<< back                                             August 10 2005
TNT Press Release

Lainie Kazan, Vincent Spano
and Tony Lo Bianco Join Cast

Emmy-Winning Director Steven Schachter Set to Direct JOHNSON & JOHNSON SPOTLIGHT PRESENTATION®, Produced by MAGNA Global Entertainment

Turner Network Television (TNT)'s original romantic comedy/drama movie THE ENGAGEMENT RING, starring Emmy®-winning actress Patricia Heaton (Everybody Loves Raymond, TNT's The Goodbye Girl), has begun shooting with three new cast members added: Emmy® and Golden Globe® nominee Lainie Kazan (My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Beaches), Vincent Spano (Alive, Oscar) and Tony Lo Bianco (The French Connection, City of Hope).

This latest production under the JOHNSON & JOHNSON SPOTLIGHT PRESENTATION® banner is being directed by Emmy® winner Steven Schachter (TNT's Door to Door and The Wool Cap) from a script by Frank Denson and Rodney Vaccaro (Three to Tango). It comes to TNT from MAGNA Global Entertainment, with Michael Jaffe (The Rosa Parks Story, TNT's Word of Honor) and Howard Braunstein (The Rosa Parks Story, TNT's Word of Honor) of Jaffe/Braunstein Films; Heaton and David Hunt of Four Boys Films Productions; and Steve Chicorel of Shoreline Entertainment serving as executive producers. THE ENGAGEMENT RING is set to premiere in November, exclusively on TNT.

"With its love story set against the backdrop of the California wine country, THE ENGAGEMENT RING is the kind of tale that is certain to awake the hopeless romantic in all of us," said Wright. "We are proud to have The Goodbye Girl's Patricia Heaton return to TNT, joined by Lainie Kazan and Vincent Spano, for what is certain to be another first-rate comedy/drama."

"We are pleased to be bringing THE ENGAGEMENT RING to TNT viewers," said Andrea Alstrup, vice president, advertising, Johnson & Johnson. "This endearing story will be a perfect addition to the JOHNSON & JOHNSON SPOTLIGHT PRESENTATION® series."

Heaton stars in this romantic holiday story set in the Napa Valley wine country. Lost in the mail for many years, an engagement ring and a marriage proposal are finally delivered. Through the ring, originally intended for her mother, Heaton's character discovers the meaning of love, friendship and living life to its fullest.

Heaton recently completed her role as Debra Barone on CBS's top-rated series Everybody Loves Raymond, for which she earned six Emmy® nominations, winning the coveted award twice. For TNT, she starred opposite Jeff Daniels in the 2004 remake of Neil Simon's The Goodbye Girl, for which she earned a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination. Her additional credits include roles on the series Room for Two, Someone Like Me, Women of the House and the critically acclaimed thirtysomething. She also starred in the television movie Miracle in the Woods and the CBS movie A Town Without Christmas. Her feature credits include Memoirs of an Invisible Man, Beethoven, New Age and Space Jam. Heaton's first book, Motherhood and Hollywood, became a bestseller.

Kazan's long screen career has included such films as Beaches, One from the Heart, Lust in the Dust, What's Cooking?, The Big Hit, The Crew and the blockbuster romantic comedy My Big Fat Greek Wedding. She earned a Golden Globe nomination for her supporting role in My Favorite Year. Kazan's television credits include the series The Paper Chase, The Nanny, Will & Grace and My Big Fat Greek Life, as well as an Emmy®-nominated guest appearance in St. Elsewhere.

Spano's big-screen credits include John Sayles' Baby It's You and City of Hope, as well as such films as Rumble Fish, Alive, Oscar and Indian Summer. For television, Spano has appeared in such projects as Prince Street, Jennifer and Medusa's Child.

Lo Bianco's feature credits include the cult classic The Honeymoon Killers, the Oscar®-winning The French Connection, The Seven-Ups, F.I.S.T and John Sayle's City of Hope. He has been very prolific on television in a wide range of movies since the early '70s, especially in crime drama and has been a guest star on such series as Law & Order, Homicide: Life on the Street, Deadline and Walker Texas Ranger. Branching out behind the scenes, Lo Bianco directed several episodes of the television series Police Story and Too Scared to Scream.

Schachter has directed numerous small-screen projects for HBO, TNT, CBS, USA Cable, Lifetime and various other networks. In 2003, he directed and co-wrote with William H. Macy the multiple Emmy-winning TNT Original film and Johnson & Johnson Spotlight PresentationSM Door to Door. Schachter received the directing Emmy for his work, and he and Macy received an Emmy for the writing. The two re-teamed last year for the TNT Original The Wool Cap.

A noted theater director, Schachter joined forces with Macy and playwright David Mamet to found The St. Nicholas Theater in Chicago, where Schachter served as artistic director, helming more than 20 productions and winning the Joseph Jefferson Award for Best Director. One project in particular, Mamet's The Water Engine, was brought to the Public Theatre and then moved on to Broadway. This made Schachter, at 24 years old, one of the youngest directors on Broadway. Schachter then directed The Water Engine for TNT, earning a CableACE nomination. Schachter and Macy's additional work together includes the telefilms Above Suspicion, Every Woman's Dream, The Con and TNT's A Slight Case of Murder.

THE ENGAGEMENT RING is the seventh TNT Original to be produced under the JOHNSON & JOHNSON SPOTLIGHT PRESENTATION® banner. The critically acclaimed, award-winning Door to Door, starring Emmy-winner William H. Macy as a successful door-to-door salesman with cerebral palsy, was the first such presentation, premiering on TNT in July 2002. It was followed by Miss Lettie and Me, starring Mary Tyler Moore and Burt Reynolds, in December 2002; Wilder Days, starring Peter Falk and Tim Daly, in October 2003; The Winning Season, with Matthew Modine and Kristin Davis, in April 2004; The Wool Cap, which re-teamed Door To Door's Emmy®-winning actor/writer William H. Macy and writer/director Steven Schachter, in November 2004; and 14 Hours, with JoBeth Williams, Rick Schroder and Kris Kristofferson, in April 2005.

The JOHNSON & JOHNSON SPOTLIGHT PRESENTATION® series development effort was initiated by Interpublic's MAGNA Global Entertainment. Johnson & Johnson has long supported the creation of quality programming, and through the JOHNSON & JOHNSON SPOTLIGHT PRESENTATION® series, the company's advertising affiliate has collaborated with TNT to bring inspirational stories to the American viewing public.

MAGNA Global Entertainment (MGE) is a division of Interpublic's MAGNA Global USA, which represents more than $29 billion in aggregated Interpublic worldwide media billings. MGE is an industry leader in advertiser-supplied programming. MGE has produced 74 hours of original programming and 316 hours of total television viewing on seven networks for 19 clients. Notable successes include Blow Out on Bravo and NBC's critically acclaimed series The Restaurant.

Turner Network Television (TNT), television's destination for drama and one of cable's top-rated networks, offers original movies and series, including Into the West, an epic six-week television event from DreamWorks Television and master storyteller and executive producer Steven Spielberg; the detective drama series The Closer, starring Kyra Sedgwick, and the action-packed crime series Wanted, with Gary Cole; powerful one-hour dramas, such as Law & Order, Without a Trace, ER, NYPD Blue, Charmed, Judging Amy and Angel, with Alias and Las Vegas joining the line-up in September and Cold Case coming in October; broadcast premiere movies; and championship sports coverage, including NASCAR and the NBA. TNT is also available in high-definition.

Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., a Time Warner company, is a major producer of news and entertainment product around the world and a leading provider of programming for the television industry.