- Notes provided by Sony Pictures. -

Production Information

Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly, who last teamed in the box-office smash Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, now star in Step Brothers, directed by Adam McKay (Talladega Nights, Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy). In Step Brothers, Ferrell plays Brennan Huff, a sporadically employed thirty-nine-year-old who lives with his mother, Nancy (Mary Steenburgen). Reilly plays Dale Doback, a terminally unemployed forty-year-old who lives with his father, Robert (Richard Jenkins). When Robert and Nancy marry and move in together, Brennan and Dale are forced to live with each other as step brothers. As their narcissism and downright laziness threaten to tear the "new" family apart, these two middle-aged, immature, overgrown boys will orchestrate an insane, elaborate plan to bring their parents back together. To pull it off, they must form an unlikely bond that maybe, just maybe, will finally get them out of the house.

Columbia Pictures presents, in association with Relativity Media, an Apatow Company / Mosaic Media Group / Gary Sanchez production, a film by Adam McKay, Step Brothers. The film stars Will Ferrell, John C. Reilly, Richard Jenkins, Mary Steenburgen, Adam Scott, and Kathryn Hahn. Directed by Adam McKay. Produced by Jimmy Miller and Judd Apatow. Screenplay by Will Ferrell & Adam McKay, from a story by Will Ferrell & Adam McKay & John C. Reilly. Executive producers are Will Ferrell, Adam McKay, and David Householter. Director of Photography is Oliver Wood. Production Designer is Clayton Hartley. Editor is Brent White. Costume Designer is Susan Matheson. Music by Jon Brion. Music Supervision is by Hal Willner.

Step Brothers has been rated R by the Motion Picture Association of America for crude and sexual content and pervasive language. The film will be released in theaters nationwide on July 25, 2008.

PUTTING THE FUN IN DYSFUNCTIONAL

Will Ferrell, the star of Columbia Pictures' comedy Step Brothers, sums up the central characters by describing two grown men in a state of arrested development. "Dale and Brennan never outgrew their adolescent ideas about what's cool, how they'd spend their time when they grew up, what they found entertaining. It was a lot of fun to explore that, thinking, 'What if you actually became, at 40, the guy you thought you'd be when you were 13?'"

Step Brothers re-teams Ferrell with John C. Reilly and writer-director Adam McKay after the trio's successful collaboration on the hit comedy Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby. Immediately after wrapping photography on that film, Ferrell, McKay, and Reilly decided that the experience was so creatively satisfying that they wanted to repeat it. "We sat down, had dinner, and spit-balled all these ideas," Ferrell remembers.

"When we worked on Talladega, the funniest scenes were the ones that were loose -- like the 'Baby Jesus grace' at the dinner table," says McKay. "That scene didn't have a lot of story directive -- it was just about meeting the characters and establishing the tone. It was important to us to find an idea that, like Talladega, was loose enough but also had enough of an engine to drive the story along."

At the dinner, Ferrell, McKay, and Reilly came up with "pages and pages of ideas, all pretty solid, but all a little restrictive," says McKay. Then, the next day, as he was trying to come up with the perfect idea, inspiration struck. "Someone mentioned bunk beds for their kids and I thought, 'I got it.' Two grown guys, still living at home, their single parents get married, and now they have to share a room."

"As soon as we heard the idea, we immediately went for it," Reilly adds. "Imagine if your kids just never really matured and never left the house. I mean, I love my kids, but I really hope they grow up and move out eventually."

"What do you do if your kids are a mess?" asks producer Judd Apatow. "Richard Jenkins and Mary Steenburgen play the parents, and what's funny about their fights in the movie is that they really just don't know what to do. Interestingly, it's a pretty common problem: how do you get your kids out of the house?"

"Brennan and Dale are very leery of each other. Neither of them likes the new situation at all," Ferrell says. "All that changes when Dale meets Brennan's younger brother Derek, who comes to dinner one night with his family. Derek is the complete opposite of Brennan. He's successful, handsome, and has everything going for him. He's also tormented Brennan his entire life. Dale comes to Brennan's defense by sucker-punching Derek, and from that moment on, Dale and Brennan are best friends."

Reilly explains his character's unique brand of self-centeredness: "Dale is an extreme case of arrested development. His dad's a doctor, so he's never really had to work for anything. He's just into the things that he likes and everything else doesn't interest him at all. He's into the drums, sling shots, karate, and fireworks. He's a guy who already feels like he's got the greatest life ever and he doesn't have to really work."

Still, although they'd be playing the "kids," Ferrell found that the movie's central conflict was in two other characters. "When we started writing, we came up with crazy scenarios from every kind of brotherly fight we could think of and any adolescent scenario that made us laugh," Ferrell says. "But as we continued, we really started identifying with the parents."

McKay says that when he and Ferrell sit down to write together, the first step is often improvisation. "It's like we're on stage doing it -- he's a character, and I'm a character, and we're flipping back and forth who plays each part," says the writer-director. "The entire goal is to come up with something that makes the other person laugh. We take turns, tossing out ideas -- I'll lie on the floor, saying anything that comes to mind, and Will types. He'll make sense of it all and then we'll flip it -- I'll rewrite the scenes and he'll take the job of sitting on the couch throwing out insane ideas."

"I've known Adam for about 12 years now," says Ferrell. "We were both hired at 'Saturday Night Live' at the same time. He had a long career as an improviser and a stage performer before he become solely a writer, and I think that influenced his directing style. It allows for a lot of freedom."

"I like working with Will and Adam because they are truly two of the nicest guys in the industry," says producer Judd Apatow. "They're really funny, they really enjoy making movies, they make each other laugh, and they make the set a really happy place. In fact, when I'm directing a movie and something comes up, I think, 'What would Adam McKay do?'"

As they wrote, Ferrell and McKay tried to ensure that characters that seemed similar on the surface had differences between them that the actors could explore. "John would play Dale, and he would be more of a planner with a 'business mind' -- even though he has terrible ideas," Ferrell jokes. "He's the one with the drive and initiative, such as it is. Brennan was going to be a little more sensitive, a little more soft-spoken. And he thought of himself as a beautiful singer, but of course has a terrible fear of singing in public.

"From there, we followed those guidelines to build the characters and to write the scenes appropriately, in terms of what these characters would say and do, even though they cross over at times," Ferrell continues. "I love that about the characters and the movie. Brennan becomes the leader at times and Dale's the follower. I think that makes it so much more interesting."

When the script was completed, Ferrell and Reilly started the work of shaping the performances that would bring the characters to life. "I would go home, watching my kids react to not getting something they wanted, or a petty grievance between siblings, and that stuff definitely informed my character," says Reilly. "In that way, even though it's an R-rated movie and we get into adult situations, the movie has a lot of innocence and joy to it."

"With these characters, there's a fine line between them complementing each other and enabling each other," adds McKay. "They really should never have met each other -- but somehow it works out."

With the freedom to explore their roles, however, came a responsibility. "There were no easy days on this movie," says Reilly. "You might start your day thinking, 'Oh, I just have two lines in this scene, I'm just walking through,' and hours later you'll find that your role in the scene has been expanded. You always have to come to the set fully prepared."

Reilly says that though he's best known as a dramatic actor who has lately performed in comedy roles, for him, there's been no change in focus. "It's still the same kind of work," he says. "It doesn't feel all that different to me; it's just the way the circumstances in the scenes change that make it absurd."

"John and Will have incredible chemistry," says Apatow. "I don't know where it comes from, but they're really fun to watch together and there's something about their comedic styles that really balance each other out. They're like a great comedy team."

WE ARE FAMILY

Though Ferrell and Reilly's characters were already in place, it was key that the filmmakers find believable parents for Dale and Brennan. After all, it is the parents who serve as the guides into Dale and Brennan's world.

Mary Steenburgen takes on the role of Nancy Huff. Ferrell was thrilled to be re-teaming with the Academy Award® winner after collaborating on the hit holiday comedy Elf. "I played his step-mom in Elf," Steenburgen says. "We're trying every variation of me being Will's mother. This time, I'm his birth mother. It was an amazing experience that was just so much fun. The hardest part of this job is to get through a take without the giggles."

Ferrell comments: "In Elf, my character was just visiting their world, so I didn't have a lot of one-on-one contact with Mary's character. It was fun to see her perform this type of comedy. She fits so well in terms of playing the right tone. It's a hard part: the character has to get tough while being an enabler the whole time."

"Mary is such a polite, graceful, lovely person. She has amazing manners. She has a grace about her, so to be rude to her is so funny," Reilly says. "We do and say all these awful things to her."

It seems that everyone is mesmerized by the sight of Steenburgen's genteel, almost angelic visage spouting obscenities. "For some reason, it cracks them up to have really filthy things coming out of my mouth," Steenburgen says.

"I would not have traded places with any actress in the world," Steenburgen says. "There's nowhere else I'd rather be. Every single day was a total adventure. I had no idea what was going to happen. Plus, I'm a laugh junkie and what better place to be? This is the center of the universe for a laugh junkie."

Having honed her improvisational skills during her stint on HBO's "Curb Your Enthusiasm," Steenburgen was ready to hang with Ferrell, Reilly, and McKay. "They did say that they liked to be loose on the set," she says. "To me, that was great. We do that on Larry David's show, and I was with an improv group in my early years in New York."

Richard Jenkins, who portrayed the deceased patriarch in "Six Feet Under" and some memorably comedic roles in David O. Russell's I (heart) Huckabees and Flirting with Disaster, plays Robert Doback, Dale's father.

Jenkins was incredibly enthusiastic to work with Steenburgen. He had been a longtime fan of her work. "When I heard she was doing it, I thought 'Oh good, this is great,'" Jenkins says. "We had a lot of fun. She's there all the time for you in a scene. She's so beautiful and so funny and so sweet."

Jenkins notes the unique way in which the husband-wife team has made their children incapable of embracing responsibility. "He has been a distant parent. He knows there are problems, but he really hasn't dealt with them. Because of the new situation, he's forced to deal with it and he's just not capable. For these last 40 years, he's found a way to avoid paying attention to his son, and now that he's forced to, it ain't pretty."

"Richard Jenkins has always made us laugh and he's an actor we've always respected," says Apatow. "He's worked with the Coen brothers and Woody Allen. He was on 'Six Feet Under.' Casting him puts everyone on their game: 'I better do a good job today. Richard Jenkins is here.'"

Kathryn Hahn joins the cast as Alice, the frustrated wife of Nancy's other son, Derek. After years of putdowns, petty arguments, and standing in the shadows, she is ready to break free. And when Dale sucker-punches her husband, it sets free her primal urges and she reacts in unexpected ways.

"She's a shattered shell of a woman who is beaten down by her husband, Derek, and her kids. She takes harbor in the arms of Dale Doback," Hahn says. "They have a love affair for the ages."

Hahn worked with McKay and Ferrell briefly on Anchorman. "I had a very-small-yet-hilarious-to-me part. I played Helen, the assistant to Veronica Corningstone. I would have shown up just to be in the background. I couldn't believe what I was seeing."

What she was seeing was a set where actors felt free to get the story across in the way they felt best fit the characters they were playing. "One of Adam's many talents is that he creates such an environment of safety that you feel like you could do anything. That feeling opens something in your mind; there's no line to cross and you can do whatever comes out in the moment."

"Kathryn is so fearless," Reilly says. "She is probably the most fearless actress I've ever worked with. She is very much like me and Will and Adam, where if something's funny, we'll chase it all the way down. We won't stop and say, 'All right, it's getting inappropriate now.' We'll just keep chasing it down and stay committed to the idea wherever it goes. It was great to have that with Kathryn."

Playing Hahn's husband and Ferrell's brother is Adam Scott, who currently stars in HBO's "Tell Me You Love Me." Scott was happy to work with the comedy team of Ferrell and McKay. "They're probably the funniest guys around. They're hilarious and they're also just the nicest guys around. It's been really great."

ABOUT THE PRODUCTION

For the filmmakers, the primary objective was to plant subtle, not-so-subtle, and just-plain-obvious clues that Dale Doback and Brennan Huff have refused to grow up. Production designer Clayton Hartley and costume designer Susan Matheson collaborated with each other and with McKay, Ferrell, and Reilly to achieve a design and look that would express the characters' sensibilities.

Matheson reunites with the team after designing the costumes for Talladega Nights. In fact, it was Matheson who chose one of the strangest costumes in that film -- Ricky Bobby's pink Crystal Gayle t-shirt, which Ferrell liked so much that he wore it to the premiere of the film.

"I'm always on the hunt for t-shirts, even when I'm not working on a movie," she says. "Whenever I'm in another city, I go to thrift stores -- I'm talking Salvation Army, not chic boutiques. Or I'm on eBay all the time, looking for things. In movies in which people wear contemporary clothes, it's very hard to distinguish yourself in an interesting way, so I always try to make sure there's a distinct personality to every character. One way you can do that is through a unique, cool t-shirt."

Matheson was charged with two distinct tasks in the costumes. First, she had to help differentiate what might seem, on the face of it, two similar characters in Dale and Brennan. "Brennan is a bit sweeter than Dale, more of a mama's boy, so I wanted his t-shirts to have a sensitive side," laughs Matheson. "For example, he wears a purple shirt with an airbrushed horse running across it. He also wears shirts featuring juvenile travel destinations, which hints that he's been living with mommy. Dale, on the other hand, wears shirts that center on his interest in martial arts -- and, at the beginning of the film, a vintage Yoda shirt."

"The great thing about Adam McKay is that he's incredibly supportive of people with an absurdist sense of humor," Matheson continues. "As long as the joke is subtle, and as long as I can justify it, he's all for it."

She cites an example that didn't make it into the movie but still shows off the sensibility. "I gave Will a pair of plaid Christmas pants and socks with vinyl bottoms -- the kind children wear. Will had tucked his pants into the socks, which got a huge reaction from the crew. You can't even see it in the film, but I thought those socks were just right for Will's character."

Step Brothers marks production designer Clayton Hartley's fifth collaboration with Ferrell, and from a design standpoint, it might be their most straightforward film yet. After recreating the 1970s in Anchorman and Semi-Pro and larger worlds of soccer and NASCAR in Kicking & Screaming and Talladega Nights, Step Brothers, with a few exceptions, takes place in one house in Los Angeles. In that way, Hartley's goal was to provide a design that would underscore the fact that the characters are stuck in time as teenagers, without calling attention to itself. "The art department is not funny; Will Ferrell and Adam McKay and John C. Reilly are funny," he says. "Our goal was to take a subtle approach, never going over the top, to make an environment that was true to the reality of the characters, so that we could enhance the comedy and not distort it."

The way they did that, he says, is "to leave around puddles of stuff, like a teenager does. A teenager will leave his bike in the driveway, his coat in the hall, empty bags of snacks in the den... it was those little touches that would make this nice house look like two children lived in it."

Which is not to say that they didn't have ample opportunity to be creative. The boys' shared bedroom is a hodgepodge of teenage memories culled from the entire art department. Set decorator Casey Hallenbeck filled the room with -- in Hartley's words -- "all sorts of goofy stuff. There was this magic kit, the kind with the swords... a beer can collection... posters of rock bands and sexy girls, like a teenage boy would pin up. It was definitely a great chance for him to go to town and remake a teenage bedroom."

ABOUT THE CAST

WILL FERRELL (Brennan Huff/Screenplay by/Story by/Executive Producer) has come a long way since his days on "Saturday Night Live," crossing over from television icon to motion picture star shortly after joining the "SNL" cast in 1995.

He most recently starred in Semi-Pro, the story of a 1970s-era ABA team trying to earn its way into the NBA, opposite Woody Harrelson and Andre Benjamin for director Kent Alterman. Prior to that, in 2007, he starred in the comedy hit Blades of Glory with Jon Heder. The film took in over $118 million at the box office.

In 2006, Ferrell demonstrated that his dramatic gifts equal his comedic talents, earning his second Golden Globe nomination (Best Actor in a Comedy or Musical) for his portrayal of IRS agent Harold Crick in Stranger than Fiction, starring opposite Emma Thompson, Dustin Hoffman, Queen Latifah and Maggie Gyllenhaal for director Marc Forster.

Earlier that year, Ferrell starred in the hit comedy Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, with co-stars John C. Reilly and Sacha Baron Cohen. Earning nearly $150 million at the U.S. box office, the film became the season's #1 comedy (non-animated) and set records on DVD.

In the summer of 2004, Ferrell starred in the comedy Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy for DreamWorks Pictures, which grossed over $85 million domestically. Ferrell co-wrote the script with "SNL" writer Adam McKay. Judd Apatow ("Freaks and Geeks") produced, with David O. Russell (Three Kings) executive producing. Ferrell portrayed Ron Burgundy, a 1970s anchorman with an inflated ego threatened by the arrival of an ambitious female newscaster who, unlike him, has mastered journalism.

Ferrell completed his seventh and final season on the legendary NBC late-night hit "Saturday Night Live" in 2002, having taken the nation by storm during "Indecision 2000" by impersonating George W. Bush on the show. Some of his most memorable "SNL" characters include Craig the Spartan Cheerleader, musical middle school teacher Marty Culp, and Tom Wilkins, the hyperactive co-host of "Morning Latte." Among his many impressions are Janet Reno, Alex Trebek, Neil Diamond, and the late, great Chicago Cubs sportscaster Harry Caray. His work on "SNL" earned two Emmy nominations in 2001 (Outstanding Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program and Outstanding Writing for a Variety, Music, or Comedy Program).

Previous film credits include Zoolander, Elf, the Woody Allen feature Melinda and Melinda, the comedies Bewitched and Old School, and the screen adaptation of The Producers, which earned Ferrell his first Golden Globe nomination in 2006 for Best Supporting Actor. He recently wrapped production on his next feature film, Universal's Land of the Lost.

Raised in Irvine, California, Ferrell attended USC and graduated with a degree in sports information. Upon graduation, he worked as a sportscaster on a weekly show broadcast over a local cable channel. Soon after, he enrolled in acting classes and stand-up comedy workshops at a nearby community college and was eventually asked to join the esteemed comedy/improv group The Groundlings after just one year of training. It was at The Groundlings that Ferrell was discovered for "Saturday Night Live."

Nominated for an Academy Award® and a Golden Globe® for his work in the hit musical Chicago, JOHN C. REILLY (Dale Doback/Story by) has garnered a reputation as an actor with great range. He most recently starred in Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, for which he was honored with a Golden Globe® nomination; in addition, he received another nomination for co-writing the title song.

Born in Chicago and raised as the fifth of six children in an Irish-Lithuanian family, Reilly studied at the Goodman School of Drama. Later, he became a member of Chicago's renowned Steppenwolf Theatre.

Reilly's first film role came in a 1989 Brian De Palma motion picture, Casualties of War. That was followed by appearances in a wide array of films, including Days of Thunder, Shadows and Fog, We're No Angels, What's Eating Gilbert Grape, Hoffa, Georgia, Dolores Claiborne, and The River Wild.

As a regular in director Paul Thomas Anderson's films, Reilly began attracting attention for his roles in Hard Eight, Boogie Nights, and Magnolia. He also starred in Terrence Malick's The Thin Red Line.

In 2002, Reilly scored well with audiences and critics with acclaimed performances in a number of high-profile films, including The Hours, The Good Girl, Gangs of New York, and Chicago.

His recent film credits include Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, A Prairie Home Companion, Dark Water, The Aviator, and Criminal. Other films include The Perfect Storm, For Love of the Game, and Never Been Kissed.

For the stage, Reilly starred on Broadway in "The Grapes of Wrath." He also starred in "A Streetcar Named Desire" and "Othello" at the Steppenwolf and earned an Outer Circle Critics Award and a Tony nomination for his role in "True West."

RICHARD JENKINS (Robert Doback) is one of the most in-demand character actors in Hollywood, having made over 50 feature films.

Jenkins can currently be seen as Walter Vale, a disillusioned Connecticut economics professor whose life is transformed by a chance encounter in New York City, in Thomas McCarthy's The Visitor. The film premiered to rave reviews at the 2007 Toronto Film Festival and the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. For his critically acclaimed performance, Richard was honored with the John Garfield Award for Best Actor at the 2008 Method Fest independent film festival, as well as with a Career Achievement Award.

In 1997, Jenkins received an Independent Spirit Award nomination as Best Supporting Male for his performance in David O. Russell's comedy Flirting with Disaster, appearing with Ben Stiller, Tea Leoni, Josh Brolin, and Lily Tomlin.

In 1986, Jenkins had his first starring film role in Oscar®-winning writer Horton Foote's On Valentine's Day. Numerous film roles followed, including George Miller's The Witches of Eastwick, opposite Jack Nicholson, Susan Sarandon, Cher and Michelle Pfeiffer; Richard Benjamin's Little Nikita, opposite River Phoenix and Sidney Poitier; Sea of Love, with Al Pacino and Ellen Barkin; Mike Nichols' Wolf, appearing again with Jack Nicholson; with Charlize Theron in 2005's North Country; opposite Jim Carrey and again with Tea Leoni in the comedy Fun with Dick and Jane, co-written by Judd Apatow; and in Peter Berg's 2007 film, The Kingdom.

Over the years, Jenkins has worked with such esteemed filmmakers as Clint Eastwood in Absolute Power; the Farrelly brothers in There's Something About Mary and Me, Myself & Irene, opposite Jim Carrey; and Sydney Pollack in Random Hearts, opposite Harrison Ford and Kristin Scott Thomas.

In 2001, Jenkins began a collaboration with Joel and Ethan Coen when he appeared with Billy Bob Thornton, James Gandolfini and Scarlett Johansson in The Man Who Wasn't There. He went on to work again with the Coen brothers in 2003's Intolerable Cruelty, opposite George Clooney and Catherine Zeta-Jones.

On television, Jenkins is best remembered as Nathaniel, the deceased patriarch of the Fisher family on HBO's immensely successful drama, "Six Feet Under." His occasional appearances as the heart of this often-dysfunctional family helped earn the cast a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination in 2002 for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series. He also appeared in numerous made-for-television films, including "Sins of the Father" and the Emmy-winning HBO film, "And the Band Played On."

In theater, Richard has amassed an impressive list of credits as a company member for 14 years at Rhode Island's Trinity Repertory Company and served an additional four years as its Artistic Director.

Later this year, Jenkins will be seen in his third film with the Coens, Burn After Reading, which stars George Clooney, Brad Pitt, and John Malkovich. Focus Features plans to release the film in September 2008.

MARY STEENBURGEN (Nancy Huff) won an Academy Award® for her role in Melvin and Howard. She recently wrapped production on Open Roads, starring Jeff Bridges and Justin Timberlake. Steenburgen also recently finished her work on Four Christmases, starting Reese Witherspoon and Vince Vaughn. She was last seen in The Brave One, starring Jodie Foster and Terrence Howard and directed by Neil Jordan. In 2006, she shot Nobel Son, starring opposite Alan Rickman and Bill Pullman. She also starred for two seasons on the Emmy-nominated CBS series, "Joan of Arcadia."

In February 2006, Steenburgen starred in the David Mamet directed play "Boston Marriage" at The Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles. She was seen co-starring in the independent feature Marilyn Hotchkiss' Ballroom Dancing and Charm School. In 2003, she was seen in the CBS television film "It Must Be Love," co-starring her husband, Ted Danson. Steenburgen also co-starred in New Line Cinema's Elf, alongside Will Ferrell and James Caan. She has appeared in two films for director John Sayles, Sunshine State and Casa De Los Babys.

In 2002, Steenburgen was seen starring with Danson in a CBS television miniseries entitled "Talking to Heaven." They had previously worked together in 1996 on the critically acclaimed NBC miniseries "Gulliver's Travels" and in the 1994 feature film Pontiac Moon. In 2001, Steenburgen appeared alongside Kevin Kline in Irwin Winkler's Life as a House, which had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival. She has constantly redefined herself through challenging roles in films such as Philadelphia, Parenthood and What's Eating Gilbert Grape.

Steenburgen starred with Jon Voight and F. Murray Abraham in Robert Halmi's "Noah's Ark" for NBC and was also nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award for her role in "About Sarah," a two-hour made-for-television movie for CBS in which she played a developmentally disabled adult.

Other films from Steenburgen's career include The Grass Harp, with Walter Matthau, Jack Lemmon, and Piper Laurie; Back to the Future III, Time After Time, A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy, Cross Creek, One Magic Christmas, Dead of Winter, and End of the Line, in which she also served as the film's executive producer.

Steenburgen's career on the stage includes starring roles in "The Beginning of August," "Holiday," George Bernard Shaw's production of "Candida" at New York's Roundabout Theater, and, most recently, "Marvin's Room" at the Tiffany Theater in Los Angeles.

In addition to her professional work, Steenburgen has devoted a great deal of time to causes close to her heart. In 1989, she and fellow actress Alfre Woodard founded Artists for a Free South Africa and in 1996, Steenburgen and Danson were presented with Liberty Hill Foundation's prestigious Upton Sinclair Award for their work in human rights and environmental causes.

Steenburgen is a native of Little Rock, Arkansas, the daughter of a railroad conductor and a public high school secretary. She began her career at the age of 19 in New York. She currently lives in Los Angeles, California with her husband. They are the parents of four children: Kate, Lilly, Charlie, and Kat.

A dynamic young actor, ADAM SCOTT (Derek Huff) has crafted a distinguished career in theatre and television and is quickly becoming one of the finest newcomers to hit the big screen.

Scott will soon be seen in August, a drama that centers on two brothers (Scott and Josh Hartnett) who continue to fight to keep their start-up company afloat on Wall Street during August 2001, a month before the 9/11 terrorist attacks. In addition, he recently completed production on two independent features; Lovely, Still, a holiday fable that tells the story of an elderly man discovering love for the first time, with Ellen Burstyn and Martin Landau, as well as The Vicious Kind, a dramedy about a man who becomes obsessed with the girlfriend his brother brings home for Thanksgiving.

Scott also stars in the critically acclaimed HBO series "Tell Me You Love Me" which features an ensemble cast and returns to HBO later this year.

Scott recently appeared in the blockbuster comedy Knocked Up, directed by Judd Apatow, as well as The Great Buck Howard, opposite John Malkovich. The previous year, Scott appeared in the dramatic thriller First Snow, directed by Marc Fergus and co-starring Guy Pearce; the dark comedy Corporate Affairs, alongside Breckin Meyer for director Dan Cohen; and the romantic comedy Who Loves The Sun, starring with Lukas Haas and Molly Parker for director Matthew Bissonette.

Prior to that, Scott appeared in Art School Confidential with John Malkovich and Anjelica Huston, directed by acclaimed filmmaker Terry Zwigoff, for Sony Pictures Classics. Additional feature film credits include The Return, The Matador, opposite Pierce Brosnan, Greg Kinnear, and Hope Davis, and New Line Cinema's romantic comedy, Monster-In-Law, directed by Robert Luketic and starring Jennifer Lopez and Jane Fonda. In addition, he portrayed Johnny Meyer, Howard Hughes' smarmy press agent, in Miramax's Oscar®-winning film The Aviator, alongside Leonardo DiCaprio, Cate Blanchett, John C. Reilly and Alec Baldwin for legendary director Martin Scorsese. Scott was previously seen in the Warner Bros. action feature Torque, Carl Franklin's High Crimes, the independent black comedy Two Days, Christopher Haifley's independent film Ronnie, Star Trek: First Contact and numerous independent films including Robert Mickelson's Off the Lip, Jonathan Kahn's Girl, Ted Melfi's Winding Roads, David McKay's The Lesser Evil, Lawrence Trilling's Dinner & Driving and Derek Simonds' Seven and a Match.

In a notable two-episode stint on HBO's acclaimed "Six Feet Under," Scott played the role of Ben Dooley, a public defender and boyfriend to Michael C. Hall's character, David Fisher. Additional television credits include "Law & Order," "Veronica Mars," Ken Cameron's "Payback," an ABC movie-of-the-week with Mary Tyler Moore and Ed Asner, "Wasteland," "Party of Five," "Murder One," "NYPD Blue," and "E.R."

Stage credits include roles in "Uncle Bob," a two-man show with Austin Pendleton in Los Angeles, New York and Edinburgh; Richard Greenberg's "Everett Beekin" for South Coast Repertory; "Romeo and Juliet" at the California Shakespeare Festival in Berkeley; "Dealer's Choice" and "Buffalo Hunters" for The Mark Taper Forum; "Beirut" for Gardner Stage; "Water and Wine" for the Met Theatre; and "Bloody Poetry" for the Globe Theatre.

A natural talent with an engaging presence and undeniable energy, KATHRYN HAHN (Alice Huff) has made her mark through a variety of entertaining and memorable character roles. Through a number of upcoming projects, Hahn is poised to become one of Hollywood's leading actresses.

Currently, Hahn stars in her Broadway debut in the Tony-winning play "Boeing-Boeing" alongside Bradley Whitford, Gina Gershon, Mary McCormack, and Christine Baranski. Boeing-Boeing won the 2008 Tony in the category of "Best Revival of a Play."

Additionally, she will appear in Sam Mendes' next film, Revolutionary Road. The film centers around a young couple, played by Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio, living in a Connecticut suburb during the mid-1950s. Kathryn plays Milly Campbell, the couple's neighbor. Paramount Vantage will release the film December 26, 2008.

Also upcoming, Hahn co-stars in The Goods: The Don Ready Story, directed by Neal Brennan. The film revolves around salesman Don Ready (Jeremy Piven) and his crew who are asked to help save an ailing local car dealership from bankruptcy. Paramount Vantage will open the film February 27, 2009.

ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS

ADAM McKAY (Director/Screenplay by/Story by/Executive Producer) co-wrote and directed Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, which he followed up by co-writing, directing, and executive producing Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby.

McKay co-wrote both films with Will Ferrell. The two had been longtime friends since spending several years together on "Saturday Night Live," where McKay served as head writer and the creator of many of that series' most memorable sketches and short films from 1995-2001.

Along with Will Ferrell and Chris Henchy, McKay started the comedy site Funny or Die, which now gets 35 million hits a year. McKay also wrote and acted in The Landlord, which starred his then-20-month-old daughter, Pearl.

Born in Philadelphia, he trained in improvisational theatre with the Second City and Upright Citizens Brigade performance groups in Chicago. He also wrote for Michael Moore's TV show "The Awful Truth."

JIMMY MILLER (Producer), founder of The Miller Company and currently a principal in Mosaic Media Group, manages some of the most sought-after comedy talent in the industry, including actors Jim Carrey, Will Ferrell and Sacha Baron Cohen.

He has also helped shape the careers of some of the most talented writers and directors in the comedy genre, such as Jay Roach of the Austin Powers trilogy, Meet the Parents and Meet the Fockers; Judd Apatow, of The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Knocked Up and Superbad; Adam McKay of Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby and Anchorman; and Steve Rudnick and Leo Benvenuti of The Santa Clause trilogy and Kicking & Screaming.

Miller's film producing credits include Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, Elf, Semi-Pro, and the current release Get Smart.

He is currently in production on the adventure comedy Land of the Lost, starring Will Ferrell, and the romantic comedy She's Out of My League.

JUDD APATOW (Producer) made his feature directorial debut with the 2005 summer box-office smash The 40-Year-Old Virgin and followed up with the Universal release Knocked Up. His next film as a writer, director and producer is Funny People, starring Adam Sandler, Leslie Mann, and Seth Rogen, which will start production in September.

Apatow recently co-wrote the hit film You Don't Mess with the Zohan. He also recently produced April's Forgetting Sarah Marshall, last December's comedy Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story (a film he also co-wrote), last summer's Superbad, the summer 2006 hit Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby and 2004's Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy.

Apatow also produced and co-wrote the story for this summer's Pineapple Express and serves as producer of 2009's Year One.

Apatow's credits on the small screen include the critically praised, award-winning series "Freaks and Geeks," as well as the series "Undeclared," which was named one of TIME magazine's Ten Best Shows of 2001. Apatow also worked as a writer, director, and producer on the award-winning and widely acclaimed series "The Larry Sanders Show."

Born in Syosset, New York, Apatow aspired to become a professional comedian at an early age. While still in high school, he created a radio show and began interviewing comedy personalities he admired, including Steve Allen, Howard Stern and John Candy. Inspired, he began performing his own stand-up routines by the end of his senior year.

DAVID HOUSEHOLTER (Executive Producer) previously collaborated with Will Ferrell on Semi-Pro for New Line Cinema, on Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby for Columbia Pictures, on Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy for DreamWorks, and on Elf for New Line Cinema. For DreamWorks, Householter executive produced 2007's hit comedy Norbit, starring Eddie Murphy, and the Reese Witherspoon/Mark Ruffalo romantic comedy Just Like Heaven. He also served as Co-Producer/Unit Production Manager on the 2003 Paramount sci-fi film The Core, directed by Jon Amiel, as well as the teen action movie Clockstoppers for Paramount and director Jonathan Frakes.

Householter began working on films in 1984 as a set production assistant on Wes Craven's seminal horror film A Nightmare on Elm Street and soon took the next step up the ladder as a second assistant director on Paul Verhoeven's Robocop. His credits as a first assistant director include Drugstore Cowboy, The Marrying Man, What's Eating Gilbert Grape, Heavyweights, and The Nutty Professor. As a unit production manager, Householter worked on a number of projects, beginning with The Chamber and including such films as Mystery Men and Little Nicky.

OLIVER WOOD (Director of Photography) most recently worked on the films The Bourne Ultimatum, Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, Fantastic Four, The Bourne Supremacy and Scooby Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed. The London-born cinematographer began his career in 1970 with The Honeymoon Killers and went on to work on an array of television and film projects that includes the television series "Miami Vice" and the motion pictures Die Hard 2, The Adventures of Ford Fairlane, Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey, Rudy, Terminal Velocity, Mr. Holland's Opus, Celtic Pride, 2 Days in the Valley, Face/Off, Switchback, Mighty Joe Young, U-571, The Bourne Identity, The Adventures of Pluto Nash, I Spy, National Security and Freaky Friday. He is currently filming The Surrogates for director Jonathan Mostow.

CLAYTON HARTLEY (Production Designer) most recently designed the films Semi-Pro and Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby. His many other credits as production designer include Kicking & Screaming, Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy and American Wedding. Beginning his career as an assistant art director on The Return of the Living Dead and Hoosiers, he became an art director on such motion pictures as Getting Even with Dad, Jerry Maguire, The Other Sister and Double Take, and co-designed Cameron Crowe's Almost Famous. He also was production designer for the television series "Going to California."

BRENT WHITE (Editor) worked with Adam McKay on Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy and Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby and with producer Judd Apatow on The 40-Year-Old Virgin and Knocked Up as well as on the television productions "Freaks and Geeks" and "Undeclared." He began his career as an editor for the Sundance Film Institute's summer lab program and has assisted on such films as The Milagro Beanfield War, Glory, Fluke and Home for the Holidays. His other credits as editor include A River Runs Through It, "And The Band Played On," Matilda, Wildflowers, Panic, The Slaughter Rule, and the television series "Desperate Housewives."

SUSAN MATHESON (Costume Designer) started her costume career by designing for Barbie. The Vassar College graduate went on to design costumes for both film and theater. Most recently, she has designed costumes for Semi-Pro, The Kingdom, and Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby. Other credits include the films Best Laid Plans, Crazy/Beautiful, Blue Crush, and Friday Night Lights.

In a decade, JON BRION's (Music) film music career has developed in exponential proportions. Brion is a singer, songwriter, composer, music producer, and instrumentalist. As a performer, he plays an instrument or two ... or three ... or four ... or even five, simultaneously on stage. With his multifaceted musicianship and knack for improvisation, Brion has become popular in both the music and film industry.

As a film composer, Brion recently scored and wrote songs for the comedy film I (heart) Huckabees. In 2006, he composed the score to The Break Up. He also composed the score to Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, for which he received a Best Score nomination by the World Soundtrack Awards. Additionally, Brion also composed scores for the recent films Punch-Drunk Love (2001) and Magnolia (1999), the latter of which earned him a Grammy nomination for Best Score.

High in demand as a producer and studio musician, Brion often finds himself working with a number of major industry names, collaborating with artists that include Kanye West, Dido, Macy Gray, Rufus Wainwright, The Crystal Method, Jude Cole, Susanna Hoffs, Sam Phillips, and the Eels. Brion contributed much of the sound on Aimee Mann's two solo albums and produced Fiona Apple's debut album "Tidal." He also produced much of Apple's second album.

In addition to his collaboration with top artists, Brion as a performer has released his own work. His first solo album, "Meaningless," was released in 2001. He had previously released "Ro Sham Bo" with his former band, the Grays, which included popular Jellyfish guitarist Jason Falkner.

As a live performer, Brion is well known for his live one-man improvisational act at the famous West Hollywood nightclub Largo. Every Friday night for the past eight years, fans and newcomers have come to see Brion's popular show, which consists of his multi-instrumental performance, song improvisations (often mixes of songs shouted from the audience), and eclectic cover versions of songs by Cheap Trick and the Beatles.

Brion's versatile talent is no surprise. His father was director of Yale's concert and marching bands, and his mother was a singer for various jazz bands. After leaving his hometown of New Haven, Connecticut, Brion moved to Boston. In Boston, he fine-tuned his melodic and improvisational skills, eventually leading to periodic studio work in California, where he eventually moved in the '90s.

Brion is currently in the studio recording a second solo album.

HAL WILLNER (Music supervisor) is among the most eclectic and original producers in contemporary music, helming a series of wildly ambitious concept albums that tapped the talents of artists running the gamut from pop to jazz to the avant-garde. Born in Philadelphia in 1957, he first earned notice in 1981 with "Amarcord Nino Rota," a tribute to the legendary composer best known for his collaborations with filmmaker Federico Fellini. In addition to contributions from pop icon Debbie Harry and jazz-piano great Jaki Byard, the collection also featured appearances by then unknowns Wynton Marsalis and Bill Frisell. That same year, Willner also signed on as the music supervisor for the long-running NBC sketch comedy series "Saturday Night Live," a position he holds to this day.

"That's the Way I Feel Now -- A Tribute to Thelonious Monk," a showcase for acts ranging from Dr. John to Joe Jackson to John Zorn, followed in 1984, and a year later Willner launched "Lost in the Stars -- The Music of Kurt Weill," which featured contributions from Sting, Tom Waits, and Lou Reed. A year later, after turning to film, he worked on a pair of 1987 projects: Heaven and Candy Mountain. Willner earned considerable notice for "Stay Awake," a tribute to the classic music of Walt Disney's animated films that featured Ringo Starr, Sun Ra, and Sinead O'Connor. Music for animated films remained one of his preoccupations in the years that followed and, in 1990, he assembled "The Carl Stalling Project," a collection of vintage cartoon scores from the legendary Warner Bros. studio composer. (A sequel appeared in 1995.)

In 1989, Willner began a stint as producer on the innovative but short-lived syndicated television series "Michelob Presents: Night Music," followed in 1992 by "Weird Nightmare -- Meditations on Mingus," another all-star tribute, this time featuring Elvis Costello, Keith Richards, and Henry Rollins. A year later, he collaborated with filmmaker Robert Altman on the acclaimed Short Cuts, a working relationship that extended to 1996's Kansas City and its accompanying "Robert Altman's Jazz '34." After wrapping up 1998's "Closed on Account of Rabies: Poems and Tales of Edgar Allan Poe" (spotlighting performances by Iggy Pop, Ken Nordine, and Jeff Buckley), Willner signed to Howie B.'s Pussyfoot label to release his proper solo debut "Whoops, I'm an Indian!"

Other record-producing assignments followed, notably albums for Lou Reed ("Ecstasy," Warner Bros.), and Laurie Anderson ("Life on A String," Nonesuch), as well as a series of live-event tributes to Edgar Allan Poe, Allen Ginsberg, Harry Smith, Lenny Bruce, and the Marquis De Sade. These tributes featured an incredibly diverse group of performers including Lou Reed, Wynton Marsalis, Elvis Costello, Will Ferrell, Gavin Friday, Beck, Steve Earle, Anthony and the Johnsons, Marianne Faithful, David Johannsen, Chloe Webb, and Philip Glass.

More recent music supervision projects in film include building a score from obscure Miles Davis and Ornette Coleman recordings for Gus Van Sant's Finding Forrester, collaborations with Bono, Daniel Lanois, and Brian Eno on Wim Wender's Million Dollar Hotel, and Adam McKay's Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, and Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, both starring Will Ferrell.

"ACADEMY AWARD®" and "OSCAR®" are the registered trademarks and service marks of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.