In 1998, Hanks, Ryan and Ephron again scored a hit when they reunited for the romantic comedy Youve Got Mail. The following year, Hanks starred in Frank Darabonts acclaimed drama The Green Mile, for which he shared in a SAG Award nomination for Outstanding Cast Performance. Hanks other film credits include starring roles in A League of Their Own, Turner & Hooch, Punchline, Nothing in Common, Volunteers, Bachelor Party and Splash. The actor also lent his voice to the computer animated blockbusters Toy Story and Toy Story 2. Hanks work on the big screen has also translated to success on the small screen. Following his critically acclaimed portrayal of astronaut Jim Lovell in Ron Howards Apollo 13, Hanks executive produced and hosted the acclaimed HBO miniseries From the Earth to the Moon. He also directed one segment, and wrote or co-wrote several others, in addition to appearing in one episode. Hanks work on the miniseries earned him Emmy, Golden Globe and Producers Guild Awards for Outstanding Miniseries, as well as an Emmy nomination for Best Director. His collaboration with Steven Spielberg on the World War II drama Saving Private Ryan led to them teaming to executive produce the HBO miniseries Band of Brothers, based on the book by Stephen Ambrose. Hanks also directed a segment and wrote another segment of the fact-based miniseries, which follows one group of paratroopers from boot camp to D-Day to the end of World War II. The show recently won both Emmy and Golden Globe Awards for Best Miniseries. In addition, Hanks won an Emmy Award for Best Director, earned an Emmy nomination for Best Writing, and received another Producers Guild Award for his work on the project. In 1996, Hanks made his successful feature film writing and directing debut with That Thing You Do, in which he also starred. The films title song received an Academy Award® nomination for Best Original Song. This year, under his own Playtone banner, Hanks, together with his wife, Rita Wilson, and partner, Gary Goetzman, produced the smash hit romantic comedy My Big Fat Greek Wedding. Budgeted at approximately $5 million, the film has to date grossed more than $200 million at the domestic box office. STEVEN SPIELBERG (Director/Producer) has directed, produced, or executive produced eight of the thirty top-grossing films of all time, including Jurassic Park and E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial. Among his myriad honors, he is a three-time Academy Award® winner, earning two Oscars® for Best Director and Best Picture for Schindlers List, and a third Oscar® for Best Director for Saving Private Ryan. He has also received Academy Awardâ nominations for Best Director for E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, Raiders of the Lost Ark and Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Spielbergs critically acclaimed World War II drama Saving Private Ryan, starring Tom Hanks, was the highest-grossing release (domestically) of 1998. The film also won five Oscars®, including the one for Spielberg as Best Director, as well as two Golden Globe Awards for Best Picture (Drama) and Best Director. In addition, Spielberg was recognized by his peers with a Directors Guild of America (DGA) Award, and shared with the films other producers in the Producers Guild of America (PGA) Award. That year, the PGA also presented Spielberg with the prestigious Milestone Award for his historic contribution to the motion picture industry. Saving Private Ryan also won Best Picture honors from the New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Toronto, British and Broadcast Film Critics Associations, with the Los Angeles, Toronto and Broadcast Film Critics also naming Spielberg Best Director. On the heels of Saving Private Ryan, Spielberg and Hanks executive produced the miniseries Band of Brothers for HBO and DreamWorks Television. Based on the book of the same name by the late Stephen Ambrose, the fact-based World War II project recently won both Emmy and Golden Globe Awards for Best Miniseries. In 1994, Spielbergs internationally lauded Schindlers List was the years most honored film, receiving a total of seven Oscarsâ, including the aforementioned nods for Best Picture and Best Director. The film also collected Best Picture honors from many of the major critics organizations, in addition to seven BAFTA Awards, including two for Spielberg. He also won the Golden Globe Award and received his second DGA Award. Spielberg won his first DGA Award for his work on The Color Purple and earned DGA Award nominations for E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Empire of the Sun, Jaws and Amistad. With nine in all, Spielberg has received more DGA Award nominations than any director in history, and, in 2000, he received the DGAs Lifetime Achievement Award. He is also the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Film Institute and the prestigious Irving G. Thalberg Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, Spielberg was raised in the suburbs of Haddonfield, New Jersey and Scottsdale, Arizona. He started making amateur films while still in his teens, later studying film at California State University, Long Beach. In 1969, his 22-minute short Amblin was shown at the Atlanta Film Festival, which led to a deal with Universal, making him the youngest director ever to be signed to a long-term deal with a major Hollywood studio. Four years later, he directed the suspenseful telefilm Duel, which garnered both critical and audience attention. He made his feature film directorial debut on The Sugarland Express from a screenplay he co-wrote. His other earlier film credits as director include Always, Hook, and the Raiders of the Lost Ark sequels Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Spielbergs more recent films include the futuristic thriller Minority Report, starring Tom Cruise, and he also wrote, directed and produced A.I. Artificial Intelligence, which was realized from the vision of the late Stanley Kubrick. In 2000, Spielberg won the Stanley Kubrick Brittania Award for Excellence in Film, presented by BAFTA - Los Angeles. In 1984, Spielberg formed his own production company, Amblin Entertainment. Under the Amblin banner, he has served as producer or executive producer on more than a dozen films, including such successes as Gremlins, The Goonies, Back to the Future I, II, and III, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, An American Tail, The Land Before Time, The Flintstones, Casper, Twister, The Mask of Zorro, Men in Black and Men in Black II. Amblin Entertainment also produces the hit series ER with Warner Bros. TV. In October 1994, Spielberg partnered with Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen to form the new studio DreamWorks SKG. Since then, the studios successes have included three consecutive Best Picture Oscars® for American Beauty, Gladiator and A Beautiful Mind, the latter two in partnership with Universal. Spielberg has also devoted his time and resources to many philanthropic causes. The impact of his experience making Schindlers List led him to establish the Righteous Persons Foundation using all his profits from the film. He also founded Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation, which has recorded more than 50,000 Holocaust survivor testimonies. In addition, Spielberg executive produced The Last Days, the Shoah Foundations third documentary, which won the Academy Award® for Best Documentary Feature. He is also the chairman of the Starbright Foundation, which combines the efforts of pediatric health care, technology and entertainment to empower seriously ill children. Release: 31 Jan 2003 Certificate: tbc Running Time: 140 mins Distributor: UIP |