Academy Award® Winners Mira Sorvino, Louis Gossett
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ACADEMY AWARD WINNERS MIRA SORVINO, LOUIS GOSSETT, JR. AND TWO-TIME ACADEMY AWARD NOMINEE PETER FONDA 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 Twitter at http://facebook.com/gmctv and http://twitter.com/gmctv. # # # 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 Easy Rider, 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 New York 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 Roger Corman, 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 Idaho Transfer, starring Keith Carradine and Wanda Nevada 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 Helen Mirren 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 Steven Soderbergh 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 Alec Baldwin. Fonda directed his first film, The Hired Hand, in 1971. A critically acclaimed western 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 Kris Kristofferson 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 Henry Fonda 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 Woody Allen's Mighty Aphrodite. She was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Human Trafficking as well as Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion; she also earned an Emmy and Golden Globe nomination for her portrayal of Marilyn Monroe 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 Nancy Savoca's Union Square, opposite Tammy Blanchard, Michael Rispoli, 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.