Josie Maran

Josie Maran was born in Menlo Park, California to a father of Russian and Polish descent, and a mother of Dutch, French, and German ancestry. She began modeling part-time after an agent spotted her at a local barbecue restaurant at the age of 12. Maran continued a more dedicated career after graduating from the Castilleja School. Considered by some to be too short for runway modeling at 5 feet 7 inches tall, her career consists mostly of editorial modeling and advertising/image modeling.Signed at age 17 with the Elite modeling agency of Los Angeles, Josie appeared on her first cover with Glamour magazine in 1998, and she was the featured Guess? Girl in their summer 1998 and fall 1998 campaigns. After building a resumé of over 25 commercials and advertisements, including a music video for the popular boy-band the Backstreet Boys, Maran moved cross-country to join with Elite in New York City. In 1999 she landed a multi-year deal with Maybelline following in the footsteps of her idol Christy Turlington. She appeared in the annual Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue for three consecutive years—2000, 2001, 2002.In addition to her thriving modeling career, Josie began an acting career in 2001 with a star turn as title character Mallory in an independent film, The Mallory Effect. She continued to take on roles, appearing in 2002 as Susan in Swatters. In 2004 she landed film roles as a French model in Little Black Book, as one of Dracula's brides in Van Helsing, and was seen briefly as a cigarette girl in The Aviator. She appeared in a short film "The Confession" alongside Wentworth Miller in 2005, and as Kira Hastings in The Gravedancers in 2006. Josie will play Polly Hudson in The Final Season, scheduled for release in 2007.In 2005, she was recruited by EA Games to appear as a main character in the street-racing computer and video game, Need for Speed: Most Wanted, which was released on November 17, 2005. She plays the game's second lead Mia Townsend, who guides the lead character through the game.
Josie is an extremely accomplished model and actress. Known as the Face of Maybelline, GUESS? girl, and Sports Illustrated swimsuit model, she's graced countless magazine covers, been in many high profile advertising campaigns, movies, videogames, and more.

Kate Hudson

A favorite female lead in romantic comedies for her outgoing comedic personality and sunny charisma, Kate Hudson avoided the dual dangers a Hollywood upbringing and famous parents; instead earning her own success on the big screen. At the beginning of the new century Hudson was Tinseltown’s reigning nouveau hippie chick, a sensibility likely passed down from flower power mom Goldie Hawn and further established by her Oscar-nominated role as a 1970s rock ‘n’ roll groupie in “Almost Famous” (2000) and real-life marriage to Black Crowes’ rocker Chris Robinson. Hudson went on to enjoy major box office success with romantic comedies including “How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days” (2003) and “You, Me, and Dupree” (2006), due largely to the actresses’ natural charm and the fun-loving rapport she shared with her male co-stars.But Hudson undoubtedly made her biggest impression on Hollywood in 2000. She read the script of Cameron Crowe’s 1970s coming-of-age rock chronicle, “Almost Famous” and was determined to land a role in the film, attracted by the music and fashion of her favorite decade, as well as recognizing that it would be a significant acting challenge that would prove she could take her career to the next level. In this tale of an aspiring music journalist on the road with a rising rock band and its troupe of female “band-aides,” Hudson initially landed the smaller role of the rebellious runaway sister of lead character William (Patrick Fugate). Thankfully for her, Sarah Polley had to drop out of her role as head band-aid Penny Lane and Hudson tirelessly worked to convince Crowe that she could carry the one of the film’s three leads. He relented, and Hudson delivered a pitch-perfect performance, imbuing Penny Lane’s flamboyant, life-of-the-party facade with heart-breaking (and heartbroken) vulnerability and insecurity just beneath the surface. The rumor mill had calmed down enough by the beginning of 2008, so as not to overshadow Hudson’s sparkling, comedic re-teaming with McConaughey in “Fool’s Gold,” an adventure about a newly-divorced couple who bury the hatchet and team up to retrieve a sunken treasure. Hudson was next slated to co-star opposite Dane Cook in another crossed-wires romantic farce, “Bachelor No.2” (2008), and the budding entrepreneur also planned to launch a line of natural hair-care products later in the year.

Angelina Jolie

Angelina Jolie (born Angelina Jolie Voight on June 4, 1975) is an American film actress, a former fashion model, and a Goodwill Ambassador for the UN Refugee Agency. She is often cited by popular media as one of the world's most beautiful women and her off-screen life is widely reported. She has received three Golden Globe Awards, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, and an Academy Award.Though she made her screen debut as a child alongside her father Jon Voight in the 1982 film Lookin' to Get Out, Jolie's acting career began in earnest a decade later with the low budget production Cyborg 2 (1993). Her first leading role in a major film was in Hackers (1995). She starred in the critically acclaimed biographical films George Wallace (1997) and Gia (1998), and won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in the drama Girl, Interrupted (1999). Jolie achieved international fame as a result of her portrayal of videogame heroine Lara Croft in Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001), and since then has established herself as one of the best known and highest paid actresses in Hollywood. She had her biggest commercial success with the action-comedy Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005).Divorced from actors Jonny Lee Miller and Billy Bob Thornton, Jolie currently lives with actor Brad Pitt, in a relationship that has attracted worldwide media attention.[3] Jolie and Pitt have three adopted children, Maddox, Pax, and Zahara. As well as her biological child, Shiloh. Jolie has promoted humanitarian causes throughout the world, and is noted for her work with refugees through UNHCR.

Iron Man

Iron Man is a different breed of superhero movie - a film that remembers it's possible to be outside the target demographic and still enjoy a tale set in this genre. What makes Iron Man interesting isn't the storyline which, except for a few wrinkles, is pretty much a standard issue superhero origin plot, but the way in which filmmaker Jon Favreau presents the narrative. Iron Man is mature in its perspective and the way it views its lead character, while at the same time tapping into the inner kid during some expertly executed action sequences. It uses CGI to advance the story rather than to populate the screen with pretty images. And, perhaps most importantly, the humor is restrained enough to avoid pushing the film over the line into camp or self-parody. Over the years, there have been only a handful of exceptional superhero movies, and Iron Man is among them.
Iron Man opens in Afghanistan, as a U.S. troop convoy carrying billionaire arms maker Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) is attacked. Those charged with safeguarding Tony are killed; he is seriously wounded and taken captive. A round of flashbacks follows, introducing us to the brilliant, naïve playboy and those around him: his devoted Girl Friday, Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow); his take-no-prisoners business partner, Obadiah Stane (Jeff Bridges); and his best friend, Jim Rhodes (Terrence Howard). Tony is on his way to Afghanistan to show off Stark Industry's latest and greatest way of killing people, and that gets us back to where we came in.
When he awakens, Tony is in a cave. As a result of his injuries, there is irremovable shrapnel in his chest and he must wear an electromagnet attached to his torso to keep the fragments from reaching his heart. He and his doctor/assistant/translator, Yinsen (Shaun Toub), have been given the charge of making a mighty killing missile for the guerilla leader, Raza (Faran Tahir). Instead, however, Stark uses the available materials to fashion a bulletproof, weaponed suit of armor that allows him to escape from the caves and return to friendlier locales. Once back home, he makes some radical decisions. He decides to terminate the company's weapons division (which sends stocks tumbling and enrages the board of directors) and to concentrate on perfecting the design of the suit that enabled him to escape Afghanistan.
Although Iron Man updates the comic book's opening chapters (shifting the locale from Vietnam to Afghanistan, for example), it remains faithful to the spirit, if not all the particulars. For viewers unfamiliar with the source material, there's no sense of being dropped unceremoniously into the middle of a fanboy's dream flick. Favreau has crafted the production to maximize appeal for both to those steeped in Iron Man lore and those who have never previously heard of the Mighty Marvel Metal Man. This is much like what Chris Nolan accomplished with Batman Begins: stripping away the legend and building it up gradually, using narrative and character (not action and effects) for the foundation.
There has never been a more inspired choice for a superhero than Robert Downey Jr. In recent decades, we've seen the likes of Christopher Reeve, Michael Keaton, Val Kilmer, George Clooney, Patrick Stewart, Hugh Jackman, Tobey Maguire, Ben Affleck, Nicolas Cage, Christian Bale, and others don capes, cowls, and masks, but none has accomplished this with more style, wit, and panache than Downey. His performance is riveting. He commands the screen. He nails Stark, making him much more than a charismatic fusion of Bill Gates, Hugh Hefner, and Howard Hughes. In one sense, Iron Man is really a character story with action elements, focusing on Stark's psychological journey from luxurious ignorance to shocked awareness and how, having his eyes opened, he can no longer stand by and do nothing. Downey sells this transformation while imbuing Stark with a biting sense of humor.
While none of the supporting characters are given anything close to the three-dimensional treatment accorded to Tony, there are some nice touches. The film does a solid job of misdirection when it comes to identifying the eventual chief villain; it's nice to find a movie that doesn't strictly follow the bad guy manual all the way through. The interaction between Stark and Gwyneth Paltrow's Miss Potts adds a little lightweight romance to things. There's something between these two, although it rarely manifests itself as anything more serious than a Bond/Moneypenny flirtation.
The special effects are top-notch and never seem overused or gratuitous. There are more of them than may be obvious since they're used not only in the several big action sequences but in some of the more sedate scenes (such as the played-for-laughs episode where Tony tries out the flying boots he's working on). Special effects are at their best when they work to enhance the plot without calling attention to themselves. That's what occurs in Iron Man. The effects wizards are in synch with the director, not trying to show off and upstage the actors.
Comparisons can be made between Iron Man and Batman. Both franchises feature rich men who turn to crime fighting as a way to provide balance. Both have lots of gadgets at their disposal. And both have faithful retainers who offer help and advice (Alfred, Miss Potts). Yet, in terms of their cinematic incarnations, even the latest Batman inhabits a pseudo-fantasy world. Tony Stark is grounded in something close to our reality. This gives Iron Man a sense of immediacy that even the fine Batman Begins does not have. Yet Iron Man and Batman Begins have a lot in common in the way that they rework the tired "superhero origin story," replace stereotypes with legitimate characters, and remember that everyone in the audience is not a 14-year old boy.
When it comes to tone, Iron Man achieves something at which many of even its most celebrated predecessors have failed: it doesn't feel like a superhero movie. Instead, it's bigger and more inclusive. The superhero elements are present, so devotees will not feel slighted or duped, but Iron Man wants to be more than just a summer genre picture or an appetizer before the next exploit of a better-known icon. The movie justifies the hype and, in addition to standing solidly on its own, it promises bigger and potentially more interesting developments for the sequel that no one doubts will be made.