Sundance Channel Announces Talent Pairings for 'Iconoclasts' an Original Television Series Premiering November 2005

Sundance Channel Announces Talent Pairings for 'Iconoclasts' an Original Television Series Premiering November 2005

Produced by Sundance Channel and Grey Goose Entertainment in Association with Conde Nast Media Group

NEW YORK, June 13 /PRNewswire/ -- Sundance Channel and Grey Goose Entertainment announced today initial pairings for the original television series "Iconoclasts," an hour-long program in which two leading innovators from different fields come together to discuss their passions and creative processes. The participants are chef Mario Batali on musician Michael Stipe, fashion designer Tom Ford on artist Jeff Koons, author Jonathan Safran Foer on filmmaker Michel Gondry, actor Samuel L. Jackson on basketball player Bill Russell, and producer Brian Grazer on Viacom Chairman and CEO Sumner Redstone. The limited primetime series will air weekly on Sundance Channel beginning in November 2005.

Other talent slated to participate in the program include rap artist Chuck D, actor/filmmaker Robert Redford, and producer Christine Vachon. Additional pairings are expected to be announced shortly.

Each episode of "Iconoclasts" brings together two innovative leaders from different fields including film and television, architecture and design, fashion, food, music, and sports and presents an intimate, unpredictable portrait of today's provocative creative leaders.

"Iconoclasts" is produced by Sundance Channel and Grey Goose Entertainment in association with Conde Nast Media Group. Sundance Channel founder, actor, and director, Robert Redford serves as executive producer. "Iconoclasts" is also executive produced by Jon Kamen of @radical.media with Michael Davies ("Who Wants To Be A Millionaire") and Chris Moore ("Project Greenlight").

SUBJECT BIOGRAPHIES

Mario Batali on Michael Stipe

Chef on Musician

Award-winning restaurateur and Food Network's Iron Chef, Mario Batali creates magic night after night in his many New York City culinary hotspots, where he has seamlessly combined traditional Italian principles with intelligent culinary adventure since June 1998.

As lead singer and founding member of rock band R.E.M., Michael Stipe has become almost as well-known for his social and political activism as he has for his music. Stipe and the other members of R.E.M. have become godfathers of alternative rock and are one of the first such band to achieve mainstream success.

Tom Ford on Jeff Koons

Fashion Designer on Artist

Tom Ford just about single-handedly revived the venerable Gucci brand and is recognized as one of the best fashion designers on the face of the planet.

Jeff Koons is an American contemporary artist and sculptor. As the self-proclaimed "most written-about artist in the world," Koons has attained a "star" pop status rivaling his precursor Andy Warhol.

Jonathan Safran Foer on Michel Gondry

Author on Filmmaker

Jonathan Safran Foer's debut award-winning novel, Everything Is Illuminated was published in 2002, and became a national and international best seller; a movie based on the book will be released in September of 2005. His second novel, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, has just been published and it too is an international bestseller.

The work of feature film, commercial, and award-winning music video director Michel Gondry is delightful, inventive and often surprising. Gondry recently received a 2005 Academy Award for his original screenplay for Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, which he also directed. He is currently in post-production on Science of Sleep, a sentimental comedy, and Block Party, which he developed and produced with Dave Chapelle.

Samuel L. Jackson on Bill Russell

Actor on Sports Legend

Actor Samuel L. Jackson, had plenty of character roles in movies during the 1980s, but it was his portrayal of a righteous hit man in Pulp Fiction that made him a star. He is best known for his work with director Spike Lee and Quentin Tarantino and as Jedi Mace Windu in the prequel Star Wars Trilogy. His impressive film career has given him the title of highest box office grossing actor in film history.

Bill Russell's record speaks of consistency, winning an unprecedented 18 championships in 21 years of playing basketball. Besides leading the Boston Celtics to an extraordinary record of 11 world championships in 13 years and eight NBA championships in a row, his high school team won three championships and he led the University of San Francisco to a divisional championship and two national championships, winning 55 straight games.

Brian Grazer on Sumner Redstone

Academy Award(R)-Winning Producer on CEO

Academy Award-winning producer Brian Grazer has been making movies and television programs for more than 20 years. As both a writer and producer, he has been personally nominated for three Academy Awards, and in 2002 he won the Best Picture Oscar for A Beautiful Mind. In addition to winning three other Academy Awards, A Beautiful Mind also won four Golden Globe Awards (including Best Motion Picture Drama). Over the years, Grazer's films and TV shows have been nominated for a total of 39 Oscars and 42 Emmys. At the same time, his movies have generated more than $11.2 billion in worldwide theatrical, music and video grosses.

Sumner M. Redstone is Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Viacom. Under his leadership, Viacom has become one of the world's largest entertainment and media companies, and a leader in the production, promotion and distribution of entertainment, news, sports, music and comedy. Viacom's properties include CBS, MTV, Nickelodeon, VH1, BET, Paramount Pictures, Viacom Outdoor, Infinity Broadcasting, UPN, Spike TV, TV Land, CMT: Country Music Television, Comedy Central, Showtime, and Simon & Schuster. National Amusements, Inc., a closely held corporation which operates approximately 1,400 motion picture screens in the United States, the United Kingdom and South America, is the parent company of Viacom.

Sundance Channel

Under the creative direction of Robert Redford, Sundance Channel is the television destination for independent-minded viewers seeking something different. Bold, uncompromising and irreverent, Sundance Channel offers audiences a diverse and engaging selection of films, documentaries, and original programs, all uncut and commercial free. Launched in 1996, Sundance Channel is a venture between NBC Universal, Robert Redford, and Showtime Networks Inc. Sundance Channel operates independently of the non-profit Sundance Institute and the Sundance Film Festival, but shares the overall Sundance mission of encouraging artistic freedom of expression. Sundance Channel's website address is http://www.sundancechannel.com/.

Grey Goose Entertainment

Founded in April 2005, Grey Goose Entertainment is dedicated to producing original and unique content for television, music and film. Each innovative project will reflect the spirit of GREY GOOSE Vodka and celebrate the interests of the consumer. "Iconoclasts" is the first production from Grey Goose Entertainment.

Conde Nast Media Group

The Conde Nast Media Group, created in July 2004, supports corporate sales and large-scale integrated marketing efforts for all twenty-seven consumer magazine titles and websites across the Advance Magazine Group. The Advance Magazine Group was established in 2001 and it includes Conde Nast Publications, Fairchild Publications, the Golf Digest Companies, Parade Publications, the Conde Nast Media Group, CondeNet, and the Shared Services Center in Delaware.

@radical.media

@radical.media is a global production company headed by Chairman Jon Kamen and President Frank Scherma, with offices in New York, Los Angeles, London, Paris, Berlin and Sydney.

The company has produced numerous series and specials for broadcast and cable, including the critically acclaimed "Report from Ground Zero" which aired on ABC, "The Exonerated," which premiered on Court TV and Nike "Battlegrounds: King of the World," a five-part series that ran on MTV and MTV2. @radical.media's film credits include "The Fog of War," which won the Academy Award for Best Feature Documentary and the Independent Spirit award for Best Documentary from the Independent Feature Project last year. "Concert for George," which won a 2005 Grammy Award, achieved double-Platinum status in DVD sales and aired nationally on PBS. The critically hailed "Metallica: Some Kind of Monster," another notable @radical non-fiction feature, was released theatrically in 2004 and won an Independent Spirit Award and a Critics' Choice Award. The company's most recent film, Jay-Z's "Fade to Black," premiered in November 2004.

Source: Sundance Channel

CONTACT: Sarah Eaton, +1-212-654-1613, sarah.eaton@sundancechannel.com,
or Katie Lanegran, +1-212-654-3398, katie.lanegran@sundancechannel.com, both
of Sundance Channel; or Sheila Feren of Ferencomm, +1-212-983-9898,
sheilaf@ferencomm.com; or Randi Peck of Harrison Shriftman, +1-917-351-8635,
randi@hs-pr.com, for Grey Goose Entertainment; or Maurie Perl of Conde Nast
Media Group, +1-212-286-5893, maurie_perl@condenast.com

Web site: http://www.sundancechannel.com/

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