Nicole Kidman, Clive Owen to Star in HBO's HEMINGWAY & GELLHORN, 5/28

Academy Award(R) nominee andGolden Globe winner Clive Owen and Academy Award(R) and three-time Golden Globe winner Nicole Kidman star in the title roles of HBO Films' HEMINGWAY & GELLHORN, under the direction of Academy Award(R) nominee Philip Kaufman. Kaufman directs from a script by Jerry Stahl and Barbara Turner.

Debuting MONDAY, MAY 28 (9:00-11:40 p.m. ET/PT), exclusively on HBO, HEMINGWAY & GELLHORN recounts one of the greatest romances of the last century - the passionate love affair and tumultuous marriage of literary master Ernest Hemingway and trailblazing war correspondent Martha Gellhorn - as it follows the adventurous writers through the Spanish Civil War and beyond. The Combined magnetism of Hemingway and Gellhorn ushered them into social circles that included the elite of Hollywood, the aristocracy of the literary world and the First Family of the United States. As witnesses to history, they covered all the great conflicts of their time, but the war they couldn't survive was the war between themselves.

Other HBO playdates: May 29 (3:15 p.m.) and June 2 (1:15 p.m.), 7 (2:00 p.m., 12:30 a.m.), 10 (4:30 p.m.), 11 (9:00 p.m., 4:20 a.m.), 15 (10:00 a.m.) and 19 (11:30 p.m.)

HBO2 playdates: June 4 (3:30 p.m.), 6 (10:15 a.m., 9:45 p.m.), 12 (3:15 p.m., 2:10 a.m.), 17 (10:35 a.m., 10:00 p.m.), 21 (1:15 p.m., 12:05 a.m.), 25 (11:00 a.m.) and 30 (3:35 p.m., 3:20 a.m.)

HEMINGWAY & GELLHORN also stars Academy Award(R) nominee David Strathairn ("Goodnight, and Good Luck," HBO's "Temple Grandin"), Rodrigo Santoro ("I Love You Philip Morris," "300"), SAG Award nominee Molly Parker ("The Road," HBO's "Deadwood"), Golden Globe nominee Parker Posey ("Superman Returns," "A Mighty Wind"), Santiago Cabrera ("Che: Part 1"), actor-musician Lars Ulrich ("Get Him to the Greek," founding member of Metallica), Saverio Guerra ("Lucky You"), Emmy(R) nominee Peter Coyote ("Erin Brockovich," "Law & Order: LA"), Joan Chen ("The Last Emperor") and Emmy(R) and Golden Globe winner Tony Shalhoub ("Monk," HBO's "Too Big to Fail").

An HBO Films presentation of a film by Philip Kaufman, HEMINGWAY & GELLHORN is executive produced by Peter Kaufman ("Quills," "Henry and June"), Trish Hofmann ("Notorious," "The New World"), Emmy(R) winner James Gandolfini (HBO's "Alive Day Memories: Home from Iraq" and "Wartorn 1861-2010"), Emmy(R) nominee Alexandra Ryan (HBO's "Alive Day Memories: Home from Iraq") and Emmy(R) nominee Barbara Turner ("Petulia," "Pollock").

Nancy Sanders ("Huff") and Mark Armstrong ("Holla If You Hear Me") are co-executive producers. The production team includes three-time Academy Award(R)-winning editor Walter Murch ("The English Patient," "Apocalypse Now"), director of photography Rogier Stoffers ("Quills," "John Q"), Academy Award(R)-nominated production designer Geoffrey Kirkland ("The Right Stuff," "Angela's Ashes") and Academy Award(R)-nominated costume designer Ruth Myers ("The Painted Veil," "L.A. Confidential").

ABOUT THE PRODUCTION

Director Philip Kaufman and executive producer Peter Kaufman became involved with HEMINGWAY & GELLHORN nine years ago. "I'm not really interested in making any film just for the sake of getting something made," the director explains. "For me, it's always been about having an adventure, falling in love, committing totally to something, for however many years."

Executive producers Alex Ryan and Barbara Turner developed Turner's script with the Kaufmans, ultimately bringing it to James Gandolfini, who became a producer and champion of the film, and brought it to HBO. Writer Jerry Stahl was then enlisted to further develop the screenplay.

Explains Ryan, "I was moved by the inextinguishable spirit of this woman who, despite her success, seemed to be relegated to live in Hemingway's shadow, and I felt that many people could relate to Martha's battles on and off the field."

The passion with which Kaufman approached this story was due, in large part, to the passion within the story itself. "With Hemingway and Gellhorn, we have two strong, bright, sexy people who are filled with vigor and energy and competitiveness," Kaufman says. "We have moments of heightened passion, of idealism, of beauty, of heroism and tragedy."