Haverford
High Grad Is Up For An Oscar
By Laura Nachman
February 24, 2004
Special for the Haverford Press
When
Ross Katz was growing up in Havertown in the '70's and '80's, he loved movies.
Going to as many as five flicks a weekend at local theaters such as the old Eric
Ardmore and Eric Wynnewood, Katz dreamed of someday being part of the movie
world. This Sunday, Katz won't be dreaming. He'll be part of "The Academy
Awards" as the Oscar-nominated producer of Lost in Translation.
"It's totally surreal," said Katz, 32, a 1989 graduate of Haverford
High. "I watched every minute of 'The Academy Awards' on television every
year. To be part of it is just as exciting as it looks on television."
This has been a heady awards season for Katz. "Lost in Translation,"
which stars Bill Murray, won the "Golden Globe" award for Best Motion
picture - Comedy or Musical, and Katz accepted the award along with director
Sofia Coppola before millions of viewers last month.
Katz said, "I was obsessed with movies. I'd watch 'Siskel and Ebert' every
week and spend all my money on either movies or David Bowie records."
Katz was a disc jockey at student-run WHHS at Haverford High and worked as an
intern at WYSP 94.1-FM.
"I begged them to go on the air," and his persistence paid off with
the shows "Saturday Night Requests" and "Sunday Night Six
Pack" with the on-air name of "Ross Andrews," he said. He also
fed his movie obsession by going to dozens of movie premieres for WYSP.
Katz was a Radio-Television-Film major at Temple University, but feeling
"restless," dropped out after two years to go to Hollywood with the
full encouragement of his mother and older brother.
Katz was set to enroll in film school in Los Angeles, but when financial aid
fell through, a couple of friends from his WYSP days who relocated to L.A.
helped him out.
"Andy Bloom (former program director at WYSP) gave me a room in his house.
He is largely responsible for where I am today," Katz says.
Katz was able to pursue his movie dream, and his first project was filmed in the
house of another WYSP friend, former marketing manager Scott Segelbaum, whom
Katz described as "an amazing force in my life."
In 1992, Katz got his first professional job on the Quentin Tarantino film
"Reservoir Dogs." He was a director's assistant on the film "Buffy
the Vampire Slayer," and a runner for producer Sydney Pollack on "The
Firm."
Moving up the movie chain, Katz worked on the films "Sense and
Sensibility," with Emma Thompson, "The Myth of Fingerprints" with
Julianne Moore and "The Ice Storm" with Kevin Kline.
His first producing credit was "Trick" with Tori Spelling. Other
notable producing credits are "In the Bedroom" with Sissy Spacek,
which was nominated for a Golden Globe and Academy Award for Best Picture in
2001, the Emmy nominated "The Laramie Project," and of course this
year's "Lost in Translation."
Katz spent four and a half months in Tokyo, Japan for "Lost in
Translation," which is nominated for four Academy Awards, including Best
Picture.
Katz makes his permanent residence these days in New York City 'where he runs
his own production company, Elemental Films.
In 2003, he was cited by the entertainment trade publication Variety as one of
its "10 Producers to Watch."
Since his mother moved to Arizona last year, his brother is an attorney in San
Francisco, Calif., and his father lives in New York City, Katz doesn't get back
to Havertown these days. However, he fondly remembers WHHS, his Humanities
teacher at Haverford High, Mr. Hugh Gilmore "who inspired me," and
Cenzo's pizza.