pretty wild.” Bleed for This brings at least partially to fruition a scenario Pazienza envisioned more than 20 years ago. “Once I decided I was going to box again or die trying, I remember thinking, ‘This is gonna make for a great movie one day.’ I saw myself on the set telling Tom Cruise how to act like Vinny Paz.” Pazienza jokes that he only had one quibble with the production during a day when he visited the set. “If I could have changed one thing, it’s the scene where I’m lifting weights in my cellar and Kevin Rooney says ‘Vinny, you’re crazy’ and Miles says, ‘I’m a fighter.’ I would have said, ‘I’m a world champion.’ So I kind of broke in and Ben was like, ‘Vinny, we got this. We do this for a living.’”
Training to be the Trainer Nearly every great boxing story movie features a great trainer, whether it’s Paul Giamatti (Cinderella Man), Sylvester Stallone (Creed) or Burgess Meredith (Rocky.) In Bleed for This, Aaron Eckhart does the honors as Kevin Rooney. Initially making his mark in acclaimed indie films including Thank You for Smoking and In the Company of Men, Eckhart may be best known to audiences for his memorable role as Harvey Dent in The Dark Knight. Eckhart, who normally boasts a full head of hair and lean physique, underwent physical transformations to become nearly unrecognizable as the balding, dissipated trainer who takes Pazienza under his wing. “When you play somebody who was active in the ’80s or ’90s, there’s a lot of tape on them and you can get a lot of information,” Eckhart says “I did a lot of listening and watching to figure out who this guy was. Unfortunately, Kevin’s not well right now so I didn’t spend much time with him but I got to spend time with his son Freddie, who helped me a lot in figuring out what the boxing world at that time was all about.”
Eckhart, who took up boxing as a hobby several years ago, says he loves the sport despite its well-earned reputation for unsavory behavior. “It’s a dirty business. There are a lot of power plays and high stakes. Everybody’s gathered a little bit of knowledge about what happens in the boxing world, and I feel like Vinny’s story fit right in with all of that.” Like all the cast members, Eckhart worked hard to master his character’s East Coast accent. “From an acting standpoint, this movie was challenging because Kevin has a unique voice. He’s from Staten Island so his accent and tone are interesting and I really wanted to get them right.”
The Fightin’ Pazienzas Irish actor Ciarán Hinds took on the role of Vinny’s hard-driving father Angelo after he spoke to director Younger for half an hour via Skype and later read the screenplay. “This is the sort of story you can’t make up because it’s just so incredible,” Hinds says. Arriving in Rhode Island, Hinds quickly learned that Angelo Pazienza made a lasting impression on the working class community in and around Cranston, Rhode Island. “I remember when we went down to St. Mary’s Feast Society, I came into the room and all these ItalianAmericans guys who are in their 70s and 80s now, they all knew Angelo and couldn’t wait to tell me what he was like, how loud he was, how he was like this cock of the walk. I don’t particularly look like Angelo but there’s something about the heart and soul of trying to put a family together in these dramatic circumstances that I really loved.” As fictional father and son, Hinds and Teller forged a tight bond on set, “We created our own dynamic,” Hinds says. “Miles is extraordinary, always bantering, talking, freestyling, just streams of consciousness flying around, whatever he thinks. Some of us actors are slightly quieter so being around Miles was very entertaining.” Angelo’s gruff personality embodied a distrust of outsiders that Hinds could relate to through his Northern Irish upbringing. “I come from Belfast, where you have the same kind of thing that goes on in these Rhode Island towns,” he explains. “They have a certain spirit, just like in Belfast, where there’s this thing of announcing ‘We’re here, you’re there. Who are you? What’s your business?’” In Bleed for This , Angelo heads a tight-knit family including Vinny, his mother Louise (Katey Sagal), his sister Doreen (Amanda Clayton) and her fiancé Jon (Daniel Sauli). As seen in the movie, the clan gathers nightly for dinners brimming with wise cracks and pasta. “We ate a lot of food,” Hind laughs. “There are so many scenes set around a kitchen table filled with all kinds of Italian food. We usually have to eat it on camera just before lunch or just after lunch. Just before lunch is good. Just after lunch, not so much.” To inhabit the low-key Louise, Sagal toned down the brash persona she first made famous in the hit sitcom “Married with Children” and more recently in the edgy cable drama series “Sons of Anarchy.” “Most of the other characters I’ve played lead with their sexuality or with a gun,” she says. “I realized Louise is much softer than that when the producers sent me videotapes of her. I found out she never drove, seldom left the house, never watched Vinny’s fights on TV and wouldn’t even smoke in front of Vinny.”
26 Days in Rhode Island
Younger and his team filmed Bleed for This in Rhode Island over the course of 26 fastpaced days in late 2014. Shooting on location helped producers stretch the film’s relatively slender $6 million budget. “We were able to make what looks like a $20-million-dollar movie thanks to the state of Rhode Island and because of places like the Twin River Casino in Lincoln, where people opened their doors to us,” says the director. The filmmakers captured local atmosphere by filming at the actual venues where Pazienza fought some of his best known matches. “We shot the Gilbert Delé fight at the Civic Center in Providence where it really took place,” says Younger. “That adds a special touch to the film. And for the crowd scenes, everybody was able to dig in the back of their closets and come out to the fights dressed circa 1988, so we got lucky in that way.” Local gyms, strip clubs, hospitals and neighborhoods also contributed to the film’s gritty, working class vibe. “I like shooting movies on location because I believe there are little details that even the best production designer in the world wouldn’t be able to get,” says Younger. “By shooting Bleed for This in Rhode Island, we were able to capture a real sense of authenticity.” Even with the enthusiastic support of Rhode Island locals, Younger needed to maintain an astonishing pace in order to keep the movie on budget. “We’d do two or three takes on scenes where you’d normally do 10 or 12. For the sequence where Vinny gets the halo installed, we did 80 different setups in one day. Our average was 42 setups a day, which is unreal. Fortunately, I had an incredible cast who delivered straight out of the gate.” Although Teller had previously filmed low-budget indies on tight schedules, Bleed for This
proved unprecedented in its efficiency. “It felt like we were shooting really fast because of all the different location changes and the halo, the hair and makeup,” Teller recalls. “Our DP Larkin Seiple set up so quickly I never got even 10 minutes between scenes to think about what I was gonna do. That was a huge challenge.”
Recreating the ’80s
Younger credits Bleed for This makeup supervisor Liz Bernstrom, hair supervisor Frank Barbosa, costume designer Melissa Vargas and production designer Kay Lee with evoking the film’s late-’80s-through-early-’90s period with pitch-perfect accuracy. “Those four people did a fantastic job of recreating the time,” he says. “Melissa recreated the exact same boxing trunks worn by the fighters, and in the fight scenes, you see the actual robes worn by Delé and Duran and Mayweather. We tried to include all these little details to make the story feel as authentic as possible.” Teller thoroughly enjoyed the flamboyant retro outfits the costume designer came up with for him. “Melissa did a phenomenal job,” he says. “I remember when I first got there and she just had an entire table full of sunglasses and rings and necklaces. Vinny is Italian and he’s a boxer and he’s flashy, so I love my whole wardrobe. The denim, the Pazmanian Devil jacket, the fanny pack was a nice touch and even my mullet haircut is pretty sweet. Everything felt authentically ’80s without trying to shove it in your face.” Some cast members invested so deeply in the period look of their characters that they offered to buy their own wigs. “Each one of our actors did their own research and had their own idea of what their character should look like,” says producer Pamela Thur. “We hadn’t really figured out yet what we could afford in terms of wigs when the actors started calling me saying they would pay for the wigs themselves or split the cost with me. They had to do it. One day I told Ben, ‘When an actor is that committed, you really can’t say no.’”
The Ultimate Comeback An underdog saga of uncommon grit, Bleed for This alternates thrilling fight sequences with the day-to-day struggles of a small-town hero fighting against big odds to keep his dream. True to form, Pazienza, the winner of five championship titles, pulls no punches when describing his ambitions for the movie. “This is the real Rocky,” he says. “This story ain’t made up. It’s no joke. It’s all real. I think Bleed for This is going to give people a lot of faith. It’s hard to believe that people are going to look up to little old me from Cranston, Rhode Island, because of this movie. After it comes out, I’ll die happy for sure.” Bleed for This succeeds as both pure entertainment and a profoundly moving case study in resilience. “I don’t mean to sound sentimental but I really believe this story is worth telling because it can instill hope in people,” says Younger. Adds producer Bruce Cohen, “It’s always a challenge when you make a movie based on a true story to keep it authentic but also make it work as a movie with a beginning, a middle and an end. I think Ben did a brilliant job of achieving that in a way that will really resonate with audiences.” Producer Emma Tillinger Koskoff wholeheartedly concurs with Cohen’s sentiments, adding, “I am continuously amazed at the versatility of Bleed For This . It has the tenacity of a sports movie, the humor of a comedy, and the sentiment of a drama. The authenticity that Miles Teller, Aaron Eckhart, and the rest of the remarkable cast were able to bring to their roles goes unparalleled. And to be able to make such a complex film, Ben Younger is nothing short of brilliant. I feel incredibly lucky to have been a part of the creation of this film. I’m so proud of Bleed For This and the strides taken by all those involved.”
After spending more than a decade steering the Vinnie Paz story to the big screen, producer Chad Verdi sees Bleed for This as a character-driven action piece in the best boxing-movie tradition. “We’ve got Miles Teller, one of the hottest actors in Hollywood right now, crushing it in this movie along with Ciarán and Aaron and Katey,” he says. “But more than anything, I believe audiences are going to love Bleed for This because it’s about the greatest comeback in sports history.”
THE CAST
Miles Teller (Vinny Pazienza)
Teller had the distinct honor and privilege of making his feature screen debut opposite Nicole Kidman in the film based on the Pulitzer Prize winning play Rabbit Hole.
In this tragic family drama, directed by John Cameron Mitchell, Teller played Jason Willette, a bit of a loner teen who escapes into a world of comic books and science fiction. Teller was born in Downingtown, Pennsylvania and at the age of 11 moved to Citrus County, FL. Teller was first cast in Paramount’s film Footloose that was released in October 2011. He was also seen in Todd Phillips Project X that year. In 2013, he starred in 21 & Over, written and directed by Jon Lucas and Scott Moore. That year, he began reaching critical success after starring in the James Ponsoldt film, The Spectacular Now, for which he won the Dramatic Special Jury Award for Acting at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival, with co-star Shaliene Woodley. In 2014, he co-starred in the comedy That Awkward Moment, alongside Zac Efron and Michael B. Jordan, appeared in the science fiction film Divergent opposite Shailene Woodley. In the fall of 2014 he starred opposite JK Simmons in the Sony Pictures Classics critically acclaimed and Oscar nominated drama Whiplash, which received the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award at Sundance and the Deauville Film Festival and also landed Teller a Best Actor nomination for the 2014 Gotham Awards. Teller will next be seen in Warner Brothers film War Dogs starring along-side Jonah Hill with Todd Phillips directing which will be released August 19, 2016. Following War Dogs he will be seen in the Scorsese produced film Bleed For This that reunited him with his Rabbit Hole costar, Aaron Eckhart and is the inspirational true story of World Champion Boxer Vinny Pazienza, who after a near fatal car crash which left him not knowing if he’d ever walk again made one of sports most incredible comebacks. Teller recently wrapped the Steven Spielberg produced film Thank You for your Service and is currently filming Granite Mountain with Josh Brolin and Jeff Bridges which is based on the real-life Granite Mountain Hotshots, a firefighting squad that grew, against all odds, to become an elite group of wildland firefighters that courageously battled one of the worst wildfires in history — the Yarnell Hill Fire — to save an Arizona town. Teller now makes his home in Los Angeles.
Aaron Eckhart (Kevin Rooney), with numerous credits to his name, is positioned among the industry’s finest. He has earned considerable acclaim for his roles, including the love interest of Julia Roberts in Erin Brockovich for director Stephen Soderbergh. However, it was his portrayal of a love-scorned, vengeful man in Neil LaBute’s controversial film, In the Company of Men, which first drew him critical attention. Notably, this incendiary film became one of the highest grossing independent films of the year. Eckhart earned both a Golden Globe and Independent Spirit Award nomination for his starring role in Jason Reitman’s directorial debut Thank You for Smoking for Fox Searchlight. Recent film credits include costarring opposite Johnny Depp in The Rum Diary, the Sci-fi action film Battle: Los Angeles, Rabbit Hole, opposite Nicole Kidman, and director Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight as Harvey Dent/Two Face. Originally from Northern California, Eckhart studied theatre and film at Brigham Young University, where he met and appeared in many of Neil LaBute’s plays. In addition to In the Company of Men , he has starred in three other LaBute films including Possesion with Gwyneth Paltrow, Nurse Betty opposite Renee Zellweger, and Your Friends and Neighbors with Ben Stiller and Katherine Keener. Eckhart’s other film credits include Sean Penn’s The Pledge opposite Jack Nicholson, the romantic dramedy Love Happens opposite Jennifer Aniston, Oliver Stone’s Any Given Sunday the indie film Meet Bill and Molly opposite Elisabeth Shue. He starred in the Alan Ball drama Towelhead, No Reservations , opposite Catherine Zeta-Jones, John Woo’s adaptation of Phillip K. Dick’s short story Paycheck opposite Ben Affleck and Uma Thurman, Ron Howard’s The Missing opposite Tommy Lee Jones and Cate Blanchett, The Core, opposite Hilary Swank, Brian De Palma’s The Black Dahlia, Conversations with Other Women opposite Helena Bonham Carter; Olympus Has Fallen opposite Gerard Butler; Radius-Weinstein Company’s Expatriate and Lionsgate’s 3D IMAX action thriller I, Frankenstein as Bill Nighy. His theater credits include Michael Cristofer’s Amazing Grac e opposite Marsha Mason. Eckhart was most recently seen starring in My All American as legendary University of Texas coach Darrell Royal opposite Finn Wittrock; and in London Has Fallen opposite Gerard Butler. His upcoming credits include Bleed For This opposite Miles Teller in which he portrays boxing trainer Kevin Rooney; and Sully the story of American pilot Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger, who heroically landed a troubled aircraft full of passengers on the Hudson River. The film is being directed by Clint Eastwood and Eckhart co-stars opposite Tom Hanks. Eckhart resides in Los Angeles.
Katey Sagal (Louise Pazienza), Golden Globe Award winning actress, has entertained audiences in a variety of dramatic and comedic roles throughout her notable career. Most recently, Sagal wrapped production for the biopic, Bleed for This, about the incredible comeback of World Champion Boxer, Vinny Pazienza, after a near fatal car crash. The film is executive produced by Martin Scorsese and stars Miles Teller. “Bleed for This” is set to be released November 4, 2016 by Open Road Films in the U.S. and by Sony Pictures Worldwide.
In 2017, Sagal will star as ‘Vivian Pressman,’ Kellerman’s “Bungalow Bunny,” in ABC’s three-hour filmed musical, which is an adaptation of the beloved 1987 hit romantic drama Dirty Dancing. Sagal joins a cast that also includes Abigail Breslin, Colt Prattes, Sarah Hyland, Bruce Greenwood, Nicole Scherzinger, Shane Harper and Debra Messing. On September 15, 2015, FX premiered Kurt Sutter’s follow up to his critically acclaimed drama series Sons of Anarchy with a new series, The Bastard Executioner. Sagal starred as ‘Annora of the Alders’ in the new historical drama and is amongst an extraordinary cast—Stephen Moyer, Sam Spruell and newcomer Lee Jones. The Bastard Executioner tells the story of a warrior knight (Lee Jones) in King Edward I’s charge who is broken by the ravages of war and vows to lay down his sword. But when that violence finds him again he is forced to pick up the bloodiest sword of all. In the fall of 2015, Sagal completed the final season of FX’s hit drama Sons of Anarchy, of which she portrayed ‘Gemma Teller.’ Sons of Anarchy was a gritty, one-hour drama about a notorious outlaw motorcycle club in Northern California who fought to protect their small town from drug dealers and local corporate developers. Sagal won her first Golden Globe, “Best Performance by Actress in a Television Series – Drama,” for her portrayal of the maternal matriarch in 2010. She has also been nominated two years in a row by the Broadcast Television Critics as “Best Actress in a Drama Series.” Its seven-year run has proven to be the most successful episodic series in the history of the network. Sagal was seen in the sequel to Pitch Perfect, produced and directed by Elizabeth Banks. She played the mother of newest cast member, Hailee Steinfeld‘s character. Pitch Perfect 2 returns with the original cast including, Anna Kendrick, Rebel Wilson, Brittany Snow, and Adam DeVine. The film was released on May 15, 2015. Prior to her success on Sons of Anarchy, Sagal starred in the ABC series 8 Simple Rules… alongside the late John Ritter and was the featured voice of ‘Leela,’ a beautiful one-eyed alien, in the Comedy Central animated series Futurama. Sagal has had roles in the independent films I’m Reed Fish and the tele-film 3 Wise Guys. She also recurred as ‘Helen’ on the ABC television phenomenon Lost and ‘Nancy Gilroy’ on FX’s The Shield. In addition to her acting, Sagal is a critically acclaimed singer and songwriter. Sagal was a ‘Harlette’ with Bette Midler for three years as well as a background singer for Bob Dylan, Olivia Newton-John, Etta James and Tanya Tucker. Her album, Covered, was released on November 11, 2013 with her cover of the Tom Petty song, “Free Fallin,’” as the first single. With the support of record label Valley Entertainment, Sagal released her album, Room, in 2004. Room was the first record for Sagal since her 1994 debut, Well. Room was a combination of original songs penned by Sagal including “Life Goes Round”, “Daddy’s Girl” and “Wish I Were a Kid” and memorable classics like “Feel a Whole Lot Better” and “(For the Love of) Money”. The first single was “Daddy’s Girl”, a touching song about the long-lasting relationship between a daughter and her father. She debuted the song on the March 2, 2004 episode of “8 Simple Rules…”. Room was produced by Bob Thiele (Bonnie Raitt) and mixed by Ray Kennedy (Twangtrust/Steve Earle). Ivan Neville, Don Was and Shane Fontayne make appearances throughout the disc. Sagal gained national attention for her role as the outrageous ‘Peg Bundy’ in the groundbreaking, highly-rated long-running series Married with Children, for which she earned three Golden Globe and two American Comedy Award nominations. In her first job on television, Sagal joined Mary Tyler Moore in the television series Mary and has starred in the television movies Smart House and Mr. Headmistress (both for “Wonderful World of Disney”), as well as Chance of a Lifetime, Trail of Tears and She Says She’s Innocent. She has also starred in the feature films Love Stinks, Mail Order, The Good Mother, and the 2000 Sundance Film Festival favorite Dropping Out. Sagal currently resides in Los Angeles, California with her husband, Kurt Sutter and her three children, Sarah, Jackson, and Esmé.
Ciarán Hinds (Angelo Pazienza) began his career at The Glasgow Citizens Theatre and was a member of the company for many years. In Ireland he has worked at the Lyric Theatre Belfast, the Druid Theatre in Galway and at the Project. Most recently he appeared on Broadway in Ivo Van Hove’s production of The Crucinle. Previously to this he appeared at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin in Mark O’Rowe’s new play, Our Few and Evil Days, at the Donmar and in New York in Connor McPherson’s The Night Alive, on Broadway as Big Daddy in Cat On a Hot Tin Roof and at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin, in a co-production with the Royal National Theatre of Juno & The Paycock by Sean O’Casey, directed by Howard Davies. For the Gate Theatre he appeared in Conor McPherson’s The Birds, The Field Day Company’s version of Antigone, The School for Wives, and Brian Friel’s The Yalta Game. He toured internationally with Peter Brook’s Company in The Mahabharata and has played leading roles at the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Royal Court, the Donmar Warehouse and the National Theatre, where he last appeared in Burnt by the Sun and played “Larry” in Patrick Marber’s Closer, which transferred to Broadway. He also performed on Broadway in Conor McPherson’s The Sea Farer. On television he recently appeared as “Mance Rayder” in Game of Thrones. Previous to this he appeared as “Bud Hammond” in Political Animals, DCI, “Langton” in Linda La Plante’s Above Suspicion and as “Julius Caesar” in the BBC/HBO co-production of Rome. This follows extensive television credits including leading roles in The Mayor of Casterbridge, Jane Eyre, Seaforth, Ivanhoe, Sherlock Holmes, Prime Suspect 3 and the award-winning film of Jane Austen’s Persuasion, in which he played “Captain Wentworth”.
Extensive Film credits include Peter Greenaway’s The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover, December Bride, Circle of Friends, Titanic Town, Some Mother’s Son, Oscar and Lucinda, The Lost Son, The Weight of Water, and Mary Reilly, The Road to Perdition for Sam Mendes, The Sum of All Fear, Jonjo Mickybo, Calendar Girls, Lara Croft: The Cradle of Life, The Statement, Veronica Guerin and The Phantom of the Opera both for Joel Schumacher, Miami Vice for Michael Mann and Munich for Steven Spielberg. Amazing Grace for Michael Apted, Nativity for Catherine Hardwicke, Hallom Foe, A Tiger’s Tail, Excalibur for John Boorman, Margot at the Wedding for Noah Baumbach, There Will Be Blood for Paul Thomas Anderson, Stop Loss for Kimberly Pearce, In Bruges for Martin McDonagh, The Tale of Desperaux, Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day, Cash, Race to Witch Mountain, Conor McPherson’s The Eclipse for which he won Best Actor at the Tribeca Film, Life During Wartime, The Debt, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows, John Carter of Mars, Salvation Boulevard, The Rite, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengence, The Woman in Black, Closed Circuit, The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby, The Sea, Frozen, Last Days in the Desert, Agent 47, and Driftless Area.
Ted Levine (Lou Duva) most recently starred with Diane Kruger and Demian Bichir in the F/X Network crime thriller, The Bridge. Adapted by Meredith Stiehm from the Scandinavian series I Bron, Levine played ‘Lt. Frank Wade,’ a lieutenant at the El Paso Police Department who is a veteran cop with a cowboy swagger and a mentor and protector to Kruger’s character. Prior to The Bridge, Levine starred opposite Tony Shalhoub in the USA Network original series Monk. Ted portrayed ‘Captain Leland Stottlemeyer’ for eight critically acclaimed seasons which continue on in syndication. Levine has starred opposite John Hawkes and Chloe Sevigny in the independent pilot Dr. Del, written by John Sayles and directed by Katie Jacobs who also executive produced the project with Nick Wechsler. The potential series revolves around Dr. Del Canyon who reluctantly returns to his small hometown to run his family’s apothecary, the only source for medical attention for hundreds of miles. Ted stars as ‘Tanner Doggerty,’ the town’s mayor. The project is currently in consideration for a series pickup.
Ted has also joined the Season 4 cast of Showtime drama series Ray Donovan in the recurring role of ‘Little Bill Primm,’ the proud owner of a casino in Primm, NV. The new season will premiere on Sunday, June 26. Levine will next be seen in the feature film Bleed for This for director Ben Younger and executive producer Martin Scorsese. In the film, which stars Miles Teller as five-time world champion boxer ‘Vinny Paz,’ Ted will portray ‘Lou Duva,’ Vinny’s boxing manager. Levine has also completed the independent feature Bottom of the World for director Richard Sears. In the thriller, Ted stars as a sinister preacher opposite Jena Malone and Douglas Smith, taunting Smith’s character as he searches for his missing girlfriend. Other recent projects
include a recurring role on the Amazon thriller-comedy Mad Dogs executive produced by Shawn Ryan, and the IFC Network comedy miniseries, The Spoils Before Dying with Kristen Wiig and Will Ferrell. Ted was recently seen in the feature film Big Game, directed by Jalmari Helander, about a teenager camping in the woods who helps rescue the President of the United States when Air Force One is shot down. Ted stars as ‘General Underwood’ alongside Jim Broadbent, Samuel L. Jackson, and Felicity Huffman. Additionally, Ted starred in the independent film The Banshee Chapter for director Blair Erickson and Zachary Quinto’s production banner, Before the Door Pictures, Little Boy opposite Emily Watson and Tom Wilkinson, A Single Shot with Sam Rockwell, Jeffrey Wright and Melissa Leo, Gutshot Straight opposite Stephen Lang, Deep Dark Canyon with Justine Bateman and Matthew Lillard, and the independent features Dig Two Graves with newcomer Sami Isler, and Child of Grace with Maggie Elizabeth Jones.
Levine’s extensive film credits include starring opposite Brad Pitt in the Warner Bros. feature, The Assassination of Jesse James, Universal’s American Gangster for director Ridley Scott, in which he stars opposite Russell Crowe and Denzel Washington and Shutter Island with Leonardo DiCaprio for director Martin Scorsese. Additionally he has starred in Wonderland with Val Kilmer and Kate Bosworth, Ironweed with Jack Nicholson and Meryl Streep, Betrayed with Debra Winger and Tom Berenger, Heat with Al Pacino and Robert De Niro, Georgia with Jennifer Jason Leigh and Mare Winningham, Bullet with Mickey Rourke, Wild, Wild West with Will Smith and Kevin Kline; Ivan Reitman’s Evolution with David Duchovny and Julianne Moore, The Fast and the Furious with Vin Diesel and Michelle Rodriguez, Jonathan Demme’s thriller The Truth About Charlie with Mark Wahlberg and Thandie Newton, Jonathan Demme’s The Manchurian Candidate with Denzel Washington and Meryl Streep, Birth opposite Nicole Kidman, the critically acclaimed Memoirs of a Geisha, Wes Craven’s The Hills Have Eyes and one of his most intriguing roles, as the serial killer ‘Jame Gumb’ in the classic thriller The Silence of the Lambs.
TV appearances include a recurring role on David Milch and Michael Mann’s HBO series Luck with Dustin Hoffman, and a memorable guest starring role in the first episode of AMC’s series Hell on Wheels . Other television credits include Harlan County War, the USA Network miniseries Moby Dick, Tom Hanks’ From The Earth to the Moon for HBO, The Last Outlaw, Broken Promises, Death Train, Dead and Alive, Out of Season, The Fulfillment of Mary Gray, and Two Father’s Justice. Prior to joining the cast of Monk, Levine starred in the critically acclaimed ABC television series Wonderland, and earlier appeared in Michael Mann’s NBC series, Crime Story.
Levine left Marlboro College in Vermont to pursue the stage, joining the Burlington (VT) Shakespeare Festival. He later toured as ‘Sgt. Toomey’ in the national company of Biloxi Blues. Dedication to theatre led Levine to turn to directing as well as acting and he established the Dratman Theatre Company in Ann Arbor, Michigan, before moving to Chicago to join first The Remains Ensemble and later the famed Steppenwolf Theatre Company. His numerous stage credits include Sam Shepard’s Buried Child directed by Gary Sinise, Your Home in the West, El Salvador and Killers, at the Steppenwolf Theatre Co.; Life and Limb, for the Wisdon Bridge Theatre; and 70 Scenes of Halloween, Time of Your Life, A Class D Trial in Yokohama and The Tooth of the Game, for the Remains Theatre.
ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS
Ben Younger (Director, Story By, Screenplay By) is an accomplished filmmaker who seeks to tell stories that are grounded in authenticity—creating personal, immediate, and intimate films that exist at the intersection of the arthouse and commercial. Most recently, Younger wrote and directed the upcoming film Bleed For This, taking an almost journalistic approach to the true comeback story of Rhode Island boxer Vinny “Paz” Pazienza, who returned to the boxing ring 13 months after a near fatal car accident broke his neck. Starring Miles Teller, Aaron Eckhart, and Katey Sagal and produced by Academy-Award winners Martin Scorsese and Bruce Cohen, the film will be released by Open Road Films in November 2016. Previously, Younger wrote and directed the romantic comedy Prime for Universal, starring Meryl Streep, Uma Thurman, and Bryan Greenberg. In 2000, he made his debut as a filmmaker with the Ben Affleck and Giovanni Ribisi-starrer Boiler Room. The oft-quoted crime drama, tracking the high-stakes, masculine, and sometimes illegal world of investment banking, was based on two years’ worth of interviews with brokers. The film was released by New Line Cinema to critical acclaim. Eschewing Hollywood for the homegrown, Younger has spent his breaks between films transforming from wunderkind to Renaissance man. A true multi-hyphenate, Younger was a chef in Costa Rica and is also a licensed pilot and professional motorcycle racer. His polymathic passion for the latter has inspired his next film, Isle Of Man, a motorcycle racing drama set at the titular course’s TT races—the most dangerous and deadly in the world—that is currently in pre-production and set to shoot in 2017. Prior to his work as a filmmaker, Younger originally toiled in politics, serving under the New York City Comptroller’s office. He became the youngest campaign manager ever while working on the State Assembly campaign for Melinda Katz at the age of 21, before eventually shifting to a more creative outlet with film. Younger currently lives in Brooklyn, NY.
Bruce Cohen, P.G.A. (Producer) is an Academy Award-winning producer of film, television, and theater. Cohen won the Best Picture Academy Award for producing American Beauty (1999) along with Dan Jinks. He earned additional Best Picture nominations for Milk (2008) and Silver Linings Playbook (2012) and is executive producing When We Rise, an 8 hour mini-series on the LGBT rights movement from 1972 to today, created and written by Dustin Lance Black, for broadcast on ABC in 2017. Among the other films Bruce has produced is Big Fish, directed by Tim Burton. Bruce was a lead producer of the stage musical version of Big Fish on Broadway in 2013. In television, Cohen executive produced the ABC series Pushing Daisies, the CBS special Movies Rock, was nominated for an Emmy in 2011 for producing the 83rd Annual Academy Awards and executive produced the Thanksgiving special Broadway at the White House for TLC in 2015. Cohen is a member of the Academy, the Director’s Guild of America and the Producer’s Guild of America, having served two terms as vice president of motion pictures. He served as president of the Board of Directors of the American Foundation for Equal Rights, the group behind the successful Supreme Court case to have California’s Proposition 8 declared unconstitutional as featured in the Emmy-nominated HBO documentary The Case Against 8. He is married to Gabe Catone and they have a five year old daughter.
Emma Tillinger Koskoff (Producer) is President of Production for Sikelia Productions, working alongside Academy Award winning director Martin Scorsese on all aspects of his film and television projects. Koskoff began her career in the film industry assisting director/producer Ted Demme. While with Demme, she worked on the critically acclaimed film Blow, starring Johnny Depp and Penelope Cruz and also assisted on the Emmy nominated documentary, A Decade Under the Influence. In 2003, Koskoff became Martin Scorsese’s executive assistant, serving in that capacity for three years. During this period, she assisted on The Blues, The Aviator and No Direction Home: Bob Dylan. Scorsese named Koskoff President of Production in 2006. She then associate produced alongside film producers Graham King and Brad Grey, Scorsese’s The Departed. The film, which received four Academy Awards including the Oscar for Best Director and Best Motion Picture of the Year, stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon and Jack Nicholson. Following the excitement of The Departed, Koskoff co-produced the Rolling Stones concert film, Shine a Light, starring Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Charlie Watts and Ronnie Wood; directed by Scorsese. She also associate produced the Oscar-nominated documentary The Betrayal – Nerakhoon, directed by Ellen Kuras. In 2008, Koskoff co-produced what would become Scorsese’s most successful box office film – the psychological thriller Shutter Island. The film stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo, Ben Kingsley, Michelle Williams, Patricia Clarkson and Max von Sydow, and was produced by Mike Medavoy, Brad Fischer and Scorsese. A Letter to Elia, the 2010 Scorsese-directed, Koskoff-produced documentary about filmmaker Elia Kazan, triumphed when winning the reputable Peabody Award. Additionally, she was executive producer for Scorsese’s other recent documentaries – Public Speaking on the writer Fran Lebowitz, and George Harrison: Living in the Material World, for which she won an Emmy Award in 2011. Named executive producer on Scorsese’s 2011 Oscar winning film, Hugo, she then went on to produce the highly anticipated, The Wolf of Wall Street. The Scorsese-directed film, which opened to worldwide critical acclaim, stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Jonah Hill. Ms. Koskoff was recognized for her contributions by receiving her first Academy Award, Golden Globe, and Producers Guild Award nominations. Current productions with Scorsese at the helm are Vinyl, HBO’s 1970’s rock and roll television series, and the long awaited film, Silence, which Koskoff served as executive producer and producer, respectively. Currently in post-production is a documentary about the Grateful Dead to be directed by Amir Bar-Lev, which Scorsese and Koskoff will executive produce.
Chad A. Verdi, P.G.A. (Producer) acquired his first business, a RI television listing newspaper called TV Facts that is still in publication today, at the early age of 18 years old. By the age of 21 Verdi acquired several other businesses in the food service sector throughout RI. By age 30, Verdi owned, co-owned or had investments in over a dozen businesses that ranged from food and toy manufacturing to restaurants and hi-tech developments in the biotechnology field. Over the last 13 years, Mr. Verdi has been involved in over 1.2 billion dollars in business mergers, reverse mergers, start-ups and acquisitions and currently owns, co-owns or has investments in more than two dozen businesses in diversified industries with more than 1000 local employees and sales of more than $100 million nationwide. Entering the film industry in 2007 to persue his passion to tell the story of boxer Vinny Pazienza, he has since produced a dozen feature films, including partnering with Martin Scorsese on the upcoming film Silence and the documentary The 50 Year Argument, and producing the Pazienza story as the upcoming film Bleed For This.
Noah Kraft (Producer) as the CEO and Co-Founder of Doppler Labs, is on a mission to change the way we hear the world. Securing over $40M in funding, in the past three years, Kraft has brought to market two products, DUBS Acoustic Filters and Here Active Listening. He was recently named one of Inc.’s 30 Under 30, while his company and products have been awarded accolades across industries—winning SXSW Interactive’s Best of Show, named one of TIME Magazine’s Best Inventions of the Year and Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies, as well as and Digital Trends’ Top Tech of CES 2016. Prior to Doppler Labs, Kraft was a partner and the COO of Verdi Productions where he helped develop and produce a slate of films including “Bleed for This.” In addition, Kraft served as a strategic consultant to Google and to 300 Entertainment. He received his B.A., studying International Relations and History from Brown University in 2009 and currently resides in San Francisco.
Pamela Thur (Producer) recently produced Michael Mailer’s Blind, which stars Alec Baldwin and Demi Moore. Her other producing credits include the 2016 Miles Teller boxing epic, Bleed For This, and the recently released Bad Hurt. She Line Produced the acclaimed Director Wong Kar Wei’s My Blueberry Nights, and she is currently producing Bahman Ghobadi’s first American film alongside producing partners Emma Tillinger Koskoff and Chad Verdi. Pamela’s screenplay debut, The Breakup Artist, co-written with Vincent Rubino, won the Audience Award at The Hampton International Film Festival and Garden State Film Festival and the Jury Award for best screenplay at The Newport Beach Film Festival. She collaborated with Norman Mailer and Michael Mailer on a boxing script entitled, Ringside. An English Literature Major and Psychology minor, Pamela Graduated from SUNY Albany Phi Beta Kappa, Suma Cum Laude. She moved to New York City in 1987 and worked on classic hits such as Big, Working Girl, Awakenings, Die Hard with a Vengeance, Mona Lisa Smile, Across The Universe and Rent. In 2007 Pamela was certified as a Life coach. She is currently balancing a career in the film business while also getting a Masters Degree in Marriage and Family Therapy. She is working on her first novel, and is the mother of two beautiful daughters.
Pippa Bianco (Story By) Pippa Bianco studied at Yale University, where she received the Lamar Film Studies Prize and Pearson American Studies Prize before moving to New York to make films. In 2015, her short film Share screened at the Telluride Film Festival, won a jury prize at SXSW 2015, and won Cinéfondation’s First Prize at the Cannes Film Festival. Her recent work also includes a commission for LACMA scored by Nico Jaar, and a writing credit on Bleed for This, a forthcoming boxing biopic starring Miles Teller, produced by Bruce Cohen and executive produced by Martin Scorsese. Pippa will next make her feature directorial debut with her adaptation of her short film, Share – a project that went through the 2016 Sundance Writers and Directors Labs.
Angelo Pizzo (Story By) bio forthcoming
Martin Scorsese (Executive Producer) is an Academy Award-winning Director and one of the most prominent and influential filmmakers. He has directed critically acclaimed, awardwinning films including Mean Streets, Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, The Last Temptation of Christ, Goodfellas, Gangs of New York, The Aviator, The Departed (Academy Award for Best Director and Best Picture), Shutter Island, Hugo (Golden Globe for Best Director) and Wolf of Wall Street (DGA, BAFTA and Academy Award nominations for Best Director, as well as a Golden Globe and Academy Award nomination for Best Film). Scorsese has also directed numerous documentaries including No Direction Home: Bob Dylan and Elia Kazan: A Letter to Elia (both which have won the reputable Peabody Award); Italianamerican; A Personal Journey with Martin Scorsese through American Movies; Il Mio Viaggio in Italia; Public Speaking; George Harrison: Living in the Material World (2 Emmy Awards in 2012 for Outstanding Directing for Nonfiction Programming and Outstanding Nonfiction Special); and The 50 Year Argument. Scorsese served as Executive Producer on HBO’s hit series Boardwalk Empire and in 2011, won an Emmy and DGA Award for directing the pilot episode of the series. In 2016, he served as Executive Producer on Vinyl for HBO. He is currently in post-production with Sikelia Productions on his next feature film Silence. In 2015, Scorsese was selected as the Prix Lumiere honoree at the Lumiere Film Festival. Currently, he is the subject of a vast CONTINUING exhibition curated by the Deutsche Kinemathek which has made stops at film museums around the world including the Cinematheque Francaise. He is also the founder and chair of The Film Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation and protection of motion picture history.
Joshua Sason (Executive Producer) is a serial entrepreneur, investor, artist and producer with a passion for building and creating.
He founded Magna in 2009 out of his bedroom and has quickly grown it into a leading worldwide entrepreneurial and investment brand with three divisions, holdings on six continents and over fifty employees in its New York and Sydney offices. Today, Magna is recognized as one of the most creative, tactical firms in the world, creating disruptive companies and investing across the worldwide public and private markets and the entertainment industry. In addition, Josh founded the construction company, Sason Builders, and the talent acquisition technology company, Mainz, both of which continue to thrive and operate as portfolio companies within Magna’s Ventures division. As a producer, he’s financed several feature films and one feature documentary through Magna Entertainment; including HBO’s The 50 Year Argument, and his latest, Bleed for This, both in partnership with film legend Martin Scorsese. He continues to actively write and produce music through Magna Entertainment’s interests as well. Josh is involved in various philanthropic causes related to music, sport and entrepeneurship including: The Grammy’s, Defy Ventures, Mid Island Y JCC and others. He graduated Magna Cum Laude with Distinctive Honors from Hofstra University.
Michelle Verdi (Executive Producer) has pursued her passion for music from a very young age: she is knowledgeable in all genres of music. Michelle has traveled all over the US and Europe and has attended close to 1000 live performances spanning all musical genres. She is the motivating force behind the music you hear in Verdi Productions. Michelle’s number one asset is her passion and sensitivity for music which began as a young child. She possesses a unique skill to look at a scene in a film to imagine how a character feels, what is happening in their life in the movie, and what song could make the scene better to enhance the feeling. Additionally, Michelle consults on the compositional process and recruits musicians and performers for all projects. Michelle has executive produced 12 feature films over the last 7 years including The 50 Year Argument, Bleed For This, and Silence. Ms. Verdi serves on The Company’s Board of Directors alongside Chad A. Verdi.
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