A reinvention of the original Oscar-winning hit film packed with explosive music and dance, Fame follows a talented group of dancers, singers, actors, and artists over four years at the New York City High School of Performing Arts, a diverse, creative powerhouse where students from all walks of life are given a chance to live out their dreams and achieve real and lasting fame...the kind that comes only from talent, dedication, and hard work.
In an incredibly competitive atmosphere, each student's passion will be put to the test.  As they strive for their moment in the spotlight, mentored by the best - and toughest - teachers, they'll discover who among them has the innate skills and necessary dedication to succeed.  With the love and support of their friends and fellow artists, they'll find out who amongst them has what it takes to achieve Fame…
Directed by Kevin Tancharoen from a screenplay by Allison Burnett, based on the motion picture Fame written by Christopher Gore.

"I'm gonna live forever…"

REINVENTING FAME
The new, 2009 reinvention of Fame takes its inspiration from Alan Parker's Oscar-winning 1980 film.  With its indelible images of students joyously dancing on taxicabs and Irene Cara's hit rendition of the film's theme song ringing in the nation's ears, Fame became a critical hit and a film experience people took to heart.  The film was nominated for six Academy Awards® and won two: Best Music (Original Score) and Best Music (Original Song) for "Fame."  Its other nominations were for Film Editing, Music (Original Song) for "Out Here On My Own," Sound, and Writing (Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen).
With a devoted fanbase, the film struck a major chord with audiences, and over the next two decades Fame became a quasi cottage industry, spawning a popular television series that ran for several seasons and lives on in syndication and on DVD, a Broadway musical, a world tour, and a reality TV show long before American Idol or So You Think You Can Dance became hit television staples.  Now, almost thirty years later, a new generation is putting on their tap shoes, sitting down at the piano, and grabbing the microphone to strut their stuff.
The Fame brand's appeal has always been in watching talented kids relentlessly pursuing their goals of success through hard work, entertaining and emoting along the way.  They "pay for it in sweat."  In a world of reality TV and instant celebrity via red carpet meltdowns, and with a generation accustomed to and comfortable streaming their lives on the web via websites like YouTube, Fame counters Andy Warhol's "15 minutes" theory with the notion of "real and lasting fame" - performances, careers, and success built on the notion of innate talent diligently honed through exhaustive discipline and never-ending practice.
"I was a huge fan of the original film, even though the nature of fame has changed dramatically in the last 25 years," says producer Tom Rosenberg.  "We wanted to follow the same sort of time arc, which was to follow the characters through four years at the High School for Performing Arts.  But we didn't want to imitate the original - we wanted the characters to be fresh and contemporary. And part of that is examining the nature of talent and hard work vs. 'instant' celebrity.
"When Alan Parker made the first film," he continues, "the nature of fame was probably more linked to talent than it is today, and there was the perception that hard work and struggle were involved in fame.  That is still true, but nowadays the idea of becoming a celebrity without talent is more prolific."  Anyone with a page on a social networking site is instantly 'famous,' and anyone with a digital camera is a potential filmmaker.  "So, as in the original, the idea is to examine the real work and talent it takes to be an artist."
To reinvent the franchise with a modern energy and flair, the producers turned to accomplished young multi-hyphenate Kevin Tancharoen, who, just like his characters, had to audition for the job.
"It was a Friday afternoon, and we had met 30 or 40 directors," says producer Gary Lucchesi, "but none felt exactly right.  Kevin sat down and started talking to me about his work - he had been a dancer, met Britney Spears, had done some choreography for her, and ended up directing her worldwide tour when he was only 19, which was incredible."  His work as a choreographer also includes enormous shows with 'N Sync and work with Madonna in addition to directing Spears' "Onyx Hotel" tour.  "We talked about his work with Jennifer Lopez directing Dancelife, his work with The Pussycat Dolls, and we asked him where he was from.  He was from LA, grew up in the movie business, but he wasn't a part of the privileged 'elite' - he was part of the responsible, working side, which I found quite compelling."
Lucchesi asked Tancharoen to send him "everything he'd ever directed."
"The next day, here comes this big envelope.  We were very impressed not only with the choreography but the way he shot the dance and the dramatic scenes.  I showed Kevin's work to Tom, and we agreed he was the director we had been looking for."
Although Fame is the 24-year-old director's first movie, his background, a mixture of music, dance, and pop culture, is the perfect blend of experience from which to draw for a movie like Fame.  But while all his experience helped ready him for the job, it was the fact he connected to the material in such a personal way that Tancharoen feels made him the right guy for the job.
"Before I was a choreographer, I was that dancer with a number on his chest waiting to find out if I'd made the cut," Tancharoen says.  "I was an energetic little kid, and my sister was in a singing group called Pretty in Pink - I would have to go with her to rehearsals after school, and with all that energy bottled up I had to do something, so I ended up just trying to follow along and took to it.  My mother threw me into dance classes and martial arts and I enjoyed it.  All this led to some jobs professionally, which led to my interest in music.  I bought some equipment and started producing songs.
"And I've always loved movies," he continues.  "My dad is a transportation captain on feature films, so I visited him on sets a lot.  The biggest one for me was Batman Returns - I remember walking on to the sound stage and they were making snow, and there was Arnold Schwarzenegger walking around with a cigar and The Penguin and Batman and Catwoman.  It was amazing, and the magic of movies still fascinates me and has certainly influenced my work.
"On this movie, on some level, I lived out my own Fame story.  I've been doing this since I was eight and have been constantly working at it, learning new stuff, being taught by great teachers and mentors.  Every element of that led to me directing this movie," Tancharoen says.
Since the original Fame, Tancharoen agrees the landscape has changed in terms of what audiences expect from a film full of dance, music and drama.  With entertainment reality competitions on TV, "The History of Dance" and its ilk on the web, and movie hits like Save the Last Dance and Step Up, "all genres of dance and musical performance have been showcased in really mainstream, entertaining ways," he says.  "Now we have a more educated audience; the bar has been raised.  We've seen people defy physics by spinning on their heads, sliding across the floor.  We've seen bravura singers from rock to rap to country."  Tancharoen wanted to make sure and raise the bar in his own film, and it was one of his working mantras during production.
That said, with all the "new," he wanted to make sure and keep the film rooted in what makes it unique and compelling.  "When the original Fame came out," he says, "it was a novelty.  It represented musicals taking a shift from the MGM classics of the 1950s.  It also really showcased what it was like to be a struggling teenage artist, to want it so badly and still not be assured of success - not everyone makes it.  What we're trying to do, I think, is recapture the core of that idea and marry it with the new dance and performance styles.  It's not just the dance and the song - it's the stories behind the dance and the song."
To showcase those young artists' struggles, Tancharoen wanted to assemble an ensemble of gifted newcomers who, in many respects, reflected their characters in real life.  The young performers in the film are, in many ways, living in real life what their onscreen characters are going through, which lends the film's stories an honesty and affecting immediacy.  "The cast brings an authenticity to the characters," Tancharoen says.  "They understand this world.  Essentially, they themselves are the characters in the movie."  The actors felt very invested in their characters, and it made the project incredibly special for each of them, personalizing their roles.

Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts
Now commonly known as the "Fame" School, the High School of Music & Art was founded in 1936 by New York City Mayor Fiorello H. LaGuardia, who wanted to create a place where the most gifted and talented of New York's public school students could pursue their creative talents while also receiving a full academic program of instruction.  The School of Performing Arts was created in 1948 to train students for professional careers in dance, music, or drama.  The two schools became one organization in 1961 in anticipation of their move to a single building at Lincoln Center, in which they finally came together in 1984.  In LaGuardia's honor, the new school was called the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts.
LaGuardia Arts was the first school in the nation to provide a free, publicly funded program for students with unique talents in the arts.  Students are admitted on the basis of potential and achievement through a competitive audition and a review of their academic records. For more information, visit www.laguardiahs.org.

THE YOUNG TALENT
The film's youth cast includes Asher Book, Kristy Flores, Paul Iacono, Paul McGill, Naturi Naughton, Kay Panabaker, Kherington Payne, Collins Pennié, Walter Perez, and Anna Maria Perez de Tagle.  Read more

THE FACULTY
To play the High School's teachers and mentors, the filmmakers called on a group of actors who've each achieved success in a variety of arenas.  From the big screen to television, from the stage to the recording studio, the school's different disciplines are reflected in the versatility and multifaceted careers of the actors portraying the people at the front of the classroom. Read more

SONG AND DANCE
Fame is packed with fantastic, thumping music and elaborate dance routines.  In reinventing the film for a modern audience, the filmmakers wanted to use some music from the original as an homage to what came before (and to keep die-hard fans happy), but they also wanted to "look to the now" and come up with a soundtrack that would be as effective blasting out of a car stereo as it is in the context of the film.  To compose the soundtrack, a who's who of modern music production was assembled to come up with a new series of songs.  Read more

BACKSTAGE
Although the production filmed most of the interiors in Los Angeles, the company filmed the exteriors in New York, and Manhattan locales dictated the entire look of the film, especially the actual performing arts high school. Read more

ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS

KEVIN TANCHAROEN (Director), a multifaceted talent with a background in music, video and performance, is poised to take on the film world by stepping behind the lens.  Fame is Tancharoen's feature film directing debut.  With his extensive background in music, Tancharoen also had a hand in the film's soundtrack, on which he received an executive producer credit.
Passionate about film even as a young boy, Tancharoen began going to the movies with his parents at age 4.  By the sixth grade, he was writing papers about the films of influences like Robert Rodriquez and Quentin Tarantino.  Even at that young age Kevin found himself focused on the creative and technical aspects of filmmaking, enjoying the "making of" and "behind the scenes" featurettes as much as the actual films.  This led him to explore the creation of special effects, enrolling in a creature mold-making class side by side with people twice his age.  Dabbling in the world of digital effects and surrounded by aspiring musicians, Tancharoen found himself drawn to shooting and editing their music videos.
Simultaneously, Tancharoen explored his own talent as a performer by joining the dance company led by world-renowned choreographer Wade Robson.  Tancharoen himself moved to choreography, quickly catching the eye of superstar artists like Britney Spears and N*Sync, and getting the opportunity to work with both.
His varied experience in dance, music, and as a seasoned film buff allowed Tancharoen to undertake remixing projects for musical performances and specials.  His video work includes pieces for Christina Aguilera, Jessica Simpson, and Tyrese.
Tancharoen's next film project, Arcana, will infuse elements from his many influences, from comic books to genre films to dancing to martial arts.

ALLISON BURNETT (Writer) grew up in Evanston, Illinois, the son of a psychologist and a Northwestern University professor.  After graduating from Northwestern, having majored in the Oral Interpretation of Literature, he moved to New York City, where he was a fellow of the Lila Acheson Wallace Playwriting Program at the Juilliard School.  In 1997, he wrote and directed his first feature film, Red Meat.  In 2000, he wrote the first script for Autumn in New York, starring Richard Gere and Winona Ryder.  His first novel, Christopher, was a finalist for the 2004 PEN Center USA Literary Award in Fiction.  His second novel, The House Beautiful, was published in October 2006.  The film of his script Resurrecting the Champ, co-written with Michael Bortman, directed by Rod Lurie and starring Samuel L. Jackson, was released in August 2007.  A film based on his rewrite of the script Untraceable (by Robert Fyvolent & Mark R. Brinker), directed by Gregory Hoblit and starring Diane Lane, was released in early 2008.

CHRISTOPHER GORE (Screenplay, Fame 1980) was nominated for an Academy Award for the original screenplay for Fame. Gore started writing musicals and plays shortly after graduation from Northwestern University.  His first Broadway production was "Via Galactica" in 1972, a sci-fi rock musical written with Judith Ross and Galt MacDermot.  After the success of Fame the film, he went on to write several episodes of the original television show. Gore died of cancer in 1988 at the age of 45.

MARGUERITE DERRICKS (Choreographer) has choreographed hundreds of films, television programs, commercials, music videos, and stage productions.  She is currently preparing to work on the new Frank Wildhorn musical, "Wonderland."
Marguerite has received three Emmy Awards, winning in three consecutive years.  Her first was for the long running television series 3^rd Rock from the Sun.  She won her second Emmy Award for Fame LA, and a third for The 1998 Goodwill Games Opening and Closing Ceremonies. 
Marguerite's films include Little Miss Sunshine, Spiderman 3, Donnie Darko, Charlie's Angels, the Austin Powers trilogy and Mr. and Mrs. Smith, earning her MTV Movie Award and American Choreography Award nominations for her work.  Her television credits include the 58^th Emmy Awards, numerous MTV Awards and Fashion Rocks telecasts, That 70's Show (American Choreography Award nominee), and CSI Miami.  Also in demand for commercials, some of her most memorable ad campaigns include Old Navy, GAP, Pepsi, and Jack in the Box.
Marguerite's choreography can be seen in Cirque Du Soleil's Zumanity, now in its 8th sold-out year at the New York New York Hotel in Las Vegas. 

MARK ISHAM (Composer) continues to be one of the most prolific and provocative artists on the scene.  His gift for creating unforgettable melodies and his love of fresh, innovative sonic palettes have earned Isham many awards, including a Grammy, an Emmy, and a Clio, in addition to multiple Grammy, Academy Award®, and Golden Globe nominations as a composer and recording artist.   Most recently, Mark was honored by ASCAP with the Henry Mancini Award for Lifetime Achievement. 
Isham's musical signature is evident in his memorable scores for such notable films as Crash, awarded the Oscar for Best Picture in 2005 (Isham's score was named Best Soundtrack of 2005 by Cinescape.com), Bobby, and The Black Dahlia, with it's critically lauded jazz noir soundtrack (awarded Best Score for a Drama Film - 2007, and nominated for Best Score of the Year by the International Film Music Critics Association).  Other highlights include Eight Below, The Cooler, A River Runs Through It, Blade, Nell, Men of Honor, and The Secret Life of Bees. 
His list of collaborators in film includes Robert Redford, Tom Cruise, Brian De Palma, Chick Corea, Jodie Foster, Robert Altman, Sting, Wil.I.Am, Sydney Lumet, Mick Jagger, and too many more to name.
As a performing artist, Mark has added his unique sound - melodic, moody, sexy and cool - to a wide variety of genres.  He has graced the albums of such diverse artists as Bruce Springsteen, Willie Nelson, Lyle Lovett, Ziggy Marley, Joni Mitchell, The Rolling Stones, Chris Isaak, and Van Morrison.  His solo recordings span from electronica and classic jazz to hip-hop and ethnic world music, receiving worldwide critical acclaim, including Grammy nominations for his albums Castalia and Tibet and a win for his Virgin Records release Mark Isham.  He recently teamed up with ARIA-winning Australian vocalist Kate Ceberano for the album Bittersweet, a timeless collection of jazz standards.  The collection was a phenomenal hit in Australia, with consecutive weeks at #1.
Currently, Mark is working with Werner Herzog on the highly anticipated new film The Bad Lieutenant.

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