The congressman

1h 38min | Drama

76 Main Street

Waterville, Maine 04901

(207) 872 5111

shadow@prexar.com

www.shadowdistribution.com
Cast and Crew:
Directed by Jared Martin and Robert J. Mrazek
Written by Robert J. Mrazek
Produced by Robert J. Mrazek, Fred Roos, Jared Martin, Johanna Giebelhaus
Executive Producer: Treat Williams

Executive Producer: Nancy Frankel Zises

Producers: Vincent Mai, Grover Connell, James F. Mrazek

Co-Producer Mary Kane

Director of Photography ..............................................................Joe Arcidiacono

Editor ...........................................................................................Johanna Giebelhaus

Original Music ..............................................................................David Carbonara

Costume Design ..........................................................................Nigel Boyd

Production Design .......................................................................Wendy Murray
Cast

(In order of Appearance)

Abigail Ross .......................................................................Miriam A. Hyman

Washington Lobbyist .........................................................Alexander Cook Rae Randolph ............................................................................Mark Crockett

Harlan Lantier ................................................................... Fritz Weaver

Jared Barnes .................................................................... Ryan Merriman

Laird Devereaux .............................................................. George Hamilton

Bernie Gimpel ...................................................................Josh Mostel

Casey Winship ..................................................................Jayne Atkinson

Rae Blanchard.................................................................. Elizabeth Marvel

Angry constituent ...............................................................Richard Meyer

Mailbox Man ......................................................................John Hayden Busch

Martha, a constituent .........................................................Debra Lord Cooke

Esther, a constituent ..........................................................Doree A. Austin

Father of soldier ................................................................Thomas Hurd

Winship’s Campaign Aide ................................................. Stephanie Atkinson

Bullhorn Man ………………………………………………… Tim Ryan

Holly Dean .........................................................................Cindy Lentol

Matty Pierce ......................................................................Kim Blacklock

Deirdre Macavoy ...............................................................Alison Wachtler

Sherm Hawkins ................................................................Marshall Bell

Ben ...................................................................................Chris Conroy

Brad ....................................................................................Chris Rollins

Newly divorced, attacked by corrupt lobbyists and betrayed by a member of his staff, a Maine Congressman finds his life spiraling out of control until he is able regain his sense of purpose through the example of rugged and self-reliant constituents fighting to save their way of life on a remote island.

THE ACTORS

Charlie Winship

1941 (1979 - directed by Steven Spielberg)

The Pursuit of D. B. Cooper (1981 - directed by Roger Spottiswood and Buzz Kulik)

Once Upon a Time in the West (1984 - directed by Sergio Leone)

Prince of the City (1981 - directed by Sidney Lumet. Golden Globe nominee)

Dead Heat (1988 - directed by Mark Malone)

Things To Do In Denver When You’re Dead (1995 - directed by Guy Fleder)

The Late Shift (1996 - TV movie directed by Betty Thomas. Emmy nomination)

The Deep End of the Ocean (1999 - directed by Ulu Grosbard)

What Happened in Vegas (2008 - directed by Tom Vaughan)

ELIZABETH MARVEL

Rae Blanchard

RYAN MERRIMAN

Jared Barnes
As the congressman’s chief-of-staff, actor Ryan Merriman astutely uses his baby-faced good looks to camouflage schemes and misdeeds. The actor’s ability to play against type - along with his evident acting chops - has enabled him to land roles of more-than-usual complexity. One of these is the 1999 drama, The Deep End of the Ocean, in which he plays the long-lost son of Treat Williams and Michelle Pfeiffer - also with ambiguity.
Born in Choctaw, Oklahoma, Merriman began working in local theatre, commercials and print modeling when he was eight years old. His professional debut was in the NBC teenage sitcom, The Mommies (1993-95). He played a younger version of the title character in The Pretender, the sci-fi series, between 1997 and 2000, and was Ian Thomas in Pretty Little Liars (2010-2012).

Merriman’s television movies include The Luck of the Irish (2001), Lansky (1999) - as a teen version of the notorious gangster played by Richard Dreyfuss - and Elevator Girl (2010).

GEORGE HAMILTON

Former Senator Laird Devereaux
George Hamilton’s image as a bon vivant belies his considerable body of work over half a century - upwards of forty feature films and countless television appearances in telefilms, series, game shows, some of which he produced. His amusing autobiography, Don’t Mind If I Do, was made into a 2009 film starring Chris Noth and Renee Zellweger. Late in life, he fearlessly took to the stage for the first time in his life and acquitted himself well in revivals of the musical comedies, La Cage aux Folles and Chicago.
It’s hard to imagine anyone but George Hamilton playing the gleefully malicious former Congressman turned lobbyist Laird Devereaux in The Congressman.
Hamilton’s remarkable career began in 1952 at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The studio placed him under contract and, expecting big things of this handsome, playboyish Floridian, featured him in a string of light-hearted movies: All the Fine Young Cannibals, Light in the Piazza and Two Weeks in Another Town, among others. In 1960, the Golden Globes named him “Most Promising Newcomer” for Where The Boys Are. His depiction of country star Hank Williams in Your Cheatin’ Heart (1964) was very favorably received.
During much of the 1970s, he was busy with television fare - notably appearing in four episodes of the now-legendary series, Roots, in 1977. He also made a couple of interesting films - Evil Knievel (1971) as the motorcycle daredevil, and The Man Who Loved Cat Dancing (1973) opposite Burt Reynolds. Later in the decade he was surprised by a huge hit - Love at First Bite (1979), a comical take on vampire genre. That success led to Zorro, the Gay Blade (1981) in which he played both the title character and Zorro’s gay brother. It did well, too - establishing more succinctly the George Hamilton persona. He improbably popped up in The Godfather, Part III (1990), as the Corleone family’s lawyer, and was a cool, irreverent Santa in A Very Cool Christmas (2004).

Hamilton was born in 1939 in Memphis to a bandleader and ‘Southern Belle’ whose marriage was short-lived. He grew up in Palm Beach, Florida and landed in Los Angeles at age 23. His romantic life often made headlines but, as is now plain, he was always a hard-working guy.

CHRIS CONROY

Ben
The 26-year-old Pennsylvania native makes a distinct impression as the modest, soulful fisherman-artist in The Congressman. Although relatively new to the acting profession, he has snared roles in one film after another, in roles of increasing importance to the story. The list includes Those People (2015), The Grief of Others and Two-Night Stand (2014) as well as the telefilm, Beneath.

MARSHALL BELL

Sherm Hawkins
An actor’s life is Marshall Bell’s second career, commenced after more than two decades as a business consultant. He first appeared on screen in Alan Parker’s Birdy, in 1984, and has since played character roles of varying size in more than thirty movies. Prominent among these are A Nightmare on Elm Street, Stand by Me and Manhunter. The 1990s found him in Total Recall, Dick Tracy, Natural Born Killers and Starship Troopers. Bell’s tall, distinguished appearance made him well suited to certain television commercials, most recently as founding father Alexander Hamilton for Citizen Bank.
Marshall Bell was born in Oklahoma - like fellow cast member Ryan Merriman - but grew up in Colorado. He acted in a few school plays before entering the University of Colorado where he majored in sociology. He was in the Army for three years, after which he created an off-beat career teaching business executives to improve their speaking skills. His recent credits include The Bling Ring, Rum Diary and Capote. He lives in West Hollywood with his wife, the prominent Oscar-winning costume designer, Milena Canonero.

FRITZ WEAVER

Harlan Lantier
The long, illustrious career of Fritz Weaver adds immediate depth to his portrayal of Charlie Winship’s colleague in The Congressman. Inducted into the American Theatre Hall of Fame in 2010, Weaver was heralded early-on for two seminal works on Broadway, The Chalk Garden (1964) and Child’s Play (1970). He received a Drama Desk Award and Tony Award for both performances. A few years later, he won the Emmy twice - for The Legend of Lizzie Borden (1975) and Holocaust (1978).
Born in Pittsburgh in 1926, he attended the University of Pittsburgh. He was a conscientious objector during World War II, serving in the Civilian Public Service. His first acting job came in 1956, in an episode of U. S. Steel Hour, a top-ranked anthology series. He continued working in all three mediums for the next four decades, most recently doing voice work for the History Channel.

JAYNE ATKINSON

Casey Winship
It takes a performer of grit and stature to be memorable with only one scene, but Jayne Atkinson pulls it off in her brief but affecting portrait of a disenchanted wife in The Congressman. Aided by exceptional writing, she poignantly conveys love, sorrow and resignation as she and her husband iron out the details of their ‘amicable’ but essential divorce.
Atkinson’s characters always hit the spot - most recently in House of Cards, as Kevin Spacey’s wily secretary of state, a must-see show which also features her husband, Michael Gill. She stood out in thirty episodes of Keifer Sutherland’s 24 (2006-07), and in Criminal Minds (2004-2014), A Year in the Life (1986-88) and Parenthood (1990-91) - among others. Her interpretation of ‘Mrs. Gibbs’ in the 2003 television adaptation of Our Town brought a Satellite Award. She also appeared in Recount, the award-winning 2008 telefilm about the Bush-Gore election showdown in Florida.
But the stage is Jayne Atkinson’s most natural home. She has worked extensively in regional theatre and off-Broadway, and made her Broadway debut in 1987, in Arthur Miller’s All My Sons. Other important theatre work includes Caryl Churchill’s The Skriker (1996) - for which she won the Drama Desk award as best actress - The Rainmaker (1999, at the Round-About Theatre); Enchanted April (2003), for which she won the Outer Critics Circle Award. In 2009, she returned to Broadway in Blithe Spirit, opposite Angela Lansbury and Rupert Everett.
Atkinson was born in England and reared from the age of nine in the U. S. She graduated from Northwestern University with a B.A. in Communications in 1981 and later attended the Yale School of Drama.

JOSH MOSTEL

Bernie Gimpel
Born in New York in 1946 into a famous show business family - his father is the comic actor, Zero Mostel - Josh began his career as a boy soprano at the Metropolitan Opera. After graduating from Brandeis University, he made his Broadway debut in Unlikely Heroes (1971), following it with a stand-out performance as Herod in the film, Jesus Christ Superstar (1973). He starred in a television production of Animal House (1979), as Blotto, the role created by John Belushi for the film.
Mostel has alternated between stage and screen for decades. He returned to Broadway in the 1989 production of The Threepenny Opera, and again in 1992 as the frazzled head writer in the original production of My Favorite Year, opposite Tim Curry. His long list of movie credits includes The Out-of-Towners (1999), The Basketball Diaries (1995), City Slickers (1994), Matewan (1987), The Brother From Another Planet (1984) and Sophie’s Choice (1982). He has a summer home on Monhegan Island, the setting for much of The Congressman.

KIM BLACKLOCK

Matty Pierce
A former professional basketball player, the multi-talented Kim Blacklock began her performing career as a stand-up comic using the stage name of Kim Atoa, her Samoan surname. She also worked as a disc jockey for KBAC-FM in Santa Fe, New Mexico before coming to New York and winning excellent reviews for her comic repertoire at The Laugh Factory, the New York Comedy Club, Stand-up New York, and Carolines on Broadway. Her film work includes the Christopher Walken thriller, The Power of Few (2013).

MIRIAM A. HYMAN

Abigail
A native of Philadelphia, Miriam Hyman graduated from the Yale School of Drama in 2012 with an MFA degree. She has since worked extensively in regional theatres such as the Guthrie and off-Broadway at La Mama, the Manhattan Theatre Company and Lincoln Center. In 2011, she was named the Princess Grace Recipient of the George C. Wolfe Award for an emerging artist.
Hyman has appeared on television in The Blacklist, Hostages, The Wire, 30 Rock, Law & Order and other series.

THE FILMMAKERS

Producer-Writer-Co-Director

JARED MARTIN

Co-Director, Producer
An actor since the age of ten, Jared Martin is also a fine arts photographer and director of diverse movies, including dance films for his wife, Yu Wei, a Chinese classical dancer. A long-time resident of Philadelphia, Martin was the creative director of Big Picture Alliance, the city’s filmmaking cooperative, for fifteen years. He supervised hundreds of student filmmakers and directed some two dozen films himself. His work with Lost Dog Productions continued in that vein. Between 2004 and 2007, he was a lecturer at the University of the Arts.
The son of noted illustrator and cartoonist, Charles E. Martin, he was born in New York in 1941 and studied at the progressive Putney School in Vermont. Continuing on to Columbia University, he graduated in 1965 with a B. A. in English and immediately began to act, mostly on stage but occasionally in non-mainstream movies. His college roommate, Brian DePalma, made Martin the star of his debut film, “Murder a la Mode.”

Other venues where Martin trod the boards include Joseph Papp’s Shakespeare in the Park and the Boston Classical Repertory. He also had a starring role in Harvey Fierstein’s Torch Song Trilogy on Broadway. He then re-located to Los Angeles.

FRED ROOS

Producer
A motion picture producer with few peers in stature or influence, Fred Roos commenced his remarkable career shortly upon graduation from UCLA’s film school. The intervening years have brought him countless awards and honors, among them an Academy Award as co-producer of The Godfather II (1974) and Oscar nominations in the same capacity for Apocalypse Now (1979) and The Godfather III (1990). He is Francis Ford Coppola’s most frequent collaborator, working as a producer or executive producer on sixteen features directed by Coppola. He also worked with George Lucas on American Graffiti (1973) and Star Wars (1977) and with both men on Tucker (1986), starring Jeff Bridges.
After an obligatory stint in an agency mailroom, the Los Angeles native briefly worked as a talent agent before producing several low-budget action films in the late 1960s. Two of them - Flight to Fury and Back Door to Hell - starred Jack Nicholson who also penned ‘Flight’. Roos later served as associate producer on Nicholson’s directorial debut film, Drive, He Said.
Casting was Roos’ primary function during the early part of his career. He excelled at identifying the gifted performer as well as matching an actor with a role, jump-starting the illustrious careers of Harrison Ford, Jack Nicholson and Jeff Bridges among many others. The Godfather, American Graffiti and Star Wars are among his most notable ensemble efforts along with the youth movies, The Outsiders and Rumblefish. In 1988, the Casting Society of America honored him with its first Lifetime Achievement Award.
After The Godfather, Roos commenced an association with Francis Ford Coppola and his family which endures until the present. He was a producer on all five of Sofia Coppola’s features, including Lost in Translation, recipient of four Oscar nominations and a winner for best screenplay. At present he is the executive producer of Eleanor Coppola’s debut feature, Bonjour Anne.
The long list of acclaimed filmmakers with whom Roos has worked includes Michelangelo Antonioni, John Huston, Carroll Ballard and Bob Rafelson. In addition to The Congressman, his current projects include Silver Skies, Rounding Third and the Polish-American co-production, Music, War & Love.

JOE ARCIDIACANO

Director of Photography
Joe Arcidiacano is a prominent commercials’ cinematographer for some of America’s most important corporations, including Starbucks, Sears, Geico and HBO. He is a graduate of Columbia University who began his career as a camera operator for directors of photography Russell Fine, Michael Barrett and Steve Kazmierski, among others.
He has also worked in television, on Game of Thrones, In-Treatment and Amy Schumer on MTV. He shot the experimental 10-part web series, The Confession, directed by Brad Mirman and starring Kiefer Sutherland and John Hurt. In 2006, he was the co-cinematographer for the documentary, God Grew Tired of Us, directed by Christopher Quinn and Tom Walker. The story of four of the “lost boys of the Sudan” won the Sundance Film Festival’s two top prizes, the Audience Award and the Jury Prize.

JOHANNA GEIBELHAUS

Editor
Multi-faceted and adventuresome, Johanna Geibelhaus edited God Grew Tired of Us (2006), the Sundance Film Festival prize-winning documentary about the ‘lost Boys of the Sudan’. She contributed to other documentaries in varying capacities including The Dead Will Guide Us (2010), Nuclear Savage (2011), Absolute Safe (2007), and Portrait of a Peacekeeper (2006).
Geibelhaus was the post production supervisor on The Endurance: Shackleton’s Legendary Antartic Experience and an assistant editor on the mini-series, African American Lives and Iceman Confesses.
Johanna Geibelhaus attended Grinnell College in Iowa.

DAVID CARBONARA