Prior to that, Demme received critical acclaim for such films as Beautiful Girls, starring Matt Dillon, Lauren Holly, Timothy Hutton, Rosie O’Donnell, Martha Plimpton, Natalie Portman, Michael Rapaport, Mira Sorvino and Uma Thurman; The Ref, his first collaboration with Denis Leary; and Who’s the Man. His production company Spanky Pictures has produced an impressive body of work as well, with a full slate currently in development. Spanky produced Monument Ave., last year’s Miramax film Rounders (starring Matt Damon and Ed Norton) as well as this year’s Sundance Film Festival Award-winner Tumbleweeds. Next up for Spanky is HBO’s highly-anticipated A Lesson Before Dying, a television adaption of the best-selling novel starring Don Cheadle. |