Production to began on music-based drama, "Crazy Heart"

Four-time Academy Award® nominee Jeff Bridges, two-time Golden Globe® nominee Maggie Gyllenhaal and Academy Award® winner Robert Duvall will star in the music-based drama, CRAZY HEART, scheduled to begin shooting in August in and around Santa Fe, N.M. Produced by Duvall’s and Robert Carliner’s Butchers Run Films, CMT Films and Informant Media, CRAZY HEART will debut in theatres in mid-2009. Theatrical distribution plans will be announced shortly.

Grammy®-winning and Academy Award®-nominated composer and producer T Bone Burnett will produce original music for the film and soundtrack with songwriter Stephen Bruton. Bridges, who released his debut album Be Here Soon in 2000, will perform original songs for both.

Based on the debut novel by Thomas Cobb, CRAZY HEART is a story about a down-on-his-luck, alcoholic country music singer (Bridges) who, through his relationship and experiences with a female reporter (Gyllenhaal), is able to get his life and career back on track. Bridges’ character plays mentor to a hotshot contemporary country star at the peak of his career, while struggling in the younger star’s shadow.

“Butchers Run is excited to be part of the team bringing CRAZY HEART to the screen,” says star and producer Duvall. “We've assembled an incredible cast, matched with a superior script by a talented, up-and-coming filmmaker Scott Cooper. This film will honor a great American tradition: country music, a world I know very well and am happy to be returning to after many years.”

“We knew from the moment we read the script that this was a film we absolutely wanted to make, and Duvall’s enthusiasm for the project became our passion as well,” says Jeff Yapp, executive vice president, Program Enterprises, MTVN. “CMT Films is honored to work with such a talented, award-winning group.”

Brian Philips, executive vice president and general manager of CMT says, “CRAZY HEART is the story we've been waiting to tell. This project has charmed not only the screen's most gifted talent, but also fired the musical imagination of T Bone Burnett. An unprecedented collaboration has begun."

CRAZY HEART will be produced by Butchers Run’s Robert Duvall and Robert Carliner, Informant Media’s Judy Cairo, Scott Cooper and T Bone Burnett. Jeff Bridges is an executive producer, along with Informant’s Michael A. Simpson and Eric Brenner, and Jeff Yapp for CMT Films. Cooper also serves as writer and director.

Jeff Bridges is a four-time Academy Award®-nominated actor. His most notable films include "The Last Picture Show," for which he received an Academy Award® nomination for Best Supporting Actor, "The Big Lebowski" and "Seabiscuit." Earlier in his career, he was nominated for an Academy Award® for Best Actor for his role in "Starman" and for Best Supporting Actor for his performance opposite Clint Eastwood in "Thunderbolt and Lightfoot." In 2000, Bridges was nominated for his fourth Academy-Award® for his role in "The Contender." This year, he plays the role of Obadiah Stain in the Marvel blockbuster, "Iron Man."

After making her acting debut in the 1992 film “Waterland,” Maggie Gyllenhaal appeared in such films as “A Dangerous Woman,” “Shattered Mind” and “Homegrown.” In 2001, she achieved recognition for her role in the cult hit “Donnie Darko” and then in 2002 she starred in her break-out role in “Secretary,” which earned Gyllenhaal critical acclaim and a Golden Globe® nomination. Gyllenhaal has since chosen an eclectic range of films including “Sherrybaby,” for which she was again nominated for a Golden Globe®, “Happy Endings” and “World Trade Center.” Currently, she is starring in “The Dark Knight,” the sequel to “Batman Begins.”

An Academy Award® and Emmy Award®-winning actor, Robert Duvall’s breakout role came with his performance as Tom Hagen in "The Godfather." Following this success, Duvall received an Academy Award® nomination for Best Supporting Actor in "Apocalypse Now" and a nomination for Best Actor in "The Great Santini." In 1983, he won an Academy Award® for Best Actor in "Tender Mercies," which was followed by an Emmy® nomination for his role in the TV mini-series "Lonesome Dove." Duvall received a second Emmy® nomination and a Golden Globe® for his portrayal of Joseph Stalin in the TV film "Stalin.”

He also wrote, directed and starred in the critically-acclaimed Butchers Run film, "The Apostle." For the AMC/Butchers Run Films movie “Broken Trail,” Duvall won an Emmy Award® for Best Actor. The critically-acclaimed TV miniseries garnered a total of 16 Emmy® nominations and won for Outstanding miniseries. This year, Duvall will appear in the feature films “Four Christmases” with Vince Vaughn and Reese Witherspoon and “The Road” with Viggo Mortensen and Charlize Theron.

T Bone Burnett has produced, written, scored and overseen music for such films as “O Brother Where Art Thou?,” “Cold Mountain,” “Walk The Line” and “The Big Lebowski.” His work on “O Brother” earned him multiple Grammy® awards in 2001, including Album of the Year and Producer of the Year, and sold more than ten million copies worldwide. He received an Academy Award® nomination for Best Original Song, along with Elvis Costello, for The Scarlet Tide from “Cold Mountain” in 2004 and was awarded another Grammy® for his work as producer of the “Walk The Line” soundtrack in 2007.

Burnett has produced some of music’s most acclaimed releases including last year’s Raising Sand, a collaborative album from Alison Krauss and Robert Plant. Some of his other best-known productions include albums by Elvis Costello, John Mellencamp, Tony Bennett and k.d. Lang, Counting Crows, The Wallflowers and Los Lobos.