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.
Meanwhile, a return to the stage in the lauded revival of Glengarry Glen Ross not only earned Schreiber a Tony award, and in 2005 he made his debut as a film director and screenwriter with the indie Everything Is Illuminated. Always up for new challenges, he played the role of the comic-book supervillain Sabertooth in the 2009 summer blockbuster X-Men Origins: Wolverine. In addition to his acting, Schreiber also has a lucrative career narrating documentaries and commercials. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, Rovi
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, Rovi
- Starring:
- Robert Carlyle, Stockard Channing, (more)
- 2009
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This insightful documentary looks back at the founding of the Los Angeles Times, and chronicles the various generations of the Chandler family who have served as publisher. ~ Carly Wray, Rovi
- Starring:
- Liev Schreiber, Hal Holbrook, (more)
This remake of the 1975 German film Jakob der Lügner stars Robin Williams in a dramatic role as a man who uses his active imagination to bring a ray of hope where hope was all but unknown. Jakob Heym (Robin Williams) is the owner of a small café during the Nazi occupation of Poland; he has little money and is struggling to keep body and soul alive in the shadow of the Third Reich. One day, he overhears a radio broadcast, forbidden to Polish ears, that reports a major victory for Russian troops over the German army. Enthusiastic about this good news, Jakob begins spreading word of the Russian army's progress through the Polish ghetto. He notices that the story gives people hope and makes it easier for them to get through the day. So Jakob begins inventing stories and passing them along, creating fictional war reports that suggest that the occupation may soon be ending. However, when the occupation troops get wind of these stories, they become convinced that someone has communications equipment stashed away somewhere, and they're determined to find both the radio and its operator at all costs. Jakob the Liar was the first American feature for director Peter Kassovitz; the supporting cast includes Armin Mueller-Stahl, Alan Arkin, Bob Balaban, and Liev Schreiber. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Robin Williams, Alan Arkin, (more)
Filmmaker James Mangold follows his Oscar-winning drama Girl, Interrupted (1999) with this whimsical fantasy. Meg Ryan stars as Kate McKay, a modern female executive in New York City whose drive to succeed in the cutthroat corporate world has left little time for romance. When her genius ex-boyfriend Stuart (Liev Schreiber) opens a portal in time, the experiment transports Leopold (Hugh Jackman) from 1867 to the present day. A charming bachelor and the royal "Third Duke of Albany" in his own time, Leopold is fascinated by the 21st century. As the courtly Leopold and the decidedly liberated Kate tour the town, a mutual attraction develops into something deeper, a relationship that's threatened by Leopold's temporary chronological status. Kate & Leopold (2001) was originally developed by co-screenwriter Steve Rogers as a project for star/producer Sandra Bullock, who had a hit with his film Hope Floats (1998). ~ Karl Williams, Rovi
- Starring:
- Meg Ryan, Hugh Jackman, (more)
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, Rovi
- Starring:
- S. Epatha Merkerson, Julie Benz, (more)
- 2010
A profile of iconic football coach Vince Lombardi, whose single-minded dedication to winning led the Green Bay Packers to multiple NFL championships, including the first two Super Bowls. Featured are interviews with Lombardi's family and former players, including Willie Davis, Jerry Kramer, and Bart Starr. ~ Dave Roeder, Rovi
Based on Nobel Prize-winning author Gabriel García Márquez's novel of the same name, director Mike Newell's Love in the Time of Cholera details a passionate love triangle that unfolds in turn-of-the-century South America. Oscar-winning Pianist scribe Ronald Harwood adapts the story of two young lovers who bide their time for years while anxiously awaiting the day they can finally be together. Through marriages, affairs, careers, and deaths, the couple never loses hope that destiny will unite them in the end. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Javier Bardem, Giovanna Mezzogiorno, (more)
A lonely teenager thinks that he's found love, but it turns out to be more than he bargained for. Matt Leland (Chris O'Donnell) is an intelligent but awkward high school student who is in the market for a girlfriend but not having much luck finding one. One night, while looking at the stars through his telescope, Matt accidentally trains his vision on Casey Roberts (Drew Barrymore), a high-spirited girl who lives on the other side of the lake near their home. Matt is smitten with her, and he maps out a scheme to meet her. He finds her brash and charming, and she seems just as fond of him. However, Matt doesn't know that Casey is manic depressive and has been in and out of mental institutions for most of her life. Her father Richard (Jude Ciccolella) wants to keep her in an institution, while her mother Margaret (Joan Allen) wants the best for her daughter but isn't sure what that is. Casey, however, wants to be with Matt, and she convinces him that her parents mean to harm her. They run away, planning to go to Mexico, but Matt begins to realize that Casey's mood swings are more serious than he imagined. Set in Seattle, Mad Love features an on-screen appearance by the Washington-based all-female hard rock band 7 Year Bitch; the soundtrack also features music by Nirvana, Luscious Jackson, Los Lobos, Cracker, and Grant Lee Buffalo. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Chris O'Donnell, Drew Barrymore, (more)
- 2010
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The rivalry between Boston Celtics forward Larry Bird and Los Angeles Lakers point guard/forward Earvin "Magic" Johnson provided hours of highlights and fodder for sports analysts, collected here in Magic & Bird: A Courtship of Rivals. With interviews from the two stars and narration by Liev Schreiber, one of the NBA's most storied on-court matchups is chronicled from Bird and Johnson's first meeting at the 1979 Salt Lake City NCAA Championship when Johnson's Michigan State University team defeated Bird and the Indiana State University Sycamores through their final days on the court together and beyond. ~ Rachel Sprovtsoff, Rovi
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, Rovi
- 2007
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For over a century, The Michigan Wolverines and the Ohio State Buckeyes have been doing battle on the college gridiron. This documentary traces the rich history of this storied rivalry, underlining the importance it plays to both schools, and profiles some the games' legendary figures including Woody Hayes and Bo Schembechler. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi
- Starring:
- Liev Schreiber
A holiday comedy with dark overtones, Mixed Nuts presents a supposedly humorous look at the behind-the-scenes events at a crisis hotline on Christmas Eve. Philip (Steve Martin) runs Lifesavers, a Venice, California organization dedicated to helping the depressed and troubled. Unfortunately, Philip is a bit down himself, having learned that Lifesavers is on the verge of eviction. His staff isn't feeling particularly helpful either, with Mrs. Munchnik (Madeline Kahn) giving gruff, often insulting advice, and Catherine (Rita Wilson) obsessing over her own unspoken love for Philip. As the holiday approaches, various weirdoes of all shapes and sizes -- from to a pregnant clothing store owner (Juliette Lewis) to a disenchanted Santa Claus (Anthony LaPaglia) -- begin dropping in, throwing the already strained office into utter chaos. Director Nora Ephron followed her smash success Sleepless in Seattle with this remake of the cult 1982 French comedy Le Père Noël est une Ordure, co-authoring the script with her sister Delia Ephron. However, Mixed Nuts met with little box office or critical approval, with most viewers finding the film's manic farce disappointingly forced and abrasive. ~ Judd Blaise, Rovi
- Starring:
- Steve Martin, Madeline Kahn, (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, Rovi
Nova gained an exclusive when it secured the story rights to the life of Dr. Judah Folkman. The controversial cancer treatment pioneer tells all about his dramatic struggle to erase the disease from the planet. Folkman began unraveling the cure for cancer when he was a surgical resident. Through his work to find a substitute for transfusable blood, Folkman made an important discovery about the growth of cancer cells. Forty years later, the determined doctor is still chopping through dense scientific foliage to find a successful treatment. Nova explores the triumphs and setbacks of America's foremost cancer warrior. ~ Sarah Ing, Rovi
The filmmakers from NOVA set out on a quest to find the world's earliest flower in a special documentary that explores the plant form that has long been at the epicenter of human existence. Flowers show how we feel about others, fill our gardens with beauty, and help to provide us with food and medicine -- yet scientists have yet to discover a definitive answer to the question of how they evolved. When a fossil that had previously bloomed during the age of the dinosaur surfaced in China's Hengduan Mountains, the controversy that followed baffled and intrigued scientists on every continent. It would appear that this area, commonly referred to as the "Mother of All Gardens," was the birthplace of every form of flower from the clematis to the primrose. With this release, curious nature lovers can follow filmmakers as they explore the mysteries of the most spectacular flowers on the planet. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, Rovi
- Starring:
- Liev Schreiber
- 2002
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Galileo Galilei was one of the first truly revolutionary men of science; between 1585 and 1638, this pioneer was one of the first to employ mathematics to determine laws of motion, develop a telescope to help chart the heavens, observe the movements of stars and planets, and declare that the Earth moved around the sun, rather than the sun around the Earth. While many branded Galileo as a dangerous heretic in his day, today he's regarded as the father of modern physics and astronomy. Galileo's Battle for the Heavens stars Simon Callow as the great scientist; he reconstructs and re-creates many of the crucial moments in Galileo's career, and explains the methods behind his pioneering work. The film also examines letters Galileo wrote to his illegitimate daughter in which he discusses his personal feelings about his work and the measures taken to silence him. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- 2009
Approximately 13,000 years after the mighty mammoth and 35 other groups of mammals vanished from North America, some scientists pose the controversial theory that a massive impact from space may have heralded their demise. For the past four decades, experts have been at odds over what causes this mass extinction. While mainstream scholars pose that the changing climate or ancient hunters were likely to blame for driving the beasts into oblivion, others believe that a comet from deep space may have broken up over North America, causing a devastating series of explosions that decimated the landscape, and wiped out animal populations. The proof, they claim, lies in the discovery of a mysterious "black mat" layer at over fifty sites across the continent. The materials found in the "black mats" include rare, microscopic "nanodiamonds," which are thought to be the product of extraterrestrial impact. In this documentary, filmmakers pose that perhaps all three theories share an common element of truth. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Liev Schreiber
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, Rovi
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, Rovi
This Nova program grapples with the truly big questions of science -- what is the universe's structure, what lies beyond the limits of our "sight," and how can we predict the ultimate fate of the universe? The film uses as its main focal point a recent discovery that space is not only expanding but actually accelerating outward. Two competing teams of scientists discuss the meaning of this phenomenon, as well as the methodology that they use to make such discoveries -- tasks like measuring the brightness and the "redshift" of supernovae, as well as irregularities in the microwave background radiation. The program uses high-definition 3-D simulations to demonstrate leading theories (such as the theories of inflation and of "dark energy") about the behavior and fate of matter in the universe. ~ Sarah Welsh, Rovi
- 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, Rovi
- 2001
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The decades-long scientific quest to develop a less hazardous cigarette is examined in this program from the PBS series, NOVA. Directed by Carl Charlson, NOVA: Search for a Safe Cigarette features discussions with scientists as well as tobacco researchers and manufacturers to trace the history of these efforts and make predictions for what the future holds. Several "alternative cigarettes" that have been developed over the years are looked at. ~ Matthew Tobey, Rovi
- 2002
Originally broadcast on PBS, NOVA: Secrets, Lies & Atomic Spies attempts to uncover the nearly 300 Americans who spied for the Soviet Union during the 1940s. De-classified reports from the National Security Agency reveal the identity of several Soviet spies living and working for the U.S. government. Narrated by Liev Schreiber, this program features interviews with family members of the accused as well as information about the complex Venona espionage coding system. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi
- 2008
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Golden Globe nominated actor Leiv Schreiber narrates this feature-length documentary taking viewers on a remarkable scientific journey that began 3000 years ago, and presents findings that stand as the culmination of over 100 years of excavation and centuries of biblical scholarship. By delving deep into the origins of the Old Testament, archeologists attempt to find answers to such timeless questions as where the ancient Israelites came from, who wrote The Bible, and why the world that was once polytheistic began a gradual movement towards monotheism. As the biblical texts continue to resonate through history, The Bible's Buried Secrets takes viewers to the intersection of scholarship, science, and scripture in order to explore the questions that Christians and theologians have been asking for centuries. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Liev Schreiber, Stockard Channing, (more)
- 1999
- Add NOVA: The Killer's Trail - Murder Mystery of the Century to Queue Add NOVA: The Killer's Trail - Murder Mystery of the Century to top of Queue
With modern methods and precise science, Nova gets scientific to catch a killer. Nova: Murder Mystery of the Century takes the viewer behind the scenes of the case of Dr. Sam Sheppard. Accused of killing his wife Marilyn in 1954, Sheppard was tried not once, but twice. He was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison. Ten years later, Sheppard was released by the Supreme Court due to errors in the trial, but his reprieve was short-lived. He was set to go to court again only this time he would have the magnanimous F. Lee Bailey on his side. With a stronger defense and an unbiased jury, Sheppard finally won his freedom in 1966. Nova explores all angles of the case, from forensic evidence to the newly suspected limping culprit. Using the Sheppard trial as an example, PBS shows that criminology has come a long way. ~ Sarah Ing, Rovi
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