Starz Lands Two Exclusive World Premieres With Award-Winning Casts

Starz Lands Two Exclusive World Premieres With Award-Winning Casts

Fable 'Neverwas' Stars Aaron Eckhart, Brittany Murphy and Oscar(R) Winners and Nominees Ian McKellen, William Hurt, Nick Nolte and Jessica Lange

Heartwarming 'Our Very Own' Stars Allison Janney, Jason Ritter, Autumn Reeser and Cheryl Hines

ENGLEWOOD, Colo., Dec. 4 /PRNewswire/ -- Starz Entertainment has acquired two world premiere films both filled with award-winning casts: "Neverwas" and "Our Very Own," premiering exclusively in December on Starz and Starz Cinema respectively. Both films have never appeared in any medium, including theatrical, video, etc.

"Neverwas," a mystical tale starring Aaron Eckhart ("Thank You For Smoking"), Brittany Murphy ("Sin City"), Academy Award(R) celebrated actors William Hurt ("Kiss of the Spider Woman") Jessica Lange ("Tootsie") and Oscar(R) nominees Ian McKellen ("The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring") and Nick Nolte ("Affliction"), premieres on Starz Wednesday, December 13 at 7:10 p.m. In "Neverwas," Eckhart plays Zach, a psychiatrist who's left a high level position to take one at a small residential facility. He tells his skeptical supervisor (Hurt) that he's here because a "friend" was committed there long ago, and he wants to provide the kind of treatment he didn't get. What he doesn't mention is that the friend was his own father, who committed suicide after being released.

Seen in flashbacks, Zach's father (Nolte) was an author immortalized for his children's book "Neverwas," which cast his son as its protagonist. Dad was also a schizophrenic and depressive, and young Zach was the one to find his father's body -- and has been racked with guilt ever since. At the clinic, a strange man (McKellen), who hasn't spoken to anyone in ages, takes to Zach and speaks out. He eerily seems to know more about "Neverwas," and Zach's father, than even he does.

"Our Very Own" was conceived by the films' director Cameron Watson, a Shelbyville, Tennessee native (where the film takes place). It is a semi-autobiographic tale set in 1978 starring Allison Janney ("The West Wing"), who was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award, Keith Carradine ("Deadwood") and Cheryl Hines ("Curb Your Enthusiasm"), along with rising stars Jason Ritter ("The Class"), Autumn Reeser ("The O.C.") and Hilarie Burton ("One Tree Hill").

In "Our Very Own," five local teens are excited about the triumphant return of another Shelbyville native, Sondra Locke, who starred with her then-partner Clint Eastwood in several films of the era, including "Any Which Way But Loose." The teenagers hope to follow the movie star out of Shelbyville, but at the same time, one member of the group is facing a personal family crisis. "Our Very Own" premieres Monday, December 11th at 6:40 p.m. on Starz Cinema.

Starz Entertainment, LLC, is a premium movie service provider operating in the United States. It offers 16 movie channels including the flagship Starz(R) and Encore(R) brands with approximately 14.9 million and 26.6 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, Starz On Demand and Vongo(SM). Starz Entertainment is an operating unit of Starz, LLC, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Liberty Media Corporation that is attributed to Liberty Capital Group, www.starz.com.

Contacts: Steve Belgard Jonathan Taylor
Starz Entertainment The Lippin Group
(720) 852-5843 (323) 965-1990
steve.belgard@starz.comjtaylor@lippingroup.com

Source: Starz Entertainment, LLC

CONTACT: Steve Belgard of Starz Entertainment, +1-720-852-5843,
steve.belgard@starz.com; or Jonathan Taylor of The Lippin Group,
+1-323-965-1990, jtaylor@lippingroup.com, for Starz Entertainment, LLC

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

-------
Profile: intent