New Lifetime Original Movie Attracts Big-Name Talent

LOS ANGELES, May 2: Emmy
and Grammy Award-winner Harry Connick Jr. and Academy Award-winning actress
Renee Zellweger have signed on for the new Lifetime original movie Living
Proof, the true story of the UCLA
doctor who developed the live-saving breast cancer drug Herceptin 2.

Connick stars as Dr. Denny
Slamon, while Zellweger reteams with film and television producers Craig Zadan
and Neil Meron (A Raisin in the Sun,
Hairspray, Chicago, Life with Judy Garland: Me & My Shadows) to executive produce the Sony Pictures Television
project. Vivienne Radkoff, who holds writing credits, also serves as an
executive producer. Living Proof will
premiere on Lifetime Television in October.

Tanya Lopez, the senior VP
of original movies at Lifetime Networks, said: "This is truly a passion
project for all of us at Lifetime. Dr. Slamon is an unsung hero in the fight
against breast cancer and no one is better suited to play him than Harry
Connick Jr., who himself is committed to helping others. We are also thrilled
to be collaborating with Craig Zadan, Neil Meron, Renee Zellweger and Sony in
this thought-provoking film."

"Craig Zadan and Neil
Meron have a long and laudable history of bringing important, as well as
entertaining, films to the television screen and all of us at Sony Pictures
Television are proud to have been partnered with them for many years,” said
Helen Verno, the executive VP of movies and mini-series for Sony Pictures
Television. “We feel privileged to be working with Lifetime on this amazing
true story of Dr. Denny Slamon, whose tenacity and brilliant accomplishments in
discovering Her 2 have saved the lives of so many women."

—By Kristin
Brzoznowski