The Mill and The Cross




The Cast

Rutger Hauer

 

Rutger Hauer (Pieter Bruegel)

 Best known for his role as the violent yet sympathetic replicant Roy Batty in Ridley Scott's 1982 sci-fi thriller, Blade Runner, Hauer made his American debut in the Sylvester Stallone film Nighthawks (1981), cast as a pyschopathic terrorist. He went on to play numerous high profile roles in such films as Eureka (1983), The Osterman Weekend (1983), Flesh & Blood (1985), Ladyhawke (1985), The Hitcher (1986), and The Legend of the Holy Drinker (1989). He was cast in the martial arts action adventure Blind Fury (1989) and then returned to science fiction opposite Joan Chen in Salute of the Jugger (1990).

Always excelling in villainous roles, Hauer played an assassin in Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2003), a villainous cardinal with influential power in Sin City (2005) and a devious corporate executive running Wayne Enterprises in Batman Begins (2005). In 2009, he starred in the critically acclaimed Dazzle, and in the title role of Barbarossa, an Italian film directed by Renzo Martinelli. In April 2010 he was cast as a homeless vigilante in Jason Eisener's live action adaptation of the Grindhouse fake trailer Hobo With a Shotgun.

   

Charlotte Rampling

 

Charlotte Rampling (Mary)

Charlotte Rampling has spent four decades acting in English-language as well as French and Italian cinema. In the late '60's and early '70's, Rampling took on two controversial roles that helped establish her as an actress of rare daring. In 1974's The Night Porter, directed by Liliana Cavani, she portrayed a former concentration camp inmate entangled in a sado-masochistic relationship with her former guard, played by Dirk Bogarde. In 1969, in Luchino Visconti's The Damned, she played a young wife sent to a concentration camp. She gained recognition from American audiences in a remake of Raymond Chandler's detective story Farewell, My Lovely (1975) and later with Woody Allen's Stardust Memories (1980) and Sidney Lumet's The Verdict (1982), starring Paul Newman.

In the 2000s, Rampling received strong critical acclaim in two films by French director François Ozon: the poignant drama Under the Sand (2000) and the erotic thriller Swimming Pool (2003). In 2004, French filmmaker Laurent Cantet cast her as the lead in Heading South, his controversial Haiti-set film about female sexual tourism. The actress has continued to work in sexually provocative films such as the Basic Instinct 2006 sequel starring Sharon Stone. More recently, she portrayed the mother of Keira Knightley's character in the title role in 2008's The Duchess. Rampling's most recent film credits include Todd Solondz's Life During Wartime and Mark Romanek's dark drama Never Let Me Go, both released in 2010. She will soon be seen in Lars von Trier's disaster drama Melancholia.

   

Michael York

 

Michael York (Nicholas Jonghelinck)

British actor Michael York began his illustrious 46-year career with the National Youth Theatre, where he played Shakespeare in London and Europe, and went on to perform extensively at Oxford University. He made his film debut in Franco Zeffirelli’s The Taming of the Shrew (1967) followed by the role of Tybalt in Zeffirelli’s acclaimed Romeo and Juliet (1968). He played an amoral drifter in Harold Prince's Something for Everyone (1970) and the bisexual Brian Roberts in Bob Fosse's film version of Cabaret (1972).

York starred as D'Artagnan in the 1973 adaptation of The Three Musketeers and he made his Broadway debut in the original production of Tennessee Williams's Out Cry. Since his auspicious early work, York has enjoyed a busy and varied career in film, television, and on the stage. His more than 60 other screen credits include memorable roles in such films as Joseph Losey’s Accident, the all-star Murder on the Orient Express, The Last Remake of Beau Geste, and opposite Burt Lancaster in The Island of Dr. Moreau.

His television work comprises over 80 credits, including Great Expectations, Space, The Heat of the Day, A Knight in Camelot, The Night of the Fox, and The Lot (Emmy nomination). York’s Broadway and regional theater credits include Bent, The Crucible, Ring Round the Moon, and the title role in Cyrano de Bergerac. York’s distinctive voice can be heard in more than 90 audio book and film narrations; he was Grammy-nominated for Treasure Island and won awards for The Fencing Master, Creating True Peace, Goodbye to Berlin, and The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

   
A KinoLorber ReleasePolish Cultural Institute