link6SynCopy="Laurel Canyon," a street that runs through the heart of the Hollywood Hills, has fordecades been a sort of Greenwich Village of the West, home to many musicians, actors,artists and other bohemian types. Among its current residents is Jane (FrancesMcDormand), a veteran record producer, trying to come up with a hit single for aBritish band whose lead singer Ian (Alessandro Nivola) is her much younger lover.
    Jane's son Sam (Christian Bale) and his fiancŽe Alex (Kate Beckinsale) are both recent graduates of Harvard medical school. Conservative and serious, the couple move to Los Angeles to complete their studies, planning to stay in Jane's home, which she had promised would be vacant. But when they arrive, Sam is distressed to discover Jane and the band still working in Jane's home recording studio. Jane's carefree lifestyle is anathema to Sam, who has devoted his life to being anyone but his mother's son. Sam and Alex begrudgingly agree to stay at Jane's house until they can find an alternative place to live.
    Once in the house, however, Sam and Alex's tight control over their lives begins to unravel. Increasingly, Alex finds herself seduced by Jane and Ian, leaving Sam adrift, vulnerable to the approach of fellow medical resident Sara (Natascha McElhone).
    The Brit-pop sounds of Ian's band and the sunbleached southern California landscape set the tone for this rigorously honest exploration of relationships between people with wildly divergent world views.
&link6DirCopy=Raised in Los Angeles, LISA CHOLODENKO (Writer/Director) worked as an assistant editor on studio features before moving to New York in 1992. While earning her MFA in screenwriting and directing from Columbia University, she made short films including "dinner party," winner of The UK's Channel 4 TX prize. "High Art," her first feature film, was screened at the 1998 Director's Fortnight at Cannes and won several awards the same year including The Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award at Sundance and The Jury Prize at Deauville. The film received several IFP Spirit Award nominations with Ally Sheedy winning the Best Actress honors as well as honors from The National Society of Film Critics, the Los Angeles Film Critics and an Independent Spirit Award. In addition to her two feature films, Cholodenko has directed episodes of NBC's "Homicide," HBO's "Six Feet Under" and ABC's "Push, Nevada."

&link6ProdsCopy=With "Laurel Canyon," JEFFREY LEVY-HINTE (Producer) has produced the second film of writer/director Lisa Cholodenko. Their first effort together was the critically lauded award-winning "High Art." The pair met on a New York video shoot in 1995 and, discovering that they were both from the San Fernando Valley, quickly struck up a relationship. When the time came for "High Art" to go into production, Cholodenko called upon Levy-Hinte to lend a hand and he produced the film with Dolly Hall and Susan Stover. Levy-Hinte sees the producer's job as a precise and time-consuming function. "We had been developing 'Laurel Canyon' since 1998," he notes. "I was involved every step of the way, from talking through initial ideas, reading each of the dozen plus drafts, and providing commentary and analysis along the way. Though the screenplay is undoubtedly Lisa's creation, I had the great privilege of genuinely collaborating with her on its development. I think my function is to provide the means for the director to realize her vision in such a way that it is not compromised. The first step is to surround yourself with great people, here it was Scott Ferguson, in particular, who was pivotal to the film's production. It's difficult for a director to maintain balance during production without someone at her side, and I always endeavored to make the production process as transparent as possible, so that Lisa could approach it as an artist without having to be burdened by the financial, legal, and organizational aspects of the filmmaking process. On the set, I often find that I am a combination of father figure and court jester, both the person ultimately responsible for staying on budget and schedule, and the one best positioned to ensure the highest possible morale for the cast and crew. You have to wear a lot of hats."
    Born in 1967 in Santa Monica, CA and a student at Fairfax High School in Los Angeles, Levy-Hinte dropped out of high school to pursue other interests. His life has taken many twists and turns with him eventually earning a BA in Political Science from Cal State Northridge (where he graduated summa cum laude) and an MA in Political Science from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Levy-Hinte has worked in a wide variety 13 of jobs, from wood working to real estate, political activist to film editor. His other producing credits include "Wendigo," "American Saint," "Limon: A Life Beyond Words," and, as executive producer, the feature "First Love, Last Rites." He also edited the Academy Award winning documentary "When We Were Kings."
    He has also created several film-related enterprises including Post 391, an editing facility in New York, and DIG IT Audio, Inc., a film and video post-production sound facility. In 2000, he founded the production company Antidote Films which has produced three filmsÑ"Wendigo," "American Saint," and "Limon," and has another three in various stages of development. Most recently he teamed up with Michael London and Working Title Films to produce "Thirteen," the directorial debut of production designer Catherine Hardwicke ("Three Kings," "Vanilla Sky"). The film stars Holly Hunter, Even Rachel Wood, and Jeremy Sisto.

SUSAN STOVER (Producer) In 1999, Susan was awarded the Ralph Lauren Independent Spirit Producer Award from the Independent Feature Project/West. She was the recipient of the 1998 Mark Silverman Fellowship; a grant sponsored by the Sundance Film Institute awarded anually to one producer. Stover currently serves on the Board of Directors of the IFP/New York as well as the National IFP Board. Susan works under her banner, HeadQuarters, in Tribeca.
    A native of Texas, Susan practiced law in New York City prior to producing independent film projects. She was the Associate Producer of Larry Fessenden's "Habit," winner of a 1997 Independent Spirit Award for "Someone to Watch," and Kelly Reichardt's "River of Grass." which premiered at the Sundance and Berlin Film Festivals.
    She produced Rachel Reichman's "Work," which premiered at the 1996 New Directors/New Films series at New York's Museum of Modern Art, and was Co-Associate Producer of Todd Solondz's "Welcome to the Dollhouse," winner of the 1996 Grand Jury Prize at Sundance. For Good Machine, Inc., she was the Line Producer of Frank Grow's "Love God" and the Producer of Hilary Brougher's "The Sticky Fingers of Time." Stover produced Lisa Cholodenko's "High Art," which screened at the 1998 Sundance Film Festival and was an official selection at the 1998 Director's Fortnight at Cannes. Susan also produced "Ode," a Super 8 movie by Kelly Reichardt, which premiered at the 1999 Venice Film Festival and Brad Anderson's "Happy Accidents," which premiered at the 2000 Sundance Film Festival.
    Susan's most recent project is Patrick Stettner's "The Business of Strangers," starring Stockard Channing and Julia Stiles. Susan is currently developing Kelly Reichardt's Miami based "Royal Court," starring Alfre Woodard and Mark Bomback's "Disturbing The Peace," a film adaptation of the Richard Yates' novel,starring Matt Dillon.





&link6ExProdCopy=SCOTT FERGUSON (Executive Producer, Unit Production Manager) received a BA in theatre from Cornell University and an MFA from Columbia. He began working in motion picture production in 1989 and includes, among his credits, David Mamet's "Heist," Milos Forman's "The People Vs. Larry Flynt" and "Man on the Moon," Robert Benton's "Nobody's Fool" and "Twilight," Sydney Pollack's "The Firm," and Richard Pearce's "A Family Thing."
    In addition to working with such high-end talent, Ferguson also takes great pleasure in helping talented newcomers realize their first films. These include James Mangold's "Heavy," Alan Taylor's "Palookaville," and Joseph Castelo's "American Saint." Since 1990, he has served as Vice President of the production company Cinehaus, Inc.&



&link8MusicCopy=One of the primary challenges facing the "Laurel Canyon" creative team was how to handle the music that is intrinsically woven into the film. Analogous to the still photographs in "High Art," it was critically important that the "behind the scenes" music being created by Jane, Ian and the Band was credible to viewers as the work of major label artists.
    With Karyn Rachtman on board as Music Supervisor, the filmmakers undertook an extensive search for the songs that would play on camera, ultimately settling on two songs, "Someday I Will Treat You Good" and "Shade %26  Honey," both written by Mark Linkous, the creative force behind the critically acclaimed band "Sparklehorse."
    Lisa Cholodenko was delighted to learn that her first choice to play Ian, Alessandro Nivola, was not only an extremely gifted actor, but also an accomplished singer. Nivola sings on all of the on-camera tracks seen in the film, with backing both on-camera and in the studio pre-recordings by Folk Implosion. The songs were recorded over a four-day period at Sunset Sound in Hollywood, produced by Mickey Petralia a veteran LA record producer.
    To maximize authenticity, it was decided to use working musicians to play Ian's Band on camera. Lou Barlow and his Folk Implosion bandmates were ultimately chosen after an extensive search. The current talent roster includes singer/songwriter Barlow (playing Fripp -- bass), Russ Pollard (Rowan -- drums) and Imaad Wasif (Dean -- guitar.) Folk Implosion has been performing in various configurations for five years, to date recording four albums and provided the music for the controversial Larry Clark film "Kids." Linkous also appears in the film in an impromptu jam session at the Chateau Marmont, playing an improvised song with legendary producer Daniel Lanois (whose credits include U2 and Bob Dylan) and Beck's bass player Justin Meldal Johnsen.
    <a href="http://www.hollywoodrecords.com" target="other"><u>Hollywood records</u></a> is to release the soundtrack.


&link8SparkCopy=In '96 the band released their first album 'Vivadixiesubmarine- transmissionplot.' which was included in NME's, Vox's, Q's, and Rollingstone's 'Best of '96' lists. It included three singles, 'Hammering The Cramps', 'Rainmaker' and 'Someday I Will Treat You Good' which enjoyed a good amount of exposure. To date, two additional albums have followed 'Good Morning Spider' and 'It's a Wonderful Life' both enjoying critical acclaim.
    Sparklehorse has toured with Cracker, Garbage, Tindersticks, Son Volt, Mazzy Star, and Radiohead.


&link7InspCopy=Q: Was there a literal inspiration for "Laurel Canyon?"

A: I think the first germ of the story came when I was finishing up "High Art." I was in the editing room in New York with my editor Amy Duddleston. We'd been cutting for a long time and to keep our energy up we took a lot of breaks and listened to a lot of music. One morning, Amy brought in the Joni Mitchell record "Ladies of the Canyon." I hadn't heard that record in a long time. We listened to it beginning to end. I was looking at the coverÑa painting that Joni Mitchell did of a hillside up in Laurel Canyon where she lived at the time. We started spinning a yarn about people who lived up there: what their lives were like, what Joni Mitchell's life must have been like. So the character of Jane was born out of that morning in the editing room over four years ago.
&link7LocaCopy=Q: The record triggered a memory for you, but what does the location of Laurel Canyon mean?

A: Laurel Canyon is a strange island in the middle of Los Angeles; it's a kind of time warp wedged between Hollywood and the San Fernando Valley. It has its own history and morality and culture that's distinctive from anywhere else in LA. It has a kind of hippie quality and it also has a timeless quality. It has a lawless quality to it as well, which seems to change each decade. Rumor has it was an outpost for Hollywood players to conduct their clandestine affairs and in the sixties and seventies it had the rock "n' roll drug culture which gave way to a more seedy hard drug/porno cultureÑthe "Boogie Nights" era. Then recently there was a resurgence of the younger movie industry and nouveau music culture. I think it's always been attractive to people who are less conventional or are interested in being identified with a culture that is less conventional.
It held an endless curiosity for me when I was a kid. It felt strangely comforting, more like me than where I was (in the Valley).

&link7FidelCopy=Q: The moral choices the characters make seem pretty rough on paper, but when you're watching the film, somehow you sympathize with them. They're not judged.

A: I'm not sure I had a moral to the story, because I don't feel moralistic when it comes to desire and emotion. But I would boil it down to thisÑthe movie is about fidelity, all aspects of itÑ fidelity between parents and children and fidelity between lovers. I was asking a lot of questions at the time about commitment and loyalty and it felt important to do something fresh with those questions. I wanted to get into the minutia of what it is that makes people stray from committed relationships, how the situations can happen, and how people find their way through.
&link7SeducCopy=Q: The couple of Sam and Alex both have other people seducing them. What do you feel about those two characters? They have a strong bond together, but what do you think leads them to have these adventures?

A: They're both repressed and morally na•ve or idealistic. People like that are ripe for falling off the wagon. Sam styled himself in reaction to his mother. His mother has no hang-ups about open relationships or infidelity. It's not in her vocabulary, so Sam's personality has been shaped in response to that. Sam needs to falter to be a full human being. Whether you succumb or not, I think you have to be butted up against your own temptations and boundaries to shape more realistic values.
    The Alex character is repressed, having never been in an environment like Jane's house or around a person like Jane. Similarly, she needs to come up against those questions, temptations, and adventures to be an adult. It's kind of a coming of age story about a person learning to make adult commitments. It's being around that which you fear the most and that which is taboo. On some level you've got to confront these things to lead a fuller life.
&link7RelaCopy=Q: Is their relationship stronger because of this story? Because of what they had?

A: As you leave them at the end of the film: they have the potential to be stronger or the potential to separate. In the end, I felt like it was artificial to say what would happen to them one way or the other. It felt more honest to me to leave them where I do. It also felt like it would be more gratifying to the audience not to have their conclusion spelled out. It's a journey that seemed compelling in the information that it leaves them with. That's the food for thought.

&link7GroCopy=Q: If those two characters are going through a growth process, does Jane stay more or less the same?

A: I wanted to show that everybody changes in a way. If Sam moves a bit to the left, then Jane moves a bit to the right. In that way they're coming closer together. He'll never be as open as her and she'll never be entirely different, but I wanted to show that she has a moment of reckoning with the implications of her actions. She considers the ramifications of her behavior with a weight that maybe has never been there before. She's sort of a late developer. She comes to see emotional responsibility in a new light.

&link7OnJaneCopy=Q: Jane is a person that's never grown up, but then there's also this part of her that really seems positive when you contrast her to how uptight her son is. She takes life in a more relaxed way.

A: She is sort of an unwitting feminist hero, I guess. I think Jane is made more interesting by Frances herself. It feels like her spirit is spilling out all over the place, which is great.
    At first I thought, "is this character consistent?" She's tender here, she's brassy there, and she's sarcastic there. Now when I look at her, I see a full, rich and complex character.

&link7IntimCopy=Q: Do you see a connection between "High Art" and "Laurel Canyon?" They are both about tense relationships.

A: Both movies are about the complications of intimacy. In both of them, there are moments of celebration of the joys or the passions of intimacy. But the majority of the two narratives are about the complications. But it's definitely not an over-determined thing. I'm not really a cynic. I'm sort of the opposite. I look at what's difficult in relationships. But ultimately, working through those challenges is what makes relationships stronger. The minutia of intimacy, the seduction, danger, confusion and relief in it, fascinate me. One way or another, I'll probably keep making movies about these things.