What does a movie producer actually do? To find out, The Hollywood Reporter gathered the men behind six of the season's most buzz-worthy films -- Lawrence Bender , Jon Landau , Laurence Mark , Bill Mechanic , Mace Neufeld and Ivan Reitman .

Tired of waiting for his big break, this former struggling actor-dancer segued into producing, making an auspicious theatrical debut with Quentin Tarantino's "Reservoir Dogs" . Bender began his producing career.... Tired of waiting for his big break, this former struggling actor-dancer segued into producing, making an auspicious theatrical debut ...

Lawrence Bender, the producer of Quentin Tarantino's latest film, Inglourious Basterds , may be a little jet-lagged - he arrived just a day before the interview - but he's excited to be here.

In three short years, Al Gore has gone from presenting Nashville with An Inconvenient Truth to showing us an alternate reality.

Four stars Lt. Aldo Raine ... Brad Pitt Col. Hans Landa ... Christoph Waltz Lt. Archie Hicox ... Michael Fassbender Sgt.

In three short years, Al Gore has gone from presenting Nashville with An Inconvenient Truth to showing us an alternate reality.

Producer Lawrence Bender is sitting poolside at the Four Seasons Hotel, celebrating an unrivaled triumph: he's just helped Quentin Tarantino kill Adolf Hitler.

I'm not going to belabor this one, because the weekend is upon us and I'm generally a happy guy.

From left : German actress Diane Kruger, US director Quentin Tarantino, French actress Melanie Laurent, US actor Eli Roth, US actress Angelina Jolie, US actor Brad Pitt, US actor Lawrence Bender, Canadian actor Mike Myers and French Julie Dreyfus arrive for the screening of "Inglourious Basterds". Picture: AFP May 21, 2009 - 12:42PM Quentin ...