PRODUCTION NOTES

 

A darkly-hued drama about the duality of  good and evil found in a decaying Irish working-class neighborhood of Providence, Rhode Island, BROTHERHOOD makes its debut on SHOWTIME in summer 2006. The 11-episode series stars Jason Isaacs and Jason Clarke as brothers Michael and Tommy Caffee – one a career criminal, the other a well-intended but backroom-dealing local politician.

 

Shot  entirely  in  Providence  and  its  outskirts,  the  series  is  set  in  a  fictional  Irish neighborhood called “The Hill,” a community that operates like a small town despite being part of a big city. Produced by Mandalay Television, the one-hour series depicts the underlying bond between brothers who are torn between their fierce loyalty to each other and their family, and their ambition for power and control on opposing sides of the law.

 

 

 

As the story unfolds, State Representative Tommy Caffee (Jason Clarke) tries to keep his family out of harm’s way when his brother Michael (Jason Isaacs) comes back into town after seven years on the run from the FBI. Upon his return, Michael sets out on a vengeful, often murderous path to reclaim his turf on “The Hill.” But emboldened rival gang boss  Freddie Cork  (Kevin Chapman)  still holds a firm  grip on the underworld activities  in  the  community,  and  he  stops  at  nothing  to  get  his  way  –  whether blackmailing Tommy or threatening Michael’s life – in order to secure backroom deals for sweetheart city contracts.

 

 

 

“It’s really about the harsh realities of ‘the American dream’ in the 21st Century and how the  things  we  took  for  granted  in  the  20th  Century  –  upward  mobility,  loyalty  of neighborhood – are all coming under siege,” explains the show’s creator and executive producer, Blake Masters.

 

Masters adds, “Family is at the heart of the major relationships” for the Caffee brothers and their extended family members. “It’s the bond of two brothers, but also the bond between Rose Caffee, their mother, and her two sons, and the bond between Tommy Caffee and his wife Eileen. It’s the way in which personal ambition can put strains on those  relationships  –  the  way  in  which  two  brothers  having  opposite  agendas  in opposite worlds can put strains on what they have been taught from day one in their lives – which is love your brother and defend your brother against all comers at all times.”

 

Executive producer Elizabeth Guber Stephen feels that the complicated relationship between Tommy and Michael is one of compelling dynamics. “If they had a chance to

kill each other, they would, because it would be much better for both their careers. But they can’t kill each other because every Sunday they have dinner at their mother’s house.”

 

For Tommy Caffee, the answer to protecting his brother Michael’s back is sometimes going to the state house or calling in a favor from city hall. Compromising, coercing and responding to threats are a way of life for the local politician who’s constantly struggling to protect his brother and constituency at the same time. When it comes to portraying this conflict in Tommy, Australian-born actor Jason Clarke sees a fine line between “the light and dark, and the right and wrong, and just maintaining that moral curve. There are choices along the way, not necessarily black or white, but when you make the decision to do one thing or you make a decision not to do that thing, I think when you put it all together, you see that it is gray.”

 

Tommy’s lust for power in the  political realm is in direct parallel to  Michael’s in the criminal  world.  What  Jason  Isaacs  tries  to  imbue  with  Michael  is  a  multi-layered personality, one who on the surface is a “dangerous, violent man with a terrible temper, but very loyal and highly moral, believe it or not,” he says.  Isaacs’ portrayal of Michael illustrates the notion that good and evil can coexist in one man and that his character tries to do the honorable thing within the confines of who he is. “He struggles with trying to do the right thing which might sound strange given that he’s killing people quite a lot of the time. But, he struggles to make sure that he’s on the right side of his own moral universe,” says Isaacs.

 

With all of his crooked intentions and faults, Michael is still the apple of his mother Rose’s eye. As the older son, she still holds Michael slightly closer to her heart because of how he helped raise Tommy after she kicked out their abusive, alcoholic father.

 

Masters describes Rose as a mother who taught her sons a simple rule: “Never be in a position where you’re helpless. Rose is someone who raised her children to be strong, independent and to get along in the world, and taught the boys to make themselves

(feel like) kings.” Masters adds that she also “does her best to keep her kings under her thumb.”

 

Emmy® Award winner Fionnula Flanagan plays the strong-willed Irish mother who loves her  children  fiercely  but  also  sees  her  character  as  “devious,  manipulative,  and charming when the she wants to be, and stupid when it suits her.” She often turns a blind eye to her son’s suspicious activities. Flanagan also says that Rose is “a survivor in her neighborhood and very conscious of the world she lives in and how it’s shrinking and disappearing.”

 

Masters agrees, emphasizing that the community is indeed in jeopardy of losing its character. “I grew up in a German immigrant neighborhood that was dying, and it was replaced by a more prosperous neighborhood – but something was lost. That sense of loss is something that I wanted to bring to this show.” Masters further explains that “The Hill” is “under siege from yuppies who want to gentrify it and from other groups who are fighting for their own piece of the American dream.”

 

It is that urban and moral breakdown that Tommy is so bent on reversing. But he finds it difficult to  balance that with the true loves  of his life  – his  three daughters and wife Eileen, played by Annabeth Gish. A loving mother and wife in the close-knit community where she grew up, Eileen is deeply unhappy. Gish compares her character’s place in life to the fairytale Rapunzel. “’The Hill’ has been her fairytale tower where she’s been locked up. It’s a place of tremendous loyalty, neighborhood positivity and it’s safe for her kids – but it’s her own personal prison.” Although she truly loves Tommy, she feels trapped, and lashes out in more ways than one, in trying to figure out who she really is. From smoking marijuana to sleeping with the mailman, Eileen’s scandalous escapades are  hidden  to  the  outside  world.  She  works  hard  to  keep  up  the  façade  of  her wholesome public image as the politician’s  devoted wife and mother of his children.

“Eileen’s greatest virtue is that she is a good mother, or at least that’s her intention. It’s her behavior that compromises that intention quite often.”

 

In   the   everybody-knows-everybody   world   that  BROTHERHOOD   depicts,   state policeman  Declan  Giggs,  played  by  Ethan  Embry,  also  grew  up  with  the  Caffee brothers. Although his job is to keep tabs on Michael’s underworld dealings and nail him at the right time, Giggs is in a constant predicament because of his strong ties to “The Hill” and the people he grew up with – criminals and all. Embry points out, “Turning the other way, sometimes is the right thing. I think with my character, he’s always conflicted about what’s right and what’s wrong.”

 

Masters  believes that there is  a force that is keeping  these characters connected, through their commonalities and an undying respect for their similar roots. “People who are the cops, the  priests, the politicians, the bankers and the criminals all went to grammar school and church together. They still eat at the same diner, see each other on the street and their wives trade recipes. But the fascinating thing is that the man who lives next door  to you, is a good father but  can be  doing  terrible things at the same time.”

 

The street-wise Freddie Cork is a prime example – a ruthless crime boss who routinely beats up his competitors but who also loves his wife deeply and takes his kids to the park like any caring father. A Boston native, actor Kevin Chapman contends that his character’s flaws are based on greed. “Whether it’s stealing ten dollars or stealing ten thousand, the idea of stealing is just the thing that really turns him on.”

 

The city of Providence is another key character.  Its ethnic diversity, distinct accents and great sense of community are all featured players in BROTHERHOOD.  In addition to being the first series to shoot entirely in and around Providence, producers hired expert dialect coaches and employed local extras, roughly 100 - 200 per episode, to capture the tone of the region.  From Rhode Island’s magnificent State House to the working class Carpenter Street where the Caffee house is placed, the locations are authentic and  new  to  television  audiences.    Providence  also  offers  a  unique  melting  pot  of ethnicity that serves as a rich backdrop for  the show’s dramatic premise. In addition, Executive Producer Henry Bromell stresses  the importance of the city to the show’s honest   portrayal   of  a  family  in  a  post-industrial  working  class  Irish  community.

“Providence is as important to the show as the Caffee family because it’s a huge part of that specificity.  The working class neighborhood is divided by ethnicity, the half-empty churches, the abandoned factories – this is the world in which the Caffees must live, without which we couldn’t tell their stories.”

 

 

# # #

 

 

SYNOPSIS

 

Amidst the weathered row houses and rust-barnacled tugboats framing the port city of Providence, Rhode Island, lies an Irish-American neighborhood  known as “The Hill.” There, the old-world ways of street justice and loyalty still permeate through the tough blue-collar  neighborhood. It is where the familial bonds of the Caffee  brothers are constantly teetering above a moral abyss, something akin to the classic sibling fable of Cain and Abel.

 

It is this tradition that the new SHOWTIME original series,  BROTHERHOOD follows. BROTHERHOOD tells the story of two brothers who sometimes share a twisted sense of moral compromise — both with their own skewed, idealistic visions of what makes the  American  dream.  They  live  the  lie  that  noble  ends  can  sometimes  only  be accomplished through dubious means.

 

Tommy Caffee (JASON CLARKE) is a family man whose ambition and street smarts help  him  navigate  the  back-room  dealings  and  underhanded  tactics  of  Providence politics. He is a local politician out to protect “The Hill” and its interests by any means necessary.  Tommy’s complicated family and professional lives turn upside-down with the return of his gangster brother Mike (JASON ISAACS), who has come back to the neighborhood to regain control of its underworld activities.

 

Caught in the turbulent crossfire of a tense, conflicted relationship between two brothers is their mother, Rose (FIONNULA FLANAGAN), who is proud of both sons, to the point where she turns a blind eye to Mike’s shady, sometimes deadly dealings — even when he passes her counterfeit money as a gift.

 

Then there is Tommy’s wife, Eileen  (ANNABETH GISH), who tirelessly supports her husband but is constantly wary of how Mike potentially places Tommy and their children in harm’s way.

 

Their path is a minefield of shifting alliances, leaving the brothers constantly in doubt about who they can trust. Mike’s close confidante, Pete McGonagle (STIVI PASKOSKI), is a recovering alcoholic struggling to stay straight but who easily reverts back to his role as Mike’s enforcer.  Then there is competing gangland boss Freddie Cork (KEVIN CHAPMAN), who regularly threatens Tommy with blackmail (or Mike’s life) in order to secure sweetheart city contracts.

 

Even if Tommy can protect his brother Mike’s life and business interests with his own brand of backroom dealings, he knows that police detective Declan Giggs  (ETHAN EMBRY) is always lurking in surveillance and monitoring his every move.

 

Driven  by  their  mutual  resentment  and  rivalry,  the  Caffee  brothers  embark  on  a dangerous course, where their love and loyalty will be tested like never before. The duality of both men and their lives interweave to create a volatile dynamic that could destroy both of them…and both of their families.

 

 

 

# # #

 

 

BIOS

 

 

 

JASON ISAACS

“Michael Caffee”

 

Jason Isaacs began his career in theatrical productions in his home town of London, England and  made his feature film debut in “The  Tall Guy.”  Since then,  Isaacs has created unforgettable characters in a multitude of major motion pictures including “Peter Pan,”  “The  Patriot,”  “Black  Hawk  Down,”  “Armageddon,”  “Sweet  November,”  “The Patriot,” a performance that garnered him a nomination from the London Film Critics’ Circle, and the blockbuster “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.”   Isaacs other film  credits  include  “Passionada,”  “The  Tuxedo,”  “Windtalkers,”  “End  of  the  Affair,” “Armageddon,” “Dragonheart,” “Divorcing Jack” and “The Last Minute.”   In addition, he has made several movies with his friend, director Paul Anderson including the sci-fi thriller “Event Horizon,” “Soldier” and the British cult film “Shopping.”

 

 

Recently,   Isaacs   starred   in   “Tennis   Anyone”      as   well   as   “Nine   Lives”   and “Chumscrubber” which both premiered at the 2005 Sundance Festival. He will be seen starring in the upcoming feature film “Friends with Money” alongside Catherine Keener, Jennifer Aniston, Joan Cusack and  Frances McDormand.  He also starred in  “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” last year and will again reprise his role as the sinister ‘Malfoy’ in the future installment “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” slated for release  in  2007.    

On  television,  Isaacs  has  guest-starred  on  “The  West  Wing.” BROTHERHOOD marks his first starring role in an American TV series.   On stage, he created the role of ‘Louis’ in the critically acclaimed Royal National Theatre production of  Angels in America and has performed to packed houses at the Royal Court Theatre, the Almeida theatre, the King’s Head and five times at the Edinburgh festival.

 

 

 

JASON CLARKE

 

“Tommy Caffee”

 

Australian-born actor Jason Clarke first came to America’s attention in the critically- hailed  feature  film  “Rabbit  Proof  Fence,”  in  which  Clarke  played  the  formidable

‘Constable Riggs.’  The film was directed by the acclaimed Phillip Noyce.  A graduate from  the  prestigious  Victorian  College  of  the  Arts,  Clarke  has  extensive  credits  in Australia theater, film and television.  On stage, he performed in such plays as Hamlet and  The Tempest.  He also directed a  musical version  of  A Clockwork Orange.  On television, Clarke worked alongside Geoffrey Rush as a series regular in “Mercury” as well as many guest starring roles in popular series.  His additional film credits include

“Park Street,” “Praise” and “Better Than Sex.”

 

 

 

ANNABETH GISH

“Eileen Caffee”

 

Annabeth  Gish  is  a  multi-talented  actress  with  a  diverse  background  in  film  and television.  Gish first gained the attention of critics and moviegoers at the age of 13 in the feature film "Desert Bloom."  She went on to star in the acclaimed feature film

"Mystic Pizza" with Julia Roberts.  Her expansive list of film credits also include "Double

Jeopardy,” the Sundance Film  Festival favorite "SLC Punk," "Wyatt Earp,” "Nixon",

"Beautiful  Girls,"  "The  Last  Supper,"  “Coup  de  Ville,"  "Shag,"  "Steel,"  and  the independent film "Knots."  Other film credits include starring roles in “Buying the Cow,"

"Race  to  Space"  with  James  Woods,  the  independent   feature  film  "Pursuit   of Happiness"  and  "Morning.”   Gish’s  next  feature  film                    release  is                    "The  Celestine Prophecy," due in theaters February 2006.

 

 

Also well-known to television audiences, Gish’s television credits include hit series “The West Wing, ”  and  “The X Files,”  as well as mini-series and TV  movies such as "Detective," PBS’s Masterpiece Theater classic "A Death in the Family" "Sealed with a Kiss," "Different,” "God's New Plan," "To Live Again," "What Love Sees," "Someone You Know," "Scarlett" and "True Women" opposite Dana Delaney and Angelina Jolie. Gish also  starred  in   the  VH-1  original  movie   "The  Way  She  Moves." In  addition  to BROTHERHOOD, Gish will also star in the upcoming mini-series adaptation of Stephen King's novel "Desperation,” airing this spring.

 

 

 

FIONNULA FLANAGAN

“Rose Caffee”

 

Fionnula Flanagan’s vast body of work includes starring roles in feature films, television and theater as well as experience behind the scenes as a producer.  Her feature film credits include the box-office hit “The Others,” for which she won a Saturn Award, “The Divine  Secrets  of  the  Ya-Ya  Sisterhood,”  “James  Joyce’s  Women,”  “Youngblood,” “Sinful  Davey,”  “Ulysses,”  “Patman,”  “A  State  of  Emergency,”  “Reflections,”  “Final Verdict,” the Academy® Award - winning “In The Region of Ice,” “Death Dreams,” “Mad At the Moon,” “Money for Nothing.”  Raised in Dublin, Flanagan’s Irish roots shine in such distinctive Irish films as “Waking Ned Devine” and “Some Mother’s Son.”  Most recently she appeared opposite Felicity Huffman in “Transamerica,” which garnered her rave reviews.  Upcoming films include “Payback,” and “Man About Dog.”

 

Highlights of Flanagan’s television credits include “How the West Was Won,” for which she received a Lead Actress Emmy® nomination, “Rich Man, Poor Man,” for which she won an Emmy® Award, and the CBS series “To Have and To Hold.”

 

Best known for her one-woman stage piece “James Joyce’s Women,” she received the Los  Angeles  Critics’  Award,  the  San  Francisco  Critics’  Award  and  a  DramaLogue Award.    She  also  wrote,  adapted  and   produced  the  piece  for  the  stage,  and subsequently as a feature film.  In addition, Flanagan has an extensive list of Broadway appearances to her name,  most notably  Ulysses in   Nighttown, for which she won a Tony nomination.

 

 

 

 

ETHAN EMBRY

“Declan Giggs”

 

Ethan Embry has successfully been building his acting career since he was 10 years old and landed three feature films roles by the time he was 13.  His film debut was in the John Hughes comedy “Dutch.” Since then, Embry has appeared in “Empire Falls,” “That Thing You Do,” “White Squall,” “Dancer, Texas,” “Timeline” and “They.”  Embry is well- known for his co-starring role opposite  Reese Witherspoon and  Josh Lucas in the blockbuster “Sweet Home Alabama” and in the teen comedy “Can’t Hardly Wait.”                    He also has a strong background in independent film; his credits include “Ball in the House”

“Montana,” “Standing Still,” and Pizza.”   Most recently, Embry was seen in the cult comedy “Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle” and in an installment of the anthology MASTERS OF HORROR, a SHOWTIME Original Series.

 

On television, Embry starred in the drama series “Freakylinks,” Dick Wolf’s remake of the classic series “Dragnet” and was a series regular in CBS’ “Work With Me.”  Embry also had a role in the Emmy®-winning mini-series “Drug Wars: The Camarena Story.”

 

 

 

KEVIN CHAPMAN

“Freddie Cork”

Kevin Chapman inadvertently began his acting career while working with the Mayor of Boston in the Cultural Affairs Department.  It was there that he met the late film director Ted Demme, who offered Chapman a role in his film “Monument Ave.”   With a natural talent for acting, this  role sparked Chapman’s passion for the craft and led him to appear in numerous feature films including “The Cider House Rules,” “A Civil Action,”

“The Boondock  Saints” and “In The Bedroom. ” After moving to Los Angeles and training with prominent acting coach Cameron Thor, Chapman appeared in “Mystic River,” “21 Grams,” “Ladder 49” and “In Good Company.” He also can be seen in last year’s “Two for the Money,” opposite Al Pacino and Matthew  McConaughy,  and  the  upcoming  independent  film  “The  Unknown.”    Most recently, Chapman completed filming Clint Eastwood’s “Flags Of Our Fathers” and is currently  shooting  the  drama  “Hard  Luck”  starring  Wesley  Snipes  which,  like BROTHERHOOD, is filming in Providence.

 

 

# # #

 

 

PRODUCTION BIOS

 

BLAKE MASTERS (Creator / Executive Producer / Writer) A provocative writer with a background in feature films, Blake Masters makes his television debut as the executive producer of  BROTHERHOOD, which he also created. On the big screen, Masters recently wrote  “Tenacity,” a story torn from  the headlines about a sailing disaster in Australia, based on a  Vanity Fair article. Masters’ other writing credits include “The Ninth Man,” “Dreadnaught,” “The Divide,” “The Circle,” “Black 10,” “Wages of Sin” and the dramatic thriller “Total Sports” which goes into production next year. Masters is also set to make his feature directing debut with “Fragile,” a police thriller produced by Arnold Rifkin.   A   Stanford   graduate,   he   began   his   career   working   for   renowned producers/directors Sam Raimi and Roger Corman.

 

HENRY BROMELL  (Executive Producer)  Henry Bromell has been a writer,  producer and executive producer of such television drama series as “Northern Exposure,” “I’ll Fly Away,” “Homicide: Life on the Street,” “Chicago Hope” and “Carnivale,”  for which he received two Peabody Awards, a Humanitas Award, and a Writer’s Guild Award. He is the author of the  best-selling novel  Little America, which was nominated for a  Los Angeles Times Book Award, as well as The Slightest Distance, winner of a Houghton Mifflin Literary Fellowship Award, I Know Your Heart, Marco Polo and The Follower. His work has appeared in  The New Yorker,  The Atlantic, and  Rolling Stone, and he has twice won an O. Henry Award. He has also directed two feature films: “Panic” which he also wrote and “Last Call” which he wrote the screenplay for.

 

ELIZABETH  GUBER  STEPHEN  (Executive  Producer)  A  creative  and  business executive  with  extensive  credits  to  her  name  in  both  feature  films  and  television, Elizabeth  Stephen  is  currently  President,  Mandalay  Television,  and  Executive  Vice President,  Motion Picture Production for Mandalay  Filmed Entertainment. In this dual role, she oversees all creative development and production for the group. She also serves as executive producer on all network and cable television movies, mini-series, and series.

 

 

For    the          big   screen,   Stephen   recently          developed   the   project   currently   titled “Headgames,” which will star Vince Vaughn. She also acquired the novel “London is the Best City in America” and attached Reese Witherspoon to star. Stephen is shepherding the   comedies   “Wicked   Smart”   and  “When   Dads   Were   Men.”   In addition   to BROTHERHOOD, her television credits include USA’s “Blood Crime” and “X Team” for ABC.

 

Prior to joining Mandalay, Stephen served  as  Executive Vice President in charge of feature film development and production for The Avnet/Kerner Company. There, she co- produced “The Mighty Ducks 3,” and served as the creative executive on the mega-hit

“George of the Jungle.” She structured the future Disney feature “Today I am a Boy,” set to star Dustin Hoffman and Adam Sandler. She also acquired the highly sought-after life story rights to David Kaczynski, brother of convicted Unabomber Ted Kaczynski, for a feature film. In addition, Stephen produced the television movie “My Last Love.”

 

Prior to Avnet/Kerner, Stephen worked as a studio executive, acquiring and developing hits such as “The Hand That Rocks the Cradle,” “The Distinguished Gentlemen” and

“Only You.”

 

 

# # #

 

 

“BROTHERHOOD”

 

CAST AND PRODUCTION CREDITS

 

 

Cast

 

(pilot)

 

Michael Caffee .......................................................................................... JASON ISAACS

Tommy Caffee.......................................................................................... JASON CLARKE

Eileen Caffee.......................................................................................... ANNABETH GISH

Rose Caffee .................................................................................. FIONNULA FLANAGAN

Declan Giggs..............................................................................................ETHAN EMBRY

Freddie Cork .......................................................................................... KEVIN CHAPMAN

Pete McGonagle.................................................................................... STIVI PASKOSKI

Mary Rose Caffee ................................................................................. FIONA ERIKSON

Marty Trio ....................................................................................................... TOM KEMP

Alex Byrne ..................................................................................................... KARL BURY

Mary Kate Martinson .......................................................................... KERRY O’MALLEY

Kevin “Moe” Reilly ....................................................................................... BILLY SMITH

Jimmy Martinson .....................................................................................BATES WILDER

Representative Donatello ......................................................................MATT SERVITTO

Carl Hobbs .............................................................................................ROB CAMPBELL

Representative Gerald Williams  .......................................................... LONNIE FARMER

Silent John ............................................................................................BRIAN SCANNEL

Ralph Mango ..........................................................................................TONY VIVEIROS

Shannon ......................................................... SUSAN SCOTT “SCOTTIE” THOMPSON

Lila Caffee ...................................................................................... MADISON GARLAND

Noni Caffee ...........................................................................................KAILEY GILBERT

Lee Mayberry ................................................................................ERIK LARAY HARVEY