Movie reviews, production notes, and more! - "Joe Dirt"

Movie Production Notes: Joe Dirt

Notes provided by Sony Pictures The year is 1975 and little Joe Dirt is dumpster diving at a Grand Canyon tourist stop. After gorging himself on half-eaten snacks, he emerges from the garbage bin, only to find that his parents have left him. Now, this trash-eating eight year old is going to have to raise himself. From the producing team of the comedy smash Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo comes Joe Dirt, starring comedian David Spade in the title role of a guy who's learned everything on his own. Now grown up and working as a janitor, Joe's got a mullet hairdo, acid-washed jeans, and a dream-to find the parents that he lost, or lost him. Blasting Lynyrd Skynyrd in his souped-up muscle car, the irrepressibly optimistic Joe hits the road alone in search of his folks. Along the way, Joe befriends a strange but wonderful cast of characters including a high school janitor (Christopher Walken), an alligator trainer (Rosanna Arquette), the fireworks salesman "Kicking Wing" (Adam Beach), the beautiful but untouchable Brandy (Brittany Daniel), and Robby (Kid Rock), Joe's rival for her attention. Through triumph and adversity, Joe Dirt plows on. As his wandering, misguided search takes him from one hilarious misadventure to another-from an unexpected flight in a dentist's molar-shaped hot-air balloon, to a strange interlude with a curvaceous young woman (Jaime Pressly) who might be his sister, to capture by a cannibalistic psycho-Joe finds his way to Los Angeles, where shock jock Zander Kelly (Dennis Miller) brings Joe on his radio show for a quick on-air interview. Dirt is haplessly stuck in the '70s-the perfect target for the rapier wit of Kelly. But as Joe starts to tell the tale of his bizarre life, and of his search for the parents who left him, listeners are surprisingly captivated by his hilarious and often touching story. Jeers turn to cheers, and an entire city starts to tune in daily to hear the adventures of Joe Dirt. it isn't long before audiences worldwide join to help this unlikely hero unearth the mystery of his family's disappearance-with startling results. Columbia Pictures presents a Happy Madison/ Robert Simonds Production, the comedy Joe Dirt, starring David Spade, Christopher Walken, Dennis Miller, Brittany Daniel and Kid Rock, who makes his feature film debut. Rounding out the cast are Adam Beach, Erik Per Sullivan, Jaime Pressly, Fred Ward and Caroline Aaron. Dennie Gordon directs from an original screenplay by David Spade and Fred Wolf. Adam Sandler and Jack Giarraputo serve as executive producers. Robert Simonds serves as producer, and Ira Shuman is co-producer. John R. Leonetti is director of photography. Perry Andelin Blake is production designer, Peck Prior is editor and Alexandra Welker is costume designer. Joe Dirt has been rated PG-13 by the Motion Picture Association of America for crude and sex-related humor and language. ABOUT THE PRODUCTION "Joe Dirt is this plucky, brave, upbeat, nothing-gets-him-down guy," explains Dennie Gordon, making her feature film directorial debut with Joe Dirt. "He's an inspiration to everybody he meets. He gets punched. He gets pummeled. He gets pooped on. Everything in the world happens to this guy, but Joe Dirt picks himself up and keeps on going." Emmy Award-nominated actor/comedian David Spade stars as the irrepressible Dirt. "Negativity's puke, don't eat it. Life's a garden, dig it," says Spade, reciting some of his character's favorite mottoes. "You have to feel sorry for the guy because his parents dump him when he's eight," says Spade. "He spends the rest of his life looking for them and sleeping in backyards and doghouses and railroad tracks. You'd think he'd sleep next to the railroad tracks in case there's a train, but no-a pillow right on the tracks. He hopes for the best. "Honestly, I think it's kind of good for kids," continues Spade. "I mean, here's a guy that's just trying to be a good guy. He's not mean to people, and he's not sarcastic, and he's not a jerk..) think kids need to see the message there. Don't be a quitter. Work hard and get what you want." Spade says this is the first time he has ever played a character that is likable. "It's a big switch for me," he says. "I think it's fun for people to see something different." "This is a role David Spade was born to play," adds Gordon. "He has tremendous heart. He's a wonderful actor. He brings so much to this party. There's comedy, but there are also heart-tugging moments. David has this inherent sweetness that a lot of people haven't seen because his characters are kind of satirical and caustic. When they see David Spade play Joe Dirt, they're going to see a whole new David Spade. "I walked on coals to get this movie," Gordon laughs. "I wanted this movie bad. It is one of the funniest scripts I've ever read. The jokes are really fresh; they are jokes you've never seen before. I had a sense early on of what I wanted it to be-and what it could be-and, luckily, that was in tandem with what Adam Sandier, David Spade and the studio all had in mind." "when I first met Dennie, she was so into it," says Spade. "She said, 'I love this movie more than anything I've read, and I've got to do it. You have to help me get this thing.' She had all this homework done with the cast and the locations. She was ready to go and I was like, wow, I want someone that's just going to rally." Spade worked closely with Gordon and his co-writer Fred Wolf to keep the look and feel of the film on track. "We talked back and forth," says Spade. "it was good to have a director that was in my groove. She said, 'Look, I dig your script. If I'm starting to veer off, let me know." "We were really careful about every scene," Spade continues. "We constantly asked, what's funny? is there something to say? Is there a throwaway joke? is there a set piece? I didn't want any dead space. We wanted this movie to look a bit skewed with a little personality, and Dennie is great at picking out lenses and camera angles. We had a blast with her. She's a total cheerleader." "We had the dreamiest cast," gushes Gordon. "This script attracted some amazing people. One of the first to sign on was Kid Rock. He's making his feature debut, and he is amazing. It's not surprising that someone like him, a killer musical performer, would be a killer actor." Rock plays Robby, Brandy's suitor and Joe Dirt's rival. "We really wanted Kid Rock for the movie," Gordon explains. "David had him halfway there. When Kid finally called me back, I was out scouting. I'm on a bus with 40 people, and they're listening to me persuade Kid Rock to make this movie. I said, 'if there's ever a movie for you to make your premiere in, this is the one. You're going to play a white trash jerk who drives a big old Trans Am.' And he said, 'All right."' Christopher Walken brings his unmistakably unique touch to the film as a mobster in the witness protection program. Hiding out in Louisiana as a janitor in the junior high where Dirt works, he becomes a father figure to Joe. "He is brilliant in the part," says director Dennie Gordon. "It was a complete package when Christopher Walken walked on to the set. He's so dark and mysterious and strange and weird and wonderful, and he did an amazing job." Rounding out the cast of eccentric characters is Charlene (Rosanna Arquette), the woman who runs the alligator farm in Florida where Joe finds a part-time job as a Bator-wrestler. "Charlene has anger management problems," laughs Gordon. "She needs a man. She hates those gators because one of them ate her parents. She's so glad when she finally meets Joe Dirt because Joe inspires her to find the love of a good man." David Spade performed his own stunts with the animatronic reptile. Trapped in a tangle of cable while lodged in the beast's mouth, he joked to the crew that he hoped he'd never have to get a job at a zoo. Portraying Joe Dirt's long lost mother is veteran comic character actress Caroline Aaron. "Who better than Caroline Aaron to play this goddess of all white trash?" laughs Dennie Gordon. "She's just the best. The character lives in an old trailer at the base of an oil refinery. There are chickens running around the yard. It's the ultimate, white, trailer park trash moment," smiles Gordon. Fred ward plays Joe's long lost dad. "He's crazy," laughs Gordon. "The two of them together were combustible." Comedian Dennis Miller is DJ Zander Kelly. Miller, who was pivotal in helping launch David Spade's career on Saturday Night Live, brought his trademark brand of sarcastic wit to the role. "There's not that many comedians that I would say, 'Do whatever you want' to," says Spade. "But he's so much better at joke-writing than me. The script was just a blueprint. I just ad-libbed with him. We got so much stuff from him." "Dennis is the king of acerbic wit," adds director Dennie Gordon. "His character is sharp-tongued, witty, screamingly intelligent and smart enough to know a good story when he sees it." Over the course of the story, even Zander grows to love and respect Joe Dirt as much as the rest of America. David Spade attributes that to Joe's infectious upbeat attitude. "The funny thing is that Joe just keeps getting battered," says Spade. "When he's on the radio with Zander Kelly, Kelly says, 'Why don't you just quit? You have every right to quit.' It's like it's not an option for Joe Dirt." Brittany Daniel plays Brandy, the girl next door. "Brandy falls head over heels for Joe Dirt," explains Daniel. "She's caught in this little love triangle with Joe and Robby, who's played by Kid Rock, and she's trying to decide between the two boys. God, I have such a tough job," she laughs. "I live on this little ranch in a place called Silvertown, and Joe meets me while he's trying to steal a hubcap off my car." Joe Dirt also features cameo appearances by Kevin Nealon, Carson Daly and Joe Don Baker. For production designer Perry Andelin Blake and his team, the big challenge was to make Joe's cross-country search for his parents believable-since it would be filmed entirely within the radius of Los Angeles. LA's Arboretum stood in for a scene in Florida, while an overgrown street in Pasadena offered the look of a Louisiana bayou. The Disney Ranch, with its lush green lawns, became the setting for Silvertown, the idyllic home of Joe's future girlfriend. "I love the whole idea of the white trash world," says Blake. "I thought it would be great to be able to portray Joe going from town to town and finding sort of the lowest common denominator as he went along. For a designer, it was so rich and colorful." Blake says he found inspiration from many of the photographs he had taken on his own cross-country adventures. "I do a lot of traveling," he explains. "I try to go to places that aren't typical, to drive on the wrong side of the tracks. I've taken pictures over the years of trailer parks, rundown houses, places out in the desert..." Blake says he knew he was on the "same page" as director Dennie Gordon and David Spade during their first meeting. "To generate ideas, we all brought in various books that we had. All of a sudden, we noticed that we all had a couple of the same books-great picture books of the Southwest and one book called "Route 66," which had pictures of derelict motels and houses. We all had a passion for it. it wasn't so much to make fun of it, but to embrace it and say, this is kind of cool. This is really neat stuff." Costume design played an equally important role in the film as it provided a timeline and accentuated the film's eccentric personalities. Five to ten years out of date with his comical fashion choices, Joe Dirt's outrageous retro-hair and ratty rock concert T-shirts had costume designer Alexandra Welker describing him as a kind of "Pig-Pen" with a heart of gold. "Our timeline was insane," explains director Dennie Gordon. "Since the movie jumps back and forth from 1984 to 2001, we had a lot of fun with wardrobe and cars, trying to instantly identify where we were in time by the sawed-off mesh half-shirts, by the Def Leppard stuff, by the hair. The music really locates it in terms of the time frame as well." While scouting locations, production designer Perry Andelin Blake says he got a real-life taste of Dirt's world when he pulled up to a dilapidated house in a seedy area just as a pick-up truck pulled in. Three men spilled out, their arms laden with bags of groceries-including beer, cigarettes and pork rinds-and their pockets stuffed with lottery tickets. It was 10 AM; this was the start of their day. "We were totally into it," says Blake. "There was this camaraderie about it. After a while, we started to look a little 'white trash' ourselves," he laughs. In contrast to the wild-looking sets of Joe's cross-country road trip, the set for the radio station, where Joe settles in to tell his story, had a more subdued look. "We had this idea that the studio was like a cocoon," explains production designer Perry Andelin Blake. "We really wanted to contrast it with the crazy stuff outside. Everything is colorful and messy, and the people are funky and weird out there, but within the studio, it is clean and modern and decorated in grays and blues. "I think in terms of production design we see the scope and magnificence of the journey," he continues, "even though it is through the lowest common denominators of our society. But within that, to see the strength of human emotion and caring, one for another-that was my inspiration for the film." "One of the really fun things about this movie was how many gags there were," says director Dennie Gordon. "Joe flies across the country in a hot air balloon shaped like a tooth. Joe works at a real oil derrick. He gets gas spilled all over him. He wrestles a 30-foot gator. He gets drenched in sewage. Every day we said, 'Well, what are we blowing up today? Who's getting dumped on today?' And David's been an amazingly good sport. He did a lot of his own stunts, because a lot of times, there was no way else to do it." One of Spade's more daring scenes took place on a mock oil rig built in the desert outside of Los Angeles. In the scene, Joe gets soaked with oil when the rig blows up, and he ends up fighting with a brawny fellow worker. In searing 110 degree heat, Spade lunged towards his opponent, was lifted over his head, spun around and thrown like a rag doll on to a giant safety mat. The script called for the victorious thug to then relieve himself, which causes him to ignite his own oil-soaked overalls, allowing for Joe's escape. For his stint flying a hot air balloon, Spade was stoic, hovering high above the ground, attached to a giant crane. But his bravery soon faltered when he noticed a loose wire. "Hey, am I still attached?" he yelled. "I'm going kind of high here." The crew quickly lowered him down to earth. He was sent right back up after the cord was removed from the rig. Like his character, Joe Dirt, David Spade just had to "keep on keepin' on." Director Dennie Gordon agrees. She explains Joe Dirt in one simple sentence: "it is a wonderful adventure ride across America with a guy you just learn to love and root for." ABOUT THE CAST Nominated for a 1999 Emmy Award for his role as Dennis Finch, the wise-cracking, power-hungry assistant on Just Shoot Me, David Spade (Joe Dirt, co-writer) was previously best known for his five-year stint as a cast member of NBC's Saturday Night Live. Nominated for a Golden Globe Award in 1999 and 2000 and an American Comedy Award in 1999 for his work on Just Shoot Me, Spade's film career also continues to grow. Spade voiced the lead character, "Cuzco," in the animated holiday Disney feature The Emperor's New Groove. He was joined by Eartha Kitt, John Goodman and Wendie Malick. The soundtrack was composed and performed by Sting. Born in Birmingham, Michigan, and raised in Scottsdale, Arizona, Spade began his career by performing stand-up comedy in clubs, theaters and colleges across the country. A 1988 graduate of Arizona State University, Spade made his television debut two years later on SNL and was soon named the Hot Stand-Up Comedian of the Year by Rolling Stone magazine. Some of Spade's memorable characters on SNL, where he served as both a writer and a performer, included the sarcastic "Hollywood Minute" reporter on "Weekend Update" and a show business receptionist known for routinely asking, "And you are...?" In addition to SNL, Spade has guest-starred on the critically acclaimed The Carry Sanders Show and appeared in HBO's 13th Annual Young Comedians Special. He has also served as host of The 1997 Billboard Music Awards and, in 1998, headlined his own HBO special, David Spade: Take the Hit. Spade co-starred with SNL alumnus Chris Farley in the films Tommy Boy and Black Sheep, and the pair won a 1996 MTV Movie Award for "Best On-Screen DUO" for the former. His other feature credits include Reality Bites, Light Sleeper, Coneheads, PCU, 8 Heads In a Duffel Bag, Senseless and the animated films Rugrats: The Movie and Beavis & 8utthead Do America (he was also heard on the television series). In 1999, Spade starred in the romantic comedy Lost & Found, for which he also co-wrote the screenplay. Brittany Daniel (Brandy) made her film debut in 1994's The Basketball Diaries, starring Leonardo DiCaprio. Brittany also spiced up Dawson's Creek this past season as Eve. This Gainesville, Florida native started her career as a model at just 11 years old. She appeared in the television show The New Leave it to Beaver and the teenage soap opera Swan's Crossing, opposite Sarah Michelle Gellar. She went on to star in Sweet Valley High for four seasons. Daniel will soon be seen in Sonic Blast, an independent film featuring Mel Harris and Ice-T. Christopher Walken (Clem) recently starred in The Opportunists and Tim Burton's Sleepy Hollow. He can be seen in the upcoming feature film Affair Of The Necklace. One of Hollywood's best character actors, Walken began his career singing and dancing on the New York stage. After making his Broadway debut in Best Foot Forward with Liza Minnelli, he appeared in The Anderson Tapes and Next Stop Greenwich Village. He won critical acclaim for his role as Diane Keaton's brother in woody Allen's Annie Hall and received an Academy Award for his performance in The Deer Hunter. His many other film credits include Blast From The Past, Illuminata, Basquiat, Touch, Last Man Standing, The Funeral, Pulp Fiction, The Addiction, Pennies From Heaven, King of New York, Biloxi Blues, Dead Zone and Nick Of Time. Erik Per Sullivan (Little Joe Dirt) is a nine year old Swedish-American who is fluent in both English and Swedish. Sullivan has appeared in the box-office smash Armageddon. He recently starred opposite Tobey Maguire and Michael Caine in the critically acclaimed The Cider House Rules. He also guest starred in the TV show wonderland. Sullivan can currently be seen as youngest brother "Dewey" in the hit Fox comedy Malcolm in the Middle. His character was recently featured in Fox-TV's Where's Dewey? presentation. Malcolm in the Middle most recently was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Comedy and won Best Ensemble at the Hollywood Reporter's Young Star Awards. Upcoming projects for Sullivan include the independent film Wendigo, scheduled to be released in 2001. He resides with his parents in Milford, MA and attends elementary school in Milford when he is not filming. Dennis Miller (Zander Kelly) is a five-time Emmy Award winner for his critically acclaimed live, half-hour HBO talk show, Dennis Miller Live, which started its eighth season in January 2001. The New York Times has called Dennis Miller Live "biting social comedy laced with humor." In September, Miller joined ABC's Monday Night Football, where he called the plays alongside AI Michaels and NFL Hall of Fame quarterback Dan Fouts. In June, Doubleday published the third edition of Miller's ever popular Rants, / Rant, Therefore 1 Am. His first two books, The Rants and Ranting Again (Doubleday), were both New York Times bestsellers. Last December, HBO presented Miller's fifth one-hour special titled Dennis Miller: The Millennium Special-1000 Years, 100 Laughs, 10 Really Good Ones. Though Miller won over audiences on the hit TV show Saturday Night Live, he actually got his start in the late '70s, honing his skills in Pittsburgh area clubs and eventually relocating to New York where he performed at such famed clubs as Catch a Rising Star and the Comic Strip. His next move was a return to Pittsburgh where he wrote, produced and appeared in more than 100 humorous essays for the syndicated PM Magazine show, as well as hosting his own Saturday morning television program aimed at teenage audiences. He has appeared in such films as Disclosure, The Net, opposite Sandra Bullock, and Murder at 1600. Kid Rock (Robby) is a hot young singer who has made noticeable appearances in films and on television, including a guest appearance as himself on The Simpsons and Raw Is War. His music was featured on the soundtrack to Oliver Stone's Any Given Sunday. He will next be seen in the upcoming films Bubble Boy and All Access. Born in Romeo, Michigan, Kid Rock's album Devil without a Cause and History of Rock have sold 13 million records and snared the outrageous Rock two Grammy nominations, including one for Best New Artist. Adam Beach (Kicking Wing) is a well-known Native American actor who has appeared in over 30 films. He recently appeared in the critically acclaimed indie Smoke Signals and Mystery, Alaska, opposite Russell Crowe and Burt Reynolds. He first appeared in the TV miniseries lonesome Dove opposite Robert Duvall and Tommy Lee Jones. Since then he has made many notable guest appearances on such shows as walker, Texas Ranger, Touched By An Angel and First Wave. Jaime Pressly (Jill) is a talented young actress who began her career as a dancer and model. Pressly recently starred in Tomcats. She will next be seen in several upcoming feature films including Ticker, opposite Dennis Hopper and Steven Seagal, the teen horror film Pinata and Poor White Trash. Other film credits include the Jerry Springer mock documentary Ringmaster, Can't Hardly Wait, Blue Coyote, Trash and The Journey Absolution. Born and raised in North Carolina, Pressly currently costars on the popular WB television series "Jack & Jill." She also starred in the E! Entertainment original movie "Best Actress" opposite Thomas Calabro and Rachel Hunter. Other television credits include "Push" and "Mortal Kombat." Fred Ward (Joe's Dad) was most recently seen in the hit summer comedy Road Trip. His other credits include the hit comedy Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult, opposite Leslie Nielsen; the critically acclaimed Henry and June; Swing Shift; Silkwood, opposite Meryl Streep; and The Right Stuff, opposite Scott Glenn, Dennis Quaid, Sam Shepard and Ed Harris. Ward will next be seen in the comedy Corky Romano, also starring Chris Kattan, and Summer Catch. Caroline Aaron (Joe's Mom) was most recently seen in the romance Bounce, opposite Gwyneth Paltrow and Ben Affleck. Her other film credits include several Woody Allen Films, most recently his hit comedy Deconstructing Harry; and several Mike Nichols films, including Primary Colors, opposite John Travolta and Emma Thompson, and What Planet Are You From?, opposite John Goodman. On TV, Aaron has guest starred on N. Y. P. D. Blue, The Practice, Ally McBeal, Sex and The City, Frasier and Mad About You. She has also starred in several pilots and TV movies, including the Emmy-winning Tuesdays with Morrie, opposite Jack Lemmon. ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS Dennie Gordon (director) has directed for some of television's most popular series, including David E. Kelly's Ally McBeal and The Practice. She recently directed for the series Jack & Jill and Grounded For Life. Other television directing credits include the popular Sports Night, Dawson's Creek, Nash Bridges, Chicago Hope and Party of Five. This year, as director of Tracey Takes on..., Gordon won a prestigious Directors Guild of America award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in a Musical/Variety Program for the episode "End of the World." John R. Leonetti (director of photography) comes from a talented family of cinematographers. His most recent credit had him behind the lens at a "Kiss" rock concert for Detroit Rock City. He shot the comedy Spy Hard with Leslie Nielsen and Nicolette Sheridan, and the drama Mortal Kombat. Other feature film credits include The Mask, starring Cher, and the comedy Hot Shots! Part Deux. For television, Leonetti shot the compelling drama The Burning Season, starring Raul Julia, and the made-for-television movies Against the Wall, Revenge on the Highway and Coopersmith. Leonetti served as director of photography of the second unit on Star Trek: Insurrection. Adam Sandier (executive producer) served as executive producer on the box-office hit Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo starring Rob Schneider. Sandler and his writing team are currently working on the animated musical feature whitey and Davey for Sony Pictures, due out Christmas of 2001. Sandler has attracted a worldwide following of loyal fans as an actor, a comedian and a singer/songwriter with several big box-office hits. He starred in and co-wrote the megahit comedy Big Daddy. The success of Big Daddy was preceded by other record-breaking films: The Waterboy, The Wedding Singer, Happy Gilmore and Billy Madison. During breaks from his busy filming schedule, Sandler has played to sold out crowds at most colleges in the U.S. and recorded multi-platinum comedy albums for Warner Brothers which, collectively, have sold over five million copies to date. Jack Giarraputo (executive producer) began his film career as associate producer on Disney's Heavyweights, directed Steve Brill. He teamed up with friend Adam Sandler to co-produce Bulletproof and the hit golf comedy Happy Gilmore. With producing partner Adam Sandier, he served as producer on the box-office hit Deuce Bigalow Male Gigolo, starring Rob Schneider. Other box-office successes include Big Daddy, The Waterboy, The wedding Singer and his most recent project, Little Nicky, which all starred Adam Sandier. He is also working on Whitey and Davey, an animated musical feature, for Sony Pictures, to be released Christmas of 2001. Giarraputo grew up in Long Island. He attended New York University before graduating from The Fordham University School of Law. He decided to switch careers, moving to LA without taking the bar exam. His parents weren't happy. Robert Simonds (producer) is one of contemporary Hollywood's premiere producers of motion picture comedies. His first feature was the hit comedy Problem Child. He followed that with the sequel, Problem Child 2. His most recent hits include Little Nicky, Head Over Heels, Big Daddy, The Wedding Singer and The Waterboy. He also produced Leave It to Beaver, That Darn Cat, Screwed and Airheads. Simonds graduated summa cum laude from Yale University, where he majored in philosophy. Ira Shuman (co-producer) attended the School of Visual Arts in New York. He worked as a commercial producer before serving as executive production manager for Wait Disney Television. He recently produced the feature Head Over Heels and has produced four Adam Sandler films, including The Waterboy and The Wedding Singer. Other credits include Half Baked, Mr. Wrong, Strange Days and Newsies. Beginning his career in the industry almost 20 years ago, Peck Prior (editor) began as an apprentice in the film shipping department at Universal Pictures. This led to his first paying job as an apprentice editor on John Landis' The Blues Brothers. As an editor, his film credits include the sequels Universal Soldier: The Return, l Still Know What You Did Last Summer, Mortal Kombat: Annihilation and Weekend at Bernie's ll, as well as Terminal Velocity, Flipper and The Road Killers with Craig Sheffer and Christopher Lambert. He shared coediting credit on both Flight of the Intruder and Uncle Buck. He re-teamed with Buck creator John Hughes as the supervising film editor on Curly Sue and Career Opportunities. He first worked with Hughes when the filmmaker directed Ferris Bueller's Day Off, on which he served as an assistant editor. Prior also worked on Planes, Trains and Automobiles as an assistant editor. in addition, his cutting work was utilized on the short films At the Hands of Another for director Richard Sarafian and The Roommate for director Oley Sassone. As an assistant editor, he worked on the Rolling Stones concert film Let's Spend the Night Together. Born in New York but raised in Los Angeles, Prior still resides in the City of Angels with his wife and children. Fred Wolf (co-writer) is known for his long and extremely successful run as one of the head writers for Saturday Night Live. He co-wrote the feature film Dirty Work with fellow Saturday Night Live cast members Norm Macdonald and Frank Sebastiano. He also co-wrote Black Sheep and Tommy Boy, both starring David Spade and the late Chris Farley. Wolf has appeared on Saturday Night Live as himself and in small roles in each of the films he has authored. Perry Andelin Blake (production designer) is a versatile and innovative designer whose work has garnered acclaim and repeated requests from directors to craft the look of their films. His imaginative work can be seen in the production designs of Little Nicky, Head Over Heels, Big Daddy, The Waterboy, The Wedding Singer, Billy Madison and Half Baked. His other feature film credits include Bulletproof and Leave It To Beaver. Blake received a Masters of Architecture from Harvard University before moving to LA to work with noted architect Frank Gehry. He began his film career by serving as art director on commercials for such companies as CocaCola, Reebok, Nike and Nissan, as well as T.V. shows like Fox's In Living Color. He also worked on the Academy Award"-nominated short Birch St. Gym. His film sets and architectural work have been published in many books and magazines throughout North America. Alexandra Welker (costume designer) most recently created the stylish outfits for Seven Girlfriends. Her numerous costume design credits include The Big Brass Ring, Phoenix, Meet the Deedles, Retroactive, Meet Wally Sparks, Persons Unknown, Flirt, Somebody to Love, Pentathlon, Amateur, Dead Connection, Dirty Money, The Low Life and An Ambush of Ghosts. In 1992, she crafted the costumes for the Italian film Simple Men. 4/11 /01 "Academy Awardİ" is a registered trademark and service mark of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Official Web Site: http://www.sony.com/joedirt Back to main movie page Showing Today at: Click here for other showings