Laura Ziskin Returns As Telecast Producer for 79th Academy Awards®
Producer Laura Ziskin will return to produce the 79th Annual Academy Awards telecast next February, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences President Sid Ganis announced today.
It will be Ziskin's second involvement with the production of an Oscar® telecast. Her first was in 2002 for the telecast of the 74th Academy Awards, the first time the ceremonies were broadcast from the Kodak Theatre.
Her 2002 freshman outing garnered eight Emmy nominations for the telecast, including one for Ziskin as producer in the Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Special category. The telecast won an Emmy for choreography.
"This is a tough producing job," said Ganis, "but we've been blessed with terrific producers, including Laura — her 2002 show was one of the most colorful and fun shows in my memory. I can't tell you how pleased I am and how exciting it is to have her back, and for me to be, this time, in a position to participate with her in the creation of the show. This one is going to be great fun for all of us, viewers especially."
Ziskin currently is in post-production on "Spider-Man 3." Other feature films on her plate include a number of projects for her home studio, Sony Pictures, including "Me and My Monster" with director McG and "The Crimson Petal and the White," with Curtis Hanson directing, as well as "The Spellman Files" for Paramount and an HBO film on Katharine Graham written by Joan Didion.
"I have wanted to produce the Academy Awards again for a long time," Ziskin said. "It is a terrific, really fun challenge for a producer — commingling the thrills of putting on a live show, the creating of an exciting broadcast for the people watching at home and celebrating the extraordinary medium of film."
"I am delighted to have an opportunity to work with Sid Ganis and the spectacular Academy staff, and it is an honor to be in the company of past Academy Awards show producers such as Gil Cates, Joe Roth, Dick and Lilli Zanuck, Quincy Jones, Howard Koch, and others," Ziskin said. "There are a lot of award shows these days, but the Oscars remain unparalled."
Cates, who has produced 13 shows since 1990, wished Ziskin "the very best of great luck. Laura's first outing in 2002 was fantastic. It's an amazing show to do and we're all privileged to work on it."
The producer of over a dozen films, including the "Spider-Man" franchise, Ziskin also was executive producer of "As Good As It Gets" and "Pretty Woman."
In 1994 she was founder and served as president of Fox 2000, a feature film arm of 20th Century Fox, before re-forming Laura Ziskin Productions in 1999.
After graduating from the USC School of Cinema, Ziskin began her career as a development executive, moving into feature films with Jon Peters' production company where she worked on the remake of "A Star Is Born," starring Barbra Streisand.
In 1984 Ziskin formed Fogwood Films with partner Sally Field, and in 1985 she produced "Murphy’s Romance," which received a Best Actor nomination for James Garner and a cinematography nomination for William A. Fraker.
As an independent producer, she cast then-relatively-unknown actors Kevin Costner and Sean Young alongside veteran Gene Hackman and produced the hit thriller "No Way Out" for Orion Pictures.
In 1990 Ziskin executive produced Touchstone Pictures' "Pretty Woman," starring Richard Gere and Julia Roberts, who received a Best Actress nomination for her role.
Her executive-produced 1997 film "As Good As It Gets" received seven Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, and its stars, Jack Nicholson and Helen Hunt, took home Oscars in the lead acting categories.
Ziskin's other producing credits include "What about Bob?," based on a story by Ziskin and two-time Oscar winner Alvin Sargent; "The Doctor;" "Hero," again based on a story by her and Sargent; "To Die For;" "The Rescue;" "D.O.A." and "Everybody’s All-American."
As a television producer, Ziskin served as executive producer with George Clooney and Pamela Oas Williams for the live CBS presentation of "Fail Safe." She also served as co-executive producer of the series "Tarzan" for the WB Network and Warner Bros. Television and executive produced the Norman Jewison-directed "Dinner with Friends" adapted from the Pulitzer Prize winning play for HBO.
Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2006 will be presented on February 25, 2007, at the Kodak Theatre at the Hollywood & Highland Center. The show will be televised live by the ABC Television Network.
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