News and Events
FTT Talks presents:
THE GRUDGE: From Notre Dame To Hollywood
A Screening and Talk with Actor William Mapother (ND '87) and Screenwriter Stephen Susco (ND '95)
Thursday November 11, 7pm, Browning Cinema
The Department of Film, Television, & Theatre and DeBartolo Center For The Performing Arts proudly bring back to campus two recent Notre Dame graduates to present their latest work.
Sony Pictures' newly released THE GRUDGE, an American remake of a Japanese horror film, was written by Stephen Susco (ND '95), stars Sarah Michelle Gellar, and co-stars William Mapother (ND '87). A special screening of the film will take place Thursday November 11 at 7pm, followed immediately by an informal chat with Mapother and Susco on their paths from Notre Dame to Hollywood to the set of THE GRUDGE.
This is a FREE promotional screening, however, you will need to pick-up tickets at the Performing Arts Center box office. Seating is limited. Tickets available now for FTT majors, and November 1st for all others. There is also an additional FREE screening at 10:00pm.
Displaying astonishing versatility with a wide range of roles in film and television, William Mapother’s next release is a co-starring role opposite Clea DuVall in Sony’s Halloween film THE GRUDGE. This horror thriller, based on the Japanese hit Ju-On, was produced by Sam Raimi and stars Sarah Michelle Gellar and Jason Behr.
William is best known for his riveting performance as Marisa Tomei's husband in the critically acclaimed and Oscar-nominated film In the Bedroom. Along with his fellow cast members, William received a SAG Nomination for “Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Theatrical Motion Picture.”
His other feature film credits include next year’s Lords of Dogtown, this past summer’s Mean Creek and Suspect Zero, Minority Report, Without Limits, Swordfish, Mission: Impossible 2, Almost Famous, and Magnolia.
Throughout his career William has worked with such notable directors as Robert Towne, John Woo, Steven Spielberg, Paul Thomas Anderson, Cameron Crowe, and Catherine Hardwicke. He made his big screen debut with a small role in Oliver Stone's Born on the 4th of July.
On television William can be seen, starting in mid-November, on the new hit series Lost. He has also been featured on the television shows CSI, CSI Miami, Law & Order: SVU, NCIS, Line of Fire, and Touched by an Angel.
Born in Louisville, Kentucky, William graduated from Notre Dame with a degree in English Literature. After working for several years on the production side of the film industry, he taught in East L.A. for three years as a substitute teacher for the L.A. Unified School District. He then moved to New York City, where he directed a production of North of Providence. Also a writer, he is currently at work on an original project. William resides in Los Angeles.
Stephen Susco graduated from Notre Dame in the summer of 1995 with three Bachelor's Degrees: Philosophy, Film & Television, and Computer Applications. He has been a working screenwriter since 1996.
Stephen has written film scripts for and sold pitches to New Line, Warner Brothers, Dimension, Miramax, Universal, Sony, United Artists and Paramount Studios, and has had the privilege of writing for a variety of acclaimed directors (including Mike Nichols, Taylor Hackford, Ted Demme and Philip Noyce), Oscar-winning producers (Kathleen Kennedy, Lawrence Bender and Gale Anne Hurd), and actors such as John Leguizamo, Sarah Michelle Gellar and Jennifer Love Hewitt.
Upon graduating with an MFA in Film Production from USC in May of 1998, Stephen began co-writing Dumbstruck for director Mike Nichols and actor John Leguizamo, and the action thriller Airtime for director Scott Ziehl and co-producers Miramax, A Band Apart (Lawrence Bender, Oscar-nominated producer of Pulp Fiction and Good Will Hunting), and Film Colony (Richard Gladstein, Oscar-nominated producer of The Cider House Rules).
After writing the American remake of THE GRUDGE (released nationally on October 22nd, 2004, by Columbia Pictures) for producers Ghost House Pictures (Sam Raimi), Senator International and Vertigo Productions (Roy Lee), Stephen finished an adaptation of Threshold, a French-Canadian thriller, for Dimension Films.
Stephen also recently optioned his script Red (adapted from the book by Jack Ketchum) to United Artists, for director Lucky McKee (May, The Woods) to direct in late 2004. He is also currently developing his script Bitter for director Taylor Hackford (Ray, Officer and a Gentleman, The Devil’s Advocate), and his original script Adagio is being produced as an independent film.
