This, then, is the domain of Camden College, a small,
affluent liberal arts college somewhere in New
England, and its human satellites.
We offer, for your consideration, three members of
Camden's student body:
...Sean Bateman (JAMES VAN DER BEEK), a striking young
man with only a passing association with his emotions.
Having cut an unhealthy swath through the female
population of Camden he is over his ears in debt and
just an occasional visitor to his classes…
...Paul Denton (IAN SOMERHALDER), a cynical if highly
intelligent young libertine whose proclivities lean
very much toward the most beautiful face in the
room--whether male or female--especially those with no
interest whatsoever in sexual or emotional congress
with him. Once upon a time, Paul dated...
...Lauren Hynde (SHANNYN SOSSAMON), a beautiful if
increasingly befuddled young woman seeking connections
where few seem to exist, riding her skateboard into
the ether of Camden's social universe, which always
seems to be perched on the precipice of the
apocalypse.
Sean, Paul and Lauren are surrounded at Camden by
their very good "friends": Lauren's roommate Lara
(JESSICA BIEL), whose carnal instincts far outweigh
the bonds of camaraderie; the much sought-after Victor
(KIP PARDUE), a chronic object of Lauren's desire
whose European sojourn has kept him out of her reach;
Sean's friend Mitchell (THOMAS IAN NICHOLAS), about to
fall into the abyss of Bateman's world; Paul's posse
(JAY BARUCHEL, JOEL MICHAELY and COLIN BAIN), always
at the ready with a brittle quip; Kelly (KATE
BOSWORTH), one of Sean's innumerable and quickly
forgotten conquests; and Marc (FRED SAVAGE), who
mistakenly believes himself to be considerably more
coherent than he actually is.
There are distinguished members of the Camden faculty,
such as Mr. Lance Lawson (ERIC STOLTZ), who views
himself as being young and cool enough to attend
campus parties, and to occasionally suggest raising an
attractive student's grade point average in exchange
for "extracurricular activity."
Outside of the rarified world of Camden is the
"townie" Rupert (CLIFTON COLLINS, JR.), a dealer who
supplies Sean and plenty of other Camden students with
their recreational pharmaceuticals...for a very good
price.
And then there's family: Mrs. Denton (FAYE DUNAWAY),
Paul's elegant mother, the victim of too much money
and too little love, as well as family friend Mrs.
Jared (SWOOSIE KURTZ). Together they enjoy their
cocktails and prescription drugs over lunch with their
sons who are just as high as their mothers.
And so it goes, with endless rounds of
drug-alcohol-and-sex-drenched campus fetes--such as
The End of the World Party, The Dress to Get Screwed
Party, and The Pre-Saturday Night Party
--inconveniently punctuated by sparsely-attended
Camden classes.
But human nature determines that in a highly imperfect
world, the rules of attraction always apply...and
among the co-eds at Camden College, the first rule is:
There are no rules.
Lions Gate Entertainment's The Rules of Attraction is
Academy Award winning director/writer ROGER AVARY's
scathingly insightful film adaptation of Bret Easton
Ellis' scabrously funny social satire of life and love
among the young and the privileged. Avary, who won his
Oscar as co-writer of Pulp Fiction, previously
directed cult classic Killing Zoe, which also starred
Eric Stoltz.
For The Rules of Attraction, Avary has assembled a
remarkable group of actors, all of whom were drawn to
become participants in Avary's ambitious, incisive and
highly contemporary comedy of very bad manners.
For many of these talents, The Rules of Attraction
represents a distinct and courageous change of pace
from their previous work.
JAMES VAN DER BEEK has found stardom portraying title
character Dawson Leery of the WB Network's smash hit
series Dawson's Creek, as well as the highly
successful feature Varsity Blues. IAN SOMERHALDER
starred in the WB's coming-of-age drama series Young
Americans, and most recently appeared alongside Kevin
Kline, Hayden Christensen and Kristin Scott Thomas in
Irwin Winkler's feature, Life As A House. SHANNYN
SOSSAMON starred as the romantic lead opposite Heath
Ledger in A Knight's Tale and with Josh Hartnett in 40
Days and 40 Nights. JESSICA BIEL stars as Mary Camden
in the WB's popular series 7th Heaven and had the lead
opposite Freddie Prinze, Jr. in the Warner Bros.
feature Summer Catch.
Other cast members include KATE BOSWORTH who acted
alongside Ian Somerhalder in Young Americans and stars
this summer in the highly anticipated surf movie Blue
Crush; THOMAS IAN NICHOLAS, one of the randy high
school students in the phenomenally successful
American Pie and American Pie 2; KIP PARDUE, who
starred opposite Sylvester Stallone in Renny Harlin's
Driven as well as the hit Jerry Bruckheimer production
Remember the Titans; ERIC STOLTZ, one of the screen's
most versatile talents, who starred in Avary's Killing
Zoe and numbers among his many credits a wide range of
mainstream and independent features, including Mask,
Some Kind of Wonderful, Bodies, Rest & Motion and
Sleep With Me, producing the latter two as well;
CLIFTON COLLINS, JR., who made a dazzling impression
on audiences as "Frankie Flowers" in Steven
Soderbergh's Traffic and in Joel Schumacher's
Tigerland; and FRED SAVAGE, who grew up before
America's eyes on The Wonder Years and is now very
much a young veteran of stage and screen. The cast
also includes such fine young performers as JOEL
MICHAELY (But I'm A Cheerleader) and newcomers COLIN
BAIN (Long Shot with Britney Spears) and RUSSELL SAMS.
Also appearing in the film as Mrs. Denton, Paul's
mother, is the legendary FAYE DUNAWAY, whose
extraordinary career has included such classics as
Bonnie and Clyde, The Thomas Crown Affair, Chinatown
and Network (for which she received an Academy Award
for Best Actress) to such independent efforts as Don
Juan DeMarco, Albino Alligator and The Yards.
Portraying Mrs. Jared, the similarly privileged mother
of one of Paul's former paramours, is SWOOSIE KURTZ,
the highly honored performer of stage and screen who
was a series regular on the popular Sisters.
The behind-the-camera talent of The Rules of
Attraction includes producer GREG SHAPIRO of the
innovative production company Kingsgate (Affliction,
Simpatico, Investigating Sex); executive producer
JEREMIAH SAMUELS (love jones, That Championship
Season, The Wash); director of photography ROBERT
BRINKMANN (The Truth About Cats and Dogs, The Cable
Guy); production designer SHARON SEYMOUR (Reality
Bites, Don Juan DeMarco, The Truth About Cats and
Dogs); and costume designer LOUISE FROGLEY (The Limey,
Traffic, Spy Game).