K2 The Ultimate High - Press Kit Information

K2

PRODUCTION INFORMATION

Taylor Brooks (Michael Biehn) moves through life at a breakneck pace, grabbing the things he wants with little regard for the consequences. He plays fast and loose in his job as Seattle Assistant District Attorney, never shy about bending the law to suit his purposes.

It's not surprising that when Taylor pursues his passion, mountain climbing, he doesn't take it easy. Taylor favors the alpine-style approach, where climbers move up the face of a mountain in a few days, covering ground that might take a conventional expedition many weeks.

Taylor is accompanied on his mountaineering adventures by physics professor Harold Jamison (Matt Craven). The two friends are a study in contrasts: Taylor is impulsive and brash, while Harold is meditative and gentle; Taylor is an inveterate womanizer, but Harold is devoted to his wife, Cindy (Julia Nickson-Soul); Taylor is out to conquer the world, but Harold climbs mountains to challenge himself. Their differences are readily apparent on the mountain slopes: Taylor is clearly the more accomplished climber, but his tendency to be reckless is balanced by Harold's careful attention to safety.

The peak that particularly fascinates Taylor is the one considered the most difficult to climb, K2. While not the world's highest (only Everest surpasses it), K2 is undeniably the steepest and most remote -- 27 people have died trying to reach its summit, earning it a grim nickname, The Savage Mountain.

During a climb in Moose's Tooth, Alaska, Taylor and Harold encounter a mountaineering group who are out on a test run for a major expedition. Taylor can't help but mock their equipment-intensive approach. Despite warnings from Harold, two members of that party take an unnecessary risk and are swept away in an avalanche. Taylor loses no time using this tragedy to his advantage. There are now unexpected vacancies on this expedition, which Taylor has correctly guessed is going to K2.

Taylor manages to convince the wealthy expedition leader, Phillip Claiborne (Raymond J. Barry), to let them join the climbing team. The mountaineers include the noted climber Jacki Metcalfe (Patricia Charbonneau), Taylor's courtroom rival Dallas Woolf (Luca Bercovici), and Japanese mountaineer Takane Shimuzu (Hiroshi Fujioka).

But Harold will not go without Cindy's approval. Taylor can't understand how Harold would let anything stand in the way of a chance of a lifetime. "If you ask me," says Taylor, "I think love costs too much... I say it's way overpriced."

Cindy responds strongly. "You're going to blow everything," she says. But Harold speaks passionately of his determination to climb K2, she reluctantly gives in.

Two weeks later, the group is on its way to Northern Pakistan and the Karakoram mountains. First stop is the village of Skardu, where the mountaineers hire hundreds of the native Baltis as porters to carry supplies to base camp.

Taylor is soon at odds with expedition leader, Dallas. Their conflict stems from differing approaches towards climbing, but Taylor's abrasive manner only exacerbates the situation.

A certain degree of tension is to be expected as the climbers jockey for position. Not everyone is certain to be selected by Claiborne as part of the summit team, so they are all eager to demonstrate their fitness and determination.

After the Balti porters repeatedly slow down the expedition by ever-escalating wage demands, Taylor strikes out angrily by burning some of their money. This foolhardy act enrages the climbers as much as the Baltis. Even Harold loses patience with his friend. "I didn't make the world the way it is," says Taylor, "I just get through it as fast and clean as possible." Harold responds "We all make the world the way it is."

While Taylor alienates everyone, Harold becomes a hero by saving the life of Army Liaison Officer Malik Khan (Jamal Shah) and some porters during a cave-in on Godwin Austen glacier.

Just as the expedition reaches the foot of K2, most of the porters quit in fear, only a scant four hours from their destination, the base camp. The climbers must decide: either abandon the expedition or proceed with limited equipment. Taylor argues forcefully for continuing and Claiborne agrees.

The six climbers split into groups as they move to set up three base camps on the icy slopes. As they approach K2's crown, even Taylor and Dallas find a way to cooperate. But the increasing altitude and severe weather conditions take their toll. One by one, the mountaineers are faced with setbacks and disaster.

Ultimately, Taylor and Harold are alone on K2, injured and fighting for their lives.

While Taylor had made every attempt to prepare himself physically and mentally for the climb, he ends up encountering a situation he never imagined. He must face the most painful and difficult decision of his life.

K2 is directed by Franc Roddam from the screenplay by Patrick Meyers and Scott Roberts, based on the play by Patrick Meyers. A Paramount Pictures Presentation of a Trans Pacific Films Production in association with Miramax Films, the Franc Roddam film is produced by Jonathan Taplin, Marilyn Weiner and Tim Van Rellim. Melvyn J. Estrin and Hal Weiner are executive producers.

THE PLAY

Before he wrote K2, playwright Patrick Meyers had no interest in mountain climbing. But in 1978, he happened to pick up a book called Four Against Everest. "It was written by Woodrow Wilson's grandson," Meyers told The New York Times. "He and a friend found themselves stranded for a night above 25,000 feet. I thought to myself, This is a wonderful dramatic situation - a real life-and-death confrontation." Meyers originally considered climbers to be crazy to risk their lives. "But then I researched it and got really interested. Now I try to do two climbs a year." When K2 was mounted on Broadway in 1983, it received a stunning theatrical production. Designer Ming Cho Lee won a Tony Award for his awe-inspiring 55-foot high mountain, crafted out of heavy-duty styrofoam. Audiences held their breath when actor Jeffrey DeMunn (as Taylor) climbed the mountain, and gasped as he plunged 26 feet, secured only by his rope. The role was considered so dangerous that the producers took out special liability insurance, and so fatiguing that oxygen was made available in the wings.

The play has been performed all over the world, with varying approaches to rendering the mountain, sometimes realistic, sometimes abstract. But always the actors have had to learn to use climbing gear, and the actor playing Taylor must actually climb to a dangerous height. "It's this physical commitment to a very athletic and frightening reality that makes K2 and extremely demanding work," Meyers has written.

K2 was the latest work from Meyers, called "a dramatist to the bone," by Walter Kerr in The New York Times. Writing about Meyers' first produced play, Feedlot, Kerr called Meyers "a man who believes that the stage is a combat area fenced in by electrified barbed wire."

While Meyers has explored many different styles throughout his plays, certain techniques and motifs recur: placing his characters in unusual environments cut off from day-to-day life; a piercing look beyond the stereotypes of masculine behavior; a Zen-style mysticism; and a romantic belief in the power of love. All of these qualities, as well as Meyers' keen ear for dialogue, can be found in K2.

THE PRODUCTION TEAM

Filmmakers Hal and Marilyn Weiner (The Imagemaker, Family Business) first saw K2 during its original 1982 production at Washington, D.C.'s Arena Stage. "The relationship between the two men attracted me," says Marilyn. "It wasn't based solely on machoism -- it was the deepest possible friendship between two human beings." After a year of negotiations, they and their partner, Melvyn J. Estrin, successfully secured the rights and commissioned Meyers to write a screenplay.

Meyers first effort was 235 pages, twice the length of a normal script. Hal Weiner then collaborated with Meyers to rework the scenario into a final draft which he and Marilyn began submitting to movie companies. For the next few years, they pursued numerous deals, none of which came together. The most heartbreaking near-miss was in 1987, when a $4.5 million production of K2 with Hal Weiner as director lost financing just before shooting was to begin in New Zealand. "We built a Balti village at the foot of Mt. Cook," he says. "It's still there!"

In 1989, after seven years on the project, the Weiners teamed up with producer Jonathan Taplin (Mean Streets, Under Fire) and director Franc Roddam, creator of such diversed films as Quadrophenia, The Lords of Discipline, The Bride and Aria (Liebstod segment). Roddam recognized that it was crucial to retain the play's sense of authenticity and danger by using real locations. "You can't make a film like this in the studio like they used to in the old days," he says. "The problem is, when you start going into real mountains, you're in the same jeopardy as mountaineers."

Line producer Tim Van Rellim (who had arctic experience with his South Pole movie, The Last Place on Earth) was brought in to find a feasible way to make the film. At the same time, Roddam began reworking the script with screenwriter Scott Roberts. "I made the characters a bit younger, and I restructured it in away which I felt would make it very positive and still maintain the principles and philosophy of the play," says Roddam. "I think we've taken Patrick Meyers' good work and gone one step further." With Roddam's involvement and the new script in hand, Taplin was able to put together a partnership between a Japanese group led by associate producer Masa Mikage and Majestic Films, a British company known for helping finance such labor of love projects as Dances with Wolves and Driving Miss Daisy.

The original plan was to shoot most of the film in Pakistan, on the Baltoro and Concordia Glaciers, pathways to K2. "Physically that's a very difficult thing to do because of the pure elevation," says Van Rellim. "It's quite difficult to breathe at 16,000 feet, let alone work every day." For logistic and safety reasons, the production confined Pakistan filming to Skardu, the nearest village to K2 accessible by air. For scenes that take place on K2, the filmmakers, after a long search, chose 13,177 foot Mount Waddington in British Columbia, Canada, as the closest substitute.

THE CAST

While conditions would not be life-threatening during the making of K2, they would still be far from luxurious. Naturally, not every actor in Hollywood was eager to experience such rough accommodations. "There was no point in hiring anybody who wasn't both athletic and congenial to the atmosphere of where they were going to be living," says Van Rellim. "There's no movie star dressing rooms, and it's certainly not Malibu Beach."

Michael Biehn (The Terminator, Aliens) was chosen to play the pivotal roile of hot-headed assistant district attorney Taylor Brooks. Biehn was accustomed to strenuous films, having spent months underwater for The Abyss and Navy Seals. "I've been to the depths of the ocean and the tops of the mountains as an actor," he says.

Biehn saw the role of Taylor as a chance for him to try something new. "I usually play stoic characters who are not out there having fun and joking," he says. "Taylor is wild and rambunctious, always ready to laugh and have fun. Most people make concessions in their life, but he really doesn't. He just does exactly what he wants to do and doesn't turn around to see the damage he's done."

In complete contrast to Taylor is his best friend and climbing partner Harold Jamison, played by Matt Craven (Tin Men, Jacob's Ladder) ."Harold is a much more careful and conservative person," says Craven. "I think he understands that Taylor possesses qualities that he doesn't have. And I think Taylor hangs out with Harold for the same reason."

"If you put the two characters in K2 together," says Roddam, "you have one great man. Harold learns from Taylor's courage and Taylor learns from Harold's liberal qualities and his dignity. They both cross over and become more because of it." Doing the film was particularly enjoyable for Biehn and Craven, who, coincidentally, are friends in real life.

K2's fine supporting cast includes Raymond J. Barry (Born on the Fourth of July), Luca Bercovici (Pacific Heights), Julia Nickson-Soul (Rambo), Patricia Charbonneau (Desert Hearts), and leading Japanese actor Hiroshi Fujioka (Ghost Warrior).

MOUNT STEINBOK

Shooting began in mid-September, 1990, in Vancouver, Canada, which passes for Seattle, Washington in the film. Early scenes of rock climbing at Moose's Tooth, Alaska were lensed at Mount Steinbok, 125 miles east of Vancouver. This was possibly the most dangerous location with its unstable rock ledges and 4,200 foot cliff.

Although doubled by expert mountain climbers for the more difficult stunts, Biehn and Craven and the other cast members were put in some rather precarious situations. To prepare, Biehn and Craven took climbing lessons together in Vancouver for two weeks before filming began. "I took it like a fish to water," says Craven. "I absolutely love it and did most of my own climbing in the film."

"I don't know if Matt enjoyed climbing so much more than me," says Biehn, "but I don't think he was as frightened of heights as I was. I don't even like being on the balcony of my hotel."

"I'm not afraid of heights," says Craven, "but I am afraid of dying! One day, I was hanging on a rope with thousands of feet of nothing below me from eight in the morning to six at night. When I finally got off the rock and got into a helicopter, I had been holding on to all this adrenaline and fear all day. It was an overwhelming feeling."

MOUNT WADDINGTON

While shooting proceeded in Vancouver, the K2 production team set up a camp of 30 tents to accommodate 100 cast and crew members at an altitude of 5,000 feet on Tiedemann Glacier, near Mount Waddington, about 200 miles north of Vancouver. There was no road access. People and supplies had to be airlifted in by helicopter.

For three weeks, the cast and crew lived with the intense cold, an uncomfortable living environment, and the close confines of Camp Waddington. For some, the sheer beauty of the mountain setting more than compensated for any difficulties. "Being in the camp helped us all learn what it would be like to go on a real expedition, because we all had to pull together to survive," says Patricia Charbonneau, who plays climber Jacki Metcalfe. "We ran out of water, we couldn't take showers. It was sometimes 25 degrees below zero."

Shooting in snow and extreme cold presented special problems for the crew. Condensation on the camera lenses was a frequent problem. Often the eyepiece would freeze or the light meters wouldn't work. "We had to go on automatic pilot, intuition and faith," says Gabriel Beristain, director of photography. When the filmmakers needed sunshine it would snow; when they wanted a snowstorm it would be either clear or so snowy they couldn't travel two feet away from the camp.

Crevasses were an ever-present danger. Each day, the safety crew, made up of seasoned mountain climbers, would arrive at a location hours before the film crew to probe the area.

Often dialogue or scenes had to be changed because of uncooperative weather. "All my planning went astray," says Roddam. "Once we were going to shoot a huge crowd scene and then we found out that we couldn't fly in the extras because the weather was too bad. Everyday I had to be prepared to shoot almost anything." The actors needed to know the entire script and be constantly adaptable to changes. "That made things very interesting and very spontaneous," says Michael Biehn.

SKARDU, PAKISTAN

In late October, the K2 production team headed for Skardu, in the state of Baltisan in northern Pakistan. At 8,126 feet above sea level, Skardu is a picturesque land, surrounded by the towering Karokoram mountains. The native people, called Baltis, are mostly Shiite Muslims and live a simple life devoid of modern luxuries.

Still, they are quite familiar with westerners, as mountaineers visit Skardu each summer in search of porters to carry supplies to the K2 base camp, 100 miles away.

The production dispensed much needed cash into the area, both in food and lodging for the cast and crew, and by employing many locals as helpers and extras. Many Baltis played a role they were very familiar with: porters. Eight Baltis (as well as Pakistani Nazir Sabir, who scaled K2 in 1982), had flown earlier to Canada to take part in the Waddington shooting.

BLACKCOMB MOUNTAIN

By mid-November, the K2 team returned from Pakistan and headed to what they expected to be an easy location: Whistler Village, a ski resort 75 miles north of Vancouver. In fact, the production encountered worse weather conditions here than at Waddington.

Situated in the same range as Waddington, Whistler boasts two massive ski developments, one of which is Blackcomb Mountain, which features the greatest vertical rise in North America, an impressive 5,280 feet. Some pivotal dramatic scenes and stunts were shot at Blackcomb's Horseman Glacier area, at 7,500 feet.

The constantly changing weather played havoc with the filming. Many stunts had to be delayed time and time again because no one was able to get to location to prepare. And when the stunts were properly prepared, it was often too windy to attempt the stunt. "It was actually worse than the Himalayas," joked Roddam.

ABOUT K2

At 28,250 feet, K2 is the second highest mountain in the world after Everest (29,028 feet).

K2 is not visible from any inhabited place on earth, and for centuries it remained a mystery. This explains why it never received a local name and has kept its original survey number, K2 (for Karakoram peak 2), given during its first documented sighting by Lt. T.G. Montgomerie in 1856.

It's because of this isolation that K2, generally considered the most difficult mountain in the world to climb, has never received the notoriety of more accessible mountains like the Matterhorn, half its altitude at 14,691 feet.

The first serious attempt to climb K2 was by Oscar Eckenstein and the notorious occultist Aleister Crowley in 1902. No one succeeded until the Italians Lino Lacedelli and Achilles Compagnoni in 1954.

"We always say that K2 is a real mountain," says climber Barry Blanchard. "Everest gets a lot of attention because it's the highest, but its shape makes it boring to climb. It's big with 45 degree slopes. K2 is more pyramidic and precipitous."

K2 has to rank as the most difficult from a technical standpoint," says Jim Wickwire, one of the first two Americans to climb K2. "Every way you try to climb K2 is a difficult route. And when you couple that with the fact that it's just below Everest in altitude, those two factors account for its exceptional difficulty."

K2 is remote both physically and politically. Because of its sensitive location in northern Pakistan, near the Chinese and Indian borders, official permissions were often difficult to arrange, and none were given by Pakistan between 1960 and 1974. Some climbers consider K2 to be an American mountain because many of the great expeditions have been led by, or included Americans, notably Charles S. Houston in 1938 and 1953, and Jim Wickwire, who, along with Lou Reichardt, made his successful ascent in 1978. Wickwire (who makes a cameo appearance in the movie) wrote, in reference to the Houston expedition, "Somehow reaching the summit of K2 seemed less important than the magnificent efforts of all who had preceded us."

In 1986, nine expeditions went to K2, and 27 climbed it. Thirteen people died, seven after making it to the top. The media response was so great that, according to Mountain Maqazine, it "occupied more space in the world press than any mountaineering event since the first ascent of Everest."

As of 1990, only 71 people have reached the summit, and 27 have perished in the attempt.

WHY CLIMB?

"In the year that has passed since our ordeal we have been asked that question many times and have answered it in many ways. No answer is complete or satisfactory. Perhaps there is no single answer; perhaps each climber must have his own reasons for such an effort. The answer cannot be simple; it is compounded of such elements as the great beauty of clear cold air, of colors beyond the ordinary, or the lure of unknown regions beyond the rim of experience. The pleasure of physical fitness, the pride of conquering a steep and difficult rock pitch, the thrill of danger -- controlled by skill -- are also there. How can I phrase what seems to me the most important reason of all? It is the chance to be briefly free of the small concerns of our common lives, to strip off nonessentials, to come down to the core of life itself. Food, shelter, friends: these are the essentials -- these plus faith and purpose and a deep and unrelenting determination. On great mountains, all purpose is concentrated on the single job at hand; yet the summit is but a token of success, and the attempt is worthy in itself. It is for these reasons that we climb, and in climbing find something greater than accomplishment."

-- Charles s. Houston Leader of the 1938 and 1953 American expeditions to K2

"There's a spiritual side of us which has been denied by contemporary living. And I think when people go rafting, or climb mountains, they're getting back in touch with themselves and finding who they are and what they really want to be." -- Franc Roddam, director, K2

THE CAST

MICHAEL BIEHN (Taylor Brooks) was born in Anniston, Alabama and grew up in Lincoln, Nebraska. In his senior year of high school at Lake Havasu, Arizona, Biehn won a drama scholarship to the University of Arizona. He then went on to pursue acting with Los Angeles drama coach Vincent Chase.

Biehn made his film debut in 1981 as the crazed admirer who tenaciously pursues a Broadway actress (played by Lauren Bacall) in The Fan, based on the novel by Bob Randall. This was followed with a role in The Lords of Discipline, directed by K2's Franc Roddam, in which Biehn portrayed a member of a secret society at a southern military school.

Biehn then starred in James Cameron's highly successful science-fiction thriller The Terminator as a soldier from the future sent back to 1984 in order to protect a woman (Linda Hamilton) from a deadly cyborg, played by Arnold Schwarzenegger. He followed with leading roles in two additional action films for Cameron: Aliens and The Abyss. Other feature film credits include, The Seventh Sign, with Demi Moore, Navy SEALS, with Charlie Sheen, William Friedkin's Rampage and Time Bomb with Patsy Kensit.

Among Biehn's television credits are several roles in episodic series, the mini-series Deadly Intentions, and In a Shallow Grave, for PBS's American Playhouse.

Michael Biehn and his wife live in Los Angeles.

MATT CRAVEN (Harold Jamison) made his film debut in the 1979 hit comedy Meatballs, starring Bill Murray. He has since gone on to play a wide variety of film roles, including a cancer-stricken artist in The Terry Fox Story, one of the salesmen in Tin Men, a southern mental patient in Chattahoochee, a would-be suitor of Jamie Lee curtis in Blue Steel, and the creator of a bizarre psychedelic drug in Jacob's Ladder. He soon will be seen in Rob Reiner's A Few Good Men, with Tom Cruise. He had the lead role in the thriller Palais Royale, and starred in the Canadian Film Board short Bravery in the Field, which was nominated for an Academy Award in 1980.

On stage, he has had major roles in Rust and Ruin, The Nest, Crackwalker, Blue Window, and Bus stop. He also appeared in the film of Blue Window made for PBS's American Playhouse.

A native of ontario, Canada, Craven now lives in New York with his wife, Sally.

RAYMOND J. BARRY (Phillip Claiborne) is a veteran New York stage actor who works often in film and television. Along with Willem Dafoe, he is a member of the celebrated off-Broadway experimental theatre ensemble, the Wooster Group. Barry is also a charter member of the Open Theatre, The New York Shakespeare Company, and Living Theatre. He received the 1986 Drama-Logue award for Best Actor in Sam Shepard's Buried Child, and wrote and starred in Once in Doubt at the Los Angeles Theatre Center. On Broadway, he appeared in Happy End, Zoot Suit, and The Leaf People.

For television, Barry has had featured roles in such programs as Tales from the Crypt, Drug Wars: The Camarena Story, The Oldest Rookie, It's a Living, and Scarecrow and Mrs. King. Barry's best known film role is as Tom Cruise's father in Oliver Stone's Born on the Fourth of July. He recently starred in Pocohontas Virginia, with Tess Harper and Karen Allen, and the upcoming Rapid Fire for 20th Century Fox.

LUCA BERCOVICI (Dallas Woolf) was born in New York and raised around the world in such places as London, Rome, New York and California. In 1979, Bercovici spent six months in Japan working on the mini-series Shogun as a dialogue director. Upon returning to the U.S., he launched an acting career and has appeared in several feature films, and guest starred on such television series as Simon and Simon, Chicago Story, The Fall Guy and the mini-series Lucky.

Bercovici's motion picture acting credits include American Flyers, Clean and Sober, Pacific Heights and Midnight Heat. He also co-wrote and directed the films Ghoulies and Rockula, and will be directing a film in Russia this summer, Caught in the Machine.

PATRICIA CHARBONNEAU (Jacki Metcalfe) began her acting career at the Lexington Conservatory Theatre and the Actor's Theatre of Louisville. Her films include, Michael Mann's Manhunter, Alan Rudolph's Call Me, Shakedown, RoboCop 2 and Brain Dead. On television, she has played guest roles on Murder, She Wrote, Midnight Caller, Wiseguy, Booker, The Equalizer and others, and appeared in the TV movies C.A.T. Squad, Disaster at Silo and Desperado: Badlands Justice.

She is best remembered for her debut role as the Reno casino worker in Donna Deitch's Desert Hearts.

JULIA NICKSON-SOUL (Cindy Jamison) is best known for her role as Rambo's Vietnamese guide in Rambo: First Blood, Part II. Born of Chinese and British ancestry, in Singapore, Julia studied at the University of Hawaii. There she began a successful modeling career and began acting in the University's theatre. This led to appearances on Magnum P.I. and to her being cast in Rambo. Julia moved to Los Angeles and was soon working regularly in television, films and theatre. Her TV credits include the movies-of-the-week The Chinatown Murders and The Girl Who Came Between Them, and three mini-series: James Clavell's Noble House, Around the World in Eighty Days and Genghis Khan. Her films include the Italian-made Stormy Weather, China Cry, and the upcoming Sidekicks with Beau Bridges.

Julia is married to actor David Soul, with whom she has a daughter, China Alexandra.

HIROSHI FUJIOKA (Takane Shimuzu) has been one of Japan's leading actors in both film and television for the past 25 years. He is best known for his crime-fighting super hero on the children's TV program Masked Rider. Since his 1965 film debut in Anki Tsubaki Wa Koino Hana, his films have included Yajyu Gari, Espai, and Ghost Warrior, which was released internationally by Empire pictures in 1985.

JAMAL SHAH (Malik Khan) is a well-known writer-actor-director in his native country of Pakistan. In 1988, he played one of the leading roles in the British television mini-series, Traffik, and starred in the 14-part series, Tapish, for Pakistan TV. This year he wrote, co-directed and starred in a seven-part series, Palay Shah.

Recently, Jamal Shah established the Studio-Ghandara, a school of visual and performing arts.

ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS

Director FRANC RODDAM was raised in Northern England. After graduating from high school, he trained as a marine engineer before enrolling at the London Film School, where he made numerous films, among them Birthday, which was nominated for a British Academy Award in 1970. After graduation, Roddam took a job as a copywriter and producer at the Ogilvy & Mather advertising agency in London. He then worked at the BBC for four years, where he directed numerous prize-winning documentaries including Mint, The Family and The Dummy (which was awarded the Prix Italia Drama Prize). In 1979, Roddam wrote and directed his first feature film, the highly praised Quadrophenia. The story of a young man caught up in the battles between teenage gangs, the Mods and the Rockers. Quadrophenia was set to the music of The Who and featured the acting debut of Sting. He followed it with The Lords of Discipline, based on the Pat Conroy novel about racism in a southern military academy in the 60's, and starring David Keith and K2's Michael Biehn. The Bride featured Sting and Jennifer Beals in dramatic retelling of the Bride of Frankenstein story. Roddam's segment, Liebestod, in the opera-omnibus film Aria, starred Bridget Fonda and James Mathers as two lovers in Las Vegas, set to the music of Tristan und Isolde. His next film, War Party, was about a reenactment of a lOO-year-old conflict between an American Indian tribe and the U.S. cavalry that turns into a modern-day battle.

"I like to make films about people who challenge the status quo," says Roddam. "Even though my films have been very varied from medieval films to pop movies like Quadrophenia, I always use a central character who opposes the boss, who opposes the rules."

PATRICK MEYERS (Screenwriter) was born in Phoenix, Arizona and grew up in Denver, Colorado. He attended Colorado State University at Fort Collins, where he began acting. He subsequently moved to Los Angeles and joined the Company Theatre. In 1972, he moved to Berkeley, California where he earned a degree in television production from Merritt College, and completed his first play -- a children's drama for television entitled The Frown. The next year, Meyers was accepted into the Advanced Training Program for drama at San Francisco's American Conservatory Theatre. It was there he completed the initial draft of his second play, Feedlot.

After its 1977 debut with the Berkeley Stage Company, Feedlot received its New York opening with the Circle Repertory Company later that year. The play centers on the violent confrontation between two contemporary cowboys: a macho vietnam veteran and sensitive young gay student. Feedlot created an immediate sensation, and the 30 year old playwright was highly praised by the New York drama critics.

Laney College in Oakland, California introduced Meyers' next play, An Actor Repairs, that same year. In 1978 the Circle Repertory premiered Glorious Morning about the conflict between a female biologist dying of cancer in her catskill Mountain cabin, her philosophy professor husband and their motorcycle gang member son.

Meyers' fifth play, K2, premiered in 1982 at the Theatre by the Sea in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, followed closely by productions at the Arena Stage in Washington, D.C. and Syracuse Stage in Syracuse, New York. K2 opened in 1983 on Broadway at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre to rave reviews. Actor Jeffrey DeMunn (Taylor) and lighting designer Allen Lee Hughes received Tony nominations, and Ming Cho Lee won the Tony and the Outer critics Circle Award for Best Set Design.

Meyers followed K2 with two stylistically adventurous plays: Just Like the Lions (1984) and Dysan (1985), which was presented by the Circle Rep in 1985. Oysan included scenes set in 13th century Japan, 1940s Texas, in prehistoric times and in the future.

Producer JONATHAN TAPLIN began his career as tour manager for Bob Oylan and The Band. with George Harrison, he also produced the Concert for Bangladesh at Madison Square Garden in 1971. In 1973, Taplin made a stunning debut as a film producer with Martin Scorsese's classic Mean Streets, starring Robert OeNiro. He rejoined Scorsese for the film tribute to the career of The Band, The Last Waltz, and reteamed with The Band's Robbie Robertson on Carny.

In 1981, Taplin acquired Lion's Gate Films from Robert Altman. Here he produced, among others, Under Fire, starring Nick Nolte and Gene Hackman, for which Taplin received the Italian Academy Award for Best Foreign Film.

After a stint as a producer at Walt Oisney Studios, Taplin turned his attention to investment banking. As investment advisor to Bass Brothers, he oversaw their acquisition of 21 of the Walt Disney Company stock. In 1985, Taplin became Vice President of Mergers and Acquisitions for Merrill Lynch Captial Investments before forming his own investment banking firm, First Media. Three years later, with his contacts in Japan, Taplin formed the Trans Pacific Group, an international film development and production company.

Taplin's most recent film prior to K2 was Until the End of the World, directed by Wim Wenders and starring William Hurt.

Producer MARILYN WEINER has produced three feature films as well as numerous television dramas and network documentaries through Screenscope, a Washington, D.C. based company she founded in 1969 with her husband, Hal Weiner. Her productions have won 114 top prizes at 36 international film festivals.

Ms. Weiner's involvement with K2 began in 1982 when she acquired the screen rights and began developing the script to Patrick Meyers' Tony Award winning play. In 1985, Weiner produced the highly acclaimed American Playhouse feature film Family Business, starring Milton Berle. This was followed in 1987 by The Imagemaker starring Michael Nouri, Jessica Harper and Jerry Orbach. Currently, Marilyn Weiner is developing three features films: Decker, based on a new screenplay by Patrick Meyers, Woman in the Window by Hal Weiner and based on the best seller by Dana Clarins, and Worthy of Rage, also written by her partner. In addition, she is producing for PBS a pilot for a weekly series called Trends in the '90's and is in pre-production on Blues Alley, a TV pilot for an international police drama series.

Ms. Weiner is also involved in a monthly new feature series with NBC. The first of this series, the Emmy-nominated Children of Poverty, has already aired on all NBC-owned stations. Marilyn Weiner is on the Board of Directors of the Washington Urban League and the Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company.

Executive producer HAL WEINER has produced, directed and written feature films, television dramas and documentaries. Screenscope, a company he founded in 1969 with his wife, Marilyn Weiner, is highly regarded in the film industry and is considered to be Washington, D.C. Is most substantial link to Hollywood. His work as a director and screenwriter has won for him over 100 international film festival awards, including those in Venice, Rome and New York. This year, he received an Emmy nomination for directing the NBC news series, Children of Poverty.

In 1982, Mr. Weiner acquired, with Marilyn Weiner, the film rights to Patrick Meyers' Tony Award winning play K2 and spent several years working on the screen adaptation. In 1985, Mr. Weiner, along with Marilyn Weiner, developed the script and produced the highly acclaimed American Playhouse feature film Family Business, starring Milton Berle. This was followed by The Imagemaker, starring Michael Nouri, Jessica Harper and Jerry Orbach which was written by Mr. Weiner.

Weiner's newest screenplay is Woman in the Window, based upon the best-selling novel by Dana Clarins. He is currently writing an action-adventure screenplay called Worthy of Rage, as well as working on Patrick Meyers' newest screenplay, Decker.

Executive Producer MELVYN J. ESTRIN comes to film production with a background as a corporate executive, financier, real estate investor, and with a high profile in community service. Mr. Estrin founded the First Women's Bank of Maryland. He later acquired an interest in the American Security Bank and Trust Company, Washington's second largest bank which became MNC Financial, the 25th largest bank in America, and served on its Board of Directors, Executive Committee and Loan Committee until February 1991. Mr. Estrin produced and is a three-time Tony nominee for Joseph and the Technicolor Raincoat, Hurlyburly and Blood Knot. He was also executive producer of the feature film The Imagemaker.

Melvyn J. Estrin is the managing partner of the Centaur Group, an investment partnership. He is also Chairman of the Board of National Intergroup Inc., a $5.5 billion diversified holding company in the fields of steel, pharmaceutical distribution, oil pipelines, and Ben Franklin stores.

Mr. Estrin is a graduate of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, where he now serves as a trustee. He is involved with several charitable institutions, including the Endowment Board of the Washington Opera. In 1986, he was the recipient of the Eleanor Roosevelt Humanities Award for Community Service.

Mr. Estrin lives in Washington, D.C. with his wife and two children.

Producer TIM VAN RELLIM began working in British TV documentaries and newsreels in 1963. After studying at the film school in Lodz, Poland, he returned to England in 1968 and joined the BBC's editing department. He later became heavily involved with The Beatles' film company, Apple Films, producing a number of films, including Born to Boogie, with Ringo Starr and Count Down with Harry Nilsson.

Establishing Domino Music with George Fenton, he co-managed bands and began making short films to promote songs by The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, and others. He also worked as line producer on The Who's documentary, The Kids Are Alright.

Van Rellim then line produced a number of films, including Andre Techine's The Bronte Sisters, and two with director Nicolas Roeg: Bad Timing and Eureka. Recently, he produced the cult comedy Eat the Rich and The Last Place on Earth, the story of Scott and Amundsen's founding of the South Pole, filmed on location in Greenland and Norway.

Associate Producer MASA MIAKGE was born in Hiroshima in 1949 and grew up in Tokyo before moving to the American midwest for four years. He then traveled to New York where he studied art and theatre at the Lee Strasberg Theatrical Institute.

After returning to Japan in 1974, Mikage founded his own literary publishing agency, Mikage International. He quickly became one of the top publishers' agents and from 1974 to 1982, Mikage introduced over 150 leading publications from Europe to the U.S. and Japan.

Since then, Mikage has also worked as a consultant within Japan's media industry. Among other things, he coordinated Woody Allen's commercials for the Seivu Group. He also initiated a late-night movie network across Tokyo's movie theatres, beginning with the film Atomic Cafe and Dark Circle.

Mikage has also had numerous magazine articles published and has just completed a book entitled Hollywood Business.

SCOTT ROBERTS (Co-Screenwriter), is a native of Sydney, Australia, living in London since 1972. Since beginning his screenwriting career in 1984, Roberts has written ten scripts, including Riders of the Storm, which was made into a film starring Dennis Hopper and Michael J. Pollard. His television credits include two British mini-series, The Real Killer and Shadow of the Cobra.

Roberts previously collaborated with Franc Roddam on a script entitled The Hip, about jazz musician Art Pepper.

GABRIEL BERISTAIN (Director of Photography) is a native of Mexico and of Basque ancestry. He received his M.A. degree from the National Film School in London, England. He won the Berlin Film Festival's Silver Bear Award for Outstanding Single Achievement for his cinematography on Derek Jarman's Caravaggio. Other notable credits include the Ken Russell (Nessun Dorma) and Bill Bryden (I Pagliacci) segments of Aria, The Courier, starring Gabriel Byrne, and the dark comedy Killing Dad, with Denholm Elliot and Richard E. Grant.

Upcoming for Beristain is Blood In, Blood Out for director Taylor Hackford.

ANDREW SANDERS (Production Designer) studied theatre at Manchester University and received an Arts Council New Designers Award in 1966. He has since worked regularly in theatre and film as an art director and production designer. His theatre productions include King John at Stratford, Othello at Nottingham Playhouse, Endgame at the Royal Court, La Forza del Destino at the Paris Opera and Pygmalion at the C.T.G. Theatre in Los Angeles.

His film credits as art director include Franc Roddam's Quadrophenia, Bad Timing, Chariots of Fire, Shock Treatment, Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence, Privates on Parade, The Last Place on Earth, The Last Temptation of Christ, and The Sheltering Sky.

Sanders' credits as production designer are The Hit, Castaway, and The Witches.

CHAZ JENKEL (Music) has been a professional musician for over 20 years. He began his career as co-founder and co-writer for the British musical group, Ian Dury and the Blockheads. Thereafter, he signed with A&M Records where he recorded four albums as well as the hit song, Glad to Know You and Ai No Corrida, the latter which also was a hit for Quincy Jones.

Jenkel segued to scoring for motion pictures first in England, then in the United States. His credits include Making Mr. Right, D.O.A., Tales from the Darkside, The Rachel Papers, Killing Dad, Bird Poised to Fly, and War Party.

K2 marks the third collaboration that SEAN BARTON (Editor) has had with director Franc Roddam, after Quadrophenia and War Party. Barton also had long professional relationship with the late director Richard Marquand that included Birth of the Beatles, Eye of the Needle, Return of the Jedi, Until September, Jagged Edge, and Hearts of Fire.

KATHRYN MORRISON (Costume Designer) began her career as a model. Her desire to work behind the camera led let to work as a stylist for fashion photo shoots, until she got her chance to become a costume designer with Oliver Stone on Salvador. Her other motion picture credits include Summer Heat, Platoon, Made in USA, Stand and Deliver, War Party and A Show of Force.

Born in Vancouver, Canada, JOHN THOMAS (Special Effects) started out as a stuntman. For safety reasons (to have a few people on the mountain as possible), Thomas also served as stunt coordinator on K2. Over the past 24 years, Thomas has worked on over a hundred movies and television films including, Days of Heaven, Never Cry Wolf, Runaway, Iceman, The Boy Who Could Fly, Stakeout, Shoot to Kill, The Fly II, Bird on a Wire and The Last Days of Eden.