- published: 11 Apr 2016
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Anthony and Joe Russo, known together professionally as the Russo brothers, are Emmy Award-winning American film and television directors. The brothers direct most of their work jointly, and they also occasionally work as producers, screenwriters, actors, and editors. The Russos are from Cleveland, Ohio, and were born a year apart. They are alumni of Case Western Reserve University.
Anthony and Joe Russo were graduate students at Case Western when they began directing, writing, and producing their first feature, Pieces. They financed the film with student loans and credit cards. After viewing Pieces at a film festival, Steven Soderbergh approached the duo and offered to produce their next film, along with his producing partner George Clooney. This project was the crime comedy Welcome to Collinwood, starring William H. Macy, Sam Rockwell, and Clooney.
When TV exec Kevin Reilly was rebuilding the FX network, he sought out the Russos to direct the pilot for his flagship series Lucky, having liked the pair's work on Collinwood. Ron Howard was a fan of the pilot, and he had a hand in hiring the brothers to direct the pilot for Fox's Arrested Development. The brothers won an Emmy for their work on the episode. Ever since, they have been sought after directors for TV pilots. They are credited with creating the visual style that made Arrested Development so popular with its rabid audience of TV critics and fans.
John Joseph Travolta (born February 18, 1954) is an American actor, dancer, and singer. Travolta first became known in the 1970s, after appearing on the television series Welcome Back, Kotter and starring in the box office successes Saturday Night Fever and Grease. Travolta's acting career declined in the early 1980s and continued to deteriorate for the rest of the decade. His career enjoyed a resurgence in the 1990s with his role in Pulp Fiction, and he has since continued starring in Hollywood films, including Face/Off, Ladder 49, and Wild Hogs. Travolta was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for Saturday Night Fever and Pulp Fiction. He won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for his performance in Get Shorty.
Travolta, the youngest of six children, was born and raised in Englewood, New Jersey, an inner-ring suburb of New York City. His father, Salvatore Travolta (November 1912 – May 1995), was a semi-professional American football player turned tire salesman and partner in a tire company. His mother, Helen Cecilia (née Burke, January 1912 – December 1978), was an actress and singer who had appeared in The Sunshine Sisters, a radio vocal group, and acted and directed before becoming a high school drama and English teacher. His siblings, Joey, Ellen, Ann, Margaret, and Sam Travolta, have all acted. His father was a second-generation Italian American and his mother was Irish American; he grew up in an Irish-American neighborhood and has said that his household was predominantly Irish in culture. He was raised Roman Catholic, but converted to Scientology in 1975.
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.
[Billy Danze]
Yo a lot of people depend on me (strongly)
I no longer wanna press them situations wrongly
They say that a man's life, gon' be what it's gon' be
So I switched the game around, and now it's on me
(You control your destiny) You niggaz keep testin me
like you want me to show you how messy a mess can be
(You're still a bang-banger) One of Saratoga's finest
?? ?? attention now (??) makin your highness..
Yo Bill, what'd you stop for man, what'd you stop for?
Teach 'em, tell 'em how you feel!
As I struggle to get my hands, on a dollar today
I think back about cats, that have passed away
That's why I feel more cursed than blessed
And I wonder what in this world, more worse than stress
I'm a mess with stress, though I present it with finesse
Sometimes I feel as if my heart is comin out my chest
I smoke too many ciggarettes; and the Remi won't
wash away the pain or get, strain off my brain
See it's the way, we, roll down here, stroll down here
A shootout, is like a common cold out here
That's why I sit back and I laugh at y'all
When it's crunchtime on the frontline, I will blast at y'all
I'm from Saratoga Avenue, I +HAD+ to brawl
It's where I realized it's a cold world, after all
You hear me talkin to ya? I'm on some grown Danze shit
(You'll be comin of age) My life is on a different page;
able to tame my rage
A little bit different from the first time I picked up a gauge
A little bit different from the first time I stepped on a stage
Take a look at me now; a born winner
In a race against time, like Bruce Jenner
A natural born sinner, can't nobody tame me, or change me
(For no reason at all he's angry, he'll) kill again!
[beat changes]
[Lil' Fame]
You are now tuned in to the Works of Mart
Take two steps back it's gon' hurt you pah!
Who the fuck talkin that they gon' hurt Jamal?
This ain't no diamond-studded rapper, it's the lover-stutter-slapper
Unpretty type rapper, gritty type rapper
Fo'-five semi-automatic pipe clapper
With them O.G.'s in it, please don't get your shit twisted
like bamboo with no trees in it
Fall back, motherfucker you can't beat me
It's the Womack, the extension of Danzini
We came into the game with some change for (??) fear
Two Phillies, a dime bag, and a forty ounce of beer
Now look at him, they hittin the scene slow
Who grindin, who thieves, but I'm lookin mean yo
with a gangster lean though, big dog in it
With my chrome ten inch hubcaps, but I keep 'em clean doe
I know the pros and cons so I married the game
Now it's mommy's little boy left to carry the name
I'm in the streets like a dopefiend with a shoppin cart filled
Double (??), who the fuck gon' stop Fame?
Y'all niggaz keep waitin til they pop Fame
And hold your breath while you wait bitch, I got game
Niggaz ain't feelin the Fame bitch? Stop dreamin
I'm the shit that felt good comin out of my pop's semen
Hit the streets and thug with me
No matter how disgruntled you sound nigga, you can't fuck with me
Too many dick riders that's quick to go blaow
But look bitch, I'ma let you know now
You fuckin with thugs, what the fuck you think this was?
I'm what you want me to be, stop fuckin with me
Cause I'm a nigga of the earth (earth) nigga of the sea (sea)
Nigga of the sky and fire, fling fire
Why don't I-ah, dump back at your men
It's M.O.P. and we at it again, ah-heh!
I ain't clappin over your head
I'ma make sure I pop somethin through ya
Givin motherfuckers ulcers with lead
Have your parents and the pastor huddled over your bed
May the Lord be with you, game over, you're dead