Genesis
While certain elements of Godsend feel as though they’ve been ripped from recent headlines, the genesis of the project was more intimate, emanating from screenwriter Mark Bomback’s personal experience. “I first came up with the idea about the time my wife was pregnant with our son,” he says, “And I was struck by how much technology is involved today in fertility. We needed a little bit of help — not as much as some others do — and we were amazed by how far science has come in the past 20 years.”

Bomback himself comes from a family of doctors. His father is a pediatrician who, as an undergraduate, conducted some research in genetics. One of his brothers is a doctor and another is in medical school. The concept of cell research and cloning was not foreign to him. Says Bomback, “This whole topic has really exploded in the past few years. There is exponentially more research material that’s become available since I first started the script. Over the past few years major studies and articles about cloning and stem cell research have been appearing with increasing regularity.”

At this time, Godsend is speculative about the use of science to clone a human being, but the science itself is grounded in fact. Dolly the sheep, widely acknowledged to be the world’s first cloned mammal is the theoretical template for Godsend’s Adam. Dr. Ian Wimott, the Scottish research scientist who created Dolly, proposed that his process was a feasible way in which any mammal could be cloned. Director Nick Hamm saw that the characters, their fears, and in turn, their terrifying experience, not the issue of cloning technology was at the heart of the movie. “We don’t treat cloning in a pseudo-scientific way, or supply the film with a futuristic setting which is un-relatable to most people. We set it here and now, right into people’s lives. The point is, if you have the ability to do this, what would you do?”

The dark side of that question gives rise to the issues that haunt Godsend: Ethics, morality, and legality are all taken into consideration by the emotionally devastated Duncans as they frantically debate Dr. Wells’ proposition. Producer Michael Paseornek adds the frightening question: “When you get into cloning human beings, what do you do with the ones that don’t work out?”

This question, and the myriad questions like it that have been precipitated by the rapid advances of science in the last few years and, specifically, sparked by the recent national debate over stem cell research, have created a change in the way our society and our government has come to deal with issues of bio-ethics. Indeed, in August 2001, President Bush created the President’s Council on Bio-ethics, chaired by Dr. Leon Kass. But as Dr. Kass pointed out in his opening remarks to the Council in January 2002, the events of September 11th created “a palpable increase in America’s moral seriousness” and utterly changed the way people thought about issues of life and death.

In his remarks, Dr. Kass continued, “A fresh breeze of sensible moral judgment…has enabled us to see evil for what it is, and…it has been a long time since the climate and mood of the country was this hospitable for serious moral reflection.” Kass goes on to say that “In the case of terrorism…it is easy to identify evil…but in the realm of bio-ethics, the evils we face, if indeed they are evils, are intertwined with the goods we so keenly seek: cures for disease, relief of suffering, preservation of life. Distinguishing good and bad thus intermixed is often extremely difficult.”

It is precisely this difficulty distinguishing good from evil, and right from wrong, that confront the Duncan family in Godsend. Given only 72 hours in the midst of unspeakable grief to decide whether or not to clone their son, the Duncans can’t contemplate all the serpentine ramifications of their actions. They can’t possibly foresee the dangers and the damages their decision will cause. Most powerfully, they can never get past the notion that they are, essentially, saving their son.

A perverse case of fact eclipsing fiction occurred while Godsend was filming in November and December of 2002. News stories broke out – first about an Italian doctor who alleged he was about to clone a human being. This was followed almost immediately by the outrageous announcements of multiple baby cloning's by the bizarre Raelian cult. The media seized on the sensation and lurid headlines about human cloning screamed from the covers of daily papers while television reports, eccentric news conferences and much speculation became a staple of nightly newscasts and magazine shows. Against the backdrop of this media circus, Godsend continued filming.

Coming to Term: Casting Godsend
With the screenplay built around four extremely well crafted characters, Godsend afforded Hamm the opportunity to cast the movie from the top of the talent pool.

Oscar® nominee Greg Kinnear was drawn to the very human story within the structure of a thriller, and to the subject matter itself. “Of course it’s the script,” he says of his initial interest in this role. “A very interesting element of the screenplay is that it feels like an adult drama that starts to get more and more frightening – it really sneaks up on you subtly but very powerfully. It is also a very contemporary topic. As far-fetched as it sounds, the technology of cloning is very plausible. Mark Bomback has taken the scary and harrowing premise of the moral ideology of the issue – just how far the science should be allowed to go -- and captured it in an elegant and human story.”

“Greg is just one of the most intelligent and thoughtful actors I’ve ever worked with,” says Nick Hamm. “He is a joy to work with, he is precise, he understands, he has absolute focus, and brings with him a real analyses of the material.”

In Godsend, Kinnear portrays Paul Duncan, a high-school biology teacher who first must make the decision to illicitly clone his dead son and then search out the truth behind this decision. “Greg has the wonderful ability to make himself available to the audience,” explains Hamm. “It takes great skill to convincingly portray an ‘everyman’ character, letting the audience feel they could be in your shoes. It’s very hard for an actor to really hold the middle ground without ever going too soft or too hard.”

While his character may be described as an ‘everyman’, the emotional arc of the character is extraordinary. “I pretty much had to go to the most horrible place in my own humanity scale to imagine what this couple had gone through and how they’ve suffered,” explains Kinnear. “I had to do that to try to understand what inspired them to accept Wells’ offer and to cross that moral and ethical boundary.”

Preparing for the role, Kinnear happily immersed himself in scientific material. “Science interests me,” says Kinnear. “I’m intrigued by the technologies of cloning and what those technologies can do. The huge evolutionary curve that has taken place in the last twenty years is absolutely astounding. Just as we’re shooting this movie we’re getting a barrage of reports of human clones. Nobody knows (at this point), if they are true or not. But, in the not-too-distant future it likely will be true and that’s a remarkable thing to consider. To find a way to touch on that while telling a very human story is an exceptionally compelling notion.”

Rebecca Romijn-Stamos caught the eye of Marc Butan with her evocative work in Brian De Palma’s film noire, Femme Fatale. “I saw an early screening around Cannes, and Rebecca just stuck in my head,” recalls Butan. “That performance showed me that she really had acting chops. There’s also accessibility to her. I thought she’d be an exciting and interesting choice for Jessie.”

“Rebecca is a find,” agrees Hamm. “I’m so proud of what she’s done in the movie. She’s instinctive, intuitive with her choices. Her capacity to feel shows in her creation of this mother figure and then demonstrated further as she takes this figure through that tragedy. I think what she does is remarkable.”

“Godsend is the antithesis of everything I’ve done until now,” explains Romijn-Stamos. “I’ve gone from X-Men to Femme Fatale playing highly stylized characters – very glamorous or just outrageous characters. This gives me the chance to play someone naturalistic, someone a little more subtle and,” she laughs, “to get a ‘mommy’ haircut.” She adds, “It’s topical material, and I appreciate that it has a brain. I was also excited by the way Nick was going to make this, in that we wouldn’t be relying on heavy special effects. Because it’s all in the way we play it, it becomes organic.”

Expanding on her character, Romijn-Stamos adds: “When we meet Jessie at the beginning of the film, she’s the happiest we’ll ever see her – she’s just basking in motherhood and family. All she ever wanted in life was a family. When she loses Adam she feels that she’s lost everything. She’s completely destroyed and she really is pathological about getting her child back.”

Mark Bomback was impressed by what Romijn-Stamos brought to the challenging role. “Unlike Paul,” he says, “Jessie is much more reluctant to accept that something could be wrong with her child. Rebecca was really great about reminding me that this is a woman who’s lost her child and, even though she gets that child back through Well’s cloning, she’s a woman who has suffered a unique and awful sort of trauma. I think she carries that certain undercurrent of grief throughout her whole performance.”

For the Mephistopheles-like Dr. Richard Wells, Bomback enticed Robert De Niro to Godsend. Acclaimed as one of the finest actors of a generation, the double Oscar® winner explores the deep recesses of a man guided by his own moral compass.

“Bob is just the most fascinating actor to work with,” says Hamm of De Niro. “He applies total attention to detail and to the accuracy of his work. There’s no softness in his work, no fat. There’s not any superfluous decision making and nothing happens by chance. Working with Bob is working with thirty years of movie making. I was not just working with him; I was also learning from him. In creating his character, Dr. Richard Wells, I was fascinated by every decision he made.”

For freshman screenwriter Bomback, De Niro’s involvement was, “a dream come true. It’s remarkable to see how he approaches the character and tries to inhabit what it means to be a fertility doctor. He was interested in the text and in the character as a whole – he asked me for tons of research material and I sent him dozens and dozens of pieces. I sent him technical journals and photographs. I sent him material on people who do for a living what Richard does – namely being a fertility doctor. I sent articles about several different doctors, legitimate obstetricians and some who operate underground in much more surreptitious experiments.”

At the very heart, in so many ways, of Godsend, is Adam, the young boy who dies almost immediately at the start of the film only to be brought back in a most disturbing way. Playing the role is nine year-old Cameron Bright in his first major starring role.

“I was looking for someone with very specific qualities for this role,” explains Hamm. “I needed a young boy who had the duality needed to endear himself to an audience at one moment and frighten them the next. I was very lucky to find that rare quality in Cameron.”

It took more than luck to find the young actor. Indeed, the filmmakers launched an extensive search that took months. Casting sessions were held in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Toronto. Hundreds of aspiring stars were seen in those sessions and thousands more on videotapes submitted from around the globe. Cameron Bright, a native of Nanaimo, British Columbia, not far from Vancouver, was on one of those tapes.

Producer Butan says, “We saw Cameron early and he was the kid to beat from the get-go. It’s very hard to judge a child actor’s skill or range because they just don’t have the body of work yet. The most experienced kids out there may have only done a handful of roles – and that’s impressive when you’re under 10, but there are very few films or TV shows that a child that young has to carry. We have some huge stars in this movie but, ultimately, the kid had to carry it.”

At a final stage in the casting process, Butan gathered Kinnear and Romijn-Stamos in Toronto where he had them spend a day with Cameron. “They went to a park, had a good time and we shot some casual footage with the three of them,” explains Butan. “We wanted to see them together, to see if there’s a natural believability that they are a family. They had a real chemistry together. You could see on that day how well it was going to work.”

At barely nine years old, Bright found himself on location, starring in a major motion picture. His more experienced co-stars appreciated the demands on the boy. “It’s a really tricky part,” comments Greg Kinnear. “In a sense he plays multiple characters and that’s always a real challenge. For a kid who’s nine, it’s enormous. He’s really wonderful in the role. He’s also a great kid, funny and charming. He lights up the set.”

His on-screen mom agrees: “Cameron has a huge responsibly in this film. A lot relies on Cameron and he’s done a phenomenal job. He plays this normal, sweet little kid and then he’s got to play this complicated kind of demon-child. Cameron has really gotten into this; he’s really good, and so subtle. I am so impressed with him.”

Three of the stars of Godsend came to the production with a tremendous wealth of experience and training while the fourth, Cameron Bright, had been acting and studying the craft for only a few years – not unimpressive when you are nine. Nick Hamm, who had previously directed the British school-set thriller, The Hole, came to Godsend with a genuine understanding of child actors. “With children it’s always very interesting because the process is different for them,” explains the director. “Often they’re instinctive, so what you will do is set up a situation in which they can behave a certain way. With many young child actors it’s really about capturing behavior. However, this role is too demanding for that. Thankfully Cameron is quite skilled and is able to act and to hold his own alongside Greg, Rebecca, and Bob. Of course I worked differently with him. I give him more direction and frequently, I don’t cut camera, we just keep rolling as I talk him through a moment or a scene.”

The on-screen family were close off the set as well. The three went to the movies together and played games together during their downtime. Rebecca Romijn-Stamos smiles as she thinks back. “We had our little songs that we’d sing when we were freezing in the street together and hugging each other to try to warm up. He’s really become our young friend.”

Bearing: Natural vs. Artificial Method

Hamm presents Godsend in a way that involves the audience in the emotional horror of the Duncans’ dilemma rather than using computers and optical effects to create artificial elements or creatures. “In terms of the vision of the movie, it is domestic, naturalistic, but at the same time quite twisted. We’re working in a situation where we’re not only relying on shocks to make people scared. Instead, we created an atmosphere, a story, and a situation in which anything at all could happen. That to me is frighteningly intense.”

For the cast of Godsend, working CGI-free was a hugely satisfying approach. These are top actors at the peak of their craft, and they are working with, and off of, eachother – not reacting to green screens and creatures that would be created later on in a remote computer environment. Hamm put his trust in the screenplay and in the cast rather than relying on effects to move an audience. The horror of this film comes from a sense of relationship to the characters, not from a series of effects and noise jumping out at the audience. Kinnear comments wryly, “This is not an ooga-booga movie.”

Unusual for the horror genre, much of Godsend plays out in the daytime, with most scenes brightly yet moodily lit. Hamm explains his visual approach to the film: “I think true psychological terror comes in daylight, in everyday surroundings, not buried in shadow,” says Hamm. “Certainly not all of Godsend could be considered ordinary but the root of it certainly is. In essence, it is the familiar made disturbing.”

Director of Photography Kramer Morgenthau worked closely with Hamm and Production Designer Doug Kraner to create a visual language that could freely suit the movie from its periods of relative normality to the most moody and terrifying moments. “We felt the story was so fantastic that we needed to take a realistic approach to the overall photography in order to keep it believable,” says Morgenthau. “Both Nick and I tend towards a more expressive, somewhat stylized approach, but, for the most part, we kept things grounded with a visual reality. For our palette, we referenced some of the works of landscape painter Andrew Wyeth, and also took from that a little of the sense of a slightly dark, expressionistic normality. We’re taking the audience emotionally into this placid yet eventually scary universe of the countryside where the Duncans have moved, mindful that the visuals should not telegraph just what is to come.”

A strong portion of the movie takes place within the visions that afflict Adam. For those sequences, Morgenthau made exceptions to the realistic style of the movie. Technical expertise bolstered his creativity as he employed a series of techniques to texture the movie’s look. He used more than a dozen different film stocks, selecting each for their specific qualities of color intensity; contrast, graininess, and resolution. Exaggerating these visual elements, he severely altered the way many of the sequences were processed by the lab, sometimes changing the chemistry altogether. For one visual theme he even altered the motor in the motion picture camera to throw the film slightly out of phase with the shutter. This caused a dramatic shrieking of the highlights on screen.

The most dramatic and innovative visual effect in Godsend occurs as Adams nightmare world starts to feel that it could overtake him. “Nick wanted the audience to see Adam’s conflicting points of views,” says Morgenthau. In keeping with the film’s philosophy of avoiding digital or optical visual effects wherever possible, a unique lens was invented for this sequence. Russell Bowie, Morgenthau’s first assistant cameraman created this by extensively modifying a stereoscopic still camera lens. The effect is an unsettling parallax that effectively represents Adam’s altered state.

Delivery: Heading to Camera
Nick Hamm built his career in the theater where, among his many successes, he had been resident of the Royal Shakespeare Company and British Artistic Director of the highly acclaimed Sadler’s Wells Theatre Company. With this background it should surprise no one to learn that Nick Hamm had a healthy regard for rehearsal.

Hamm gathered the cast, producers and screenwriter together for an intensive rehearsal process in the period before Godsend went to camera. Bomback also participated and reflects: “Each of the actors had great ideas for the characters and this time together took the work to that next level.”

“We’re very lucky to have rehearsal time, all of us together, even our movie son,” comments Rebecca Romijn-Stamos. “Just playing everything out and seeing how it feels, what feels right and natural, and really getting to know each other. I really love the rehearsal process. Once you get to the day of shooting everything gets chaotic and crazy so it’s really nice to have this calm time to work through the character and find the heart of the movie.”

“We explored a lot of different scenes and ideas,” comments Greg Kinnear. “In the rehearsal process Nick really wanted to find what the emotional core was for this couple and what it was they were going through and struggling with.”

The energy of the rehearsals was heightened by the participation of Robert De Niro. Each person in the room shared a great admiration for his iconic performances in some of the greatest movies of their generation. “At the end of the day, it’s true that good actors are good actors,” says Kinnear. “But Bob is an amazingly gifted and talented actor. He’s a remarkable professional and an incredibly kind man. To have the opportunity to work with him, to play off of his skill and to learn from him, I rank as one of my exceptional experiences.”

Romijn-Stamos readily agrees: “He’s phenomenal. It’s just so amazing watching his process while you’re working. Watching and seeing why he does certain things - I’m constantly learning from him and it’s always amazing.”

Rehearsals continued right through the production. In any free moment on the set - as lights were adjusted, as cameras were repositioned, Hamm and the cast took the opportunity to further explore the scenes and characters.

While the extraordinary cast individually and collectively shaped their characters and brought great input to the film, it was Hamm at the helm once the cameras rolled. “Nick knows exactly what he wants,” says Kinnear. “He comes from an enormous theatre background and is very gifted in working with actors. Nick always knows what buttons to push. He has great clarity about each scene and the underlying themes – a clarity that for an actor is incredibly encouraging. He’s also a very strong presence in terms of driving the show. Because this movie was not shot in a lot of days, it needed a ringleader. We got one in Nick.”

In the midst of his tasks as ringleader, Hamm never lost focus of the story and the strengths of each of his stars. Collaboration was as common during those furtive moments shooting on location as they were during early rehearsal time. Each of these strong actors had contributed greatly to the foundation of their characters and felt a vested interest in the sustained integrity of the production.

About The Cast

GREG KINNEAR first gained prominence as the animated, wisecracking host of E! Entertainment Television’s “Talk Soup,” for which he won an Emmy. Also the executive producer of the show, Kinnear gained not only rave reviews, but also a cult-like following.

Kinnear’s feature film debut in the Sydney Pollack-directed remake, Sabrina, in which he co-starred with Harrison Ford and Julia Ormond, prompted the trade organization of movie theater owners to name him NATO ShoWest’s “Star of Tomorrow.” His heartfelt performance as Jack Nicholson’s unfortunate neighbor, Simon, in James L. Brooks’ As Good As It Gets won him an Academy Award nomination. With this honor, plus the Best Supporting Actor award from the National Board of Review, and Best Supporting Actor nominations from The Golden Globes and The Screen Actors Guild as well, Kinnear continued to establish himself as a respected member of Hollywood’s acting community.

Kinnear was most recently seen in the Farrelly brother’s film Stuck on You, starring opposite Matt Damon. Kinnear could also be seen in the critically acclaimed Sony Pictures Classics biopic Auto Focus for director Paul Schrader, an absorbing glimpse into the colorful life and mysterious death of “Hogan’s Heroes” actor Bob Crane. Kinnear stars as Crane with Willem Dafoe, Maria Bello and Rita Wilson co-starring. Just before Auto Focus, Kinnear appeared in the Paramount Pictures/Icon Productions feature We Were Soldiers opposite Mel Gibson for writer-director Randall Wallace. The feature focuses on the battle of la Drang, which lasted more than a month during the Vietnam War. Kinnear’s last television feature was in the critically acclaimed Norman Jewison HBO movie, “Dinner with Friends,” alongside Toni Collette, Dennis Quaid and Andie MacDowell. An adaptation of the Pulitzer-Prize winning play by Donald Margulies, the movie traces the bittersweet relationship between two married couples and how a separation affects them all.

After his Oscar® nomination for As Good As It Gets, Kinnear co-starred in Nora Ephron’s romantic hit comedy You’ve Got Mail opposite Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan, and opposite Gary Shandling and Annette Bening in Mike Nichols’ What Planet are You From.

The last few years have been busy ones for Kinnear in the feature film world. He starred in the romantic comedy Someone Like You with Ashley Judd and Hugh Jackman; in Sam Raimi’s supernatural thriller The Gift opposite Cate Blanchett and Katie Holmes; and in director Neil LaBute’s black comedy, Nurse Betty, opposite Renée Zellweger, Morgan Freeman, and Chris Rock. He also appeared in the cameo role of “Captain Amazing’’ in Mystery Men.

Coincident with the popularity of “Talk Soup,” Kinnear provided hilarious commentary on clips from such programs as “Sally Jesse Raphael,” “Jerry Springer,” and “Montel.” After capturing the attention of NBC executives searching for a replacement for Bob Costas, in 1994, Kinnear became host and executive producer of his own NBC late night talk show, “Later with Greg Kinnear.”

As a result of his father’s position in the State Department, Greg Kinnear grew up all over the world, his formative years spent both in the U.S. and abroad, in such disparate locales as Washington, D.C., Indiana, Lebanon and Athens.

REBECCA ROMIJN-STAMOS has successfully made the leap from international model to internationally known actress. This spring, she will also co-star alongside John Travolta and Tom Jane in Lions Gate’s The Punisher, Marvel comic's latest movie creation. The dark action feature follows a watchful superhero as he takes on the mob to avenge the deaths of his wife and children. The Punisher opens April 16, 2004.

She most recently co-starred in the hyped action sequel X2 which opened in 93 territories and has grossed over $400,000,000 to date. Variety said of her performance, "She's not really fair to the other actors, in that she effortlessly steals every scene she's in just by standing around in her blue-hued altogether. When her aptly named character Mystique takes control of the action, actress really turns it on, morphing from one identity to the next more frequently, and much more quickly, than Cher changes costumes during a concert."

It was her role in Femme Fatale opposite Antonio Banderas that won her critical acclaim. In this film noir thriller, Rebecca plays a woman attempting to go straight, while being haunted by her shady con-woman past. The Los Angeles Times said of her performance, "Not since Sissy Spacek burned up he screen in Carrie has a De Palma woman held the screen as forcefully as Rebecca Romijn-Stamos."

These films come on the heels of her starring role in Rollerball, opposite Chris Klein and LL Cool J, a role opposite Al Pacino in Simone, and the hugely successful X-Men.

Rebecca began crossing over from the fashion world with memorable appearances on the hit television shows "Friends" and "Just Shoot Me," as well as hosting MTV's "House of Style," and cameos in such films as Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me.

Robert De Niro launched his prolific motion picture career with a role in Brian De Palma's The Wedding Party in 1969. By 1973, he had twice won the New York Film Critics' Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor in recognition of his critically acclaimed performances in Bang the Drum Slowly and Martin Scorsese's Mean Streets.

De Niro’s current projects include The Good Shepherd, which is in development, The Bridges at San Luis Rey, and Hide and Seek. He is currently filming Meet the Fockers, the sequel to the huge boxoffice hit Meet the Parents.

In 1974, De Niro received the Academy Award® for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of the young Vito Corleone in Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather, Part II. In 1980, he won his second Oscar®, as Best Actor, for his extraordinary portrayal of Jake La Motta in Scorsese's Raging Bull. De Niro has earned four additional Academy Award® nominations for his work as Travis Bickle in Scorsese's acclaimed Taxi Driver; the Vietnam veteran in Michael Cimino's The Deer Hunter; the catatonic patient brought to life in Penny Marshall's Awakenings, and the ex-con looking for revenge in Scorsese's 1992 remake of the 1962 classic Cape Fear.

De Niro's dynamic performances run through some of the modern classics of the gangster and thriller genres, including Scorsese’s Goodfellas, Casino; New York, New York, and The King of Comedy; Brian De Palma's The Untouchables; and Sergio Leone's Once Upon a Time in America.

His distinguished body of work includes roles for some of America’s and the world’s most acclaimed directors, including Elia Kazan's The Last Tycoon; Bernardo Bertolucci's 1900; Ulu Grosbard's True Confessions and Falling in Love; Terry Gilliam's Brazil; Roland Joffe's The Mission; Alan Parker's Angel Heart; Martin Brest's Midnight Run: David Jones' Jacknife; Martin Ritt's Stanley and Iris; Neil Jordan's We're No Angels; Ron Howard's Backdraft; Michael Caton-Jones' This Boy's Life; John McNaughton's Mad Dog and Glory; A Bronx Tale; Kenneth Branagh's Mary Shelley's Frankenstein; Michael Mann's Heat; Barry Levinson's Sleepers and Wag the Dog; Jerry Zaks' Marvin's Room; Tony Scott's The Fan; James Mangold's Copland; Alfonso Cuarón's Great Expectations; Quentin Tarantino's Jackie Brown; John Frankenheimer's Ronin; Joel Schumacher's Flawless; Des MacAnuff's Rocky and Bullwinkle; George Tillman's Men of Honor; John Hershel’s Fifteen Minutes; Frank Oz’s The Score; Tom Dey’s Showtime, and Michael Caton-Jones’ City By The Sea.

This quintessential dramatic actor has also displayed a considerable gift for comedy, with his roles in Jay Roach’s Meet The Parents, Barry Levinson’s Wag The Dog, and Harold Ramis' Analyze This, all produced by De Niro’s own production company, Tribeca Productions. Through Tribeca, and the Tribeca Film Center, which he founded with Jane Rosenthal in 1988, De Niro develops projects on which he serves in a combination of capacities, including producer, director and actor. Tribeca's A Bronx Tale marked De Niro's directorial debut.

Other Tribeca features include Cape Fear; Analyze That; Thunderheart; Mistress; Night and the City; The Night We Never Met; Faithful; Panther; Marvin's Room; Flawless; and Rocky and Bullwinkle. In 1992, Tribeca TV was launched with the critically acclaimed series “Tribeca.” De Niro served as one of the series’ executive producers. In 1998, Tribeca produced a miniseries for NBC, based on the life of “Sammy ‘The Bull’ Gravano.”

Tribeca Productions is headquartered at De Niro's Tribeca Film Center, in the TriBeCa district of New York. The Film Center is a state-of-the-art office building designed for the film and television industry. The eight-story facility features office space, a screening room, banquet hall and restaurant, in addition to a full range of services for entertainment industry professionals.

Ten year-old Cameron Bright now has a substantial resume, going from Godsend to Jonathan Glazer’s Birth, where he stars opposite Nicole Kidman.

Bright started his acting career appearing in several major commercials in both Canada and the United States. He quickly moved to a number of TV series, including Fox’s “Dark Angel,” Warner Brothers’ “Night Visions,” and Fox Family Channel’s “Higher Ground,” in which he played a young Joe Lando.

His other television credits include CBS’s “The Christmas Secret” with Richard Thomas and Beau Bridges; HBO’s “Lone Hero” with Lou Diamond Phillips and Sean Patrick Flannery; and USA Network’s “My Brother’s Keeper,” directed by John Badham, with Jeanne Tripplehorn.

He can also be seen in New Line’s feature film, Butterfly Effect, with Ashton Kutcher and Eric Stoltz.

About The Filmmakers

NICK HAMM (Director), one of Britain's most respected theater and film directors, was resident director with the Royal Shakespeare Company from 1983 to 1988. He has directed major productions in Europe and served as British Artistic Director of the Sadler's Wells Theatre Company.

In 1989 he moved into television/film, directing The Bottom Line, a documentary about the crisis of culture, featuring, among others, Arthur Miller and Dustin Hoffman. In 1992, his 30-minute drama The Harmfulness of Tobacco, starring Edward Fox and Celia Imrie, won the BAFTA Award (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) for Best Short Film.

He went on to direct “Play on One” for the BBC starring Catherine Zeta-Jones and Colin Firth. Followed by the highly acclaimed series “Rik Mayall Presents Dancing Queen,” starring Amanda Donohoe, Jennifer Ehle and Helena Bonham Carter.

His first feature, Talk Of Angels, an epic love story set against the background of the Spanish Civil War starred Vincent Perez and Polly Walker and was made for Miramax.

His second was a romantic comedy for Film Four/ Miramax. Martha Meet Frank; Daniel and Laurence, which starred Monica Potter and Joseph Fiennes. The film was re-titled for its U.S. release, The Very Thought Of You.
His third feature was the highly original European cult movie, The Hole starring Thora Birch and Keira Knightley. This movie was originally made for Pathe Films and picked up for U.S. domestic distribution by Miramax.

Godsend, is Hamm’s first U.S. film.

MARK BOMBACK (Screenwriter) studied English Literature and Film Studies at Wesleyan University. In addition to Godsend, Bomback has worked on a number of projects for various studios, including Constantine (Warner Bros., Francis Lawrence directing, Keanu Reeves to star),which is due out in 2004. He is currently writing Die Hard 4 for 20th Century Fox.

In 2002, Bomback was selected to participate in the Sundance Institute’s prestigious Filmmakers Lab, where he workshopped his screenplay for Disturbing the Peace (based on the Richard Yates novel), with which he hopes to make his directorial debut. Bomback currently resides in Los Angeles, California with his wife and two children.

KRAMER MORGENTHAU (Director of Photography) has enjoyed an extensive collaboration with George Hickenlooper, for whom he has photographed The Man from Elysian Fields, staring James Coburn, Andy Garcia and Mick Jagger; The Big Brass Ring, based on an Orson Welles screenplay, starring William Hurt, and Nigel Hawthorn; Dogtown, and the current release, The Mayor of Sunset Strip which features stars including Beck, Tori Amos, Cher, David Bowie, Alice Cooper, Phil Spector, Paul McCartney, Courtney Love and others in a look at the history of fame through the eyes of pop star impresario Rodney Bingenheimer.

Other recent feature films projects include Empire, starring John Leguizamo, Denise Richards and Isabella Rossellini; the Tim L. Bui directed film, The Green Dragon, with Forrest Whitaker and Patrick Swayze and Rob Davore’s The Woman Chaser.

Morgenthau has shot more than 20 documentaries all over the world on subjects often involving music, art or politics. He photographed several documentaries for two-time Academy Award®-winning director Allan Miller including Miramax distributed Small Wonders which was nominated for a 1996 Academy Award®.

Morgenthau has also spent time in the commercial world. He has shot numerous spots for Spike Lee among other directors. His commercial credits include a Telecom Italia spot shot in Soweto South Africa with Nelson Mandela, as well as work for Pepsi, State Farm, Suzuki, and Coors Light.

NIVEN HOWIE (Editor) previously worked with Godsend director Nick Hamm on The Hole. He was nominated for a BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) Award for editing Guy Ritchie's breakthrough hit, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. He has collaborated three times with Julien Temple, on Bullet, Pandaemonium, and the Sex Pistols documentary, The Filth and the Fury. His other feature work includes the anthology film, Tube Tales, with Ewan McGregor and Jude Law and Nick Willing's thriller, Hypnotic. Howie has edited and directed more than four hundred music videos including, Lenny Kravitz: Alive from Planet Earth and the Grammy Award winning Sting: Ten Summoners Tales. Howie also garnered an Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Multi-Camera Picture Editing for a Miniseries, Movie or Special for the concert film, Paul McCartney: Back in the US. His résumé includes numerous commercials and the three-hour documentary, Models Close-Up, by renowned 60’s photographer-turned-director David Bailey. Howie has just completed the soon to be released remake of the George A. Romero classic, Dawn of the Dead.

STEVE MIRKOVICH (Editor) began his film-editing career at Warner Brothers Studios at the age of 20. As an apprentice and assistant editor his credits include Mikey and Nicky for Elaine May, All the Presidents Men for Alan Pakula, Time after Time for Nicholas Meyer, Willie and Phil and Tempest for Paul Mazursky. He is now the veteran film editor of more than 25 motion pictures including cult and blockbuster films such as Big Trouble in Little China, Con Air, Broken Arrow, Ghost In the Darkness, and I Know What You Did Last Summer. Steve has worked with veteran and fledgling directors in locations all around the globe.

ARV GREWAL (Art Director), studied architecture and was partner in a small practice before he decided to turn his talents to a career in film. He has since art directed such diverse feature films as Finding Forrester, K-19: The Widowmaker and the 2004 remake of Dawn of the Dead. He has also worked consistently on the last three David Cronenberg films including Crash and eXistenZ; in 2002 he art directed Spider (Ralph Fiennes, Miranda Richardson) for which he and Production Designer Andrew Sanders were nominated for Canada’s Genie Award for Best Art Direction. He is currently working on the Disney project entitled The Pacifier, starring Vin Diesel.

SUZANNE MCCABE (Costume Designer) most recently designed Nancy Meyer’s Something’s Gotta Give and has enjoyed a career in feature films , television and theatre. She was costume designer on Woody Allen’s Small Time Crooks and Curse of the Jade Scorpion, Agent Cody Banks, Carolina, and Through an Open Window.

Through the years she assisted on many features films such as Allen’s Manhattan Murder Mystery, Bullets Over Broadway and Everyone Says I Love You as well as Penny Marshall’s A League of Their Own and Awakenings. She also did Die Hard with a Vengeance, In Dreams, Flawless, and What Women Want. She began her career working as a wardrobe assistant on such films as 84 Charring Cross Road and Mississippi Burning.