The Limits of Control

About the Cast

ISAACH DE BANKOLÉ (Lone Man)
Isaach De Bankolé has starred four times for Jim Jarmusch; in Night on Earth, Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai, Coffee and Cigarettes, and now The Limits of Control.

The French/African actor has also enjoyed a long collaboration with another writer/director, Claire Denis; on No Fear, No Die, the recently completed White Material, and Chocolat.

Recently honored with the Legion D’Honneur in Paris, Mr. De Bankolé earlier in his career won a César Award for his performance in Thomas Gilou’s Black Mic Mac.

The Ivory Coast native was discovered by a filmmaker on the streets of Paris while studying to be an airline pilot. He received his Masters Degree in Mathematics from the Jussieu Paris Sept, and then attended to the drama school Les Cours Simon.

Mr. De Bankolé has since worked in films and with filmmakers all over the world. Among his many movies are Josiane Balasko’s Les Keufs; Alain Page’s Taxi Boy; Sergio Gobbi’s L’Arbalète; Gérard Oury’s Vanille fraise; Nicolas Roeg’s telefilm Heart of Darkness; Pedro Costa’s Casa de Lava; Joe Brewster’s The Keeper and The Killing Zone; Merchant Ivory’s A Soldier’s Daughter Never Cries; Frieder Schlaich’s Otomo; Cheick Oumar Sissoko’s Bàttu; Kevin Asher Green’s Homework, which he executive-produced and which won the Grand Jury Prize at the Slamdance Film Festival; Barry Strugatz’ From Other Worlds; Lars von Trier’s Manderlay; Michael Mann’s Miami Vice; Martin Campbell’s Casino Royale, against Daniel Craig as James Bond; Steven Kessler’s 5up 2down, which he co-produced; Amy Redford’s The Guitar; Stuart Townsend’s Battle in Seattle; Amir Mann’s The Fifth Patient; and Julian Schnabel’s multi-award-winning The Diving Bell and The Butterfly.

He has been on the stages of Paris in such plays as Quai Ouest; Dans La Solitude des Champs de Coton; Le Retour au Desert; and Martin Luther King, ou La Force d’Aimer. He toured France and Africa in his own one-man show Ma vie dans la Brousse des Fantomes (My Life in the Bush of Ghosts). On the New York stage, Mr. De Bankolé appeared alongside Lili Taylor in Wallace Shawn’s Aunt Dan and Lemon.

Most recently, he was seen in a guest arc in the seventh season of the television series 24.

Mr. De Bankolé directed the documentary Traveling Miles, which followed the 1998 tour of jazz singer Cassandra Wilson in Australia and New Zealand. He has written and will direct the film The Last Shower, a mystical African tale loosely based on his experiences living in New York City.

ALEX DESCAS (Creole)
The Limits of Control marks the sixth film that Alex Descas has acted in with Isaach De Bankolé, following the “No Problem” segment of Jim Jarmusch’s Coffee and Cigarettes; Sergio Gobbi’s L’Arbalète; Alain Page’s Taxi Boy; Josiane Balasko’s Les Keufs; and Claire Denis’ No Fear, No Die, for which Mr. Descas was a César Award nominee. The two actors have also starred together on stage, in Martin Luther King, ou La Force d’Aimer.

Mr. Descas’ other films with Ms. Denis include 35 rhums, L’Intrus, Trouble Every Day, Nénette et Boni, I Can’t Sleep, and the “Vers Nancy” segment of the Ten Minutes Older series of short films.

Among the French actor’s additional film credits are Olivier Assayas’ Boarding Gate, Irma Vep, and Late August, Early September; Patrice Chéreau’s Persécution; Ferzan Ozpetek’s Harem suaré; and Raoul Peck’s Lumumba, as Joseph Mobutu.

Mr. Descas’ other stage appearances include L’île des esclaves de Marivaux, the production of which was also recorded for television; Le traitement, at the Théâtre national de Chaillot; and Passions secrétes, at Théâtre Montparnasse.

JEAN-FRANÇOIS STÉVENIN (French)
Jean-François Stévenin began his cinema career over 40 years ago, as assistant director to filmmaker Alain Cavalier and then in the same capacity with François Truffaut, Jacques Rozier, Jacques Rivette, and Barbet Schroeder.

A few years into his career, he stepped in front of the camera. His many films since as actor have included François Truffaut’s Day for Night and Small Change; Jacques Rivette’s Out 1: Spectre and Le Pont du Nord; André Téchiné’s Barocco; John Irvin’s The Dogs of War; John Huston’s Victory; Jean-Luc Godard’s Passion; Jean-Pierre Mocky’s Y a-t-il un Français dans la salle? and Noir comme le souvenir; Jacques Demy’s Une chambre en ville, for which Mr. Stévenin was a César Award nominee; Eric Rochant’s Les Patriotes and Mafiosa; Agnieszka Holland’s Olivier, Olivier; Laetitia Masson’s À vendre and La Repentie; Christophe Gans’ Brotherhood of the Wolf; Patrice Leconte’s The Man on the Train; and, most recently, Bertrand Tavernier’s In the Electric Mist, on which he voiced the lead role played by Tommy Lee Jones for the French-language release.

He has written and directed three feature films, all of which also featured him as an actor. These are Passe Montagne, for which he won the FIPRESCI Prize at the Venice International Film Festival; Double Messieurs; and Mischka, which was honored at the 2003 Cannes International Film Festival with the France Culture Award.

Mr. Stévenin has also starred in short films and telefilms. His theater work includes, most recently, his own staging of Harold Pinter’s The Birthday Party.

About the Director

JIM JARMUSCH (Writer/Director)
Born in Akron, Ohio, Jim Jarmusch lives and works in New York.

Films include Permanent Vacation (1980), Stranger Than Paradise (1984), Down by Law (1986), Mystery Train (1989), Night on Earth (1991), Dead Man (1995), Year of the Horse (1997), Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (1999), Coffee and Cigarettes (2003), Broken Flowers (2005), and the short film “INT. TRAILER. NIGHT.” (2002).