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Home , Idaho Transfer, Jeremy Piven, Lesley Ann Warren, Michael Rispoli, Mira Sorvino, Nancy Savoca

ACADEMY AWARD WINNERS , LOUIS GOSSETT, JR. AND TWO-TIME ACADEMY AWARD NOMINEE STAR IN THE GMC WORLD PREMIERE MOVIE SMITTY

Coming of Age Story About a Teenage Boy, His Dog and Rediscovering Family Values Premieres on GMC TV on Sunday, May 20 at 7 and 9 p.m. ET

ATLANTA, GA – May 2, 2012-- GMC TV, America’s favorite television channel for uplifting music and family entertainment, will present the GMC World Premiere Movie Smitty, on Sunday, May 20 at 7 and 9 p.m. ET. Smitty, directed by David Mickey Evans (co-writer, The Sandlot; director, The Final Season) stars two-time Academy Award nominee Peter Fonda and Academy Award winners Mira Sorvino and Louis Gossett, Jr. Brandon Tyler Russell, Booboo Stewart (The Twilight Saga), Jason London (Dazed and Confused) and Lolita Davidovich (Blaze) also star. Smitty is a movie about a dog and a family of three generations- a grandfather (Peter Fonda), his daughter- a single mother (Mira Sorvino) and her mischievous 13-year old son (Brandon Tyler Russell), who, through a series of adventures, rediscover the importance of family.

Ben (Russell) is a Chicago teenager who has moved around a lot in his life. His mischievous antics become more than Amanda, his struggling single mother (Sorvino) can handle. After Ben is framed for vandalizing a local restaurant, he is sent to rural Iowa to spend the summer on a corn farm with his stoic and rigid grandfather, Jack (Fonda), in the hopes that he will learn some valuable lessons about responsibility and respect. Having burned his own family bridges, which resulted in a strained relationship with his daughter Amanda, Jack reluctantly agrees to take in his troublemaking grandson. Smitty (Louis Gossett, Jr.), a family friend and shop owner near the farm, offers Ben a job to help him pay for a guitar that Ben discovers on his first trip to the shop with his grandfather. While on the farm, Ben crosses paths with a dog who knows a thing or two about being an outcast. The dog was rescued after his original owners left him behind, when they could no longer afford to take care of him. When Amanda notices a missed call on her cell phone from her dad and is unable to reach him when she returns his call, her growing concern about the unknown nature of his call leads to an impromptu road trip to the farm for Amanda, with the man she recently started dating (London). Through a series of adventures that bring them all together, they rediscover the important things in life.

“Our monthly GMC World Premiere Movies create meaningful connections with our viewers,” said Leslie Chesloff, executive vice president, programming, GMC. “Smitty is a movie about second chances. The award-winning cast brings to life, a story that is inspired by some of the challenges that today’s families face, with humor and heartfelt performances,” she continued.

Smitty was filmed in Des Moines, IA. The movie, directed by David M. Evans (The Sandlot), was written by Michael Baumgarten who also produced with Marcy Levitas Hamilton.

For more information and to view a trailer of Smitty, please visit, http://watchgmctv.com/gmc- world-premiere-movie-smitty.

About GMC: GMC (www.watchGMCtv.com) is America’s favorite television channel for uplifting music and family entertainment. The Parents Television Council™ has twice awarded its Entertainment Seal of Approval™ to GMC for being “an authentic family-friendly cable network.” GMC is the only television network brand to be so honored. GMC can be seen in more than 51 million homes on various cable systems around the country, as well as DISH Network on channel 188, DIRECTV on channel 338 and Verizon FiOS on channel 224. Follow GMC TV on Facebook and at http://facebook.com/gmctv and http://twitter.com/gmctv.

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Media Contacts: Chelsye J. Burrows Kelly Kimball 770.692.4559/ [email protected] 310.701.7773/ [email protected]

CAST BIOS

PETER FONDA Since his role as “Captain America” in , Peter Fonda has been nothing less than a cinematic icon. A two-time Academy Award nominee, Fonda made his professional stage debut on Broadway in 1961 in Blood, Sweat and Stanley Poole, for which he received rave reviews from the Critics, and won the Daniel Blum Theater World Award and the New York Critics Circle Award for Best New Actor.

He began his feature film career in 1963, playing the romantic lead in Tammy and the Doctor and joined the ensemble cast of the World War II saga The Victors. Shortly thereafter, Mr. Fonda began what would become a famous association with , starring in Wild Angels, as the ultra-cool, iron-fisted leader of a violent biker gang, opposite Nancy Sinatra, Bruce Dern, and Diane Ladd. Fonda also starred in Corman’s 1967 psychedelic film The Trip, also starring Dern and Susan Strasberg. Fonda’s next project was the seminal 1969 anti-establishment film Easy Rider, which he produced and co-scripted, receiving an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay.

Other directing credits include the science fiction feature Transfer, starring and in which he starred as a gambler who wins Brooke Shields in a poker game. Fonda’s acting credits also include the feature films Outlaw Blues, an expose of the country music business; Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry; Race with the Devil; Robert Rossen’s Lilith; Split Image; Robert Wise’s Two People; and the cult films Love and a .45 and Nadja. He appeared in Grace of My Heart, directed by Alison Anders, and John Carpenter’s Escape from L.A., starring Kurt Russell. He also made a cameo appearance in Bodies, Heat & Motion, which starred his daughter Bridget. Fonda wowed audiences and won critical acclaim for his portrayal of Ulee Jackson, the taciturn beekeeper in the 1997 film Ulee’s Gold, earning him both a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor and the New York Film Critics Award, as well as an Oscar nomination.

Following this, he published his autobiography, Don’t Tell Dad, and was then seen in the NBC movie The Tempest, for which he had been nominated for another Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Mini-Series. Fonda then appeared with in the Showtime telefilm The Passion of Ayn Rand, where he won the Golden Globe for outstanding supporting actor in a mini- series or movie made for television and was nominated for both an Emmy and SAG Award. In 1999, Mr. Fonda co-starred in the film The Limey, which also starred Terrence Stamp and Lesley Ann Warren. Following this he appeared in Thomas and the Magic Railroad for director Britt Allcroft, starring . Fonda directed his first film, , in 1971. A critically acclaimed in which he also starred, the film debuted with a restored version at the 2001 Venice Film Festival; it then screened at the Toronto Film Festival before reopening in theaters in 2003.

Fonda co-starred in HBO’s The Laramie Project, based on the true story of openly gay college student Matthew Shepard, who was killed in an act of senseless violence and cruelty, which attracted national attention. Fonda starred in The Maldonado Miracle directed by Salma Hayek for Showtime Networks, and was nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award for his role. Mr. Fonda also starred opposite in Wooly Boys, which was released in March 2004, and the television drama Back When We Were Grownups, opposite Blythe Danner and Faye Dunaway. Fonda was seen in Soderbergh’s Ocean’s Twelve and can be seen in Mark Steven Johnson’s Ghost Rider, opposite Nicolas Cage. He recently wrapped two film projects: The Perfect Age of Rock n Roll, directed by Scott Rosenbaum, and Troy Duffy’s anticipated sequel, Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day. He was born in New York, NY. He is the brother of Jane Fonda and the only son of actor and Frances Ford Seymour.

MIRA SORVINO Mira Sorvino has won an Academy Award, Golden Globe Award, Critics' Choice Award, National Board of Review and New York Film Critics Circle citations, among other honors, for her performance in 's . She was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for as well as Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion; she also earned an Emmy and Golden Globe nomination for her portrayal of in the HBO film Norma Jean and Marilyn. The acclaimed actress continues to impress on screen with her eclectic film roles, as well as devote her time as a UN Goodwill Ambassador to combat Human Trafficking.

Sorvino will next be seen starring in 's Union Square, opposite , , and Patti LuPone. Produced by Neda Armian and Richard Guay, the often hilarious and deeply moving independent film focuses on the highs and lows of life, love, and family, with a unique, fresh perspective on the surprisingly deep bond between two sisters. The film premiered at last year’s Toronto Film Festival and will be released on July 13, 2012.

Sorvino recently wrapped production on Christopher Bessette's Trade of Innocents, opposite Dermot Mulroney. The film is about a couple who, while grieving their daughter's death, set out to rescue girls sold into the sex slave trade in Cambodia. She also recently wrapped on Stan Brooks' Perfect Sisters. The film follows two sisters (played by Abigail Breslin and Georgie Henley) at the mercy of their hopelessly alcoholic mother (Sorvino) and her abusive boyfriends as far back as they can remember. The duo decides to take matters into their own hands and plot to kill her. Fabrizio Filippo and Adam Till adapted Toronto Star reporter Bob Mitchell's 2008 book “The Class Project: How To Kill a Mother: The True Story of Canada's Infamous Bathtub Girls.”

Last Fall, Sorvino was seen in Jon Gunn's drama, Like Dandelion Dust, playing the role of Wendy Porter, the birth mother of an adopted child struggling to find her strength in an abusive marriage. Based on the best-selling novel by Karen Kingsbury, the film explores the different meanings of being a parent through the portrayal of the grittily realistic lives of a struggling blue-collar family (Sorvino and Barry Pepper) and a privileged one (Cole Hauser and Kate Levering). For her performance, Sorvino won the Best Actress Award at the 2009 New York VisionFest, the San Diego Film Festival, the Sonoma Valley Film Festival, the 2010 Film Festival and the 2010 California Independent Film Festival, among others.

Other films include Gaby Dellal's Angels' Crest opposite Jeremy Piven, Lynn Collins and Kate Walsh; Multiple Sarcasms, opposite and ; 's Reservation Road, opposite Joaquin Phoenix, and ; 's Quiz Show; Spike Lee's ; 's Romy and Michele's High School Reunion; Clare Peploe's The Triumph of Love; 's Barcelona; Antoine Fuqua’s Replacement Killers, ’s Mimic, Gary Winick's Sweet Nothing; Irwin Winkler’s At First Sight, Ted Demme's Beautiful Girls, Tim Blake Nelson’s The Grey Zone, Paul Auster's Lulu on the Bridge, and Rob Weiss' Amongst Friends, which she also associate- produced.

Additionally, she produced Griffin Dunne's acclaimed independent feature comedy Lisa Picard is Famous, which was an official world premiere selection of the 2000 Cannes International Film Festival, and associate-produced the documentary Freedom to Hate, on anti-Semitism in the former Soviet Union.

Sorvino's television credits include the NBC miniseries “The Last Templar” as well as a guest- starring role on FOX’s “House,” and a memorable appearance on “Will and Grace.”

Onstage, Sorvino has appeared in Joyce Carol Oates' “Greensleeves;” in “Best of Schools,” at UBU Rep, and off-Broadway in the 's adaptation of Pirandello's “Naked.” Most recently she has appeared in “Stella in the Bois De Boulogne,” about legendary acting guru Stella Adler’s formative sessions with the great Konstantin Stanislavsky in Paris.

She was the official ambassador for the worldwide human rights organization 's "Stop Violence Against Women" campaign from 2004 to 2008. Her work with Amnesty was recognized at the Artivist Film Festival, which acknowledges socially conscious filmmakers, activist celebrities, and charitable organizations. In March of 2006, she was honored with Amnesty International's Artist of Conscience Award, which is given to those who have displayed strong philanthropic and humanist efforts. Through her work with Amnesty, she lobbied Capitol Hill on such topics as human trafficking and officially testified before Congress on the genocide in Darfur, Sudan.

Having supported the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)’s anti-trafficking initiatives since 2007, in 2009 Sorvino was appointed to her current position as UNODC Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime to combat Human Trafficking. In 2010, she was honored by 'Save the Children' for her work against Human Trafficking and the United Nations presented her with the 'Global Advocate of the Year' Award.

Born in , Ms. Sorvino is the daughter of veteran actor and married to actor/writer Chris Backus and they have four lovely children. She attended , where she graduated magna cum laude in East Asian studies and received the Hoopes Prize for her summa thesis on racial conflict in China.

LOUIS GOSSETT, JR. Louis Gossett, Jr. was born May 27, 1936 in Brooklyn, NY. He has a flair for projecting quiet authority and has scored well personally in a string of diverse and occasionally challenging roles. The aspiring actor caught a break at his first Broadway audition for Take A Giant Step where, beating out 400 other candidates, the then 16-year-old landed the lead. His acting career soon flourished and his work in the stage and film versions of the groundbreaking drama about African- American family life in Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun proved a watershed. This led to numerous appearances on network series in the 1960s and 70s culminating in 1977, when he picked up an Emmy® for his eloquent portrayal of Fiddler in the landmark ABC mini-series, Roots. Meanwhile, his big screen reputation grew with critically acclaimed work in such comedies as The Landlord, The Skin Game with , Travels with My Aunt and the film adaptation of the Tony Award-winning drama The River Niger. A riveting performance as a drug- dealing cutthroat stalking Nick Nolte and Jacqueline Bisset in The Deep catapulted him to wider popularity, but the tough by-the-book drill sergeant in An Officer and a Gentleman won him a Best Supporting Oscar that consolidated his place in the hierarchy. Following his Oscar, he made numerous big screen and television appearances, being singled out for his work as Egyptian president Anwar Sadat in Sadat, the sci-fi adventure Enemy Mine, where his lizard-like makeup won kudos, and in the action adventure series Iron Eagle, which introduced him to a whole new generation of moviegoers. Still going strong, Gossett’s trendsetting bald head and imposing six-foot-four physique served him well in Diggstown where he played a down-and-out boxer, a heroic headmaster in Toy Soldiers. Gossett’s well thought out and nuanced performances also managed to give credibility to socially themed projects such as To Dance with Olivia, and the critically acclaimed Jasper, Texas. The recipient of every known acting accolade, including multiple Golden Globe Awards, and People’s Choice Awards, Gossett’s performances have connected him with his fans on a global scale. Organizations such as the NAACP, CARE, and the United States Armed Forces have used his likeness to add validity and integrity to their causes.

FREDDIE JAMES Freddie James is the terrier that played “Smitty.” He is a rescue dog from Center Hill, Florida. Freddie James was rescued by Birds & Animals Unlimited on Christmas Eve in 2001 after his original owner had heart surgery and could no longer take care of him. Freddie James loves to perform. His first break came in 2003 when he was cast as the dog for the live show The Grinchmas at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida. Smitty marks Freddie James’ first movie. Freddie James has also appeared in television series and numerous commercials. Most recently, he was cast to ride a kneeboard behind a jet ski. Freddie James is named after his original owner. He currently lives in Orlando, Florida.

JASON LONDON Jason London is best known for his role as Randall “Pink” Floyd in director Richard Linklater’s film Dazed and Confused. He was born in San Diego, CA and raised in Oklahoma, near Tuttle and DeSoto, Texas. He has an identical twin brother, Jeremy London. They acted together in the television series 7th Heaven and in the feature film The Man in the Moon. Jason’s additional movie credits include Broken Vessels, $pent and Poor White Trash. Additional television credits include Jason and the Argonauts and The Wishing Well.