Under the direction of Adam Shankman (“Hairspray”), New Line Cinema’s feature film adaptation of the smash hit Broadway musical “Rock of Ages” comes to the big screen. “Rock of Ages” tells the story of small town girl Sherrie and city boy Drew, who meet on the Sunset Strip while pursuing their Hollywood dreams. Their rock ‘n’ roll romance is told through the heart-pounding hits of Def Leppard, Foreigner, Journey, Poison, REO Speedwagon, Twisted Sister and more. The movie musical stars Julianne Hough (“Burlesque”), with actor/singer Diego Boneta in his feature film debut, Russell Brand (“Arthur,” “Get Him to the Greek”), Oscar® nominee Paul Giamatti (“Cinderella Man”), Academy Award® winner Catherine Zeta- Jones (“Chicago”), Malin Akerman (“The Proposal”) and R&B queen Mary J. Blige, with Oscar® nominee Alec Baldwin (“The Cooler,” TV’s “30 Rock”), and Oscar® nominee Tom Cruise (“Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol,” “Magnolia,” “Jerry Maguire”) as Stacee Jaxx. Shankman directs “Rock of Ages” from a screenplay by Justin Theroux and Chris D’Arienzo and Allan Loeb, based on D’Arienzo’s musical of the same name. The film is being produced by Matthew Weaver, Scott Prisand, Carl Levin, Tobey Maguire, Garrett Grant and Jennifer Gibgot, with Toby Emmerich, Richard Brener, Michael Disco, Samuel J. Brown, Hillary Butorac Weaver, Janet Billig Rich, Shankman and D’Arienzo serving as executive producers. Rounding out the “Rock of Ages” creative team are director of photography Bojan Bazelli (“Hairspray”), production designer Jon Hutman (“It’s Complicated”), editor Emma 1 E. Hickox (“A Walk To Remember”), Oscar®-nominated costume designer Rita Ryack (“How the Grinch Stole Christmas,” “Hairspray”), Grammy-nominated music supervisor Matt Sullivan (“Dreamgirls,” “Nine”), and Emmy Award-winning choreographer Mia Michaels (“So You Think You Can Dance”). The original score is by executive music producer Adam Anders and Peer Astrom (TV’s “Glee”). New Line Cinema presents, a Corner Store Entertainment production, in association with Material Pictures, in association with Offspring Entertainment, an Adam Shankman film, “Rock of Ages.” Opening in theaters and IMAX on June 15, 2012, the film will be distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company. This film has been rated PG-13 by the MPAA for sexual content, suggestive dancing, some heavy drinking, and language. www.rockofagesmovie.com For downloadable general press information, please visit: http://press.warnerbros.com 2 ABOUT THE PRODUCTION “I Wanna ROCK!” Hollywood’s famed Sunset Strip, 1987. Rockers wail and heads bang inside the packed and pulsating walls of a rock ‘n’ roll institution, The Bourbon Room. Heart strings are plucked and electric guitar sparks fly to the beat of some of the greatest hits of the `80s…the “Rock of Ages.” The Broadway hit now goes from stage to screen under the direction of Adam Shankman, who also executive produces the film. Shankman, who grew up in Los Angeles, felt right at home in the setting. “My dad was a music business manager, and his office was on the Strip,” he says. “I knew a lot of artists. I was choreographing music videos in 1987 and it was a world that I really understood and loved, so turning back that clock was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up.” At the core of the film is a boy-meets-girl love story woven into classic, only-in- Hollywood dreams of fame. Shankman’s sister and producing partner, Jennifer Gibgot, elaborates, “Like so many people in L.A., the young lovers in ‘Rock of Ages’ have come here hoping to make it big and thinking it’s going to be easy. But it turns out to be a lot harder to stay on the path, to keep believing in the thing that led them there in the first place.” The movie also shows the other side of the coin: what it was like to have achieved the fame and fortune that `80s glam bands so thoroughly and unabashedly enjoyed. Fellow native Angelino and producer Garrett Grant, who grew up listening to that music and idolizing the artists, emphasizes, “It was important to portray the period authentically, and hit the tone as much as we could in order to truly pay homage to the rock stars—rock gods, really—of that generation.” Julianne Hough and Diego Boneta portray the young couple with stars in their eyes at the center of the story. They are joined by an all-star cast that includes Alec Baldwin, Russell Brand, Paul Giamatti, Mary J. Blige, Malin Akerman and Catherine Zeta-Jones. And playing the rock god of “Rock of Ages,” Arsenal lead singer Stacee Jaxx, is Tom Cruise. For Shankman, the journey began when he went to see “Rock of Ages” on the stage. He recalls, “The audience was having the best time I’d ever seen at a show. Everybody knew the lyrics to all the songs and was out of their seats and singing along 3 and having the time of their life. That enthusiasm, that sheer emotion, convinced me to make the movie.” It wasn’t his only reason for revisiting the era, however. “I thought it would be an interesting challenge to make a movie musical that guys would drag their girlfriends to for a change.” “Nothin’ But A Good Time” Shankman’s “Rock of Ages” is based on the Broadway smash, which earned five Tony Award nominations and is still entertaining audiences on the Great White Way as well as in touring productions around the world. The show’s book was written by Chris D’Arienzo, who is also a writer and executive producer on the film. The story, about pursuing your heart’s desire, is backed by incredible songs and set on the iconic Sunset Strip, a place emblematic of the time, a place where fantasies could become reality, and did. Where a band from nowhere could perform at the Whiskey or The Roxy and wind up with a record deal. Writer Justin Theroux enjoyed working on the screenplay for the jukebox musical, an opportunity he describes as “a totally different experience. In a weird way, you write backwards from the point of view of the song. The song is always the emotional center for the characters in any given scene, so it’s fun to try to get them to that specific destination. The song does a lot of the emotional heavy lifting for you, but you have to build ramps up and down, to and from, that centerpiece.” Though most of the songs in the film are taken from the musical, Theroux was happy to add one that was a favorite of his growing up. “I thought ‘Jukebox Hero’ would be a great way to add more backstory to the character of Drew,” he explains. “It has such great narrative in the opening lines and really paints the picture of a teenage kid who wants to be a rock star.” Writer Allan Loeb also took pleasure in fiddling around with the script’s musical moments. “At times there are two songs playing off each other, going back and forth between the different storylines, with a lot of intercutting, to enable the song to serve more than one set of characters,” he details. “So the challenge was to shuffle the story and the verses, while also allowing for the choreography, until everyone explodes into a mash-up of the songs’ choruses. That’s how they did it on stage and how we handled it in the screenplay, and it was great fun to write.” 4 Says Shankman, “What’s often the most difficult and compelling thing about a musical like ‘Rock of Ages’ is that half of a song is played as performance and the other half as dialogue or inner monologue. I think the writers did a great job of turning a terrific stage show into a real cinematic experience. I’d like to see the movie-going audiences jumping out of their seats just like the theater audience did, and I think this story and these characters and this rockin’ music, performed by our unexpected and unbelievably talented cast, just might get them on their feet.” “Waiting for a Girl Like You” The opening scene of “Rock of Ages” follows a beautiful, if somewhat naïve, girl named Sherrie Christian, who has just hopped a bus from her small Midwestern hometown in pursuit of her Hollywood dream to be a singer. When she takes her first steps on the Sunset Strip, she thinks she’s found paradise. Julianne Hough was cast as the wide-eyed Sherrie, who lands at the epicenter of the rock ‘n’ roll scene. “She just wants to make something of herself, even if she’s not going to be the biggest rock star in the world. She wants to be around it, the excitement and the energy of a city like that. It makes her feel alive.” Prior to casting Hough in “Rock of Ages,” Shankman had an opportunity to direct her in a music video for her latest album. “Julianne blew my mind,” he says. “She has an extraordinary rapport with the camera; her beauty and talent is right there in a really big way.” Arriving in town with hopes high, Sherrie immediately experiences a bit of a rude awakening. The disappointment doesn’t last long, though, as she’s rescued by a handsome young man, Drew Boley, who offers her what she needs more than anything in the world: a job. Diego Boneta won the role of Drew after a nationwide search. “Drew is a barback at The Bourbon Room, a legendary club like the Whiskey, where all the bands play,” says Boneta.