Going to the movies in Canada: EASTERN PROMISES

EASTERN PROMISES

Eastern Promises is a 2007 British-Canadian-American crime thriller film directed by David Cronenberg, from a screenplay written by Steven Knight. The film stars Viggo Mortensen, Naomi Watts, Vincent Cassel, and Armin Mueller-Stahl, and tells a story of a Russian-British midwife's interactions with the Russian Mafia in London. Principal photography began November 2006, in locations in and around London. The film has been noted for its plot twist, the subject of sex trafficking, and for its violence and realistic depiction of Russian career criminals, which includes detailed portrayal of the tattoos commonly worn by them.
Eastern Promises received positive critical reception, appearing on several critics' "top 10 films" lists for 2007. The film has won several awards, including the Audience Prize for best film at the Toronto International Film Festival and the Best Actor award for Mortensen at the British Independent Film Awards. The film received twelve Genie Award nominations and three Golden Globe Award nominations. Mortensen was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor.

ELLEN PAGE

Ellen Philpotts-Page (Halifax, New Scotland, Canada; 21, february 1987) best known as Ellen Page, is a Canadian actress. She was nominated to Oscar prizes and Golden Globes at best actress category for her performance in Juno (2007).

Ellen Page began her career as Maggie McLean at the age of 10 with the film Pit Pony (1997). After that, in 1999, she did a TV series with the same name. She became famous because of her work in Hard Candy (2005), a film about sex abuse, as Hayley Stark. In 2007, she surprised the critics again with a dramatic performance in Juno, a 16 aged girl who takes an incredible decision against an unwanted pregnancy.

MICHAEL J. FOX

DAN AYKROYD

Daniel Edward "Dan" Aykroyd, CM is a Canadian actor, comedian, screenwriter and singer. He was an original "Not Ready For Prime Time Player" (cast member) on Saturday Night Live, an originator of The Blues Brothers (with John Belushi) and Ghostbusters, and has had a long career as a film actor and screenwriter.

In 1990, he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for Driving Miss Daisy.

Aykroyd gained fame on the American late-night comedy show Saturday Night Live, where he was a writer and the youngest member of its cast, a repertory company called "The Not Ready For Prime Time Players," for its first four seasons, from 1975 to 1979.

JIM CARREY

Jim Carrey (Newmarket, Ontario, 17th January 1962) is a Canadian actor, singer, writer and humorist who has also the US citizenship. He was nominated to Golden Globes four times and he won twice.

He started to act in live in 1979 at the Yuk Yuk's Club in Toronto. After obtaining prestige in 1981, he started to work at The Comedy Store in Los Ángeles.

When he had a bit of success on TV series and low cost films, he was selected to work in Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (1994). The film had attendant (Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls) in 1995, where he worked again as Ventura. He had a lot of great works as Stanley Ipkiss (The Mask, 1994). Because of this, he was nominated to the Golden Globes as Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy. He also worked as Lloyd Christmas in Dumb and Dumber in 1994.

In 1999 and 2000, he won the Golden Globe for his performance in The Truman Show and Man on the Moon.

DONALD SUTHERLAND

Donald Sutherland is a Canadian actor whose film career spans 50 years. Sutherland is well known for playing a diverse range of characters, both leading and supporting, in acclaimed films such as The Dirty Dozen (1967), M*A*S*H (1970), Kelly's Heroes (1970), Klute (1971), Don't Look Now (1973), Fellini's Casanova (1976), 1900 (1976), The Eagle Has Landed (1976), Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978), Ordinary People (1980), JFK (1991), Cold Mountain (2003), Pride & Prejudice (2005), and The Hunger Games film franchise (2012–2015). He is the father of actor Kiefer Sutherland.

HAYDEN CHRISTENSEN

Hayden Christensen is a Canadian-American actor and producer. He began his career on Canadian television at the age of 13, then diversified into American television in the late 1990s. He was praised for his acting as Sam in Life as a House, which earned him nominations for both the Golden Globe Award and Screen Actors Guild Award. He was also nominated to the Saturn Award for Best Actor and earned the Cannes Film Festival Revelation Award for the Star Wars movies. He gained international fame for his portrayal of the young Anakin Skywalker / Darth Vader in Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones and Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. Christensen was additionally edited into the end of Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi.

PAMELA ANDERSEN

Pamela Denise Anderson is a Canadian-American actress. In addition to her acting career, she is also a model, producer, author, activist, and former showgirl, known for her roles on the television series Home Improvement, Baywatch, and V.I.P. She was chosen as a Playmate of the Month for Playboy magazine in February 1990. For a time, she was known as Pamela Anderson Lee (or Pamela Lee) after marrying Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee. Anderson is a member of the animal rights movement and has conducted campaigns condemning the commercial fur industry and promoting veganism through the animal welfarist organisation People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. In 2006, she was inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame.

JAMES CAMERON

James Francis Cameron is a Canadian filmmaker, inventor, engineer, philanthropist, and deep-sea explorer who has directed the two biggest box office films of all time. He first found major success with the science-fiction hit The Terminator (1984). He then became a popular Hollywood director and was hired to write and direct Aliens (1986); three years later he followed up with The Abyss (1989).

He found further critical acclaim for his use of special effects in Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991). After his film True Lies (1994) Cameron took on his biggest film at the time, Titanic (1997), which earned him Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Director and Film Editing. After Titanic, Cameron began a project that took almost 10 years to make: his science-fiction epic Avatar (2009), for which he received nominations for the same three Academy Awards. In the time between making Titanic and Avatar, Cameron spent several years creating many documentary films (specifically underwater documentaries) and co-developed the digital 3D Fusion Camera System. Described by a biographer as part-scientist and part-artist, Cameron has also contributed to underwater filming and remote vehicle technologies. On March 26, 2012, Cameron reached the bottom of the Mariana Trench, the deepest part of the ocean, in the Deepsea Challenger submersible. He is the first person to do this in a solo descent, and is only the third person to do so ever.
He has won three Academy Awards for Titanic. In March 2011, he was named Hollywood's top earner by Vanity Fair, with estimated 2010 earnings of $257 million. In October 2013, a new species of frog Pristimantis jamescameroni from Venezuela was named after him in recognition of his efforts in environmental awareness, in addition to his public promotion of veganism.

DAVID CRONENBERG

David Paul Cronenberg is a Canadian filmmaker, screenwriter, and actor. He is one of the principal originators of what is commonly known as the body horror or venereal horror genre. This style of filmmaking explores people's fears of bodily transformation and infection. In his films, the psychological is typically intertwined with the physical. In the first half of his career, he explored these themes mostly through horror and science fiction, although his work has since expanded beyond these genres. He has been called "the most audacious and challenging narrative director in the English-speaking world."

NORMAN JEWISON

Norman Frederick Jewison (born July 21, 1926) is a Canadian film director, producer, actor and founder of the Canadian Film Centre. Highlights of his directing career include The Cincinnati Kid (1965), The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming (1966), In the Heat of the Night (1967), The Thomas Crown Affair (1968), Fiddler on the Roof (1971), Jesus Christ Superstar (1973), F.I.S.T (1978), ...And Justice for All (1979), A Soldier's Story (1984), Agnes of God (1985), Moonstruck (1987), Other People's Money (1991), The Hurricane (1999) and The Statement (2003).

Jewison has addressed important social and political issues throughout his directing and producing career, often making controversial or complicated subjects accessible to mainstream audiences.

ATOM EGOYAN

Atom Egoyan is a Canadian stage director and film director. Egoyan made his career breakthrough with Exotica (1994), a film set primarily in and around the fictional Exotica strip club.

Egoyan's most critically acclaimed film is the drama The Sweet Hereafter (1997), and his biggest commercial success is the erotic thriller Chloe (2009).

Egoyan has been nominated for two Academy Awards: Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay, both for The Sweet Hereafter. He also won several awards at Cannes Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and Genie Awards. In 2008 Egoyan received the Dan David Prize for "Creative Rendering of the Past".