Grammy(R) Award Winner Leann Rimes, Eddie Cibrian ('Ugly Betty') and Golden Globe(R) and Emmy(R) Award Nominee Rosanna Arquette ('Desperately Seeking Susan') To Star in The Lifetime Original Movie 'Nora Roberts' Northern Lights,' To Premiere in 2009 on Lifetime
Additional Nora Roberts Adaptations include "Nora Roberts' Midnight
Bayou," "Nora Roberts' Tribute" and "Nora Roberts' High Noon"
#1 New York Times Best-Selling Author, Roberts Has Over 300 Million
Books in Print
LOS ANGELES, Nov. 7 -- The Lifetime Original Movie "Nora
Roberts' Northern Lights," starring Grammy Award winner LeAnn Rimes
("Holiday in Your Heart"), Eddie Cibrian ("Ugly Betty") and Golden Globe
and Emmy Award Nominee Rosanna Arquette ("Desperately Seeking Susan," "The
Executioner's Song") is the third of four 2009 Nora Roberts' movies slated
to begin production that also include "Nora Roberts' Midnight Bayou," "Nora
Roberts' Tribute" and "Nora Roberts' High Noon." Mandalay Television and
Stephanie Germain Productions will produce the film with Peter Guber and
Stephanie Germain serving as executive producers.
In making the announcement, Tanya Lopez, Senior Vice President,
Original Movies, Lifetime Networks, said, "Between the loyal fans of both
Nora Roberts and the multi-talented LeAnn Rimes, we think this will be a
perfect union." She added, "Viewers will be excited to see the pages of
another Nora Roberts' book come to life in this movie."
The four previous Nora Roberts' movies that aired on Lifetime
Television in 2007 together reached over 34 million viewers total and "Nora
Roberts' Angels Fall" was the highest rated Lifetime Original Movie of
2007.
In "Nora Roberts' Northern Lights," former Baltimore policeman Nate
Burns (Cibrian) was hoping to start a new life by accepting the job of
chief of police in the town of Lunacy, Alaska. He escapes to the small
remote town in an effort to forget the traumatic death of his partner, for
which he holds himself partially responsible. But the moment he meets Meg
Galligan (Rimes), an independent and feisty bush pilot with her own demons,
he finds himself falling for her. The town is rocked when the body of Meg's
father, a man who Meg believed had abandoned her and her mother Charlene
(Arquette) sixteen years ago, turns up in a mountain cave. Nate finds
himself in the middle of a high-profile murder investigation and quickly
learns the killer is someone in the community. Nate must use his big-city
survival instincts to solve the mystery that threatens his new life and new
love.
LeAnn Rimes has sold more than 37 million albums, won two Grammy
Awards, three Academy of Country Music Awards and 12 Billboard Music
Awards. Rimes is the youngest recipient of a Grammy Award, and was also the
first country recording artist to win in the "Best New Artist" category.
Her current album, "Family," marks the first time Rimes has written or
co-written every song. She recently won the CMT Award for "Collaborative
Video of the Year" with Bon Jovi, and the Gospel Music Association's Dove
Award for her song, "Ready for a Miracle."
Rimes has scored numerous hit singles in her career, including "Can't
Fight the Moonlight," which went #1 in 11 countries, and "How Do I Live,"
which holds the record for the longest charting song on the Billboard Hot
100 chart at 69 weeks. As an actress, Rimes starred in the ABC telefilm
"Holiday in Your Heart," based in part on Rimes autobiographical novel. She
also guest-starred as singer Connie Francis in the NBC series "American
Dreams," and in an episode of the daytime series "Days of Our Lives." An
accomplished author, Rimes wrote two children's books Jag and Jag's New
Friend, as well as the novel, Holiday in Your Heart.
Eddie Cibrian currently has a recurring role in the ABC series "Ugly
Betty" as Coach Diaz, boyfriend of Betty's sister Hilda (Ana Ortiz).
Cibrian starred for five seasons in the NBC series, "Third Watch," and also
in the ESPN series "Tilt," followed by the ABC series "Invasion" and Fox
series "Vanished." Additional television appearances include, "The Starter
Wife," "Samantha Who," "Dirty Sexy Money," "Criminal Minds," "The Young and
the Restless," "The Bold and the Beautiful," "Baywatch Nights," "Beverly
Hills, 90210," "Sabrina, The Teenage Witch" and "Saved by the Bell: The
College Years." Cibrian also starred in the CBS television movie, "Logan's
War: Bound by Honor," the NBC miniseries "In the Beginning," and the
feature films "Living Out Loud," "The Cave," "Say It Isn't So" and "But I'm
a Cheerleader."
Film and television actress Rosanna Arquette started her career as a
teenager in the Bette Davis telefilm, "The Dark Secret of Harvest Home."
She went on to earn an Emmy Award nomination for the controversial
television movie, "The Executioner's Song." Arquette's recent television
credits include roles on "The L Word," "Medium," "What About Brian," and
"Grey's Anatomy." Arquette's film credits include "Gorp," John Syles' "Baby
It's You," "After Hours" and "Nobody's Fool." She earned a Golden Globe
nomination for her work alongside Madonna in "Desperately Seeking Susan."
Arquette also starred in Martin Scorsese's "New York Stories," Quentin
Tarintino's "Pulp Fiction" and David Cronenberg's "Crash." In recent years,
Arquette has also been directing and producing, including the films
"Searching for Debra Winger" and "All We Are Saying."
The Nora Roberts adaptations join an impressive list of novels
developed into Lifetime Original Movies, including the top rated basic
cable movie for 2008, Kim Edwards' "The Memory Keeper's Daughter," starring
Dermot Mulroney, Emily Watson and Gretchen Mol, and Jodi Picoult's "The
Tenth Circle" starring Kelly Preston, Ron Eldard and Brittany Robertson.
Since publishing her first novel in 1981, Roberts has gone on to become
a #1 New York Times best-selling sensation. With more than 300 million
books in print, Roberts' novels have spent a combined 138 weeks at the #1
spot on the coveted Times list. Since 1999, every book published under her
name has hit the New York Times best seller list. Amazon.com recently
reported that Roberts is their third most popular author -- following only
to Tom Clancy and J.K. Rowling. Roberts is a member of several writers
groups and has won countless awards from her colleagues and the publishing
industry. Nora Roberts is represented by literary agent Amy Berkower at
Writers House, LLC and by CAA. Nora Roberts' books are published by Penguin
Group (US).
"Nora Roberts' Northern Lights" is produced by Mandalay Television and
Stephanie Germain Productions for Lifetime Television. Peter Strauss ("The
Jacket"), Peter Guber ("Rainman," "Batman," "The Color Purple," "The
Jacket") and Stephanie Germain (Lifetime's "Gracie's Choice," "The Day
After Tomorrow") are the executive producers. Randi Richmond (Lifetime's
"Odd Girl Out" and "Miracle Run") will serve as producer. Janet Brownell
(Lifetime's "Nora Roberts' Angels Fall," "Eloise at the Plaza") wrote the
teleplay and Mike Robe (Lifetime's "Nora Roberts' Montana Sky," "Reversible
Errors") will direct.
In addition to the first four Nora Roberts Lifetime Original Movies,
through her production company, Stephanie Germain produced TNT's Johnson &
Johnson presentation of Richard Paul Evan's bestseller, "A Perfect Day,"
starring Rob Lowe; and Lifetime's "Gracie's Choice," starring Kristin Bell,
Diane Ladd and Anne Heche, who received an Emmy(R) nomination for her
performance. "Gracie's Choice" premiered in January 2004 and became one of
cable's highest rated films. Some additional credits include: the highest
rated television movie of its season, CBS' "The Pilot's Wife," based on
Anita Shreve's bestseller and starring Emmy(R) and Oscar(R) award winner
Christine Lahti; the ABC special effects extravaganza "Superfire," created
by best-selling authors Richard Preston and Doug Preston; ABC's "King of
the World: The Muhammad Ali Story," based upon the book by Pulitzer Prize
winner David Remnick and starring Terrence Howard; ABC's "Holiday In Your
Heart," starring LeAnn Rimes and Bernadette Peters; CBS' miniseries "The
Doris Duke Story," starring Lauren Bacall and Richard Chamberlain; and the
TBS premiere movie "Fatal Error," starring Janine Turner. Germain
co-produced Showtime's one hour series, "Jeremiah," starring Luke Perry,
for two seasons. She was also an executive producer on the blockbuster "The
Day After Tomorrow," starring Dennis Quaid and Jake Gyllenhaal, and
directed by Roland Emmerich ("Independence Day").
Mandalay Television has achieved great success in series, long form
television movies and miniseries. Mandalay's critically acclaimed, Peabody
Award-winning series "Brotherhood" is entering its third season on
Showtime. Mandalay movies and miniseries have produced some of the
strongest ratings of all-time, including Dean Koontz's "Intensity," a
four-hour miniseries based on the best seller by Dean Koontz -- the highest
rated miniseries ever on FOX Broadcasting; "First Daughter," a two-hour
original movie starring Mariel Hemingway for TBS, which was the highest
rated basic cable movie in history and spawned two sequels, "First Target"
and "First Shot"; "Blood Crime," which launched USA's Crime Friday and was
the highest rated original program for the network in 2002; and "The Linda
McCartney Story" for CBS. Mandalay Television has recently completed
production on "RPM," a ground breaking microseries for TNT starring
Johnathon Schaech.
Lifetime is the leader in women's television and one of the top-rated
basic cable television networks. A diverse, multi-media company, Lifetime
is committed to offering the highest quality entertainment and information
programming, and advocating a wide range of issues affecting women and
their families. Lifetime Television, Lifetime Movie Network, Lifetime Real
Women and Lifetime Digital (including myLifetime.com) are part of Lifetime
Entertainment Services, a 50/50 joint venture of Hearst Corporation and The
Walt Disney Company.
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