John Landis Partners With Prometheus Entertainment to Produce Starz Original Special 'Ladies or Gentlemen'

John Landis Partners With Prometheus Entertainment to Produce Starz Original Special 'Ladies or Gentlemen'

Undresses History of Cross-Dressing in Film

ENGLEWOOD, Colo., Sept. 17 /PRNewswire/ -- Acclaimed filmmaker John Landis is joining Emmy Award(R)-winning executive producer Kevin Burns and Prometheus Entertainment to produce the Starz original special Starz Inside: Ladies or Gentlemen, a history of cross-dressing in film. The one-hour documentary is scheduled to premiere on Starz, Tuesday, December 16 at 10:00 p.m. (et/pt).

Starz Inside: Ladies or Gentlemen, inspired by Jean-Louis Ginibre's critically acclaimed book, will take a revealing look at some of the most daring and outrageous cross-sexual performances in Hollywood history, such as John Travolta (Hairspray), Robin Williams (Mrs. Doubtfire), the Wayans' brothers (White Chicks), Tim Curry (Rocky Horror Picture Show), Jack Lemmon/Tony Curtis (Some Like it Hot) and Dustin Hoffman (Tootsie).

In movies (and we're only talking about movies), men dress in women's clothing in order to save their skin, to hide a secret, to get the gold, to get the girl, to get the girl and the girl's angora sweater, and in the late actor Divine's case, to get the man. Johnny Depp, Martin Lawrence, John Leguizamo, Jackie Chan, Jeff Bridges, Marlon Brando, Robert Mitchum, Frank Sinatra, Cary Grant, Sean Connery, Michael Caine, Jerry Lewis, Gene Hackman, Tom Hanks and countless other cross-thespians have donned women's clothing in a role.

"Having John Landis on board with me to make this program makes this project very exciting," said Kevin Burns. "John's place in movie history is firmly cemented with such classics as Animal House, The Blues Brothers, Trading Places, An American Werewolf in London and Michael Jackson's Thriller. We met some time ago through a mutual friend and when he suggested I do a documentary based on this book, I said why don't we do it together? I was thrilled when he said 'yes.'"

Producer Kevin Burns' Prometheus Entertainment has received Emmy Awards(R) for "Hollywood Rocks the Movies: The 1970s," and A&E's highly acclaimed "Biography" series. Burns has continued to produce high-profile documentaries and programs for television, including "Empire of Dreams: the Story of the Star Wars Trilogy" and "Look, Up in the Sky! The Amazing Story of Superman." He is also the creator and executive producer of the hugely successful reality/comedy series "The Girls Next Door," which launches into its fifth season next month. Burns will also produce the upcoming Starz original special Starz Inside: The Face is Familiar, a salute to character actors in film.

Starz Inside, hosted by renowned film critic and author Richard Roeper, examines people, trends, and culture in movie entertainment. Specials in the series have included: Starz Inside: The Pixar Story, a history of the storied animation giant; Starz Inside: Comic Books Unbound, the evolution and revolutions in this colorful corner of show business; Starz Inside: In the Gutter, the origin and popularity of gross-out comedy films; Starz Inside: Fantastic Flesh -- The Art of Make-Up EFX, an inside look at the creation and execution of some of today's most spectacular special effects in Hollywood blockbusters; Starz Inside: Fashion in Film, travels the world of fashion and costume design in Hollywood films and its unique influence on contemporary fashion off the screen.

Starz Inside host Richard Roeper was co-host of the syndicated movie review show "Ebert & Roeper." For the last 21 years he has been a columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times. He was also a contributor to Fox News in Chicago, where his commentaries were nominated for five Emmys(R), winning twice.

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 17 million and 31.3 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 (http://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.

Contacts:

Steve Belgard Robin Mesger
Starz The Lippin Group
(720) 852-5843 (323) 965-1990
steve.belgard@starz.comrmesger@lippingroup.com

Amy Prenner
Prometheus Entertainment
(323) 769-4053
amy.prenner@prometheuspix.com

Source: Starz Entertainment, LLC

CONTACT: Steve Belgard of Starz, +1-720-852-5843,
steve.belgard@starz.com; or Robin Mesger of The Lippin Group, +1-323-965-1990,
rmesger@lippingroup.com, for Starz Entertainment, LLC; or Amy Prenner of
Prometheus Entertainment, +1-323-769-4053, amy.prenner@prometheuspix.com

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

NOTE TO EDITOR: Download high-resolution versions of related images at http://starz.mediaroom.com.

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