Next to the main characters in the new movie adaptation of Janet Evanovich ‘One For The Money’, an exciting range of supporting cast will spark up the screen for theater-goers this spring.

When Katherine Heigl’s character Stephanie Plum realizes she needs formal training in order to succeed at her new job – and hopefully survive it – Stephanie enlists Ranger, a bounty hunter who specializes in fugitive apprehension, bodyguarding and other semi-legal business ventures, to show her the ropes.

As played by actor Daniel Sunjata, Ranger is cool, confident and knowing, and his scenes with the bumbling Stephanie teasingly suggest that opposites really do attract. “Stephanie and Ranger have a mentor-student relationship with sexual tension as the undertone,” says Sunjata. “I found his character to be interesting and appealing. It’s a color that I haven’t had the opportunity to show so far in my career.”

Of all the people in her brash dysfunctional family, Stephanie Plum relates to her Grandma Mazur the most. As played by screen legend Debbie Reynolds, Grandma Mazur is a plucky, opinionated woman who’s resolutely unwilling to grow old. “Stephanie and Grandma Mazur are actually kindred spirits,” explains Evanovich.

“They’re like the two bad apples on the family tree, in a good way. Grandma Mazur’s a woman of a certain age who doesn’t see any limitations to her life. She’s up for extreme bowling. She’ll do nude karaoke. You name it, Grandma Mazur’s there.”

“Grandma Mazur is a real character,” admits Debbie Reynolds with a laugh. “The part reminded me of my girlfriend Thelma Ritter years ago when all she did was wonderful character parts, and I never really had the opportunity to play those roles. So when this was offered to me, I said, ‘Well, I’d like to do that.’”

“As a person she’s fantastically funny and sharp-witted and raunchy, and she brought all of that to the part,” says Heigl of Reynolds.  “I love her. And I love how she brought Grandma Mazur to life.”

As Stephanie’s mother, Mrs. Plum, New York actress Debra Monk appreciated portraying a real working class family onscreen. “I think everybody can relate to this family,” offers Monk. “In today’s world where people need jobs and are being let go and there’s no money, it really speaks to what’s happening today. It speaks to all working class families.”

Having grown up in a blue-collar neighborhood, actor Louis Mustillo immediately understood the part of Mr. Plum. “I see Mr. Plum as a really well-liked guy,” he says. “He says what he has to say at home and his mother-in-law is there all the time who’s quite a lot to handle. So he’s a saint, really. He’s the type of guy who you could call at four o’clock in the morning and he’d come and help you fix your flat tire.”

Apart from her family, Stephanie Plum encounters a colorful range of characters in her transition from lingerie salesperson to recovery agent. As she explores the seedy side of Trenton, Stephanie meets Lula, a prostitute played by Sherri Shepherd, who offers her information about the Morelli case. “It was kismet,” says Shepherd of winning the part of Lula. A longtime fan of Evanovich’s book, Shepherd had fantasized about playing Lula before she ever heard of a film adaptation.

“I remember thinking, ‘Gosh, if it ever becomes a movie I really want to play this woman. She’s evolved and sassy and she’s fun.’” Shepherd got her wish, and she’s thrilled to have a hand in bringing Stephanie Plum’s world to life. “Stephanie Plum is a woman who goes after what she wants even when the chips are down,” she says. “She fights, and she’s a strong woman. I think we need to see more women like that.”

As Stephanie investigates the darker underbelly of Trenton, she crosses paths with volatile men like Benito Ramirez, a boxer with a violent temper played by Gavin Keith Umeh, and Benito’s manager, Jimmy Alpha, played by John Leguizamo. “I’m the boss,” says Leguizamo. “I’m the alpha male in the movie. I’m a boxing manager and I’ve got my fighters that I promote and I’m trying to just make an honest living like a regular guy.”

Observes producer Tom Rosenberg, “John had different approaches to each take, he ad-libbed new lines that were really very good.  He gave us a lot of options to work with. He’s a very creative actor who actually makes his role better.”

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Julie Anne Robinson, director of the movie ‘One For The Money’, now in cinemas, turned to the novel by Janet Evanovich again and again for guidance during production. “I’ve looked at it down to details of dress colors,” reveals Robinson. “The description of Stephanie’s apartment, I pulled it from the book.

It had to be a red brick building. It had to be a place where a lot of old age pensioners could live. Even small details like Mrs. Delgado who lives opposite Stephanie; she’s there in the book. The fact that Stephanie drinks a Big Gulp. The fact that she feeds Ritz crackers to Rex. We’ve gone down to the smallest detail. The actual cage that Rex is kept in is identical to the one described in the book.”

At first glance, Robinson, a British director with a background at the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Royal Court and the National Theatre, might seem an unlikely choice for a New Jersey-set story about working class Americans. But Katherine Heigl, who fondly remembered her experience working with Robinson on several episodes of Grey’s Anatomy, suggested the director be seriously considered.

“After spending some time talking to her we realized that her vision was exactly right for the movie,” recalls producer Lucchesi. “Being a director you’ve got to steer a big ship of about 150 people and everybody’s got an opinion. You need a captain who can really channel the way to the right port. And Julie Anne did that.”

“Julie Anne came onto this project with such unbelievable energy and passion and determination,” reports Heigl. “She has incredible focus and I never saw her get tired or burn out. And I think she’s just done a beautiful job with the casting of this movie, with the locations, the set design, everything. The right look and feel of this movie, the balance between comedy and drama, will be thanks to Julie Anne, for sure.”

Actor Jason O’Mara, who plays Joe Morelli in the film, credits Robinson and the clarity of her direction for the vibrancy of the cast’s performances. “She’s really what you want from a director. You come prepared, you know how you want to play the scene, but she says one thing to you and it changes the way you deliver the lines and suddenly it comes alive.

Julie knows what she wants and there’s never any indecision, but at the same time she’s open to a lot of ideas. So she’s been very collaborative and that’s given everybody on this movie a sense of ownership and pride in their work. Hopefully that will come through.”

Joe Morelli’s tumultuous love/hate history with Stephanie Plum began when she was only six and culminated in a disastrous high school date. A former bad-boy turned vice cop, Morelli becomes an unlikely suspect in a homicide investigation and jumps bail, which seemingly points to his guilt. But as Stephanie tracks him down as her very first FTA (“Failed To Appear” in bail bond speak), she realizes the case against Morelli is more complicated than she initially thought.

“Joe Morelli has to have humor, a little bit of danger, be handsome, but also authentic,” says producer Tom Rosenberg. “You have to buy he’s from Trenton and that he’s a policeman. It’s a very tough role to pull off, but Jason did it effortlessly.”

“In Jason and Katie, we’ve got two actors who can match each other,” adds director Julie Anne Robinson. “She’s a very powerful actress and he meets her head on in their scenes together. There’s a tension and an electricity in every frame. They play off each other. They play off the script. It’s great fun to watch. I fell in love with their chemistry.”

From the moment O’Mara read the script, he was ready to sign on to the project. “It really jumped off the page,” remembers the actor. “And when I read Katie’s role I realized she was perfect for it and she was going to really knock this one out of the park. She’s got a great sense of comic timing. The part of this I’ve really enjoyed is the comedy.”

“Jason is going to be the only person people can think of from now on when they read the books,” affirms Heigl. “He’s brought Morelli to life in the most seamless and perfect way.”

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