I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry

Biel landed her first feature film role, playing Peter Fonda’s granddaughter in the critically-acclaimed drama Ulee’s Gold, released in 1997. Her performance earned her a Young Artist Award. In spring 1998, during a break from filming 7th Heaven, Biel starred in the holiday movie I’ll Be Home for Christmas, playing opposite Jonathan Taylor Thomas.

In 2000, during the fourth season of 7th Heaven, Biel commented that she grew tired of playing the wholesome preacher’s kid, and blamed the show for giving her a squeaky-clean image, which caused her to lose out on a role in American Beauty (the part went to Thora Birch). In a last ditch attempt to be let out of her contract, she posed semi-nude for the cover of Gear magazine. Fans and producers of 7th Heaven were outraged, and the shoot also sparked a lot of controversy, as Biel was still under 18 at the time, but Aaron Spelling made it clear that Biel would be staying with the show until her contract was due to expire (although, she appeared in minimal episodes in season five, due to her attending college out of state). She has now claimed that she regrets the Gear shoot, but considers it a learning experience.

In 2001, Biel played the love interest of Freddie Prinze, Jr. in the baseball themed movie, Summer Catch. The next year, she starred as promiscuous college student Lara in the ensemble, The Rules of Attraction, a film adaptation of the Bret Easton Ellis novel of the same name.

After leaving 7th Heaven at the end of the sixth season, Biel was cast as the lead heroine in the remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. The film was met with mixed reviews, but became a box office success, scoring the number one spot in its opening week.

In fall 2003, Biel began working on the third installment of the Blade film series, Blade: Trinity. Almost immediately after finishing Blade Trinity in 2004, she headed to Australia to shoot the action/thriller Stealth. Both movies were critical and box office failures. Stealth had a budget of $130 million, but grossed just $76 million worldwide. Biel also made a notable cameo appearance in the 2004 film Cellular, which starred her then real-life boyfriend Chris Evans.

Biel went on to audition for the role of Claire Colburn in the romantic comedy Elizabethtown, but the role was eventually given to Kirsten Dunst. Biel was instead cast as Ellen Kishmore, a smaller role. She then played in the indie flick London, opposite then-boyfriend Chris Evans.

Biel’s film career blossomed when she played a turn-of-the-century duchess in the period piece, The Illusionist, co-starring Edward Norton and Paul Giamatti. The movie received mostly-positive reviews, and was a turning point for Biel, who had previously played more contemporary roles. She was awarded the Rising Star Award at the Palm Springs International Film Festival and won an Achievement Award at the Newport Beach Film Festival for her performance.

Biel played an Iraq War veteran in the 2006 film Home of the Brave, a drama about soldiers struggling to adjust back into society after facing the hardships of war. Her performance was well-received, but the movie was a commercial failure. After being pulled from theaters twice, it eventually went to DVD in late 2007. Biel and Home of the Brave co-star Samuel L. Jackson were nominated for Prism Awards for their performances.

Meanwhile, after a three-year absence from the series, Biel returned for what was to be the series finale of 7th Heaven (the show was later unexpectedly renewed at the last minute by The CW Television Network). The episode had already been initially shot, but producer and creator Brenda Hampton was determined to have Biel featured in the episode, so Biel agreed to shoot her scenes during a break from filming her upcoming 2007 movie Next.

In Next, Biel played alongside Nicolas Cage and Julianne Moore. She then played in the summer comedy, I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry, co-starring Adam Sandler and Kevin James. Like her earlier film, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Chuck and Larry received mixed reviews, but opened its first week at number one at the box office. She also produced and starred in a short film titled Hole in the Paper Sky, which was released in 2008.

Biel was invited to announce nominations at both the Golden Globe Awards (with Rosario Dawson and Matthew Perry) and the Academy Awards in 2007.

In late 2007, Biel signed on to play a stripper in Powder Blue, alongside Forest Whitaker (who also produced the film) Ray Liotta and Patrick Swayze.

At the start of 2008, Biel shot Easy Virtue, an adaptation of the play by Noël Coward. Like the play, the movie is set in the 1920s and Biel plays young widow Larita, who marries John Whittaker in a spur-of-the-moment in France, but must face her disapproving in-laws when they return to England. The film premiered in September 2008 at the Toronto International Film Festival. The Hollywood Reporter described her performance as “an irresistible force of nature — a kind, witty, supremely intelligent and beautiful woman who … is capable of rejoinders that thoroughly undercut her opponent’s withering criticism.” In 2009, Biel lent her voice to the animated sci-fi film Planet 51.

In April 2008, Biel began working on the political satire Nailed, with Jake Gyllenhaal. The movie centers around a woman who accidentally gets a nail lodged in her head, then travels to Washington D.C. to fight for better health care. Filming wrapped up in late-June after several production shut downs. She is also co-producing and starring in Die a Little, a contemporary adaptation of the novel by Megan Abbott. A start date for filming has not yet been set.

Biel performed two songs on the Easy Virtue Soundtrack, Mad About the Boy and When the Going Gets Tough.

The Los Angeles Philharmonic announced that Biel would perform the role of “Sarah Brown” in a fully-staged concert production of Guys and Dolls during the 2009 season at the Hollywood Bowl. —wikipedia

Dennis Dugan (born September 5, 1946) is an American director, comedian, and actor. He is most famous for his partnership with comedic actor Adam Sandler, with whom he directed the films Happy Gilmore, Big Daddy, I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry, You Don’t Mess with the Zohan, Grown Ups, and Just Go With It.

Dugan was born in Wheaton, Illinois. He started his acting career in 1972, appearing in the 1973 made for TV movie The Girl Most Likely to…. He has appeared in such films as the 1976 films Harry and Walter Go to New York and Norman, Is That You?. In 1979, he was ideally cast as the time-displaced hero in Unidentified Flying Oddball, Disney’s updated remake of A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court. His first notable television appearance was in the Columbo episode “Last Salute to the Commodore”, as a young police officer. Then he was the star of the short-lived 1978 series Richie Brockelman, Private Eye, playing a character who originated in a telemovie, and then made guest appearances in the role of Brockelman on The Rockford Files before getting his own show. He took on a semi-regular role as an erstwhile caped-crusader who called himself “Captain Freedom” on Hill Street Blues and also appeared on Empire (1984), and Shadow Chasers (1984). He played Walter Bishop, the brief husband of Maddie Hayes (Cybil Shepherd) on Moonlighting. Dugan’s films credits of the 1980s include the 1981 horror film The Howling, the 1987 romantic comedy Can’t Buy Me Love and the 1988 film The New Adventures of Pippi Longstocking.

Dugan has also made a career as a television and film director, and appears in cameo parts in many of his films. Films directed by Dennis Dugan include the 1990 comedy Problem Child (with Dugan as an All-American dad), the 2001 comedy Saving Silverman (in which Dugan plays a football referee), the 2003 comedy National Security, and the 1996 and 1999 Adam Sandler comedies Happy Gilmore (in which Dugan plays Doug Thompson, the golf tour supervisor) and Big Daddy (with Dugan as a man who reluctantly gives candy to a trick-or-treating Julian). Dugan has directed episodes of such television series as Moonlighting (was also a guest star in some episodes), Ally McBeal, and NYPD Blue.

Dugan directed The Benchwarmers, a comedy released on April 7, 2006. The film, co-produced by Adam Sandler, is about trio of men who try to make up for missed opportunities in childhood by forming a three-player baseball team to compete against standard Little League squads. Dugan himself has a bit part as Coach Bellows. Dugan directed the 2007 comedy I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry and You Don’t Mess with the Zohan in 2008, both Adam Sandler vehicles.

Dugan directed Grown Ups, which follows a group of high school friends who are reunited after thirty years for the Fourth of July. The film stars Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Chris Rock, Rob Schneider, and David Spade, and was released in the summer of 2010 with major box office success, but was overwhelmingly panned by critics.

Dugan’s latest film was Just Go With It, which is his sixth film with Sandler. The film also starred Jennifer Aniston and Brooklyn Decker. To date, Dugan’s films have grossed over $1.5 billion worldwide. —Wikipedia