Mark Neveldine (born 11 May 1973) is an American film director, film producer, screenwriter and camera operator. He is best known for frequently collaborating with Brian Taylor as Neveldine/Taylor.

Neveldine was born in Watertown, New York to Tom Neveldine and Carolyn Dowd Fitzpatrick. He attended Hobart and William Smith Colleges in Geneva, New York, where he studied drama and psychology. After graduating, he moved to Manhattan, where he began his career as an actor of nearly thirty productions. He moved to Los Angeles and attended the The Los Angeles Film School, where he met Brian Taylor. He was subsequently transitioned into film work, becoming a cinematographer of music videos, documentaries and a television pilot.

Neveldine, along with Brian Taylor, were set to direct the film Jonah Hex, but dropped out of the project due to "creative differences". However, they are still credited for the screenplay. Neveldine directed Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, the sequel to the Marvel Comics' superhero film Ghost Rider, alongside partner Brian Taylor.

Nicolas Cage (born Nicolas Kim Coppola; January 7, 1964) is an Academy Award–winning American actor, producer and director, having appeared in over 60 films including Raising Arizona (1987), The Rock (1996), Face/Off (1997), Gone in 60 Seconds (2000), Adaptation (2002), National Treasure (2004), Lord of War (2005), Ghost Rider (2007), Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (2009), Kick-Ass (2010), and Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance (2012).

Cage was born Nicolas Kim Coppola on January 7, 1964 in Long Beach, California. His father, August Coppola, a professor of literature, and his mother, Joy Vogelsang, a dancer and choreographer, divorced in 1976. He was raised in a Catholic family. Cage's mother is of German descent and his father was of Italian descent. His paternal grandparents were composer Carmine Coppola and actress Italia Pennino, and his paternal great-grandparents were immigrants from Bernalda, Basilicata. Through his father, Cage is the nephew of director Francis Ford Coppola and actress Talia Shire, and the cousin of directors Roman Coppola and Sofia Coppola, film producer Gian-Carlo Coppola, and actors Robert Carmine and Jason Schwartzman. Cage's two brothers are New York radio personality Marc "The Cope" Coppola and director Christopher Coppola. He attended Beverly Hills High School, which is known for its many alumni who became entertainers. He aspired to act from an early age and also attended UCLA School of Theatre, Film and Television. His first non-cinematic acting experience was in a school production of Golden Boy.

Edward Thomas "Tom" Hardy (born 15 September 1977) is a British actor and screenwriter. He is known for his roles in Star Trek: Nemesis, RocknRolla, Bronson, Inception, Warrior, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, This Means War, and the television movie Stuart: A Life Backwards, for which he received a nomination for the BAFTA Best Actor. He also played Freddie Jackson in Martina Cole's The Take, a television movie based on her novel of the same name. He will portray the primary villain Bane in the upcoming Batman film, The Dark Knight Rises.

Hardy, an only child, was born in Hammersmith, and brought up in East Sheen, London. His mother, Anne (née Barrett), is an artist and painter whose family was Irish Catholic. His father, Edward "Chips" Hardy, is an advertisement, comedy and novel writer. Hardy studied at two private schools, Reed's School and Tower House School, then at Richmond Drama School, and subsequently at the Drama Centre London. He began his debut in war dramas, winning the part of United States Army Private John Janovec in the award-winning HBO and BBC miniseries Band of Brothers. He made his feature film debut in Ridley Scott's 2001 war thriller Black Hawk Down.

Alison Marion Lohman (born September 18, 1979) is an American actress. She has had lead roles in the films White Oleander, Where the Truth Lies, Matchstick Men, Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, Flicka and Drag Me to Hell as well as smaller parts in Big Fish, Gamer, and Beowulf. She has also been on several television shows including 7th Heaven, Crusade, Tucker, and Pasadena.

Lohman was born and raised in Palm Springs, California, the daughter of Diane (née Dunham), a patisserie owner, and Gary Lohman, a Minnesota-born architect. She has one younger brother, Robert (born 1982). She has two cats, Monk and Clint. In her first school year, Lohman was diagnosed with combined type attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and put on medicine for it, which she still uses as an adult.^{[citation needed]} Afterwards, she had straights A's in everything, except in drama, because she was too shy. Her family had no industry connections, but at age nine, she played Gretyl in The Sound of Music at the Palm Desert's McCallum Theater. Two years later, she won the Desert Theater League's award for "Most Outstanding Actress in a Musical" for the title role in Annie. By the age of 17, Lohman had appeared in 12 different major productions and had been a backing singer for the likes of Frank Sinatra, Bob Hope and the Desert Symphony.