"CRASH" STARTS SECOND SEASON PRODUCTION FOR STARZ
Returning Dennis Hopper Joined By New Cast Members Eric Roberts, Tess Harper, Julie Warner, Dana Ashbrook and Linda Park
Premiere Scheduled September 2009
Burbank, CA., June 11, 2009� Dennis Hopper is back as Ben Cendars, and he's joined by several new and returning cast members for season two of "Crash," the first original drama series from Starz Entertainment. The 13 new episodes from the producers of the Academy Award�-winning Best Picture and co-produced with Lionsgate, has begun production in Albuquerque, NM. Andrew Bernstein ("Mad Men," "ER") is directing the season's first episode, set to debut on Starz Friday, September 18th at 10:00 p.m. (et/pt).
Joining the cast this season are Eric Roberts (The Dark Knight, "Heroes") as Seth, a billionaire entrepreneur, who plans to give LA a long desired new professional football team, Dana Ashbrook ("Twin Peaks," Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me, "The Kill Point") as Jimmy, a charismatic gambler who plays fast and loose with the law; Linda Park (Jurassic Park II, "Star Trek: Enterprise") as Maggie, a children's book author who writes of a joyful life but has trouble living it; Jake McLaughlin (In the Valley of Elah) as Bo, a former high school pitching ace and shoo-in for the big league, but derailed by career ending injury; Tess Harper (No Country for Old Men, Tender Mercies) as his mother Wendy, a middle-class San Fernando Valley shop-owner forever reliving Bo's glory days; and Julie Warner (Doc Hollywood, "Nip/Tuck") as Andrea, an ambitious and manipulative right hand woman to Seth.
Dennis Hopper (Hoosiers, Speed, "24") reprises his role as legendary record producer Ben Cendars, just out of rehab and searching for clues surrounding a personal mysterious death; Ross McCall ("Band of Brothers," "CSI: NY") is former LAPD cop Kenny Battaglia, now a lowly strip mall security guard; Jocko Sims' (Jarhead, Dreamgirls) Anthony was Ben's former driver and prot�g�e, whom Ben turns to for help in his search; Moran Atias (You Don't Mess with the Zohan) is Inez, who's forsaken stripping and is making serious cash working as a hostess at an exclusive men's club.
"It's going to be a thrilling season with our returning cast and the new members of our �Crash' family," says Stephan Shelanski, executive vice president, programming Starz Entertainment. "Eric Roberts is always unpredictable and exciting to watch and Tess Harper is a terrific and highly acclaimed actress. We look forward to an electrifying season with a wonderfully talented cast and crew."
"The exciting additions to our cast and writing-producing team have opened up the series to a wealth of new dramatic possibilities and we anticipate a very strong second season," said Kevin Beggs, Lionsgate's president of television programming and production.
Headed by executive producer Ira Steven Behr ("The 4400," "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: The Homecoming"), the creative team for season two includes executive producers Paul Haggis and Bob Yari, and co-executive producers Bobby Moresco, Tom Nunan, Don Cheadle, Mark Harris, Jorg Westercamp, and Thomas Becker, all of whom were key members of the Oscar�-winning movie Crash, as well as consulting producer Glen Mazzara. New this year with Behr are executive producer James DeMonaco (Staten Island, "The Kill Point"), supervising producers Todd Harthan ("The Kill Point") and Elizabeth Benjamin ("Bones"), consulting producer Devon Shepard ("Weeds"), and executive story editor Jennifer Schuur ("Big Love"). Lester Berman (Superman, The Postman) is line producer.
Set in Los Angeles, the series will continue to focus on an ensemble cast of characters. Season two will revolve around the intersecting lives of Angelenos from different social strata, as they crash and collide into each other while seeking their own versions of fulfillment.
Starz Media's Anchor Bay Entertainment will hold exclusive US distribution rights, including home entertainment, to the "Crash" series, while Lionsgate will retain international distribution.
Lionsgate (NYSE: LGF) is the leading next generation studio with a strong and diversified presence in the production and distribution of motion pictures, television programming, home entertainment, family entertainment, video-on-demand and digitally delivered content. The Company has built a strong television presence in production of prime time cable and broadcast network series, distribution and syndication of programming through Debmar-Mercury, reality programming through its joint venture with ISH Entertainment and an array of channel platform assets. Lionsgate has nearly 20 television series airing or scheduled to air on 11 different networks from its in-house production operations, through distribution by Debmar-Mercury or as part of its ISH Entertainment joint venture. Its programming roster is headed by such critically-acclaimed and groundbreaking shows as Mad Men, Weeds, Nurse Jackie, Crash, Tyler Perry's House of Payne, Meet The Browns, The Wendy Williams Show and Paris Hilton's My New BFF. Lionsgate handles a prestigious and prolific library of approximately 12,000 motion picture and television titles that is an important source of recurring revenue and serves as the foundation for the growth of the Company's core businesses. The Lionsgate brand remains synonymous with original, daring, quality entertainment in markets around the world.
Starz Entertainment, LLC, is a premium movie service provider operating in the United States. It offers 16 movie channels including the flagship Starz� and Encore� brands with approximately 18.1 million and 31.9 million subscribers respectively. Starz Entertainment airs more than 1,000 movies per month across its pay TV channels and offers advanced services including Starz HD, Encore HD, Starz On Demand, Encore On Demand, MoviePlex On Demand, Starz HD On Demand, Encore HD On Demand, MoviePlex HD On Demand, and Starz Play. Starz Entertainment (www.starz.com) is an operating unit of Starz, LLC, which is a controlled subsidiary of Liberty Media Corporation, and is attributed to Liberty Entertainment Group, a tracking stock group of Liberty Media Corporation.
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