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Solaris

ER star George Clooney's back - and he's playing a doctor again - but he's a long, long way from a Boston Emergency Room...

Director Steven Soderbergh - whose eclectic resume includes the Academy Award-winning drama Traffic as well as last year?s ensemble caper Ocean?s Eleven - now brings his unique vision to Solaris, a story of love, redemption, second chances and a space mission gone terribly wrong.

Future

Set at an indeterminate time in the far future, the film begins with Clooney's character - astronaut-psychologist Dr. Chris Kelvin - being asked to investigate the unexplained behaviour of key scientists on the space station Prometheus. His mission - to discover why they have cut off all communication with Earth.

Kelvin undertakes the journey after watching the last communiqu? from his close friend Gibarian, the mission?s commander. Transmitted six months earlier, the disjointed video journal shows a clearly disillusioned and despairing man. Keenly aware that his opinion will decide the fate of the orbital station, Kelvin is shocked by what he finds upon his arrival.

It seems that Gibarian has committed suicide and the two remaining scientists are exhibiting signs of extreme stress and terror, seemingly caused by the results of their examination of the planet Solaris. As he begins to track down the reasons for the distress aboard the Prometheus, Kelvin, too, falls victim to this unique world?s mysteries - as well as to an erotic obsession with someone he thought he had left far behind him.

Written for the screen and directed, photographed and edited by Steven Soderbergh, Solaris is a new adaptation of Stanislav Lem?s famous novel (of the same name) about the discovery of human analogues on a distant outpost in the far future.

Soviet

An earlier, somewhat sober - but intensely atmospheric - film version was made by the legendary Russian film director Andrei Tarkovsky, in 1972. Seen by many as a Soviet reply to Arthur C. Clarke and Stanley Kubrick?s 2001: A Space Odyssey, the film was a critical success - winning the special Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival. This new version promises a few more thrills - and a bit more flesh - to keep the modern audience happy, while retaining something of the original?s brooding, ambitious premise.

Steven Soderbergh

George Clooney's character, Kelvin, is something of a paradox - a ?grief therapist? - who has yet to reconcile himself with the loss of his wife - Rheya - whose untimely death two years before has left him bereft and isolated.

Jeremy Davies and Viola Davis are two scientists aboard the station - desperately trying to discover the secret of the planet Solaris before it destroys them all - and German actor Ulrich Tukur plays Gibarian, the mission commander of the ill-fated Prometheus.

Clooney, who is making his third appearance in a Soderbergh film (the first two being Ocean?s Eleven and the Jennifer Lopez vehicle Out of Sight) received the 2000 Golden Globe Award as ?Best Actor in Motion Picture-Musical or Comedy? for his role in O Brother, Where Art Thou?

His previous feature film credits include starring roles in The Perfect Storm, Three Kings and The Peacemaker.

Clooney is perhaps most familiar to television audiences for his multi-award winning portrayal of Dr. Doug Ross on ER. The live television broadcast of Fail-Safe, which he executive produced and starred in was nominated for a 2000 Golden Globe Award as ?Best Miniseries or Motion Picture made for Television?.

He recently made his directorial debut with Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, in which he also stars along with Sam Rockwell, Drew Barrymore and Julia Roberts.

Natascha McElhone

Since her first major role in Merchant/Ivory?s Surviving Picasso, Natascha McElhone has starred in such high-profile films as The Truman Show, opposite Jim Carrey, Ronin opposite Robert DeNiro, and The Devil?s Own, opposite Brad Pitt and Harrison Ford. Among her upcoming films are Chen Kaige?s Killing Me Softly, in which she co-stars with Joseph Fiennes and Heather Graham, City of Ghosts and Fear.com, in which she stars with Stephens Dorff and Rea.

Jeremy Davies made his film debut in David Russell?s Spanking the Monkey, for which he received an Independent Spirit Award for Best Debut Performance. He also received considerable acclaim for his performance in Steven Spielberg?s Saving Private Ryan.

He recently starred in Roman Coppola?s CQ and the Matthew Shepard-inspired film, The Laramie Project. Among his other motion picture credits are The Million Dollar Hotel, Investigating Sex, Up at the Villa and the upcoming Dogville directed by Lars von Trier in which he stars with Nicole Kidman and Stellan Skarsgard.

Shakespearean

Ulrich Tukur most recently starred in Costa Gavras? Amen which had it?s premiere at the 2002 Berlin Film Festival. Taking Sides in which he starred for Istvan Szabo, premiered at the 2001 Toronto Film Festival. Since making his motion picture debut in 1982, Tukur has appeared in over two dozen German films.

An award-winning Shakespearean actor in his native Germany, he made his professional stage debut in 1984. A noted singer, musician and composer, Tukur has recorded two albums and produced, starred in and wrote the librettos for two musicals.

Steven Soderbergh is the only director to have two films nominated in the ?Best Picture? and ?Best Director? in the same year. His Academy Award for ?Best Director?, won for Traffic marked the first time since the 1928/29 Awards that a director has successfully competed against himself!

In addition to his Best Director nomination for Erin Brockovich, Julia Roberts received the Best Actress Academy Award for the title role. The film also received three additional Oscar nominations, for Best Supporting Actor, Best Original Screenplay and Best Picture.

Last year, Soderbergh directed a retelling of Ocean?s Eleven, the fabled 1960?s film which has grossed over $435,000,000 worldwide. The director?s contemporary comedy Full Frontal, shot during eighteen days using a combination of digital video tape and film, will be released in August. Solaris is Soderbergh?s thirteenth feature film.

The film is produced by Lightstorm Entertainment partners James Cameron, Rae Sanchini and Jon Landau, whose film Titanic received a record-tying 11 Academy Awards, including Cameron?s three Oscars in the ?Best Picture?, ?Best Direction? and ?Best Editing? categories.

The executive producer on Solaris is Gregory Jacobs, who began his association with Soderbergh in 1992 when he was first assistant director on King of the Hill. Solaris is his ninth film with the director, including the upcoming Full Frontal which he produced. Co-producer Michael Polaire, who produced last year?s Academy Award-nominated Mulholland Drive first collaborated with Steven Soderbergh on Full Frontal.

Aliens

Since launching his directorial career in 1984 with the sleeper hit, The Terminator Academy Award-winning filmmaker James Cameron has served as writer, director, producer, and/or editor on such films as Rambo: First Blood Part II, Aliens, The Abyss, Point Break, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, True Lies and Titanic. Titanic, which grossed a record-setting $1.8 billion at the global box office, received 11 Academy Awards, including Cameron?s three Oscars for Best Picture, Best Direction and Best Editing.

His maiden television effort, the one-hour dystopian series Dark Angel - starring Jessica Alba - received a number of prestigious nominations and awards. Cameron is currently editing Ghosts of the Abyss, a non-fiction, 3-D, large-format film for Walden Media.

What they're saying about Solaris:

"The finest and certainly the most stylish sci-fi film in years." ? Time Out.

"Broody, beautiful...transcendental." - Uncut.

"...driven by stellar, understated performances from Clooney and McElhone." ? Empire.

Solaris is released nationwide on 28 February.

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