We Own the Night

Casting

JOAQUIN PHOENIX (Bobby Green)

JOAQUIN PHOENIX (Bobby Green) was born in Puerto Rico and began his acting career at the age of eight. As a young child, he made numerous episodic television appearances on such hit shows as Hill Street Blues and Murder She Wrote. In 1986, he made his feature film debut in Spacecamp, followed by Russkies a year later. Ron Howard cast the teenager as Dianne Weist’s son in Parenthood but it wasn’t until 1996 that the young actor returned to prominence with a stunning and critically-acclaimed performance opposite Nicole Kidman in Gus Van Sant’s To Die For.

In 1997, he co-starred with Liv Tyler in Inventing the Abbotts, followed by Oliver Stone’s U-Turn. In 1998, the actor co-starred opposite Vince Vaughn in two different films, Return to Paradise and Clay Pigeons. Next up was a role as a bookstore clerk in Joel Schumacher’s dark thriller, 8MM.

In 2000, Joaquin earned his first Academy Award nomination as Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of the complex Commodus in the Ridley Scott film Gladiator. In addition to the nominations for the Oscar, The Golden Globe and Bafta, he received awards as Best Supporting Actor from the National Board of Review and The Broadcast Film Critics.

Later that year, he starred in Philip Kaufman’s Oscar-nominated Quills opposite Kate Winslet, for which he won the Broadcast Film Critics Award. That same year, he also starred opposite Mark Wahlberg, James Caan, Ellen Burstyn in James Gray’s The Yards. Phoenix continued his busy career with a co-starring role as Mel Gibson’s brother in the M. Night Shyamalan blockbuster, Signs, and he reteamed with Shyamalan two years later on the gothic thriller The Village. He provided the voice of ‘Kenai’ in the animated Disney film Brother Bear. Additional film credits include It’s All About Love, Buffalo Soldiers, Ladder 49, and the Oscar-nominated Hotel Rwanda. In 2006, Phoenix won the Best Actor Golden Globe for his role in Walk the Line in which he portrayed American music legend Johnny Cash.

In the fall of 2007, he will be seen in Reservation Road with Mark Ruffalo and Jennifer Connelly.

MARK WAHLBERG (Joesph Grusinsky)

MARK WAHLBERG (Joesph Grusinsky) earned Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations for his standout performance in Martin Scorsese’s acclaimed drama THE DEPARTED.

Wahlberg’s remarkable film career began with Penny Marshall’s RENAISSANCE MAN and THE BASKETBALL DIARIES with Leonardo DiCaprio, followed by a star turn opposite Reese Witherspoon in the thriller FEAR. He has enjoyed playing diverse characters for visionary filmmakers such as David O. Russell, Tim Burton and Paul Thomas Anderson. His breakout role in BOOGIE NIGHTS established Wahlberg as one of Hollywood’s most sought-after talents. He later headlined THREE KINGS and THE PERFECT STORM with George Clooney and THE ITALIAN JOB with Charlize Theron. Last summer, he starred in the football biography INVINCIBLE with Greg Kinnear. Wahlberg most recently appeared in SHOOTER, based on the best-selling novel “Point of Impact”. He reunited with THE YARDS director James Gray and co-star Joaquin Phoenix in WE OWN THE NIGHT, which he also produced.

In addition to WE OWN THE NIGHT, Wahlberg is executive producer of the HBO series ENTOURAGE, for which he has received three Golden Globe nominations. Future projects include the new series IN TREATMENT, starring Gabriel Byrne, as well as other feature films.

A committed philanthropist, he founded The Mark Wahlberg Youth Foundation in 2001 to benefit inner city children and teens.

EVA MENDES (Amada Juarez)

EVA MENDES (Amada Juarez) captured the attention of moviegoers in a small but pivotal role in the critically acclaimed film, Training Day. Since then, she has proved to be adept in both comedic and dramatic roles.

Mendes starred opposite Will Smith and Kevin James in the Columbia Pictures hit, Hitch, followed by Trust the Man, opposite Julianne Moore, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Billy Crudup. Most recently, she starred opposite Nicolas Cage in Sony Pictures’ Ghost Rider, based on the Marvel Comic, which broke box office records around the world.

Mendes has recently completed filming Cleaner opposite Ed Harris and Samuel L. Jackson, as well as an independent feature called LIVE!, in which she stars and which marks her debut as an executive producer. She’ll appear in The Wendell Baker Story with Luke Wilson.

Among her previous credits are Out of Time, Once Upon A Time in Mexico, 2 Fast 2 Furious, All About the Benjamins and Stuck on You. Mendes, who is Cuban-American, was born in Miami and raised in Los Angeles.

ROBERT DUVALL (Burt Grusinsky)

Veteran actor ROBERT DUVALL (Burt Grusinsky) received his first Academy Award nomination as Best Supporting Actor for his role as Corleone Family legal advisor Tom Hagen in The Godfather. In 1979, Duvall earned a second Oscar nomination as Best Supporting Actor for his role as the Custer-like Kilgore in Apocalypse Now. The next year he drew yet another Academy Award nomination, this time for Best Actor as the macho Marine pilot Bull Meechum in The Great Santini. He was honored with the Academy Award as Best
Actor for the 1983 release Tender Mercies. He was nominated again for The Apostle (a film he wrote and directed), won a Golden Globe for Stalin and received a Globe nomination as well as his sixth Oscar nomination for A Civil Action.

Duvall made his screen debut in To Kill A Mockingbird. In the now-classic motion picture, Duvall played the pivotal role of the mysterious, misunderstood Boo Radley.

His impressive roster of additional feature film credits also includes The Chase, Countdown, The Detective, Bullitt, The Rain People, True Grit, M*A*S*H, THX 1138, The Great Northfield Minnesota Raid, Joe Kidd, The Conversation, The Godfather Part II, The Eagle Has Landed, The Killer Elite, Network, The Seven Per-Cent Solution, True Confessions, The Pursuit of D.B. Cooper, The Natural, Let’s Get Harry, Days of Thunder,
Colors, Ramblng Rose, Falling Down, Geronimo, Wrestling Earnest Hemingway, The Paper, The Scarlet Letter, Phenomenon, The Sixth Day, John Q, Deep Impact, Gone in 60 Seconds, Gods and Generals, Open Range, Secondhand Lions and Kicking and Screaming.

Duvall formed Butchers Run Films so that he could become more actively involved in all elements of film development and production. The company’s first co-production, A Family Thing in which Duvall co-stars, earned a Humanitas Award. He executive produced the TNT Original The Man Who Captured Eichmann in which Duvall portrayed the chillingly remorseless Nazi bureaucrat, Adolph Eichmann. In the beginning of 2001, he went to Argentina to direct, write, produce, and star in Assassination Tango.

He is currently starring in Curtis Hanson’s Lucky You opposite Drew Barrymore and Eric Bana.

Director

JAMES GRAY

JAMES GRAY made his directorial debut at the age of 25 with Little Odessa, a critically acclaimed crime drama about a hit man confronted by his younger brother upon returning to his hometown of Brighton Beach, Brooklyn. Starring Tim Roth, Edward Furlong, Maximilian Schell and Vanessa Redgrave, the film received the Critics Award at the Deauville Film Festival as well as the Silver Lion at the Venice Film Festival. That same year, he received nominations from the Independent Spirit Awards for Best First Feature and Best First Screenplay.

In 2000, Gray wrote and directed his second film for Miramax, The Yards, starring Mark Wahlberg, Charlize Theron, James Caan and Joaquin Phoenix. The film was selected for official competition at the Cannes Film Festival. Born in New York City, he grew up in Queens and attended The University of Southern California’s School of Cinema-Television.