Sundance Channel Announces Talent Pairings for Third Season of 'Iconoclasts' Premiering October 25 at 10 PM ET/PT

Produced By Sundance Channel And Grey Goose Entertainment In Association With Conde Nast Media Group

An @radical.media Production, Third Season To Feature: Sean Penn + Jon Krakauer; Alicia Keys + Ruby Dee; Mike Myers + Deepak Chopra; Howard Schultz + Norman Lear; Wynton Marsalis + John Besh; Madeleine Albright + Ashley Judd

Among other things, 'Iconoclasts' is a talk show in which the celebrities actually talk, and about things they care about deeply. -- Dave Bianculli, New York Daily News, October 26, 2006

NEW YORK, July 16 -- Sundance Channel and Grey Goose Entertainment in association with Conde Nast Media Group, today unveiled the six pairings set to appear during the third season of the Sundance Channel original television series "Iconoclasts." Each hour-long episode of the six- part series features two leading innovators from different fields who come together to discuss their passions and creative processes. "Iconoclasts" debuts Thursday, October 25, 2007, at 10 PM ET/PT and is executive produced by Robert Redford.

"Iconoclasts" is produced by @radical.media and directed by Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky (the filmmakers behind Metallica: Some Kind of Monster).

Participants for Season Three are: actor/filmmaker Sean Penn and author/adventurer Jon Krakauer; singer/songwriter Alicia Keys and actress Ruby Dee; actor Mike Myers and physician, author, and philosopher Dr. Deepak Chopra; entrepreneur Howard Schultz and writer/producer Norman Lear; musician/Artistic Director of Jazz at Lincoln Center Wynton Marsalis and chef John Besh; and former U.S Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and actress and humanitarian Ashley Judd.

"Iconoclasts" pairs two leading creative innovators from different fields including film, literature, architecture, fashion, food, music, and business. Unlike an ordinary interview program, "Iconoclasts" captures the essence of these headline-makers through the eyes of the creative visionaries who respect and admire them the most. The "Iconoclasts" visit each other's worlds to explore their creative process, their inspirations and their passions. Each pair provides viewers with an inside glimpse into the inspiration and motivation that made these iconoclasts who they are today and offers insight into the real people behind the public personae.

Season one of "Iconoclasts" featured: actor Samuel L. Jackson and basketball legend Bill Russell, fashion designer Tom Ford and artist Jeff Koons, chef Mario Batali and musician Michael Stipe, producer Brian Grazer and CEO Sumner Redstone, actress Renee Zellweger and news correspondent Christiane Amanpour, and actor and environmentalist Robert Redford and actor and philanthropist Paul Newman.

Season two featured: Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder and big-wave surfer Laird Hamilton; dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov and chef Alice Waters; filmmaker Quentin Tarantino and singer/songwriter Fiona Apple; actress Isabella Rossellini and inventor Dean Kamen; music great Paul Simon and producer Lorne Michaels; and comedian Dave Chappelle and poet Maya Angelou.

"Iconoclasts" is executive produced by Robert Redford; Jon Kamen, Frank Scherma, and Justin Wilkes of @radical.media; Monsell Darville of Grey Goose Entertainment; and Laura Michalchyshyn, Lynne Kirby, and Kirk Iwanowski of Sundance Channel and co-executive produced by Joe Berlinger. The supervising producer is Sidney Beaumont.

Current broadcast schedule (subject to change) is as follows:

Sean Penn + Jon Krakauer (Oct. 25 at 10 PM ET/PT)

Alicia Keys + Ruby Dee (Nov. 1 at 10 PM ET/PT)

Mike Myers + Deepak Chopra (Nov. 8 at 10 PM ET/PT)

Howard Schultz + Norman Lear (Nov. 15 at 10 PM ET/PT)

Wynton Marsalis + John Besh (Nov. 22 at 10 PM ET/PT)

Madeleine Albright + Ashley Judd (Nov. 29 at 10 PM ET/PT)

SUBJECT BIOGRAPHIES

Sean Penn

One of the most talented actors of his generation, Sean Penn began his career with the feature-film Taps (1981) and has gone on to appear in over 35 feature films including Dead Man Walking, Sweet and Lowdown and I am Sam, all of which earned him Oscar nominations for Best Actor. Penn won the Academy Award for Best Actor in 2004 for his portrayal of Jimmy Markum in Clint Eastwood's Mystic River. Penn has directed four features including the upcoming Into The Wild based on Jon Krakauer's best-selling book of the same name. Sean Penn has recently become known for his humanitarian efforts making headlines when he traveled to Iraq and Iran as a journalist for The San Francisco Chronicle and to New Orleans to aid Hurricane Katrina victims. In 2004, he received the John Steinbeck Award for outspoken torch-bearers in the creative arts and he received the 2006 Christopher Reeve First Amendment Award from the Creative Coalition for his dedication to ensuring the preservation of First Amendment rights.

Jon Krakauer

Jon Krakauer is the author of four non-fiction books. His second book, the bestseller Into the Wild, tells the true story of Christopher McCandless, a young man who gave away all his belongings and walked into the Alaskan Wilderness. The film Into the Wild, adapted for the screen and directed by Sean Penn and starring Emile Hirsch, will be released in the fall of 2007. Krakauer's harrowing account of the tragic events on Mt. Everest in 1996, Into Thin Air, went to first place on the New York Times best seller list and was among the final three books considered for the General Non-Fiction Pulitzer Prize. In 2003, Krakauer's examination of fundamentalist offshoots of Mormonism, Under the Banner of Heaven, became his third non-fiction bestseller. In 1999 Krakauer received an Academy Award in literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, a prestigious award intended "to honor writers of exceptional accomplishment."

Alicia Keys

At age 21, singer/songwriter Alicia Keys released her debut album, "Songs in A Minor" (2002) which debuted at #1 to great critical acclaim and subsequently won five Grammy Awards. Her next album "The Diary of Alica Keys" also debuted at #1 leading Keys to become the best-selling R+B artist of 2004 and earned her 4 more Grammy Awards. In 2005, Keys released her third album, "Unplugged", which went straight to the top of the charts and made her the first female R&B solo artist to have 3 consecutive #1 albums. Keys is set to release her much anticipated fourth album, "As I Am" in fall of 2007. Keys delved into feature films with her role in Joe Carnahan's Smokin' Aces and will be seen this fall in The Nanny Diaries opposite Scarlett Johansson. An active philanthropist, Keys is a spokeswoman for Keep a Child Alive, a non- profit organization that provides life-saving AIDS medicines directly to children and families with HIV/AIDS in Africa.

Ruby Dee

An acclaimed actor, author and activist, Ruby Dee has graced the stage and screen for more than sixty years. Since her Broadway debut in 1946, Ms. Dee has received several awards for her work, including an Obie for her role in Boesman and Lena, a Drama Desk award for Wedding Band, and an Emmy award for the 1990 TV film Decoration Day. Dee and her husband, the late Ossie Davis, have been recognized as pioneers for their work on behalf of African-Americans in the performing arts. Through their family-owned production companies, Emmalyn II Productions and Dee-Davis Enterprises, the duo produced innovative and influential programming that featured underrepresented voices, including their PBS series, "With Ossie and Ruby." In 2004, Dee and Davis were honored by the Kennedy Center for their contributions to the performing arts in America. In 2007, they received a Grammy Award for the audio book of their joint autobiography, With Ossie & Ruby: In This Life Together.

Mike Myers

Mike Myers is hailed as one of the most multifaceted performers of his generation. Myers joined the cast of "Saturday Night Live" in 1988. During his 6 years on the show he brought to life numerous memorable characters including the Barbra Streisand obsessed Linda Richman, German television host Dieter and the young Simon who saw life through the window above his bathtub. Myers gained world-wide fame with his portrayal of heavy metal fan Wayne Cambell. He went on to star with Dana Carvey in Wayne's World 1 and 2, played both international man of mystery Austin Powers and his nemesis, Dr. Evil in the Austin Powers trilogy and voiced the beloved title character in the blockbuster trilogy Shrek. Myers will star in the upcoming The Love Guru which he begins shooting in September, 2007.

Deepak Chopra

Deepak Chopra, MD, is one of the best known and widely respected leaders in the field of mind/body medicine in the world today by forging a holistic approach to healing that has had enormous popular appeal as well as widespread professional acceptance. Time magazine hailed Chopra one of the top one hundred heroes and icons of the twentieth century, and credits him as "poet- prophet of alternative medicine." Dr. Deepak Chopra is the Founder and CEO of the Chopra Center for Wellbeing in Carlsbad, California and Manhattan, New York and President of the Alliance for a New Humanity. He is known as a prolific author of over 49 books with 13 best sellers on mind-body health, quantum mechanics, spirituality, and peace. A global force in the field of human empowerment, Dr. Chopra has been published in more than 30 languages with more than 20 million copies of his books in print.

Howard Schultz

Howard Schultz joined Starbucks Coffee Company as director of operations and marketing in 1982, when the Company had only four stores. In August 1987, Schultz purchased Starbucks Coffee Company and is currently chairman of the board. Widely known as the architect of the Company's brand image, Schultz continues to provide strategic direction, serves as the vision and voice of the Starbucks brand and identifies new business alliances and development initiatives. Under Schultz's leadership, the company has achieved a number of milestones. In June 1992, Starbucks was the first specialty coffee company to become a public company and is now the leading retailer, roaster and brand of specialty coffee in the world, with 15,000 locations worldwide. Schultz is the co-founder of Maveron LLC, a venture capital group whose first investment was allocated to eBay, the world's largest personal online trading community. In June 2004, Schultz was elected to the board of directors of DreamWorks Animation. DreamWorks Animation is principally devoted to developing and producing computer generated, or CG, animated feature films. Schultz was instrumental in the recent formation of the Hear Music record label, in partnership with Concord Music Group.

Norman Lear

Norman Lear has enjoyed a long career in television and film, and as a political and social activist and philanthropist. Known as the creator of Archie Bunker and "All in the Family," Lear's television credits include "Sanford & Son"; "Maude"; "Good Times"; "The Jeffersons"; "Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman"; "Fernwood 2Nite" and the dramatic series "Palmerstown U.S.A." His motion picture credits include "Cold Turkey," "Divorce American Style," "Fried Green Tomatoes," "Stand By Me" and "The Princess Bride." Mr. Lear also has founded several nonprofit organizations including People For the American Way; the Norman Lear Center at the USC Annenberg School for Communication and the Business Enterprise Trust. In 2001, Mr. Lear created the Declaration of Independence Road Trip, a four-year educational initiative and national multimedia tour of one of the surviving original copies of the Declaration, which he owns. As part of the project, he also launched Declare Yourself, a nonpartisan voter initiative that registered 1 million new young voters in the 2004 election. Mr. Lear's business career began in 1959 with his co-founding of Tandem Productions, Inc. He is currently chairman of Act III Communications, a multimedia holding with interests in the recording, motion picture, broadcasting and publishing industries.

Wynton Marsalis

Born in New Orleans in 1961, he received his first trumpet at age six, and by age 14, had made his debut with the New Orleans Philharmonic. At 17, he attended The Juilliard School and at 19, Marsalis had signed a recording contract with CBS Records. He is currently signed to Blue Note records. He has recorded 60 albums and won nine Grammy Awards for his jazz and classical recordings. In 1997, Wynton Marsalis became the first jazz musician ever to receive a Pulitzer Prize for Music for his oratorio Blood in the Fields commissioned by Jazz at Lincoln Center. In 1987, Marsalis became the founding Artistic Director of Jazz at Lincoln Center, and has led the not-for- profit arts organization for 20 years. His mission for Jazz at Lincoln Center, to inspire and grow audiences for jazz, has resulted in the organization becoming the world's largest producer of jazz performance and education events. An indefatigable educator, composer, author, and performer, he continues to lead the world's premiere big band, the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra.

John Besh

Acclaimed chef John Besh grew up in Southern Louisiana, learning at an early age the essentials of Louisiana's rich culinary traditions. Besh has set the benchmark for fine dining in New Orleans- with the four successful restaurants-Restaurant August, Besh Steak, Luke and La Provence. His talent and drive have earned Besh continuous kudos from the outset of his career: from Food & Wine's "Top 10 Best New Chefs in America" to Gourmet's "Guide to America's Best Restaurants," and "America's Top 50 Restaurants". He won the James Beard Award for Best Chef of the Southeast in 2006. Besh's appreciation for local ingredients and local cuisine has only increased since Hurricane Katrina as he considers these essential to the survival of the people and cultural heritage of New Orleans. Showing the spirit of New Orleans in the wake of a disaster, Restaurant August was one of the first restaurants to open after Hurricane Katrina. Besh has been actively involved in efforts locally and national to raise funds for hurricane victims.

Madeleine Albright

Madeleine K. Albright is a Principal of The Albright Group LLC, a global strategy firm, and Chair and Principal of Albright Capital Management LLC, an investment advisory firm focused on emerging markets. Dr. Albright was the 64th Secretary of State of the United States. In 1997, she was named the first female Secretary of State and became, at that time, the highest ranking woman in the history of the U.S. government. From 1993 to 1997, Dr. Albright served as the U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations and as a member of the President's Cabinet. She is a Professor at the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service. She chairs both the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs, and the Pew Global Attitudes Project and serves as president of the Truman Scholarship Foundation. Dr. Albright co-chairs the UNDP's Commission on Legal Empowerment of the Poor, serves on the Board of Directors of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Center for a New American Security, and the Board of Trustees for the Aspen Institute.

Ashley Judd

Ashley Judd grew up in Kentucky. Her breakout role was in the widely acclaimed film Ruby in Paradise (1993). Judd has carefully managed to have a career working in both independent and Hollywood films. She has appeared in movies such as De Lovely, Bug, Come Early Morning, Heat, Double Jeopardy, and Kiss the Girls. Along with establishing herself as one of the best known and loved actresses in Hollywood, Judd is also the Global Ambassador for YouthAids and spokesperson for Five and Alive, which focuses on the top five diseases that afflict children in poverty stricken areas (malaria being the most prevalent).

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 of NBC Universal, Showtime Networks Inc and Robert Redford. 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 reflects the spirit of GREY GOOSE Vodka and celebrates the interests of the consumer. Season one of "Iconoclasts" was the first production from Grey Goose Entertainment. In addition to season one and season two of "Iconoclasts" Grey Goose Entertainment supports THE ARTISTS DEN, an innovative enterprise that curates the best new music from around the globe, which it showcases in unique and intimate venues.

Conde Nast Media Group

The Conde Nast Media Group, a unit of Conde Nast Publications, includes corporate sales, marketing, interactive and direct sales efforts for all of Conde Nast's consumer magazines and websites. The Conde Nast Media Group is recognized as an industry leader for its creation and execution of large- scale, integrated-multiplatform advertising programs and events.

@radical.media

@radical.media is a diverse global production company which has produced numerous award-winning feature films and television programs including the Academy Award-winning "Fog of War," the Grammy Award winning "Concert For George," "Metallica: Some Kind of Monster" winner of the Independent Spirit Award and Jay-Z's "Fade To Black." Additionally, the company produced the first and second season of the critically acclaimed television series "Iconoclasts" on the Sundance Channel, "The Gamekillers" and "Nike Battlegrounds" on MTV, "Fast Cars and Superstars" on ABC and the Emmy winning- series "Ten Days That Unexpectedly Changed America" for the History Channel.

For more information go to http://www.sundancechannel.com/iconoclasts.

SOURCE Sundance Channel
http://www.sundancechannel.com http://www.sundancechannel.com/iconoclasts