Liev Schreiber Movies
Displaying the kind of off-kilter charm that makes him a natural for leading roles in independent films and character parts in mainstream features, Liev Schreiber has made a name for himself on both circuits. Born October 4, 1967, in San Francisco, Schreiber was raised on New York's Lower East Side. A graduate of Hampshire College in Massachusetts, he initially wanted to become a writer, but later decided to try his hand at acting, training at both London's prestigious Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts and the Yale School of Drama.Schreiber's first acting job was on Broadway, where he appeared in In the Summer House. More theater work followed and in 1994, the actor made his film debut in the Steve Martin comedy Mixed Nuts. The film was an unequivocal flop, although Schreiber's role as a rather muscular transvestite proved to be one of the picture's few memorable features.
His next project, the 1995 indie Denise Calls Up, fared a little better; despite almost non-existent box-office ratings, it was rewarded with critical approval. Following more minor film work, he landed the role of a British bouncer in the successful indie flick Party Girl (1995), which also starred nascent indie queen Parker Posey. Schreiber got an introduction to a more mainstream audience thanks to his role as killer Cotton Weary in Wes Craven's mega-hit Scream, a role he reprised in the film's sequel, Scream 2 (1997). The same year, Schreiber had leading roles in two more independent films, The Daytrippers (which again paired him with Posey) and Walking and Talking, as well as a secondary role in the bloated Mel Gibson thriller Ransom.
Deftly straddling the divide between Sundance and the studio, Schreiber went on to make three major mainstream pictures in 1998: Phantoms, with Rose McGowan and Ben Affleck; Twilight with Susan Sarandon, Paul Newman, and Gene Hackman; and Sphere with Samuel L. Jackson, Sharon Stone, and Dustin Hoffman. The following year, Schreiber returned to more familiar territory with his role in Tony Goldwyn's small but successful drama A Walk on the Moon. As the man Diane Lane cuckolds for Viggo Mortensen, Schreiber mined endless possibilities from what could have been a narrow role, giving his character the sort of charming, good-intentioned inadequacy that became one of the actor's trademarks.
In 2000, Schreiber returned to the role of Cotton Weary a third time to close out the Scream franchise. It was around this time that he also began doing a considerable amount of voice-over work, mainly for PBS's NOVA series. As the decade progressed, Schreiber continued to be a presence in bigger mainstream projects, such as the 2002 adaptation of Tom Clancy's The Sum of All Fears. Two years later, he could be seen in another high-profile, politically tinged thriller, this time opposite Denzel Washington in director Jonathan Demme's remake of The Manchurian Candidate.
In 2005 he made his directorial and screenwriting debut with Everything Is Illuminated, and appeared in the critically acclaimed, Golden Globe-winning HBO movie Lackawanna Blues, a life-affirming film about a selfless black woman (played by S. Epatha Merkerson) in 1950s segregated New York who provides a home and a guiding hand to the youths who come to live at her boarding house. His 2006 project would be quite a departure from this sweet, poignant tale, as Schreiber took the role of Robert Thorne in John Moore's remake of the 1976 horror classic The Omen. Heavily publicized for its "666" release date (June 6th, 2006), the film pleased horror fans, as did Schreiber's performance as husband to Julia Stiles and father to the infamous Damien, a little boy who seems to harbor an evil that at best makes him disturbingly cold and at worst, places him at the crux of the devil's own plan for hell on Earth.
Schreiber next went into production on The Painted Veil, an adaptation of the novel by W. Somerset Maugham. Playing the playboy whom Naomi Watts cuckolds her husband with, the actor immersed himself in the part for the drama. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide
Much of the group responsible for MTV's The State -- including director/actor David Wain and performers Ken Marino, Kerri Kenney-Silver, and Joe Lo Truglio -- reunite for this outrageous, irreverent, and raunchy sketch comedy, which skewers the Ten Commandments. In the framing sequences, comedian Paul Rudd (who collaborated with much of the cast on Wet Hot American Summer and The Baxter) stands on a black stage with giant Biblical tablets projected behind him and promises to deliver ten mini-stories, each loosely based on one of the commandments, from "Thou Shalt Have No Other Gods Before Me" through "Thou Shalt Not Covet." For all of the storyteller's efforts, however, he is constantly, comically distracted by interferences, particularly those emanating from intrusions by his multiple girlfriends. The stories are nonetheless told one by one in short-film form, beginning with a sketch in which Stephen (Adam Brody) goes skydiving with his intended, Kelly (Winona Ryder), but forgets to wear his parachute and gets stuck in the mud, waist-deep, which draws gawkers, media, and in time, worshipers. Several of the subsequent stories consist of raunchy, jet-black riffs on sexual perversion, including one about a virginal librarian (Gretchen Mol) entangled in a sultry and messy affair with a Mexican, and another memorable bit about a nutty surgeon who plays a prank by burying a pair of scissors in a patient's stomach and is then sent to prison -- where he experiences brutal sexual abuse at the hands of other men. As an added bonus, the picture packs in a fully animated sequence, narrated by several crack-smokers, entitled "The Lying Rhino." ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Paul Rudd, Famke Janssen, (more)
For millions of marathon runners worldwide, Patriots Day looms steadily and prominently on the horizon; such is the pivotal day when untold numbers journey to Boston, Massachusetts to participate in the legendary, 26.2 mile Boston Marathon. As produced by WGBH - Boston public television and directed by Daniel McCabe, the documentary NOVA: The Marathon Challenge cross-cuts between the lives of 13 Boston Marathon trainees as they psych themselves up for the "big run" during the 2007 event; the program undertakes an unusual approach, however, by specifically honing in on the underdogs - participants who are less than fit (and who lead sedentary lifestyles), but who nevertheless determine to whip their bodies into top shape for the said event despite the many obstacles and challenges that stand in their way. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Liev Schreiber, Julia Cort, (more)
A child that will steer humankind down the road to hellfire has been born, and as his evil flourishes in a world full of hate, the ominous Biblical prophecies slowly begin falling into place in director John Moore's remake of Richard Donner's 1976 horror classic. Robert (Liev Schreiber) and Katherine Thorn (Julia Stiles) were as loving parents as any young boy could ask for, but as fate would have it, their new son Damien is far from the typical child. Now, as the mysterious boy's growth begins to share frightening parallels with the Biblical passages detailing the rise of the Antichrist, and the lives of all who seek to reveal his true nature are cut gruesomely short, Robert and Katherine are forced to face the horrifying prospect that their child has been sent from Satan to hasten the fall of modern civilization, and that there is little they can do to curb his prophesied path of ultimate destruction. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Julia Stiles, Liev Schreiber, (more)
A couple with a broken relationship learns some valuable lessons about love, life, and sacrifice in this romantic drama based on a novel by W. Somerset Maugham. It's 1925, and Dr. Walter Fane (Edward Norton) is a physician and bacteriologist who has become smitten with Kitty (Naomi Watts), the beautiful daughter of a wealthy and socially prominent family. Walter proposes marriage to Kitty and she accepts; however, while he clearly loves her, Kitty is more interested in her reputation than Walter's feelings, as she's recently turned 25, an age by which most of her peers have already wed. Kitty and Walter move to Shanghai, where he sets up a practice and she takes a lover, the British Vice Consul Charles Townsend (Liev Schreiber). When Walter learns of his wife's infidelity, he becomes furious, and impulsively volunteers to travel to China to work in a village stricken with a major cholera epidemic. While Walter's actions are meant to punish Kitty rather than reflect his own benevolence, the daily trials of living in a community in crisis have a striking impact on the couple, giving them a new and deeper perspective on their relationship. The Painted Veil is the third screen adaptation of Maugham's best-selling novel of the same name; a 1934 version starred Greta Garbo and Herbert Marshall, while Eleanor Parker and Bill Travers played the leads in a 1957 remake titled The Seventh Sin. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Naomi Watts, Edward Norton, (more)
Hosted by Dana Reeve, the documentary The New Medicine shows how such techniques as meditation and relaxation can offer benefits that many doctors have not considered. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
A young man takes a strange and unexpectedly funny journey in search of a family heroine he's never known in this screen adaptation of the novel by Jonathan Safran Foer. Jonathan (Elijah Wood) is a lifelong collector of any and all objects pertaining to his family, and he has become obsessed with a woman he's never met. The woman saved the life of his grandfather during World War II, when the Ukrainian town where he was born was destroyed by Nazi troops. Wanting to know more about the woman, Jonathan flies to the Ukraine, where with the help of a hip-hop obsessed, gold-toothed tour guide and translator named Alex (Eugene Hütz), Alex's grandfather (a chauffeur who has claimed to be blind since his wife's death, played by Boris Leskin), and a dog named Sammy Davis Junior Junior, Jonathan searches for the meaning of the present that lies buried in the past, unexpectedly shedding the same such light on the lives of those around him. Everything Is Illuminated was the first directorial assignment for acclaimed actor Liev Schreiber. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Elijah Wood, Eugene Hutz, (more)
- 2005
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Saving the National Treasures documents the care and restoration of quintessential American totems as the Bill of Rights, the Declaration of Independence, and the Constitution. This episode of the award-winning NOVA series shows how modern science and technology have been used in order to save precious cornerstones of American history. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
A young boy grows up among a makeshift family of oddballs and dreamers in this adaptation of Ruben Santiago-Hudson's acclaimed one-man show. Ruben Junior (Marcus Carl Franklin) is a young boy who was born in the late '40s into a family that started crumbling not long after he was born. Ruben Junior's parents were from Lackawanna, a city in Upstate New York, and were living in a rooming house run by Nanny Crosby (S. Epatha Merkerson), whose place was a hub for the local African-American community. When Ruben Junior's parents split up, he and his mother return to Lackawanna and Nanny's rooming house; with mother overworked physically and in sad shape emotionally, Nanny takes Ruben Junior under her wing, and offers him the sort of nurturing she gives all her boarders. Nanny's house is full of people struggling for a fresh start in life, ranging from former convicts to recovering drug addicts, and she opens both her doors and her heart to them as they strive to make themselves better people. Ruben Junior finds a loving home amidst the colorful eccentrics in Nanny's circle of friends, but as America changes over the course of the 1950s and '60s, so does the neighborhood where Nanny and her tenants live -- and not for the better. Produced for the premium cable network HBO, Lackawanna Blues features a stellar supporting cast, including Delroy Lindo, Louis Gossett Jr., Rosie Perez, Jimmy Smits, Jeffrey Wright, Mos Def, and Ernie Hudson. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- S. Epatha Merkerson, Julie Benz, (more)
The remarkable life of baseball's most beloved icon comes to the screen with the kind of loving attention to detail only achieved by the respectful, sports-loving documentary filmmakers at pay-cable giant HBO. Filmed in part to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the legendary switch-hitter's death, this film tells the remarkable tale of the athlete who overcame constant, nagging injuries to blast 536 home runs out of the ballpark over the course of 18 unforgettable seasons and swing his way into the history books. A charming country boy who would beat the odds to become the toast of New York, Mickey Mantle's charmed life came to a tragic end when, as he was receiving an operation to replace his damaged liver, doctors discovered that the baseball great had inoperable cancer. As filmmakers speak to the people who knew Mantle best, including his teammates, his sons, his wife Merlyn, and sportscaster Bob Costas, baseball fans are afforded the rare opportunity to watch from the stands as history is made in the ballpark. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- 2005
Secrets of the Dead: The Hunt for Nazi Scientists documents the attempt to bring to justice the various men of science who helped build Hitler's Third Reich. The film utilizes a wealth of historical footage along with interviews given by both people who were involved in the events depicted and by historians. The film shows how some of the work done by these men had a direct effect on international post-war life. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Liev Schreiber
- 2005
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Dare to Dream: The Story of the U.S. Women's Soccer Team documents how a group of five women formed the core of the international team that captured the Women's World Cup. Team members Brandi Chastain, Mia Hamm, Julie Foudy and others share stories about their time on the team, and the filmmakers provide much footage of the team in action. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- 2004
Presented by PBS Home Video, Secrets of the Dead: D-Day - The Ultimate Conflict takes a look at the methods and techniques that the Allies used to outwit the Germans and overtake their daunting Atlantic Wall to storm the beaches of Normandy and turn the tide of the war. This documentary, narrated by actor Liev Schreiber, is sure to interest any war history buff. ~ Dana Rowader, All Movie Guide
Jonathan Demme directed this updated remake of John Frankenheimer's 1962 cult favorite The Manchurian Candidate, a pioneering examination of political conspiracy and psychological reconditioning. Major Bennett Marco (Denzel Washington) and Sergeant Raymond Shaw (Liev Schreiber) are two soldiers who served in the same company during Operation Desert Storm, but their paths following their tours of duty have been very different. Shaw, the son of powerful congresswoman Eleanor Shaw (Meryl Streep), has used his reputation as a war hero to quickly scale the ladder of American politics, and with the help of his mother earns the Vice Presidential nomination. Marco, on the other hand, has been troubled with mental illness, and is convinced that something strange happened to him and his compatriots during the war. As Marco struggles to find the truth behind his nightmares and emotional torment, he unearths some disturbing facts about how his mind and body have been reworked by shadowy forces, as well as those of his fellow soldiers -- including Raymond Shaw. Featuring a stellar supporting cast (including Jon Voight, Miguel Ferrer, Ted Levine, and Dean Stockwell), The Manchurian Candidate credits George Axelrod's screenplay for the 1962 film as its source, as opposed to Richard Condon's 1959 novel from which Axelrod adapted his script. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Denzel Washington, Meryl Streep, (more)
On September 11, 2001, New York City became the site of the deadliest terrorist attack on American soil when a group of extremists brought down the twin towers of the World Trade Center. The event struck to the heart of New Yorkers as well as Americans across the country (and their friends around the world), but an unexpected event helped to heal and galvanize people a few weeks later. The New York Yankees, the Big Apple's perennial baseball powerhouse, had enjoyed a strong season and found themselves representing the American League in the 2001 World Series, with the fledgling Arizona Diamondbacks as National League champs. Three of the seven games in the series were scheduled to be played at Yankee Stadium, only nine miles away from Ground Zero, and both the Yankees and New York mayor Rudy Giuliani determined that despite the attacks, the games would go on, and the hard-fought series became a rallying point across the nation, as fans rooted not just for the Yankees, but for the city they called home. Nine Innings From Ground Zero is a documentary which looks at this fascinating nexus between nation tragedy and healing through sports; produced for the premium cable network HBO, the film includes with Rudy Giuliani, Yankee's manager Joe Torre, and members of both the Yankees and the Diamondbacks. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Directed by Rick McKay, who traveled across five continents during the documentary's production, Broadway: The Golden Age is both a celebration of current Broadway stars and a tribute to Broadway legends past. Through a plethora of interviews and vast amounts of archival footage, McKay presents a variety of factoids, anecdotes, and memories from over 100 Broadway actors, writers, and directors. The careers of Laurette Taylor, Kim Hunter, Jessica Tandy, and Marlon Brando are all animatedly retold, as is some of the Broadway "lore of olde," such as Angela Lansbury's struggle to land a role in Mame and the shocked reaction to West Side Story on its opening night. In addition to footage and discussion regarding highly successful Broadway stars, a variety of actors recount their experiences and struggles in finding even a small amount of critical recognition. The cast includes Shirley MacLaine, Bea Arthur, Edie Adams, Alec Baldwin, and Kaye Ballard, and many others. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Edie Adams, Bea Arthur, (more)
The fierce competition between Boeing and Lockheed-Martin is the subject of this Nova installment. Both companies are trying to earn government contracts with their "X-Planes," 15-ton stealth fighter jets with state-of-the-art technology. ~ Michael Hastings, All Movie Guide
In this episode of NOVA, Conrad Anker leads an expedition to climb the highest mountain peak in Antarctica: Vinson Massif. Anker was joined by author Jon Krakauer, guide Dave Hahn, glaciologist Dan Stone, extreme skier Andrew McLean, NOVA producer Liesl Clark, and a three-person camera crew. This eight-person team survived through powerful winds and extreme temperatures to capture high-definition footage of this mostly unexplored area of Antarctica. Their successful journey in 2001 is compared with other historical attempts to scale the mountain. Mountain of Ice was originally broadcast on PBS February 11, 2003. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
The Thubchen monastery has long been a hallmark of Buddhist art, with its elaborate wall paintings. This episode of Nova chronicles how the pictures came to be, and the battle over how to preserve them. ~ Michael Hastings, All Movie Guide
- 2003
This PBS special documents the sequence of events resulting from the Japanese army's capture of more than 200,000 Allied POWs during 1942, specifically pertaining to the supply route needed to support its front-line troops in Burma. Under deplorable conditions, the POWs, along with thousands of Asian laborers, were ordered to complete a railway linking Thailand and Burma, which would include a bridge on the River Kwai. Nicknamed "The Death Railway" due to the extreme malnourishment and disease the bridge claimed before its completion, the bridge gained no small amount of infamy. The railway was eventually destroyed by the invention of the Azimuth Only bomb (the AZON), which served as a cornerstone in the development of high-accuracy guidable bombs that would ultimately be used in places like Afghanistan and Iraq decades later. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide
Roger Spottiswoode directs Jeff Goldblum, Anthony LaPaglia, and Liev Schreiber in the political satire Spinning Boris. The film takes place during the Russian elections of 1996 that ended with Boris Yeltsin becoming the head of the country. The trio of lead actors play political consultants who use their knowledge of American style campaigning to get Yeltsin the victory. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jeff Goldblum, Anthony LaPaglia, (more)
British actor Robert Carlyle stars as the 20th century's most infamous dictator in this two-part TV biopic. The film covers the life of Adolf Hitler from his childhood to his emergence as absolute ruler of Germany in 1934. Most of the ground covered should be familiar to history buffs: Hitler's failed efforts to become a great artist, his frustration at watching his adopted country fall apart at the seams during World War I, his resolve to put Germany back on its feet by exploiting the nation's horrendous postwar economic woes and its ingrained anti-Semitism, his 1923 arrest, the publication of Hitler's virulent screed Mein Kampf, the growing popularity of National Socialism, and the fatal error made by senile German chancellor Von Hindbenburg (Peter O'Toole) to "neutralize" Hitler by giving him a relatively unimportant political post in 1933. Also covered is Hitler's abortive romance with his half-niece Geli Raubal (Jena Malone) and his longer relationship with the estimable Eva Braun (Zoe Telford). Given the difficulties faced by actor Carlyle and the screenwriters to successfully convey pure, unadulterated evil, much of what we learn about Hitler is conveyed by the observations and reactions of other characters, notably crusading but ineffectual anti-Nazi journalist Fritz Gerlich (Matthew Modine), and especially German publisher Ernst Hanfstaengl (Liev Schreiber) and his wife, Helene (Julianna Margulies). Originally a staunch supporter of Hitler, Hanfstaengl eventually comes to realize the danger the man poses to the world ("He's not human. He simply studies others to become human."); in contrast, Helene, who at the outset is vaguely opposed to National Socialism, is ultimately seduced and swept up by the movement. Not surprisingly, this film stirred up a great deal of controversy even before it aired; some Jewish leaders and prominent Holocaust survivors worried that Hitler might come off as being sympathetic (a concern that may have dictated altering the film's title, which was to have been Hitler: The Early Years); and one of the film's producers was summarily dismissed after issuing a public statement which seemed to compare Germany's blind, unthinking allegiance to Hitler to America's rallying behind George W. Bush during the Iraq crisis. Hitler: The Rise of Evil originally aired May 18 and 20, 2003, on CBS. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Carlyle, Stockard Channing, (more)
- 2002
Following the Civil War, Grant considered returning to civilian life. Racial violence in the South, however, along with President Andrew Johnson's ineffectual leadership, led the ex-soldier into politics. Beginning in March 1869, Grant would serve two presidential terms. Although he attempted to focus his administration on Reconstruction, Westward expansion, a Depression in the 1870s, and corruption within his own administration sidetracked his plans. When Grant left the White House in March 1877, it was under a cloud of suspicion. In May of the same year, he and his wife left for England, beginning a two-and-a-half-year trip that would take them around the world. Grant entered business with his son and investor Ferdinand Ward upon his return. Although a great deal of money was earned in the beginning of their venture, Ward's unsavory dealings, of which the Grants knew nothing, led to bankruptcy. After Grant discovered he was ill with throat cancer, he decided to write his memoirs as a way of providing for his family once he was gone. While director Adriana Bosch doesn't shy away from Grant's faults, she does offer a positive portrayal of his presidency. Ulysses S. Grant also includes interviews with historians and biographers. ~ Ronnie D. Lankford, Jr., All Movie Guide
