Parts where Jamie talks about 'Anthropoid' + Sean Ellis and Cillian Murphy talk about Jamie
Casting Heroes
To bring the heroes of “Operation Anthropoid” to life, Ellis cast Cillian Murphy and Jamie Dornan in the lead roles of resistance fighters Josef Gabčík and Jan Kubiš. “I could not be happier with what Jamie and Cillian accomplished,” says the director. “As Jan, Jamie does a masterful job of exuding rash vulnerability under intense pressure. Cillian found brilliant ways to manifest confidence and a cold-hearted determination that also masked a kind of moral anxiety that Josef seemed to experience.”
(...)
For Dornan, Anthropoid represents a significant departure from his recent turns as Christian Grey in Fifty Shades of Grey and Paul Spector in the BBC2/Netflix series “The Fall.” “I was blown away by the story,” says Dornan, who first learned about “Operation Anthropoid” when he read the screenplay. “It’s fascinating that something of this magnitude could exist and yet people do not know about it.”
Before shooting began, Murphy and Dornan spent months researching the assassination they would dramatize on screen. “Sean gave me and Cillian this book called Operation Anthropoid which gives a blow-by-blow account of every detail of the mission,” Dornan says. “That became our bible.” Additionally the actors trained with a Czech group devoted to World War II re-enactments and the weaponry of the early 1940s. “These guys showed us how to load the gun, how to stand,” Murphy recalls. “We went to a real shooting range and fired live rounds. That’s when you realize how hard it is to handle these weapons.”
Once filming began, Dornan and Murphy forged a tight bond with director Ellis. “It felt very much like me and Sean and Jamie were making the film together,” Murphy says. “The atmosphere Sean creates on and off set is very familial and that feeling gets transferred onto the performances.”
(...)
Along with the physical and emotional demands of their roles, the actors had to master Czechoslovakian accents. Ellis decided to have the Nazi soldiers speak German to emphasize the fact that they are a foreign occupying army, while the resistance fighters speak Czechoslovak-tinged English.
“I was terrified at first by the idea of doing a Czech accent,” adds Dornan. “Unlike Russian, which you can really hang your hat on because it’s a stronger and more definitive accent, Czech is quite subtle really.”
(...)
Recreating 1940s Prague
(...)
For the scenes inside the cathedral, a replica of the church’s vast interior was built by more than 40 crew members at Barrandov Studios, one of the largest soundstages in Europe. The ceiling alone weighed 16 tons and was produced on the ground from 910 bags of concrete, 300 bags of plaster, nearly 1,000 square feet of glass and over 35,000 square feet of wooden boards. Crew members then hoisted the ceiling into position with 38 chain winches.
Dornan was floored by the accuracy of the cathedral set. “On a Tuesday, I went to the real cathedral and saw the actual spot where my character Jan took his last breath, which had a massive effect on me,” he recalls. “And then on Thursday I went to the set of the church. It blew my mind because it was literally identical. The attention to detail was like nothing I’ve ever seen, reproduced exactly to the scale of the church. Honestly, it’s the most impressive set I’ve ever seen in my life.”
(...)
Full Press Kit
Anthropoid
SHORT SYNOPSIS
Anthropoid is based on the extraordinary true story of “Operation Anthropoid,” the code name for the Czechoslovakian operatives’ mission to assassinate SS officer Reinhard Heydrich. Heydrich, the main architect behind the Final Solution, was the Reich’s third in command behind Hitler and Himmler and the leader of Nazi forces in Czechoslovakia. The film follows two soldiers from the Czechoslovakian army-in-exile, Josef Gabčík (Cillian Murphy) and Jan Kubiš (Jamie Dornan), who are parachuted into their occupied homeland in December 1941. With limited intelligence and little equipment in a city under lockdown, they must find a way to assassinate Heydrich, an operation that would change the face of Europe forever.
LONG SYNOPSIS
Based on an extraordinary and little-known true story, the secret operation code-named “Anthropoid” begins nearly three years after the infamous Munich Agreement, which allowed Germany to take over Czechoslovakia without a shot being fired. Trained in England, resistance fighters Josef Gabčík (Cillian Murphy) from Slovakia and Jan Kubiš (Jamie Dornan) of Moravia parachute into their Nazi-occupied homeland on a daring mission to assassinate SS General Reinhard Heydrich. Heydrich, one of the main architects of the Holocaust, is known as “The Butcher of Prague” for his iron-fisted rule of the terrified Czechoslovak population.
Landing secretly in a Czechoslovakian forest in December 1941, Josef and Jan arrive in Prague to join forces with the city’s beleaguered resistance network, led by the cautious Ladislav Vanek (Marcin Dorociński) and Uncle Hajský (Toby Jones). The pair spent five months hiding in the apartment of a family sympathetic to their cause as they plan a bold daylight attack on Heydrich’s car. Immersed in an occupied city where the slightest slip-up could result in torture or death at the hands of Third Reich soldiers, Josef forges a passionate bond with shrewd resistance fighter Lenka (Anna Geislerová) while Jan comes to terms with his potentially suicidal assignment in the company of beautiful Czechoslovak rebel Marie (Charlotte Le Bon).
In May 1942, after months of planning alongside fellow paratroopers including Adolf Opálka (Harry Lloyd), Josef Valčík (Václav Neužil) and Karel Čurda (Jiří Šimek), Josef and Jan ambush Heydrich on the streets of Prague. The Nazis react with brutal reprisals, including murder and torture, as they try to ferret out those responsible for the attack. As the terror unfolds, Josef, Jan and their compatriots resolve to fend off the Nazis in the name of freedom, no matter the cost. Fueled by their bravery and patriotism, “Operation Anthropoid” culminates in one of World War II’s most courageous acts of resistance, changing the course of the war and the fate of Europe forever.
Anthropoid is directed by Sean Ellis (Metro Manila, Cashback) and written by Ellis and Anthony Frewin (Color Me Kubrick). The movie stars Cillian Murphy (“Peaky Blinders,” Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy), Jamie Dornan (Fifty Shades of Grey, “The Fall”), Charlotte Le Bon (The Walk, The Hundred-Foot Journey), Anna Geislerová (Želary, Something Like Happiness), Harry Lloyd (The Theory of Everything, “Game of Thrones”), Alena Mihulová (Home Care, Kráva), Marcin Dorociński (Rose, Jack Strong), Bill Milner (Locke, X-Men: First Class), Sam Keeley (Burnt, In the Heart of the Sea), Jiří Šimek (Three Brothers, Sen noci), Mish Boyko (Dracula Untold, Risen), Václav Neužil (The Seven Ravens, Ctvrtá hvezda), Andrej Polák (Tobruk, Seance Fiction) and Toby Jones (“The Girl,” Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets). Produced by Mickey Liddell (Risen, The Grey), Pete Shilaimon (Risen, The Devil’s Hand) and Sean Ellis. Executive Producers are Anita Overland (Far From the Madding Crowd, Rush), Léonard Glowinski (A Hologram for the King, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly), Kryštof Mucha (In the Shadow, Grandhotel), David Ondříček (Lost in Munich, In the Shadow), Jennifer Monroe (In Secret, The Grey) and Chris Curling (God Help the Girl, The Last Station). Cinematographer is Sean Ellis. Production Designer is Morgan Kennedy (The Sweeney, The Broken). Film Editor is Richard Mettler (Metro Manila). Music by Robin Foster (Good Luck Algeria, Metro Manila). Makeup and Hair Designer is Gabriela Poláková (The Visitors: Bastille Day, Snowpiercer). Costume Designer is Josef Čechota (Us 2, Grandhotel). Casting by Des Hamilton (Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, Wuthering Heights).
ABOUT THE PRODUCTION
An extraordinary story of wartime heroism, Anthropoid fulfils a long-held dream for filmmaker Sean Ellis. The writer-director-cinematographer first learned about the little-known chapter of history in 2001 when he saw a documentary about the assassination of brutal SS General Reinhard Heydrich. “I’ve always been interested in everything having to do with World War II so I was astounded that I had never come across this moving story before,” recalls Ellis. Immersing himself in research, he spent years assembling an archive of photographs and other historical materials to understand the details and context surrounding “Operation Anthropoid.”
An Astounding Act of Heroism
In 1939 Western Allies signed the Munich Agreement, an infamous act of appeasement that allowed Hitler’s Germany to occupy northern territories of neighboring Czechoslovakia. After wresting control of industry in this area, inhabited primarily by ethnic German speakers, Hitler and his troops soon took over the entire country, ensuring that Czechoslovakia would remain, in effect, a prison camp for the duration of World War II.
By late 1941 SS-Obergruppenführer Reinhard Heydrich, outranked in the Third Reich only by Hitler and Himmler, oversaw the occupying forces in Czechoslovakia. Nicknamed “The Butcher of Prague,” Heydrich crushed any attempt at opposition and forced Czechoslovakian factories to produce military material for the Reich.
Pressured by the British government to strike a blow for the Allies, Czechoslovakia’s government-in-exile, led by President Edvard Beneš, authorized the “Anthropoid” plan to kill Heydrich. England’s Special Operations Executive trained Czech soldiers as paratrooper-assassins, who carried out the mission on May 27, 1942. Heydrich, a key architect of the Holocaust, died from his wounds one week later on June 4, ultimately becoming the highest-ranking Nazi assassinated during the war.
The Reich exacted brutal reprisals for the attack, including the execution of 5,000 Czechoslovak civilians. The bloodshed prompted Winston Churchill to nullify the Munich Agreement, paving the way for the Allies’ declaration of war against Germany.
“If you follow the history from the Munich Agreement all the way to the assassination and through the aftermath, it’s an incredibly complex and overwhelming story,” says Ellis, who recruited Color Me Kubrick writer Anthony Frewin to flesh out the movie’s core story points. “It took me a while to figure that I didn’t want to make a blockbuster war epic, but instead focus on the story of two parachutists. I wanted to explore what it would be like to be Jan Kubiš and Josef Gabčík, to know what it would have felt like to be part of the ultimate act of resistance.”
Ellis and Frewins’ screenplay captivated producers Mickey Liddell and Pete Shilaimon of LD Entertainment, whose numerous productions have included Risen, In Secret and the upcoming biopic Jackie, starring Natalie Portman.
“These are true heroes,” says Liddell. “They gave their life to a cause that was much bigger than them, at a time when it could have gone very dark and things could have been very different. We’ve seen a lot of World War II stories, and there are so many amazing ones to be told, but from page one when these characters parachuted in, I was hooked. It was fantastic writing.”
“It’s very rare that a script comes across my desk that I can’t put down,” adds Shilaimon. “Not only did it make me want to learn more about World War II, but also how big a role Prague and Czechoslovakia played in the war.”
Ellis previously showcased his ability to create onscreen emotional tension with the crime drama Metro Manila, which won the Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival in 2013. Riding the wave of acclaim, he began actively pursuing getting Anthropoid made. “The sacrifice that Jan Kubiš and Josef Gabčík made for their country was similar in theme to what I had explored in Metro Manila, but on much a larger scale,” says the director. “So Anthropoid seemed like the obvious next film to put into production.”
Even after spending a decade and a half preparing Anthropoid for the big screen, Ellis continues to find inspiration in its real-life characters. “It has been a humbling experience to tell the story of these brave men and women of the Czechoslovakian resistance, who sacrificed themselves for the freedom of their country.”
Casting Heroes
To bring the heroes of “Operation Anthropoid” to life, Ellis cast Cillian Murphy and Jamie Dornan in the lead roles of resistance fighters Josef Gabčík and Jan Kubiš. “I could not be happier with what Jamie and Cillian accomplished,” says the director. “As Jan, Jamie does a masterful job of exuding rash vulnerability under intense pressure. Cillian found brilliant ways to manifest confidence and a cold-hearted determination that also masked a kind of moral anxiety that Josef seemed to experience.”
Murphy, a Golden Globe nominee known for such features as Inception and Batman Begins as well as the BBC2/Netflix series “Peaky Blinders,” remembers tearing through the Anthropoid screenplay in a single sitting after watching Ellis’ previous feature. “Metro Manila knocked me out,” says the actor. “And then I read the Anthropoid script. If something’s that good a read on the page, it’s just going to get better and better.”
Murphy’s intense and precise characterization of Josef, along with his easy rapport with his castmates, helped raise the level of everyone’s performances, according to Shilaimon. “As a producer, when you have an actor who is available to talk to anybody and is so incredible in his craft, you just feel safe. Anytime Cillian was on, you knew the scene was going to play out incredibly well, and you knew the actors around him were going to step up.”
For Dornan, Anthropoid represents a significant departure from his recent turns as Christian Grey in Fifty Shades of Grey and Paul Spector in the BBC2/Netflix series “The Fall.” “I was blown away by the story,” says Dornan, who first learned about “Operation Anthropoid” when he read the screenplay. “It’s fascinating that something of this magnitude could exist and yet people do not know about it.”
Before shooting began, Murphy and Dornan spent months researching the assassination they would dramatize on screen. “Sean gave me and Cillian this book called Operation Anthropoid which gives a blow-by-blow account of every detail of the mission,” Dornan says. “That became our bible.” Additionally the actors trained with a Czech group devoted to World War II re-enactments and the weaponry of the early 1940s. “These guys showed us how to load the gun, how to stand,” Murphy recalls. “We went to a real shooting range and fired live rounds. That’s when you realize how hard it is to handle these weapons.”
Once filming began, Dornan and Murphy forged a tight bond with director Ellis. “It felt very much like me and Sean and Jamie were making the film together,” Murphy says. “The atmosphere Sean creates on and off set is very familial and that feeling gets transferred onto the performances.” The fact that Ellis also served as cinematographer made the vibe on set even more intimate, adds Murphy. “Anthropoid is the first time I’ve had a director behind the lens with a handheld on his shoulder. Never in my career have I had a director who went so far in spelling out visually how he wanted major scenes to play out. For me, it was reassuring to know that every single shot was worked out and Sean knew exactly where you needed to be.”
Along with the physical and emotional demands of their roles, the actors had to master Czechoslovakian accents. Ellis decided to have the Nazi soldiers speak German to emphasize the fact that they are a foreign occupying army, while the resistance fighters speak Czechoslovak-tinged English.
“I was terrified at first by the idea of doing a Czech accent,” adds Dornan. “Unlike Russian, which you can really hang your hat on because it’s a stronger and more definitive accent, Czech is quite subtle really.”
Rounding Out the Resistance
British character actor Toby Jones, renowned for his eccentric charm in movies ranging from Captain America to Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy as well as his Emmy-nominated performance as director Alfred Hitchcock in “The Girl,” signed on to play senior resistance fighter Uncle Hajský. “Toby Jones is simply one of the best actors the UK has to offer,” says Ellis. “His approach and commitment to the role was very important to the film because Uncle Hajský becomes the moral compass of the group.”
To play Jan’s sweetly courageous love interest, Maria, the director cast Charlotte Le Bon, the French-Canadian actress whose recent credits include The Hundred-Foot Journey and The Walk. “Charlotte’s one of the most sought-after actresses in Europe currently and I could not have asked for a more detailed and nuanced portrait of this girl who falls in love with a man she knows will probably die,” Ellis says. “The contrasting relationships between Jan and Josef and their girlfriends form the emotional spine of the story. They reveal the different ways these men deal with the prospect of their own deaths.”
“There’s something very naive about Marie,” Le Bon says. “She’s trying to be light about everything even though the occupation is very heavy, and I think that’s what Jan sees in her.”
Czech actress Anna Geislerová, who plays world-weary resistance fighter Lenka, appreciated Ellis’ intensity as a director. “When I met Sean, I asked him ‘how do you work?’ and he said, ‘I talk a lot, we do a lot of takes, and we keep shooting,’” recalls Geislerová, winner of the Czech Lion for her performance in Želary, the 2003 Academy Award nominee for Best Foreign Language Film. The Anthropoid screenplay resonated strongly with the Czech actress. “I liked the script so much I didn’t even ask who else was going to be in the movie,” she says.
“There’s one scene where Cillian says, ‘You have to take a side,’ and for me, that’s the subject of the movie: you have to live according to your beliefs and your values.”
Many of the film’s supporting roles were filled by Czech actors as well. These include resistance leader Ladislav Vanek, played by Marcin Dorociński, and Josef and Jan’s fellow paratroopers Josef Valčík and Karel Čurda, played by Václav Neužil and Jiří Šimek, respectively. “Casting so many Czechs in the movie really helped the film’s sense of authenticity,” says Shilaimon. “I think a lot of our British actors took accent cues from their Czech counterparts.”
Recreating 1940s Prague
Anthropoid shot for 39 days in Prague, Czech Republic, beginning in July 2015. “I wanted to honor the soldiers and give the film the authenticity the story deserved,” Ellis says. “Prague has changed much in recent years, but many parts of the city center are just like they were during the war. We were able to film some scenes exactly where they actually took place over 70 years ago.”
Collaborating with many Czech actors and a largely Czech crew, Ellis enjoyed support from the city’s residents as well. “The Czech people in general were so supportive of Anthropoid,” he says. “Even though it’s in English, I really wanted them to feel like they could embrace this film.”
As the film’s director of photography as well as its co-writer and director, Ellis carefully evaluated lighting and color scale to recreate the mood of the Czechoslovakian capital during the early 1940s. He also insisted on shooting Anthropoid on Super 16mm film. “This movie had to feel raw and gritty and not at all digital or glossy,” says Ellis, who also shot Metro Manila on Super 16. “There is a weight and a tension throughout the whole occupied city, so I wanted the movie to feel oppressive with this tea-stained look and soft lighting.”
To underscore the aesthetic, Ellis used handheld cameras exclusively. “That gives the story a subjective view, as if we are on the ground with our heroes, trying to pull off this near-impossible task.”
The use of real locations intensified the sense of the story’s historical significance for cast and crew. For instance, exterior sequences for the climactic firefight were filmed at the Saints Cyril and Methodius Cathedral, where the bloody showdown between paratroopers and Nazis actually took place. To commemorate the battle, an on-site plaque lists names of the men who sacrificed their lives for Czech freedom. “To be able to film outside the actual cathedral was an absolute privilege,” says Ellis. “It was like stepping back in time.”
To recreate Prague’s 1940s appearance, Ellis hired production designer Morgan Kennedy, with whom he had worked on his 2008 horror film The Broken. Poring over historical archives, Kennedy found a wealth of detail that ultimately made it onto the screen. “We based our designs on a vast amount of original documentation,” says Ellis. “Our goal was to recreate almost every space to the highest possible level of detail.”
For the scenes inside the cathedral, a replica of the church’s vast interior was built by more than 40 crew members at Barrandov Studios, one of the largest soundstages in Europe. The ceiling alone weighed 16 tons and was produced on the ground from 910 bags of concrete, 300 bags of plaster, nearly 1,000 square feet of glass and over 35,000 square feet of wooden boards. Crew members then hoisted the ceiling into position with 38 chain winches.
Dornan was floored by the accuracy of the cathedral set. “On a Tuesday, I went to the real cathedral and saw the actual spot where my character Jan took his last breath, which had a massive effect on me,” he recalls. “And then on Thursday I went to the set of the church. It blew my mind because it was literally identical. The attention to detail was like nothing I’ve ever seen, reproduced exactly to the scale of the church. Honestly, it’s the most impressive set I’ve ever seen in my life.”
Production designer Kennedy supervised construction of the massive replica interior, whose dimensions were within inches of those of the actual church. “This was the biggest thing I’ve ever built,” says Kennedy. “When the manager of Barrandov Studios came over to see the finished cathedral, she was so overcome by emotion she started crying.”
On the Barrandov backlot, crew members recreated the secret crypt where Czechoslovakian paratroopers hid after the attack on Heydrich. Filmmakers shot on the set for three days before flooding the entire room for the film’s final scenes. “We built this beautiful church and then destroyed it,” says Ellis. “We shot the firefight chronologically over five intense days so the damage to the walls would increase as the chaos builds. The final battle is the film’s showpiece, so after all that tension, it’s crucial that we see first-hand the danger these paratroopers faced and the incredible bravery they demonstrated.”
Many members of the Czechoslovakian resistance were tortured at Petschek Palace, a former bank converted to Gestapo headquarters during the war. Today, the Palace hosts a basement museum dedicated to the memory of the fighters. For the Anthropoid shoot, the filmmakers restored the building to its wartime look. And in a chilling recreation of the Nazi reign of terror, the scene depicting young violinist At’a Moravec’s torture at the hands of Gestapo officers was filmed in the same room where the real interrogation took place.
For action set in locations that no longer exist, Ellis and his team worked from reference photographs to recreate these sites as accurately as possible. The assassination scene was filmed at a street corner that resembles almost identically the spot of the original assassination, which is now covered by a highway. Although the Moravec family’s apartment still exists, it was deemed too small for the roving camera the production needed. So the filmmakers painstakingly recreated the living quarters at Barrandov with removable walls, replicating every detail of the original, right down to the hallway tiles.
Similarly, Kennedy and his crew refused to compromise when it came to the car Nazi General Heydrich rides in during the assassination attempt. “Early on we tried to find a replica of the Mercedes Heydrich rode in when he got assassinated,” says Kennedy. “There were a few options but none of them were the exact car so we decided to build it from scratch because we wanted to remain faithful to the accuracy of the story. We found a Mercedes museum and rented original headlights, original moldings and pieces of chrome. We then made our own seat, steering wheel and dashboard.”
Anthropoid was shot on a tight schedule of many long days during a summer of record-breaking heat. Still, the atmosphere on set brimmed with excitement says Liddell. “I would just watch in awe the way Sean ran the set and his vision of the film. It was probably one of my favorite sets I’ve ever been on.”
Ellis praises cast and crew for coming together in difficult conditions to create a film that is at once thrilling and important. “Everybody knew they were doing something special and they were proud to be part of it. We were all passionate about telling this story to the world.”
ABOUT THE CAST
CILLIAN MURPHY (Josef Gabčík) first garnered international attention for his performance in Danny Boyle’s horror classic 28 Days Later. Since then he has proved to be one of the most acclaimed and versatile actors of his generation. Murphy’s career highlights include a Golden Globe Award nomination for his performance as the transgender outcast Patrick “Kitten” Braden in Neil Jordan’s Breakfast on Pluto and British Independent Film Award nominations for Ken Loach’s Cannes Film Festival Palme d’Or winner The Wind That Shakes the Barley. He also starred in Danny Boyle’s Sunshine and Rufus Norris’ Broken, which opened the International Critics’ Week section at the Cannes Film Festival and won the award for Best British Independent Film.
Murphy next stars in Ben Wheatley’s Free Fire, executive produced by Martin Scorsese. This action thriller is set in late-1970s Boston. He most recently co-starred with Chris Hemsworth in the Moby Dick adaptation In the Heart of the Sea. Earlier this year he completed work on the third season of the acclaimed BBC Two/Netflix drama series “Peaky Blinders,” created by Steven Knight.
In 2005 Murphy made an indelible impression as Dr. Jonathan Crane/The Scarecrow in Christopher Nolan’s superhero epic Batman Begins, earning a London Film Critics Circle nomination. He reprised the role in Nolan’s The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises before teaming up with the director again for Inception.
Murphy regularly returns to the stage, often collaborating with Irish playwright Enda Walsh in shows such as “Disco Pigs,” “Ballyturk” and “Misterman.” For the latter production Murphy won the 2012 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Solo Performance. He’d previously won The Irish Times Theatre Award for Best Actor after the original production in Galway, Ireland.
JAMIE DORNAN (Jan Kubiš) is a Northern Irish actor who most recently starred as Christian Grey in the eagerly anticipated film adaptation Fifty Shades of Grey (2015). It marked the biggest opening weekend for an R-rated film internationally upon its release on Valentine’s Day weekend and grossed over $550 million worldwide. Dornan received critical acclaim for his portrayal of a chilling serial killer in the BBC’s crime drama “The Fall,” opposite Gillian Anderson. The series was the highest-rated drama for the channel in 8 years and received a nomination for Best Drama at the National Television Awards. Dornan received a BAFTA Award nomination for Best Actor and two IFTA wins (Best Lead Actor and Rising Star). He also won the Breakthrough Award at the 2014 Broadcasting Press Guild Awards.
Next, Dornan plays a lead role in The 9th Life of Louis Drax, the story of psychologist Allan Pascal (Dornan), who begins working with a young boy who has suffered a near-fatal fall. He also stars in Parallel Films’ upcoming Jadotville, a military drama about the 1961 siege of 150 U.N. troops in the Congo. Dornan recently completed filming the third series of “The Fall” and is currently on set of the hotly anticipated sequels Fifty Shades Darker and Fifty Shades Freed, which are confirmed for release in February 2017 and February 2018.
Dornan’s feature-film debut came in Sofia Coppola’s 2006 Oscar-winning historical epic Marie Antoinette, as Count Axel Fersen, lover to Kirsten Dunst’s eponymous character. In 2009 he starred in the British independent film Shadows in the Sun, alongside Jean Simmons and James Wilby, and filmed the indie-produced Belgian film Flying Home, alongside Anthony Head and Max Pirkis.
The actor’s television credits include “New Worlds,” Channel 4’s miniseries depicting the terror and turbulence experienced in England and America during the English Civil War, and the complex dual-role of Sheriff Graham/the Huntsman for three seasons of ABC’s fantasy drama “Once Upon a Time.”
CHARLOTTE LE BON (Marie Kovárníková) has shared the screen with many top stars. Her credits include Robert Zemeckis’ The Walk, opposite Joseph Gordon-Levitt; Bastille Day, alongside Idris Elba and Richard Madden; The Hundred Foot Journey, opposite Helen Mirren; and Yves Saint Laurent, opposite Pierre Niney, which premiered at the 2014 Berlin Film Festival.
Next, Le Bon will be seen in Mateo Gil’s Realive, alongside Tom Hughes; Terry George’s The Promise, opposite Christian Bale and Oscar Isaac; and Arctic Heart, opposite Guillaume Canet.
ANNA GEISLEROVÁ (Lenka Fafková) is perhaps the Czech Republic’s most recognized celebrity on the small and silver screen. She was a European Films Shooting Star in 2004 and then served as a member of the Shooting Stars jury in 2010 at the Berlin International Film Festival. She has been nominated for more Czech Lions than any other Czech actress, winning five times, and is a recipient of the Slovak Hercova Mise, a lifetime achievement award.
Geislerová’s rise to national fame began at the age of 14, when she debuted in Filip Renc’s Requiem for a Maiden (1991). Her numerous acting credits include Academy Award® winner Jan Sverak’s The Ride (1994); Ondrej Trojan’s Želary, which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 2003; and most recently Jiří Sádek’s The Noonday Witch.
HARRY LLOYD (Adolf Opálka) is a British actor known for a wide variety of roles in film, television and theater. He has appeared in Oscar-winning films The Iron Lady, as the young Denis Thatcher, and The Theory of Everything, as Brian, the best friend and confidant of Stephen Hawking. He also starred in the indie movie Big Significant Things, currently playing on Netflix. Other film roles include Richard Mason in Jane Eyre and the lead role of Virgil opposite Mark Strong and Vera Farmiga in Closer to the Moon.
After his breakout role as Will Scarlett in BBC’s “Robin Hood,” Lloyd went on to play one of the most celebrated villains seen on “Dr. Who.” In 2010 he was a Screen International Star of Tomorrow and was later cast in the first season of HBO’s “Game of Thrones” as Viserys Targaryen, brother of Daenyrs. He next appeared in the BAFTA-nominated miniseries “Great Expectations” (BBC) and earned a BAFTA nomination (Best Supporting Actor) for his role as Matty Beckett in “The Fear” (Channel 4), alongside Peter Mullan. He recently wrapped two seasons of the critically acclaimed series “Manhattan” (WGN America), based on the story of the scientists who created the world’s first atomic bomb.
Most recently, Lloyd wrapped filming on ITV’s “Marcella,” written by the creator of “The Bridge,” which concerns a series of murders in London.
The actor has performed extensively on stage in London, being nominated for the Ian Charleson Award for his role in “Ghosts” at the Arcola, and for Best Actor at the Off West End Awards for “Notes From Underground,” a one-man play he adapted from the book by Dostoyevsky. Other theater credits include West End productions of “The Duchess of Malfi,” “The Little Dog Laughed” and “A View From the Bridge.”
ALENA MIHULOVÁ (Marie Moravcovà) is a Czech stage and film actress whose most significant film role was probably the character of Mary in the bittersweet comedy Nurses (1983), for Czech director Karel Kachyňa. Mihulová then took on another major role in Juice Novel (1984) before subsequently reuniting with Kachyňa for Forbidden Dreams (1986). The pair became regular collaborators and, after 10 years of working together, they married. She also starred in Cow (1994), which achieved international recognition.
Taking time away from acting after her husband’s death, Mihulová recently returned to the stage and screen. For her work in Home Care (2015) she won, among other honors, Best Actress awards at both the Karlovy Vary Film Festival and the 27th Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival. The actress also appears in Niki Caro’s forthcoming release The Zookeeper’s Wife.
Mihulová completed her studies at Janáček Academy of Music and Performing Arts. Soon thereafter she was hired by the theater group Labyrint and excelled in classical pieces such as “Don Juan” and “Faust.”
MARCIN DOROCIŃSKI (Ladislav Vaněk) is a talented and respected Polish film, television and stage actor. He is well known for his portrayals of conflicted, troubled characters such as Despero in Pitbull (2005), Jacek Mroz in Offsiders (2008) and Otter in Manhunt (2012), as well as his debonair leading man roles: Bronek in The Reverse (2009) and Kostek in The Perfect Guy for My Girlfriend (2009).
Dorociński gained critical acclaim in the early 2000s, culminating in his Zbyszek Cybulski’s Award for Best Young Polish Actor (2005), Polish Eagles nomination for Best Actor (2008) and Golden Lion Awards for 2009’s The Reverse (Best Supporting Actor) and 2011’s Rose (Best Actor). He gained worldwide acclaim for his role in the TV series “Into Deep Water.”
Dorociński made his film debut in Andrzej Żuławski’s She-Shaman (1995). His first major role was as Arek Bilski in Krugerandy (1999) but the real breakthrough came in 2005 when he played a homicide detective in the film Pitbull, as well as its follow-up cult television series. After that he rose to stardom and appeared most notably in We’re All Christs (2006), Louise’s Garden (2008), Per Fly’s The Woman Who Dreamed of a Man (2010) and Bartosz Konopka’s Academy Award nominee Fear of Falling (2011).
In 2012 Dorociński appeared in the BBC production “Spies of Warsaw,” starring David Tennant. He also starred in “Run,” a new miniseries airing on Channel Four in the U.K.
BILL MILNER (Ata Moravec) began his career in film at the age of 11 by playing the lead role of Will Proudfoot in Son of Rambow, directed by Garth Jennings, which led to a nomination for Best Newcomer at the 2008 British Independent Film Awards. He was nominated for the Young British Performer of the Year Award in 2010 for Is Anybody There? directed by John Crowley.
Other film credits include Winter, for Heidi Greensmith; Locke, for Steven Knight; Broken, for Rufus Norris; X-Men: First Class, for Matthew Vaughn; Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll, for Mat Whitecross; and Skellig: The Owl Man, for Annabel Jankel.
Television credits include “The Job Lot,” for ITV2; “The 7:39” and “The Secret of Crickley Hall,” for BBC1; “Who Killed Mrs. De Ropp?” for BBC4; and “My Boy Jack,” for BBC Video. He also performed in a radio play for BBC Radio Four entitled “Witch Week” and appeared in a music video for the indie band Noah and the Whale.
Stage credits include “The Distance,” at the Orange Tree Theatre, and “Another Country,” at the Chichester Festival Theatre.
SAM KEELEY (Josef Bublík) is a Screen International Star of Tomorrow who most recently appeared opposite Chris Hemsworth and Cillian Murphy in the feature In the Heart of the Sea, Ron Howard’s screen adaption of the gripping novel. In 2015 he starred as Chef David opposite Bradley Cooper and Sienna Miller in Burnt. 2015 also saw Keeley play the lead in the sci-fi thriller Monsters: Dark Continent.
Next, the actor stars opposite Jamie Dornan in the hotly anticipated war drama Jadotville, the story of the 1961 siege of 150 U.N. troops in the Congo; Leavey, opposite Kate Mara and Tom Felton; and the action-thriller Alleycats, opposite Eleanor Tomlinson. He recently wrapped Measure of a Man, an adaptation of Robert Lipsyte’s YA novel One Fat Summer, alongside Donald Sutherland and Luke Wilson.
Television credits include the BAFTA Award-winning TV series “Misfits,” murder mystery “Jack Taylor: The Pikemen,” Showtime’s “The Borgias” and the drama “Raw.”
JIŘÍ ŠIMEK (Karel Čurda) is a young Czech actor born in a small town in the south of Bohemia. Currently, he is studying at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (DAMU), in the department of alternative and puppet theater. Since beginning his professional career he has been involved in projects such as the HBO series “Mammon,” but he is also an author, choreographer and performer in the field of alternative and physical theater. Šimek is also the co-founder of the theater group “Ufftenživot.”
MISH BOYKO (Jan Hrubý) graduated from the prestigious Birmingham School of Acting in 2010. His recent credits include Leavey, Dracula Untold, Risen, Writers Room and Queen. He is currently filming “The Tunnel II” and the new season of the BBC’s “Silent Witness.”
Boyko currently resides in London.
VÁCLAV NEUŽIL (Josef Valčík) graduated from the theater faculty of Janáček Academy of Music and Performing Arts. Since 2006 he has been a member of the Dejvice Theatre in Prague. His first major role (and his feature-film debut) came with Losers, a Czech movie directed by Jitka Rudolfová. Several years later he played one of the main characters in Rudolfová’s Obsession. On television, Neužil was featured in the 2013 miniseries “Four Stars Hotel,” playing the role of the receptionist Štěpán.
The actor’s stage work was honored with the Thalia Prize in 2011 for his role as Mugsy in Patrick Marber’s “Dealer’s Choice.”
ANDREJ POLÁK (Jaroslav Švarc) was born in Trenčín, Slovakia, in 1979. In 2005 he graduated from the alternative puppet theater of the Drama Academy of Performing Arts (DAMU). Since 1998 he has been a member of the renowned Studio Ypsilon of Prague. He continues to guest-star with theater groups such as Experimental Space NoD, Meet Factory, Divadlo Disk, Theater Minor and Theater Archa.
In 2009 the actor played Martin Dunda in the feature film Tobruk and in 2010 his theater group was chosen to represent the Czech Republic at Expo 2010 in Shanghai. Polák has been a moderator on TV Ocko for 10 years and recently co-starred in The Zookeeper’s Wife, with Jessica Chastain.
TOBY JONES (Jan Zelenka-Hajský) is a multiple award winner and one of the most distinguished film, television and stage actors of his generation. He received Emmy Award, Golden Globe and BAFTA nominations for his performance in HBO’s “The Girl.” Jones’ work in The Painted Veil was honored with a British Supporting Actor of the Year nomination at the London Film Critics Circle Awards and he won the group’s British Actor of the Year Award for Berberian Sound Studio.
Jones studied drama at the University of Manchester from 1986 to 1989 and at L’École Internationale de Théâtre in Paris (under Jacques Lecoq) from 1989 to 1991.
Film credits include Frost/Nixon, The Man Who Knew Infinity, Morgan, The Coldest City, The Snowman, Dad’s Army, Kaleidoscope, By Our Selves, Tale of Tales, Infamous, The Hunger Games, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, My Week with Marilyn, Captain America: The First Avenger, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Leave to Remain, Red Lights, The Rite, Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll, Creation, W., City of Ember, St. Trinian’s, The Mist, Nightwatching, Amazing Grace, Mrs. Henderson Presents, Ladies in Lavender, Finding Neverland and Orlando.
Jones voiced “Dobby the house elf” in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, receiving a nomination for Best Digital Acting Performance at the Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards. He also voiced a character in The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn.
TV credits include a number of BBC series including “The Secret Agent,” “Capital,” “Detectorists,” “Doctor Who,” “10 Days to War,” “The Old Curiosity Shop,” “Christopher and His Kind” and “The Way We Live Now,” as well as “Wayward Pines” (Fox), “God in America” (PBS), “Elizabeth I” (HBO) and the C4 series “A Harlot’s Progress” and “Mo.”
Theater credits include “Circle Mirror Transformation” (Royal Court), “The Play What I Wrote” (Wyndham’s Theatre/Broadway), “Every Good Boy Deserves Favour” (Olivier Theatre), “Parlour Song” (Almeida Theatre) and “Measure for Measure” (National Theatre).
ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS
SEAN ELLIS (Writer, Director, Director of Photography, Producer) is an Oscar and BAFTA-nominated director. Ellis helmed Metro Manila (2013), which won the World Cinema Audience Prize at Sundance in 2013 and was selected by BAFTA as the official U.K. submission to the 2014 Oscars in the Best Foreign Language Film category. The film was nominated for a 2014 BAFTA Award and won three British Independent Film Awards (BIFA) including Best British Independent Film and Best Director.
Ellis also directed Cashback (2006), a quirky romantic comedy that was picked up by the French distributor Gaumont, who launched it at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival, and The Brøken (2008), starring Lena Headey and Richard Jenkins, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2008.
His short-film credits include Left Turn (2001), a psychological horror film; Cashback (2004), a visually rich black comedy which won the top award at over 15 international film festivals (including the prestigious Chicago and Tribeca Film Festivals) and was also nominated for a 2006 Academy Award; and The Business Trip (2008), which was nominated for a 2008 BAFTA Award and won Best Film at the 2010 Fuji Short Film competition.
Ellis started taking pictures when he was 11 years old. Trained as a still-life photographer, he moved to London from Brighton, England, in 1994. Applying his knowledge of the still life and using it to light fashion models, Ellis became one of the new generation of fashion photographers who were highly sought-after in the late ’90s, shooting for magazines such as i-D, The Face, Visionaire, GQ, Arena, Numero and Vogue.
Ellis’ crossover into film started with directing commercials for Jean Paul Gaultier, Cartier, Davidoff, Land Rover, Rimmel, 02, EA Games, Nike, H&M, Samsung, Roberto Cavalli and Hugo Boss.
ANTHONY EDWARD FREWIN (Writer) has 12 published works including The Assassination of John F. Kennedy: An Annotated Film, TV and Videography as well as the novels London Blues (1994), Sixty-Three Closure (1996) and Scorpian Rising (1997).
Frewin was a personal assistant to the director Stanley Kubrick for 20 years. He is credited with the original story and screenplay for Colour Me Kubrick (2004), starring John Malkovich.
MICKEY LIDDELL (Producer) is the founder and CEO of LD Entertainment, a film development and production company that has recently expanded into television, theater and digital platforms. LD developed and produced Risen, released by Sony Columbia Pictures in February 2016, and recently wrapped principal photography on Leavey, a film based on the true story of a female Iraq War hero, starring Kate Mara and Edie Falco. Additionally, LD financed and produced The Zookeeper’s Wife, adapted from the international bestselling novel with stars Jessica Chastain and Daniel Brühl; as well as Jackie, which stars Natalie Portman as Jackie Kennedy.
The company has also financed and produced such critically acclaimed films as Joe Carnahan’s The Grey, starring Liam Neeson; Rodrigo Garcia’s Albert Nobbs, which garnered Oscar nominations for Glenn Close and Janet McTeer; Willliam Friedkin’s Killer Joe, starring Matthew McConaughey and Emile Hirsch; and Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Biutiful, which starred Javier Bardem in an Oscar-nominated performance.
PETE SHILAIMON (Producer) joined LD Entertainment in 2000 as the executive vice president of production. Under this title, he has produced and executive produced an array of projects including Risen, starring Joseph Fiennes, Tom Felton and Cliff Curtis. Shilaimon recently wrapped production on Leavey, which he produced. The film tells the true story of Marine Megan Leavey and stars Kate Mara, Edie Falco, Common, Bradley Whitford and Will Patton. He is also an executive producer on The Zookeeper’s Wife, starring Jessica Chastain and Daniel Brühl, and Jackie, featuring Natalie Portman.
Other film credits include The Devil’s Hand (2014), In Secret (2013), Black Rock (2012) and The Collection (2012).
ANITA OVERLAND (Executive Producer) was recently a co-producer on My Cousin Rachel, directed by Roger Michell and starring Rachel Weisz and Sam Claflin; Far From the Madding Crowd, directed by Thomas Vinterberg and starring Carey Mulligan, Matthias Schoenharts, Michael Sheen and Tom Sturridge; Rush, directed by Ron Howard and starring Chris Hemsworth and Daniel Brühl; and The Iron Lady, directed by Phyllida Lloyd, with an Oscar- and BAFTA-winning performance by Meryl Streep.
Previously, Overland produced the Red Riding trilogy, for Andrew Eaton at Revolution Films, and In This World, which won the Golden Bear at the 2003 Berlin Film Festival and Best Film in a Foreign Language at the BAFTA Awards. She also co-produced The Young Victoria, starring Emily Blunt; Michael Winterbottom’s A Mighty Heart, starring Angelina Jolie; and Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story, starring Steve Coogan.
For the small screen, Overland produced the award-winning series “The Book Group” and The Tribe. In 1994 she produced the short film Syrup, which won the Cannes Jury prize and was nominated in that category at the BAFTAs and Oscars.
Credits as line producer include Breaking and Entering, The Claim, Wonderland, Simon Magus and My Son the Fanatic. Before her career in feature films Overland produced many award-winning commercials and music videos.
LÉONARD GLOWINSKI (Executive Producer) decided in 2012 to utilize his broad network of producers and financiers in France and abroad by establishing the film production and linkage company known as 22h22. Among its many undertakings has been as co-producer on Outcast, directed by Nick Powell; I.T., for John Moore; and A Hologram for the King, directed by Tom Tykwer. 22h22 has just finished production on Héctor Cabello Reyes’ An Indian Tale and is currently developing co-productions with China and the U.S.
After an education path in banking, Glowinski worked at Pathé, where he was in charge of international co-productions. These credits include Two Brothers, directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud; Astérix & Obélix: Mission Cléopâtre, for Alain Chabat; Alexander, directed by Oliver Stone; and The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, for Julian Schnabel. He went on to direct French and European productions with Studio Canal, where he also produced Jaume Collet-Serra’s Unknown and Stéphane Rybojad’s Special Forces.
KRYŠTOF MUCHA (Executive Producer) began working at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival after graduating from the arts faculty of Prague’s Charles University in 1999. Since 2004 he has been the festival’s executive director.
As a producer he has previously worked with David Ondříček on features Grandhotel (2006) and In the Shadow (2012), both of which have been selected for and honored at some of the most important film festivals worldwide. A criminal drama set in the 1950s, In the Shadow won nine Czech Lions and was nominated to represent the Czech Republic at the Academy Awards.
DAVID ONDŘÍČEK (Executive Producer) was named to the Variety list of “10 Directors to Watch” in 2013. His feature In the Shadow won nine Czech Lion awards including Best Film and Best Director. As a producer Ondříček’s credits include Petr Zelenka’s Lost in Munich.
Ondříček studied at the documentary film department of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague from 1987 to 1993, where he drew attention with a number of unique films. Ondříček is considered one of the most distinctive Czech filmmakers of the post-communist period, directing features selected for such major events as the Berlin, Thessaloniki, San Francisco, Mannheim, Warsaw and Rotterdam film festivals.
JENNIFER MONROE (Executive Producer) is the executive vice president of development at LD Entertainment, where she has worked for more than a decade. While at LD she has been an executive producer on such films as The Grey, starring Liam Neeson; Disconnect, featuring Jason Bateman; In Secret, with Jessica Lange and Oscar Isaac; and the forthcoming release The Zookeeper’s Wife, starring Jessica Chastain.
CHRIS CURLING (Executive Producer) is a London-based producer who has produced 25 films over the last 15 years. Before that he was a multiple award-winning director and writer of documentary films. He was elected president of the European Producers Club in 2012. Curling produced Michael Hoffman’s Oscar-nominated Tolstoy drama The Last Station, starring Helen Mirren, Christopher Plummer, Paul Giamatti and James McAvoy. Curling and the film were nominated for Best Picture at the Independent Spirit Awards.
Other producing credits include Terry Gilliam’s The Zero Theorem, Andrea Arnold’s short Dog, Mark Palansky’s Penelope, Gillian Armstrong’s Death Defying Acts, Hanif Kureishi and Udayan Prasad’s My Son the Fanatic, Gurinder Chadha’s It’s a Wonderful Afterlife, Peter Webber’s Hannibal Rising, Chris Smith’s Black Death and David Mackenzie’s Asylum.
MORGAN KENNEDY (Production Designer) has seen his work with director Sean Ellis receive numerous awards including an Oscar nomination for Best Short Film (Cashback). They collaborated on the psychological horror film The Broken in 2008. That same year, Kennedy designed Faintheart for director Vitto Rocco, starring Eddie Marsan and Ewen Bremner. The film was the first to be developed through audience consultation on a social networking site (MySpace). This same year another short film Kennedy worked on with Ellis, The Business Trip, was nominated for a BAFTA Award (Best Short).
In the commercial realm, Kennedy designs everything from sparse, architecturally dynamic industrial spaces for H&M to lavish homes and offices for Volvo. He has also designed spots for Hugo Boss, Kellogg’s, Dove, Kronenberg, O2 and Samsung. His music clients include Justin Timberlake, Oasis, Snow Patrol, Muse, Shania Twain and 50 Cent.
RICHARD METTLER (Editor) was born in France and headed from Paris to New York to continue his career as a record producer. Fascinated with an electronic editing system and the idea of writing melodies with images, he decided to learn this new creative tool and instantly fell in love with the craft. Mettler started his “new” career as an assistant editor to renowned commercial editors and, after graduating to editor status himself, worked on luxury-brand TV commercials, music videos and eventually films. During the course of his career, Mettler has collaborated with many influential directors including Sean Ellis, for which he edited Metro Manila, winner of the 2013 Sundance Film Festival’s World Cinema Dramatic Audience Award and three British Independent Film Awards (including Best Film and Best Director). He also edited the short film Space Cadet, which was nominated for an award at the Tribeca Film Festival.
ROBIN FOSTER (Original Music) is a British composer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist whose intensely brooding instrumentals create an intangible but undeniable tension packed with lush cinematic textures, electronic loops, airy synths and waves of guitars. He provides original scores and existing music from his albums for cinema, short films, web series and television. These credits include popular TV series such as “One Tree Hill” and “Criminal Minds.” Additionally, Foster musically illustrates for prestigious global brand campaigns such as Hugo Boss, Cartier, Barclays, Le Coq Sportif and Kenneth Cole.
Following the success of his second album, Foster turned his attention to penning the soundtrack to Sean Ellis’ third feature film, Metro Manila, and was nominated for the prestigious 2014 World Soundtrack Awards’ Public Choice prize. He also recently scored original music for the French film Good Luck Algeria, directed by Farid Bentoumi, which has already won several awards and will be opening the International Film and Music Festival (FIFA) in Aubagne, France.
GABRIELA POLÁKOVÁ (Makeup and Hair Designer) is a Czech artist based in Prague who has been working in the film and TV industry since 2000. She has worked on a number of international productions shooting in locations such as South Africa, Canada and Southeast Asia. Her feature-film credits include La Vie en Rose, Babylon A.D., Snowpiercer, Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol, Immortals and The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian.
JOSEF ČECHOTA (Costume Designer) is a Prague-based costume designer and wardrobe specialist. He started his career in film on the feature Grandhotel (2006), directed by David Ondříček, and Us 2 (2014), directed by Slobodanka Radun.
More recently, Čechota supervised costume creation for “Mamon” (2015), a miniseries directed by Vladimír Michálek for HBO, which received a prestigious Czech Lion. He also managed wardrobe on the horror film Raven Road, written by Brian Andreson.
DES HAMILTON (Casting) formed Des Hamilton Casting in 2001 and the company’s first project was Lynne Ramsay’s Morvern Callar, combining professional actors and street-cast non-actors for the ensemble. Hamilton famously found Kathleen McDermott in Glasgow’s city center. She had never acted previously and yet, starring opposite Samantha Morton, she would win a BAFTA Award for Best Newcomer.
Des Hamilton Casting has continued with great success to cast via both the traditional channels (talent agents, drama schools, etc.) and from the street, most notably with the casting of Thomas Turgoose for This Is England. In the past five years he has liaised closely within the company with fellow casting directors Lara Manwaring, Elan Jones and Lucy Amos. They are very proud to have worked on an eclectic mix of projects including Bronson, Four Lions, Antichrist, Tyrannosaur, Brimstone, Wuthering Heights and “Top Boy,” engaging with a broad range of directors such as Nicolas Winding Refn, Claire Denis, Gaspar Noe, David Michod, Andrea Arnold, Lone Scherfig and Lars von Trier.
Thanks to Aimee for sending this to us!