Press Releases

“I grew up reading the Bible. I have read it from beginning to end multiple times—my father was a Southern Baptist minister. So, I know this story…and I was very excited to play Joshua.” -Aaron Paul

Most people have heard of the story of Moses, either through reading the Bible, watching Charleton Heston shout to the heavens in the 1956 Cecile B. DeMille epic The Ten Commandments, or laughing through Mel Brooks’ 1981 hit History of the World, Part I. The basic story is the same throughout: defiant leader Moses rises up against the Egyptian Pharaoh Ramses, setting 600,000 slaves on a monumental journey of escape from Egypt and its terrifying cycle of deadly plagues.

A new generation of fans is about to learn that The Equalizer does not put up with injustice against the helpless. As a hit TV series in the mid-to-late 1980s starring Edward Woodward, "The Equalizer"- aka Robert McCall - was the person people turned to when someone had a problem, the odds were stacked against them, and they had nowhere else to turn. The Equalizer now comes to the big screen with Denzel Washington taking the role of McCall. And while the actor may be different, the character's need to serve up vengeance against those who prey on the vulnerable has not changed.

"If I decided to give up being an actress I think I would be completely satisfied because I've learned so much, I've grown so much." - Haley Bennett

Autumn 2014 is turning out to be a bountiful season for IMTA alum Katie Holmes. Earlier this month it was announced that she would be joining the small but growing circle of female feature film directors when she produces, directs and stars in the screen adaptation of Annie Weatherwax's novel All We Had. Next, she appeared on the cover and in an inside editorial shoot and interview of upscale DuJour Magazine's October issue. This week she was introduced as the new face and spokeswoman for the Olay skin care line. And now she has a new feature film opening this week, Days and Nights, the first of two films slated for release this fall.

"I've been doing this for a long time, but every experience is so different, based on [whom] you're working with. I always try to go into a project with a goal in mind of what I want out of it for myself, in terms of what I want to learn." – Katie Holmes

Set at the end of the Civil War, Nicholas Sparks' "Deliverance Creek" tells the story of a widowed mother of three, Belle Gatlin Barlowe, who faces uncertainty as she attempts to defend her family's land by any means necessary. When the corrupt bank that runs their town pushes Belle into becoming an outlaw, the stakes become personal, setting off a chain of events that force her to question whether it's better to be good or to survive.

IMTA alum Riley Smith stars in "Deliverance Creek" alongside Lauren Ambrose, Wes Ramsey, Yaani King Caitlin Custer and Christopher Backus. "I think everybody is going to see what they love about 'The Notebook' and all Nicholas Sparks books," Smith told Entertainment Monthly. "It's got really rich characters, a lot of spider-webs of entanglements of love triangles, arch-rivals, enemies and revenge; it's got everything you would expect in a Nicholas Sparks novel. I have actually seen it and I was floored. I think I have done 14 pilots in my time out here and it is the best pilot I have done."

Each year, fall is a time to look forward to new series TV series, say goodbye to cancelled favorites, try to decide what to watch (or not), bookmark web sites or YouTube channels, and make mental notes (or program your DVR) of upcoming shows. At IMTA, it is a time to celebrate the successes of many of our alumni who are fortunate to be on the viewing schedule in broadcast, cable and web TV series as series' regulars or guest-stars, appearing in made-for-TV movies or booked for a guest-star role.

Not everything has been announced and entertainment news changes quickly. We know there will be many alums showing up in episodes that we do not yet know about. If you learn news of an IMTA alum's casting, please let us know. So while it may not be a comprehensive list, here are just a few alums to watch for in the upcoming season.

No matter where you stand on the current immigration issues between the US and Mexico, it is difficult not to be touched in some way by the stories of immigrants on their harrowing and dangerous journeys across the border to seek a new life. It is also not difficult to relate to the stories of the landowners across whose property immigrants travel and the men and women charged with upholding the law along the border.

Trying to understand both sides serves as the background for Frontera, in which Miguel, a hardworking father and devoted husband, crosses the border illegally and is wrongfully accused of murdering the wife of a former sheriff. Miguel's pregnant wife Paulina lands in the hands of corrupt Mexican "Coyote" smugglers as she tries to help her husband, while the ex-lawman investigates his wife's death and unearths evidence that could destroy one family's future.

Imagine our world as black and white, that there is no color. Also imagine all people are basically the same, there is little to no individuality, and being different is dangerous. Imagine being assigned a job that will best serve the community and that you have no choice in the matter; if you do not conform and dare to ask questions, you will be expelled from the community. You are living in a dystopian society, a place where people lead dehumanized and fearful lives.

This is the world of the long-awaited adaptation of Lois Lowry's The Giver, a haunting story of a young man, Jonas, who is assigned the job of Receiver of Memory. When the society was formed, it was agreed that all the memories had to be banished - but they had to go somewhere. So for years, there has been just one person who would hold all the memories, good and bad. That person is known as The Giver. Not until Jonas becomes The Giver does he begin to understand the dark, complex secrets behind his fragile community.

Mark August 8, 2014 on your calendar as a day you may want to go see a movie...or two. A pair of IMTA alums have films opening: LA2000 alum Jeremy Sumpter in Into the Storm and NY2000 alum Alyson Stoner in Step Up: All In...and both are expected to do very well in the competitive summer feature film market.

Sumpter stars in the action thriller Into the Storm as a reluctant member of a storm chasing team. In the span of a single day, the town of Silverton is ravaged by an unprecedented onslaught of tornadoes. The entire town is at the mercy of the erratic and deadly cyclones, even as storm trackers predict the worst is yet to come. Most people seek shelter, while others run towards the vortex, testing how far a storm chaser will go for that once-in-a-lifetime shot. Told through the eyes and lenses of professional storm chasers, thrill- seeking amateurs, and courageous townspeople, Into the Storm throws you directly into the eye of the storm to experience Mother Nature at her most extreme.

During the years IMTA alum Aaron Paul was becoming a household name for playing Jesse Pinkman on AMC's "Breaking Bad," he was using his down time between seasons to film a number of small, independent films, playing a variety or roles that allowed him to stretch beyond his Emmy-winning role as bad-boy Jesse.

Following runs on the festival circuit, two of these films-the first filmed in 2011 and the other in 2012-are just now coming to theatres.

"Our director wanted to do a throw-back to the films that kind of started this genre, like Bullitt and Vanishing Point and Smokey and the Bandit. And back then they couldn't rely on CG, they couldn't rely on green screen, so everything you see in this movie actually happened." - Aaron Paul

IMTA alum Aaron Paul (LA97) has been working non-stop since ending his Emmy-winning role as Jesse Pinkman on AMC's hit "Breaking Bad." He filmed Hellion with Juliette Lewis, Josh Wiggins and Deke Garner, playing an emotionally absent father trying to regain custody of his young son. In A Long Way Down, he joined Pierce Brosnan, Toni Collette and Imogen Poots as four people who meet on a rooftop on New Year's Eve and form a surrogate family to help one another weather the difficulties of their lives. In Ridley Scott's Exodus, which is due out later this year, he stars alongside Christian Bale, Ben Kingsley, Sigourney Weaver, Joel Edgerton and John Turturro in the story of Moses leading the Israelite slaves out of Egypt.

"I was discovered by a local model agent in my hometown and she urged me to do this modeling contest, competition, where people go to get discovered, and it's called the IMTA. The IMTA had discovered tons of people, from Elijah Wood to Katie Holmes, Josh Duhamel, Ashton Kutcher and myself, but there have been a million people who have been discovered there."" - Riley Smith

2014 promises to be a year in which audiences will get to see NY97 IMTA alum Riley Smith in a group of very diverse roles. His upcoming projects include both TV and film and include a romantic comedy, a horror thriller, a Civil War period drama, and playing a vampire on HBO's hit "True Blood." Smith ended 2013 co-starring in the well-reviewed Hallmark holiday romance drama Christmas in Conway alongside Andy Garcia, Mary Louise Parker and Mandy Moore.

"Because I started working as an actor from the age of 8, initially on commercials, and quickly small roles on films that then developed into larger roles on film, it all happened relatively quickly. And I loved it immediately." - Elijah Wood

In spite of having starred in epic studio blockbuster movies such as The Lord of the Rings Trilogy and Deep Impact, Disney features such as Huck Finn, and the animated Happy Feet hits, IMTA alum Elijah Wood (LA89) is currently very content forging a new chapter in his career working on smaller, independent films that challenge and stetch him as an actor, while also often allowing him to control as a producer. As one reviewer put it, now when Wood makes a film, "It's because that is material that he loves, and there are no half-measures in the way he attacks a role, and he's made the transition from being a famous kid to being an adult whose body of work reflects the ecletic tastes he has."

With filming set to start in April, two IMTA alumni have been added to the high-powered cast of Fathers and Daughters which includes Amanda Seyfried, Russell Crowe, Octavia Spencer, Diane Kruger and Quvenzhané Wallis. LA97 alum Aaron Paul and NY01 alum Haley Bennett have been cast in the drama about a widowed novelist (Crowe) struggling with mental illness as he tries to raise his 7-year-old daughter, Katie.

The story flashes between past and present as it revolves around the life of the now-25-year-old woman (Seyfried) dealing with the aftermath of her troubled childhood. Paul will play a young man having an affair with the grown Katie in the present, while Bennett will play a college student who watches over the young Katie in the past.

"It's very reminiscent of those older movies and of the disaster movies I loved as a kid...so it becomes classic entertainment." - Julianne Moore

So you're on a plane 40,000 feet in the air, trying to relax during a long flight from New York to London. Everything seems fine until you receive a cryptic text message demanding a massive ransom in exchange for the safety of everyone on your flight. As if airline travel wasn't unpleasant enough these days, until the ransom is received, a passenger will be killed every 20 minutes. What do you do? This is the terrifying question facing the flight's air marshal as he decides who on the plane he can trust…and who is dangerous.

TV Stars IMTA Press Release"It is refreshing to have a bunch of people who care so much about the product that they are producing and want to make it the best it can be." - Brian Gross

The original "Star Trek" television series ran for only three years but few would have imagined that the franchise created by Gene Roddenberry would be going strong after nearly 50 years, with 12 feature films, numerous spin-off TV series, hundreds of books, comics, magazines and video games, and countless "Star Trek" conventions worldwide. It only seems logical that a group of intrepid fans, lead by actor James Cawley, would utilize technology, the internet, and a vast collection of set pieces, props and costumes from the original series to create "Star Trek: Phase II," a series described as continuing the fourth and fifth seasons of the original series, telling "the untold stories of the U.S.S. Enterprise, Captain Kirk, and his crew with the intention of filling in the missing years of the original five year mission, and bridging the gap to Star Trek: The Motion Picture."

TV Stars IMTA Press Release"I'm a licensed Auctioneer and I'll tell you what, the fast-talking came in handy because we have a significant chunk of dialogue that is spoken very, very quickly and i had to pull out those old auctioneering skills to get it without stumbling all over the words." - Christoper Gorham

IMTA alum Christopher Gorham (NY90 because a familiar face to TV watchers with guest-starring roles on many hit shows such as "Party of Five", "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," "CSI," "Felicity" and "With a Trace."