THE WHOLE NINE YARDS FEATURE

Nicholas "Oz" Oseransky (Matthew Perry) is a nice dentist living in suburban Montreal. His new next door neighbor, Jimmy "The Tulip" Tudeski (Bruce WIllis), is a hit man hiding out from a dangerous Chicago crime family. Despite their differences, Oz and Jimmy have one thing in common: someone's trying to kill them both. For Jimmy, avoiding a couple of hired killers is child's play. But for Oz, it's a whole new ball game. To stay alive, they're going to have to stick together - Jimmy with his cunning and cold-blooded accuracy and Oz with his dental tools. THE WHOLE NINE YARDS is a comedy about life, love and plenty of ammunition. Directed by Jonathan Lynn and written by Mitchell Kapner, THE WHOLE NINE YARDS also stars Rosanna Arquette, Michael Clarke Duncan, Natasha Henstridge, Amanda Peet and Kevin Pollak. Perry, who is known worldwide as Chandler Bing in the popular TV show FRIENDS, stars as Dr. Nicholas Oseransky ("Oz"), an unassuming dentist and all-around nice guy whose life has become unliveable but who has no easy way out of it. "He's kind of giving up on life," Perry says. Bruce Willis, star of the highly acclaimed summer blockbuster THE SIXTH SENSE plays Jimmy "the Tulip" Tudeski, who moves in next door to Oz in a peaceful Montreal suburb. A man who has been headline news for ratting out the leader of the notorious Gogolak Gang, Jimmy is hard to kill. "Jimmy doesn't kill people who are close to him for one reason - he doesn't let anyone get close to him," says Willis. "He would have morals if they didn't interfere with his job." Oz takes an immediate liking to his neighbor and they become friends even though he has recognized Jimmy as a hit man in hiding. Rosanna Arquette plays Oz's wife, Sophie, who is simultaneously scheming to collect the reward on Jimmy's head while also trying to find a hit man who will agree to kill her husband so that she can collect on his life insurance. "She's just one of the meanest people in the history of film," says Perry. "But you can see why he fell for her in the first place because, after all, she is a hottie." Amanda Peet stars as Jill, Oz's bubbly, sympathetic dental assistant. "Jill has a lot of affection for Oz and can't believe such a nice guy could be married to such a horrible woman," says Peet. "Then again, Jill also has a pretty big secret she hasn't told Oz about, so she's no angel either." Peet can currently be seen starring as Jack on the hit WB series JACK & JILL and most recently starred in New Line's BODY SHOTS. Michael Clarke Duncan, who previously appeared with Bruce Willis in ARMAGEDDON and recently made a sensational impression in the Warner Bros./Castle Rock drama THE GREEN MILE, stars as Franklin FRANKIE FIGS Figueroa, a Chicago hit man who draws Oz into the Gogolak Gang inner circle. "Frankie came up through the ranks with Jimmy the Tulip," Duncan says. "Frankie respects what Jimmy has done and knows not to cross him. He's working for Janni Gogolak. His true loyalties are with Jimmy, but he's also a hit man, so loyalty can take you only so far." Natasha Henstridge, who shot to prominence as the half-alien star of SPECIES, stars as Jimmy's beautiful, estranged wife Cynthia, with whom Oz finds himself falling hopelessly in love. Henstridge describes Cynthia as someone who "grew up on the right side of the tracks. She went for the boy who was a little more dangerous than she should have gotten involved with. She's now living with the mobsters who are trying to track Jimmy down and also living with the knowledge that Jimmy wants to kill her." Oz has finally found something worth living for. To save Cynthia's life, Oz embarks on a high risk gamble to outsmart Jimmy the Tulip and Janni Gogolak (Kevin Pollak) with his Hungarian gang, and to keep Cynthia alive without having to kill anyone in the process. Jimmy, meanwhile, has a new name for his hit list: Oz. But he's willing to negotiate. "It's an intriguing comedy that's full of twists and turns, and surprises," says director Jonathan Lynn (MY COUSIN VINNY). Producers David Willis and Allan Kaufman profess that putting together THE WHOLE NINE YARDS was probably the quickest deal ever made. Returning from a Planet Hollywood promotional trip in Dubai, Kaufman started to read the script, which had been given to him by Mitchell Kapner, a long-time friend. Kaufman, who went to the Planet Hollywood openings as the percussionist and the production manager of Bruce Willis's band, soon awoke the other passengers (which included Bruce Willis, his brother David Willis, and actress Tia Carrere) on the private jet with his laughter, causing David Willis to inquire what was so funny. The script pages were flying around the cabin and by the end of the flight Bruce Willis was in and Carrere's husband, Elie Samaha, agreed to finance the film before the jet had even landed in L.A. A few weeks later David Willis was in Montreal scouting locations. Kaufman and Willis were fans of MY COUSIN VINNY and NUNS ON THE RUN and they quickly arranged a meeting with director Jonathan Lynn and Bruce Willis. "Bruce and Jonathan took an immediate liking to each other," says producer Willis. "Jonathan had been an actor before becoming a director and Bruce felt comfortable that they shared the same sense of humor and vision for the film." Continued on page 2

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