Wolfgang Petersen's Action Adventure Poseidon Begins Production

Oscar-nominated director Wolfgang Petersen is currently in production in Burbank on the suspenseful action adventure Poseidon, it was announced today by Jeff Robinov, President of Production, Warner Bros. Pictures.

When a rogue wave capsizes a luxury cruise ship in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean, a small group of survivors find themselves unlikely allies in a battle for their lives. As the unstable vessel rapidly floods with water, they face unimaginable odds and life-altering decisions in their desperate fight to the surface.

Poseidon's ensemble starring cast includes Academy Award and Emmy-nominated Kurt Russell ("Silkwood", "Elvis") as first-class passenger Robert Ramsey, and Josh Lucas (A Beautiful Mind, Sweet Home Alabama) as Dylan Johns, a professional gambler who makes a living at the ship's poker tables. Emmy Rossum (Golden Globe nominee for "The Phantom of the Opera") is Ramsey's young daughter Jennifer, and Mike Vogel (The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants) is her fiance, Christian. Jacinda Barrett (Ladder 49) is Maggie, a single workaholic mother who booked the cruise as a gift to her precocious eight-year-old son Conor, played by Jimmy Bennett (The Amityville Horror). Mia Maestro ("Alias") stars as the stowaway Elena, Emmy Award-winner Andre Braugher ("Homicide: Life on the Stree"t) as beleaguered Captain Bradford, and Oscar and Golden Globe Award-winner Richard Dreyfuss ("Mr. Holland's Opus") as Richard Nelson, a man contemplating suicide moments before the giant wave strikes.

Wolfgang Petersen gained international renown with the 1982 drama Das Boot, which earned him Oscar, BAFTA and DGA Award nominations, and went on to helm such blockbuster features as "Outbreak", "In the Line of Fire", Air Force One and The Perfect Storm. Most recently, he directed the epic action drama Troy.

Written by Mark Prostosevich (Bram Stoker Award winner for The Cell), Poseidon is produced by Wolfgang Petersen, Mike Fleiss (2003's The Texas Chainsaw Massacre), Duncan Henderson (Oscar and Golden Globe nominee for Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, The Perfect Storm) and Akiva Goldsman (Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Constantine). Kevin Burns (Emmy-winning producer of A&E's Biography), Jon J. Jashni (Sweet Home Alabama) and Sheila Allen (Fox TV's The Time Tunnel) serve as executive producers. Additionally, Allen starred as Nurse Gina Rowe in the 1972 film The Poseidon Adventure, credited as Sheila Mathews.

The filmmaking team includes Oscar-winning director of photography John Seale, ACS, ASC (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Oscar and BAFTA winner for The English Patient) who previously collaborated with director Petersen on The Perfect Storm. Also rejoining Petersen on Poseidon are production designer Bill Sandell (BAFTA winner and Oscar nominee for Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World) and costume designer Erica Edell Phillips, who worked with him on The Perfect Storm, Outbreak and Air Force One.

A Wolfgang Petersen / Next Entertainment / Irwin Allen Productions / Synthesis Entertainment Production of a Wolfgang Petersen film, Poseidon will be distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures and is set for a Summer 2006 release.