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Television News
USA Network
Announces Casting for 'Helen of Troy' A Special Event 4-Hour Original
Mini-Series
Rufus Sewell, Stellan Skarsgard, Matthew Marsden and Sienna Guillory to
Star
PASADENA, Calif., July 9 /PRNewswire/ -- USA Network made casting announcements today for "Helen of Troy," the 4-hour original mini-series based on the legendary life of Helen of Troy. The mini-series stars Rufus Sewell ("A Knight's Tale," "Sense and Sensibility," "Amistad") as Agamemnon; Stellan Skarsgard ("Breaking the Waves," "Good Will Hunting," "The Glass House") as Theseus, and Matthew Marsden ("Black Hawk Down") as Paris. Making her U.S. television debut, Sienna Guillory ("The Time Machine") will star as Helen -- the face that launched a thousand ships. Jeff Wachtel, executive vice president, series and longform programming, USA Network, made the announcement.
"Helen of Troy" is an epic story of love and war. Helen of Troy was the most beautiful woman in all of the world. Her husband and his allies quickly realized that Helen's beauty could quickly cause a devastating war. Spurred on by the villainous Agamemnon, they vowed that no one would ever sleep with Helen, not even her husband. Unfortunately Paris, a young Trojan warrior, knew nothing of the vow. The minute he and Helen saw each other, they fell in love. They risked everything to be together, sparking ancient history's greatest war. After countless had died, history's most infamous trick -- the Trojan Horse -- brought this incredible story to an end.
"Helen of Troy" is currently in pre-production and is slated to premiere in second quarter, 2003. The mini-series is being directed by John Kent Harrison ("A Wrinkle in Time," "What the Deaf Man Heard"), produced by Fuel Entertainment and distributed by USA Cable Entertainment. Penned by Ronni Kern ("The Princess and the Marine"), the executive producer is Adam Shapiro, former USA Network senior vice president of long-form programming, and producer of "Andre" and "Tom's Midnight Garden."
USA Network has a history of premiering successful original mini-series. The critically acclaimed mini-series "Attila" premiered in January 2001 and became basic cable's highest-rated original miniseries since USA's Emmy(R)- nominated "Moby Dick" premiered in March 1998, delivering the largest audience of any entertainment programming in the history of basic cable at the time of its premiere.
USA Network is cable television's leading provider of original series and feature movies, sports events, off-net television shows and blockbuster theatrical films. USA Network is available in 82% of all U.S. homes, and is seen in 86 million U.S. homes. The USA Network Web site is located at http://www.usanetwork.com/.
USA Network is a program service of Universal Television (http://www.universalstudios.com/), a division of Vivendi UNIVERSAL Entertainment (VUE), the U.S.-based film, television and recreation entity of Vivendi Universal, a global media and communications group.
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