The skilled receiving corps of Deon Butler, Jordan Norwood and Derrick Williams — so named the Smurfs because none are taller than 6 feet — left the Nittany Lions after last season, and with them went much of the Nittany Lions' production at wide receiver.
Spall's mum was a hairdresser, his dad was a postman, and he played the Cowardly Lion in a production of The Wizard of Oz at school.
Stephen L. Fredericks, the founder of the group (and the Cowardly Lion in this production), said that having former stage kids back as adult cast members is a pleasant realization of one of the company's missions.
Acting proved a release for his innate shyness as early as grade school, where reportedly he played The Cowardly Lion in a production of The Wizard Of Oz.
Mr. Spall's first role was as the Cowardly Lion in a school production of "The Wizard of Oz".
When the 1994 animated film The Lion King was in production, the directors and their team would often joke that this was one Disney movie guaranteed not to make the transition from screen to stage.
He now lives in Brooklyn, where he was born and lived till age 8, with his wife, Jo Andres, a filmmaker, and a son, Lucian, 14. Carl Riccobono, Mr. Buscemi's fourth-grade teacher at Shaw Avenue Elementary School, almost didn't give him his first acting break: the role of the Cowardly Lion in a class production of "The Wizard of Oz".
Fearing for his career, Altman beat a tactical retreat, selling his production company, Lion's Gate Films, and looking for fresh territory to explore.
Mr. Ortenberg, 46, is the president of theatrical films for Lions Gate Entertainment, a production and distribution company in Santa Monica, Calif.
Lions Gate says the production and marketing costs were incurred by others and that it has made money on the film.
