Gordon Michaels Added To Lionsgate Film AWOL

Online, July 7, 2011 (Newswire.com) - Los Angeles screen and Broadway stage actor Gordon Michaels has been cast to play Captain Sinclair in the upcoming Lionsgate film, AWOL.

AWOL features Liam Hemsworth, best known for his starring roles in the 2009 film Knowing, and the 2010 Miley Cyrus film, The Last Song.

Michaels is co-founder of the motion picture company LG Entertainment Group and founder of Brandon Street Films.
He also wrote, produced and starred in the comedy, Unbeatable Harold, which featured Henry Winkler, Phyllis Diller, Charles Durning and Dylan McDermott.

Michaels has a long list of television and feature film credits, including Trust, with Clive Owen, Five-Year Engagement, with Jason Segal, and Gifted Hands, with Cuba Gooding, Jr.
Michaels also can be seen in the upcoming films, This Must Be the Place, with Sean Penn, Conviction, with Hilary Swank, and Scream 4.

AWOL is a Vietnam War era drama, inspired by true events, that tells the story of a young soldier who gets dumped by his hometown girlfriend. The soldier and his buddy decide to go AWOL to the states to get the girl back. Max Adler, Chris Lowell, Teresa Palmer, Austin Stowell and Aimee Teegarden have been currently in talks as additions to the film.

AWOL is directed by actor/director Danny Mooney and begins production in July in Ann Arbor, Mich. Mooney had supporting roles in Whip It and The Genesis Code. Danny Mooney is a jack of all trades in the film world. Born and raised in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Mooney attended Pioneer High School, Michigan's largest at nearly 3,000 students. He became interested in performance when Pioneer announced the start of a school improv troupe. Mooney made the seven-person troupe and began balancing his time between acting and playing both hockey and lacrosse.

He quickly fanned out from the improv comedy shows to hosting high school events and performing in sketch comedy and stand-up. He was then recruited to play roller hockey as a goalie for the University of Michigan and attended on an academic scholarship for Mechanical Engineering. While in college, Mooney opened for such talent as actor/comedian Dave Coulier ("Full House") and Comedy Central's Dane Cook World Tour-opener J. Chris Newberg.

He then took a film class and shortly found his passion for filmmaking. So after a year of Engineering, Mooney transferred to Michigan's Department of Screen Arts and Cultures to pursue a Bachelors Degree in Film, concentrating in directing and cinematography. Danny Mooney has since been on the production side of over 35 short and feature films in the last four years. He has a full range of credits including Director, Producer, Director of Photography, Writer, and Editor. Mooney has worked professionally under numerous companies including 20th Century Fox, ABC/Disney, MTV Productions, and New Line Cinema. Though heavily into production work, Mooney has never stopped performing. While at University of Michigan, he received a minor in "Drama and Text to Performance" from the RC Theatre Program. To this date, Mooney has been cast in lead and minor parts in over 60 short and feature films, has done numerous voiceovers, and has appeared in several commercials and TV pilots. He has also performed in university theatre as well as professionally in Moscow, Russia, in the International Chekhov Theatre Festival.

For more information, contact Ruth Longoria Kingsland at Media World Press, 818-433-5431.