CAST & CREW
Featuring
Allyn Stewart
As Herself
Producer/Former 20th Century Fox Executive, United Kingdom Allyn was an executive for 20th Century Fox UK, and left to join Laddie as producer at The Ladd Company
Ben Affleck
As Himself
Writer/Director/Actor/Producer Ben Affleck brought his script Gone Baby Gone to Laddie, who came on as producer and gave Ben his first shot at directing.
Cheryl Boone Isaacs
As Herself
AMPAS President/Former Ladd Company Marketing Executive Cheryl met Laddie through her brother Ashley Boone. Ashley served as Fox’s President of Marketing and Distribution, who went with Laddie from Fox to The Ladd Company to MGM.
David Ladd
As Himself
Producer/Actor Laddie’s younger brother and longtime collaborator, David worked with him at MGM and Pathé
George Lucas
As Himself
Director/Producer/Writer Laddie forged a relationship with George Lucas after screening a smuggled copy of American Graffiti. Impressed, Laddie asked George what else he had. George proceeded to tell him about Star Wars. Laddie then commissioned George to write the script for Fox and the rest is history.
Jay Kanter
As Himself
Agent/Producer/20th Century Fox Executive/MGM Executive Laddie met Jay Kanter, when Jay was a powerful agent with an A-list roster of clients including Laddie’s father Alan Ladd, Sr. Jay and Laddie started producing together in London, and then Laddie asked Jay to join him at 20th Century Fox, The Ladd Company MGM, UA and Pathé.
Jenno Topping
As Herself
JENNO TOPPING Executive/Producer Jenno began her career as Laddie’s reader at MGM. She moved with Laddie to The Ladd Company where she produced her first picture, The Brady Bunch.
Lili Fini Zanuck
As Herself
Director/Producer Laddie hired Lili Fini Zanuck for her directorial debut on Rush.
Lucy Fisher
As Herself
Producer/Former 20th Century Fox Executive Recommended by to him by fellow executive Paula Weinsten, Laddie and Lucy formed a great working relationship at 20th Century Fox.
Mel Brooks
As Himself
Director/Writer/Producer/Actor A career-long collaboration and friendship was struck between Mel Brooks and the 20th Century Fox team when Laddie gave him the green light to film Young Frankenstein in black and white. They went on to do many pictures together, including Silent Movie, High Anxiety and Spaceballs.
Michael Gruskoff
As Himself
Agent/Producer Michael and Laddie first worked together as agents at CMA and London International and was the producer of Young Frankestein.
Morgan Freeman
As Himself
Actor Morgan Freeman, well known for roles in Driving Miss Daisy and The Shawshank Redemption, worked with Laddie on two pictures, An Unfinished Life and Gone Baby Gone.
Paul Maslansky
As Himself
Producer Laddie elicited Paul Maslansky’s help to reign in the sky-rocketing budget and schedule on The Right Stuff, which led to an unlikely, yet extremely lucrative, follow-up collaboration – Police Academy.
Paul Mazursky
As Himself
Writer/Director One of the famous “3rd Floor” directors at 20th Century Fox that Laddie collaborated with often, Paul Mazursky first worked with him on Harry and Tonto, Next Stop Greenwich Village and An Unmarried Woman
Richard Donner
As Himself
Director/Producer A long time friend and client of Laddie’s, Richard Donner first worked with him on the big screen with The Omen.
Ridley Scott
As Himself
Director/Producer Laddie discovered Ridley Scott through Sandy Liebeson and hired him to direct Alien. They continued to collaborate through Laddie’s career on groundbreaking films such as Blade Runner and Thelma and Louise.
Ron Howard
As Himself
Director/Producer/Actor Laddie produced Ron Howard’s directorial debut and worked with him again on Willow.
Sanford Sandy Lieberson
As Himself
Former 20th Century Fox Executive, United Kingdom Longtime friend and collaborator, Sandy worked as Head of Production for UK 20th Century Fox and Interim President when Laddie stepped down. He also Vice President of International Production for The Ladd Company UK.
Sigourney Weaver
As Herself
Actor Laddie and Ridley Scott hired Broadway actor Sigourney Weaver for her big screen debut on Alien. Laddie famously had decided that the role of Ripley, having originally been written for a man, should be played by a woman.
Filmmakers
Amanda Ladd-Jones
Director/Producer
Amanda Ladd-Jones is Alan Ladd, Jr.’s youngest daughter from his first marriage. She was born in London, six weeks before her father—Laddie, as he’s known to his friends—moved the entire family back to L.A. to begin his famously successful stint at 20th Century Fox. Amanda’s film education began at a very young age, seated on the floor of her father’s screening room while he ran movies for Hollywood’s most accomplished filmmakers. Between that, visits to her dad’s office, and time spent on his movie sets, Amanda gained an insight into filmmaking to rival the best film schools. After graduating high school in Los Angeles, Amanda moved to New York where she attended college and worked as a freelance film and television production accountant. In between jobs, Amanda pursued her passion for storytelling by writing screenplays. Eventually, Amanda’s screenwriting led her back to Los Angeles where she graduated from UCLA’s accredited screenwriting program and went on to write several optioned scripts. With LADDIE, Amanda set out to tell her most personal story of all—the story of her father, the quiet everyman behind STAR WARS and some of the most iconic films of the last 50 years. Amanda lives in Los Angeles with her husband, their many pets, and their daughter—the inspiration for LADDIE.
Richard Buhrman
Producer
Emmy and Peabody Award winning producer Rich Buhrman began his production career in New York City after graduating college, working on TV programs including The Montel Williams Show, It’s Showtime at The Apollo, and Disney’s Bear in the Big Blue House. Chasing his Hollywood dreams, Rich packed his life in his car in 1998 and headed West. He found great success in Los Angeles, hired on projects for ABC, NBC, FOX, CBS, MTV, VH1, FUSE, BRAVO, OXYGEN, and IFC. In 2004, Rich joined TV production company Magical Elves, most famous for mega-hits Project Runway and Top Chef. Named Executive Vice President of Production and CFO for Magical Elves, Rich also served as Co-Executive Producer on Project Greenlight, Project Runway, Top Chef, Treasure Hunters and several others. After leaving Magical Elves Rich founded Beach Cruiser Productions, a production company focused on developing and producing documentary, variety, talk and reality projects.
Natasha Klibansky
Producer
Natasha Klibansky’s career in film and TV development and production has spanned a broad spectrum of genres and allowed her to work closely with some of today’s biggest names in acting, writing, directing and producing. Formerly Vice President of Development at Alan Ladd Jr.’s Ladd Company, Natasha began her career at TV’s SPIN CITY and Michael J. Fox’s Lottery Hill Entertainment in New York. She went on to work in Los Angeles with Reese Witherspoon, writer/director Vadim Perelman, and Oscar-Winning Producer Douglas Wick. At Wick’s Sony-based Red Wagon Entertainment, she was immersed in an expansive development slate and all phases of production of five films in under three years: PETER PAN, TAD HAMILTON, BEWITCHED, JARHEAD, and MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA. Natasha graduated magna cum laude from Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Public Communications with a B.S. in Journalism. She lives in the Boston area with her husband and two children.
Katherine Griffin
Co-Producer
Katherine Griffin is an Emmy Award-winning Editor and Writer-Director-Producer from Bloomington, Indiana. Just after college, Katherine wrote her first feature film, The Innocents, and then moved into her car for nearly a year to produce and direct it. The Innocents traveled to seventeen film festivals, winning three awards, and was subsequently listed as one of the twenty best dramas in Phil Hall's 'Encyclopedia of Underground Movies: Films from the Fringes of Cinema', and her spirited adventure making the film was profiled in the Los Angeles Times. She’s worked consistently as a documentary and reality television editor for the last ten years while making independent films and continuing her screenwriting education at UCLA. She’s won an Emmy for editing Top Chef, and her screenplays have been selected for the CineStory Fellowship and finalists in the Nicholl Screenwriting Fellowship, Zoetrope Screenplay Competition, Fade In, and Tracking Board Screenplay Competition. She was recently selected for the on-camera Showrunner’s Masterclass with Shonda Rhimes. Her passion is to create and tell stories with complex characters, and she hopes to spend an entire lifetime working in this incredible industry.
Chip Mauro
Editor/Co-Producer
Chip Mauro first discovered his talent for storytelling at age 10, documenting his decade-long music career as the drummer of a nationally touring rock band. Hooked on the exacting process of editing, Chip focused on TV, Film and Radio ultimately earning a BA degree at the University of Wisconsin, packed his bags for Los Angeles, and never looked back. Fast forward ten years, and Chip’s documentary work includes Emmy-nominated CALIFORNIA STATE OF MIND: THE LEGACY OF PAT BROWN, featuring a Who’s Who of political figures including former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, former U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher, former Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi, and current California Governor, Jerry Brown. Chip recently completed the Discovery Channel’s THE WOMAN WHO WASN’T THERE, the riveting story of a woman who gained celebrity status for her harrowing survival of the 9/11 World Trade Center attacks...but was later found to have fabricated the tale. In 2004, Chip founded TVMJ Productions, specializing in editorial post production with additional services including branding, identity, website design, animation, motion graphics, film, and commercial production.