WHO:       From the film: Tom Hanks, Marlon Wayans, J. K. Simmons, Tzi Ma, Ryan Hurst, Diane Delano, George Wallace, Stephen Root, executive music producer T-Bone Burnett, producers Tom Jacobson and Barry Josephson and writer/directors Joel & Ethan Coen.

Other guests include: Tim Allen, Frances McDormand, Diane Keaton, Djimon Hounsou, Michael Clarke Duncan, Damon Wayans, Keenen Ivory Wayans, Shawn Wayans, Nia Vardalos, Kate Capshaw, Linda Blair, Eric Idle, Omar Epps, Sean Patrick Thomas, Jason Isaacs, Rita Wilson, Sofia Vergara, Harry Hamlin, Lisa Rinna, Enrique Murciano, and more...

     WHAT:      To celebrate the World Premiere of Touchstone Pictures' THE
                LADYKILLERS.

                Academy Award(R)-winner Tom Hanks teams up for the first time
                with Academy Award(R)-winning filmmakers Joel and Ethan Coen
                ("O Brother, Where Art Thou?") for this retelling of the
                critically acclaimed 1955 comedy, "The Ladykillers."  Hanks
                stars as Goldthwait Higginson Dorr III, Ph.D., a charlatan
                professor who's assembled a gang of "experts" for the heist of
                the century.  The thieves: experts in explosions, tunneling,
                and muscle, and the critical "inside man."  The base of
                operations: the root cellar of an unsuspecting, church-going
                little old lady named Mrs. Munson (IRMA P. HALL).  The ruse:
                the five need a place to practice their church music.  The
                problem:  it quickly becomes evident that Dorr's thieves lack
                the mental capacity to do the job.  The bigger problem:  they
                have all seriously underestimated their upstairs host.
                When Mrs. Munson stumbles onto their plot and threatens to
                notify the authorities, the felonious five decide to do her
                in.  After all, how hard can it be to knock off one old lady?


     CONTACTS:  For media inquiries only, please contact:
                Print & Photo     E. Wolfe                  818/560-5781
                Broadcast         J. Peterson / A. Ludwig   818/560-1217
                International     N. Heyn                   818/972-3591

                           YOUR COVERAGE IS INVITED
                        YOU MUST CALL FOR CREDENTIALS

                             TOUCHSTONE PICTURES'
                               THE LADYKILLERS
                         Opens Friday, MARCH 26, 2004