Press Release

‘Thirteen Days’ Launched Into Space Aboard Space Shuttle As Acclaimed Film Gets Special Screening Aboard International Space Station

By SpaceRef Editor
February 8, 2001
Filed under ,

“Thirteen Days,” the critically
acclaimed dramatization of the Cuban Missile Crisis staring Kevin Costner, was
launched into space last night aboard the Space Shuttle Atlantis.
The film
will be delivered, along with other New Line Cinema titles to crew members of
Expedition One, the International Space Station.

The five-member flight crew of Atlantis (STS-98) will dock with the space
station on Friday on a mission to deliver and install a laboratory module that
is a crucial component in the construction of the International Space Station.
The lab will become the scientific research centerpiece of the space station.
But their precious cargo was augmented by a special shipment of DVD’s meant to
help entertain the International Space Station crew that has been in space
since last October.

New Line was able to arrange for the galactic care package through an
unlikely homegrown effort.
Studio employee Marc Jacobs designed the official
patch for STS-98 and paved the way for the DVD version of the film to be shown
220 miles above the Earth.

In the coming days, when the film is viewed during recreational time
aboard the International Space Station, it will be screened by two Russian
cosmonauts — Yuri Gidzenko and Sergei Krikalev — and one American astronaut
— Commander William Shepherd.

Together the three who have been orbiting the Earth for four months will
watch a movie about a moment in history when our two nations were not building
the most complex man-made structure in history, but were on the verge of
destroying the possibility for any future.

Jacobs, a graphic designer and space-enthusiast, got the unlikely job of
designing the shuttle patch through his friendship with Atlantis crew member
Marsha Ivins.
His association with Ivins helped place “Thirteen Days” in a
prestigious screening orbit all its own.

During the past week, President and Mrs. George W. Bush hosted a special
White House screening for members of the Kennedy family, and on Tuesday
members of Congress viewed the film.
Later this month, “Thirteen Days” will
screen at the United Nations at an event hosted by the United Nations
Department for Disarmament Affairs, in conjunction with Lawyers Alliance for
World Security.
Ted Sorensen, who was Special Counsel and a close aide to
President John F. Kennedy, will address the audience after the screening.
The
film will also have its European premiere at the Berlin Film Festival on
February 13, and will be shown at a screening and seminar at Harvard
University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government on February 21.

“From the White House and Congress to the United Nations and the distant
reaches of space, ‘Thirteen Days’ has become a must-see film,” said Michael
Lynne, President and Chief Operating Officer of New Line Cinema.
“We are
tremendously proud to be associated with a film that focuses on protecting our
future by examining a chilling chapter in World history.”

“At a moment when nuclear proliferation, the renewed debates over nuclear
weapons policy, and the development of a missile shield pepper the front
pages, ‘Thirteen Days’ is both a timeless and timely cautionary tale,” said
Producer and Beacon Pictures CEO Armyan Bernstein.

Added producer Peter Almond, “We are extremely gratified that our film is
being discussed in settings where policy and public opinion are actively
shaped.
What is amazing is how this film has crossed-over and merged popular
entertainment with serious public debate on the issues of the day.
Nuclear
proliferation and the world-wide nuclear threat are as real today as they were
in 1962.”

The film has already been screened at the prestigious Council of Foreign
Relations in New York City, and in Washington, DC under the auspices of
Kennedy School’s Shorenstein Center.

Beacon and New Line Cinema have also joined with Cuban Missile Crisis
scholar and Harvard University professor Graham Allison in shaping a web-site
devoted to the Cuban Missile Crisis and to the ongoing issues raised by the
film (http://www.thirteen-days.com/).

“Thirteen Days,” produced by Beacon Pictures and released by New Line
Cinema, opened nationwide on January 12.
The film is produced by Armyan
Bernstein, Peter O. Almond and Kevin Costner, and is written by David Self.
The screenplay draws on “The Kennedy Tapes: Inside the White House During the
Cuban Missile Crisis,” edited by Ernest May and Philip Zelikow.
The film
features a memorable ensemble that includes Kevin Costner as presidential aide
Kenny O’Donnell, Bruce Greenwood as John F. Kennedy and Steven Culp as Robert
F. Kennedy.

Other New Line titles sent into space include:


“The Wedding Singer”
“Seven”
“Rush Hour”
“The Mask”
“Lost In Space”
“Corrina Corrina”
“Love and Basketball”
“Pleasantville”
“Magnolia”
“Frequency”
“Austin Powers”
“Austin Powers The Spy Who Shagged Me”

For further information, please contact Steve Elzer of New Line Cinema/LA,
(310) 967-6654.

SpaceRef staff editor.