Ella Enchanted screening, immediatedly folled by Q&A with film's director Tommy O'Haver and invited guest Oscar nominated Minnie Driver

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Ella Enchanted screening, immediatedly folled by Q&A with film's director Tommy O'Haver and invited guest Oscar nominated Minnie Driver

Saturday, July 24, 2004

Begins at 1:00 PM PDT

Friday, July 23, 2004



"Ella Enchanted" A comic-fantasy-adventure filled with magic and music, ogres and elves, giants and wicked stepsisters, ELLA ENCHANTED revisits a classic fairy-tale world with a distinctly 21st century twist. The film, directed by Tommy O' Haver ("Get Over It") is based on the best-selling, Newbery Honor-winning novel by Gail Carson Levine.

"Ella Enchanted's" Director Tommy O'Haver grew up in Indianapolis, Indiana, where he spent his early years making Super-8 films including the six minute stop-motion epic, "Barbie Meets E.T." After receiving a degree in critical studies in film, he moved to Los Angeles to pursue his dream of making movies.

Following stints as a production assistant on "Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare" and in the New Line mailroom, he produced his first short film, "The Pitch," which ultimately sold to Showtime, and became part of Tommy's application to USC School of Cinema-Television. At USC, he made the short films "Catalina," which was selected to screen at the New York Film Festival; "Two" and "Happy Hour," which both went on to play at the British Film Institute and the Sundance Film Festival.

After graduating from USC in 1995, O'Haver made his feature film debut with "Billy's Hollywood Screen Kiss," which also marked the screen debut of Sean Hayes ("Will and Grace"). This critically acclaimed, low budget film was a remake of his original short, "Catalina," and premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, where O'Haver was nominated for a Grand Jury Prize. It also screened at numerous other festivals including Seattle Film Festival and Deauville Film Festival, where O'Haver was again nominated for a Grand Special Prize.

It was "Billy's Hollywood Screen Kiss" that led Harvey Weinstein to hire O'Haver for his second feature, Miramax's "Get Over It," an off-beat teen comedy starring Kirsten Dunst, Colin Hanks, and Martin Short. ELLA ENCHANTED marks O'Haver's third and most ambitious feature film.