Career Achievement Award to Michael Keaton in Zurich

It was announced today that The Zurich Film Festival will present a special Career Achievement Award to actor/director Michael Keaton (“Batman” “Beatlejuice” “Jackie Brown”) and present The Merry Gentleman, the acclaimed drama directed by and starring Michael Keaton (his directorial debut). The announcement was made by ZFF Directors Karl Spoerri and Nadja Schildknecht.

In an exclusive Zurich Master Class at the Zunfthaus zur Saffran on Friday, October 2, Michael Keaton will discuss the topics of acting and directing with 20 selected participants. On Saturday, October 3, 2009, Keaton will personally receive the Zurich Film Festival’s first Career Achievement Award for his accomplishments as an actor and filmmaker.

“Not only is Michael Keaton an unbelievably multifaceted actor, he can also celebrate a remarkable directing debut with The Merry Gentleman, which was received with great enthusiasm at the Sundance Film Festival by the press and audiences alike”, said Karl Spoerri, Co-Director and Artistic Director of the Zurich Film Festival.

The Merry Gentleman will be screened in the Cinema Corso 1 as part of the 5th Zurich Film Festival on the Festival’s closing night, Saturday, October 3rd.

Michael Keaton gained national attention in the hit comedy “Night Shift,” followed by starring roles in the hit films “Mr. Mom,” “Johnny Dangerously,” and “Dream Team.”

In 1998, he earned the best actor award from the National Society of Film Critics for “Clean and Sober” and Tim Burton's “Beetlejuice.” Keaton re-teamed with Burton to play the title role in the blockbusters “Batman” and “Batman Returns.”

Keaton also starred as Robert Weiner in HBO's critically acclaimed “Live From Baghdad.” He received a Golden Globe® nomination for his role in the film, which was based on a true story of the CNN crew who reported from Baghdad during the Gulf War. He also starred as the President of the United States in “First Daughter” for Twentieth Century Fox Studios.

Additional credits include “White Noise,” an intensely spine-chilling thriller for Universal and “Game Six,” a story centered around the historic sixth game of the 1986 World Series, Mets vs. Boston Red Sox. In addition, he has completed the feature film “The Last Time” as well as a starring role in the TNT mini-series “The Company,” a dramatic story of how the CIA operated during the Cold War.

Entering just its fifth year, the Zurich Film Festival has established itself as a marquee European Festival, discovering and promoting independent voices and talent from around the world and showcasing a diverse array of international films. ZFF continues to serve as the setting for many World and European premieres.

About “The Merry Gentleman”

Michael Keaton directed The Merry Gentleman from a script written by Ron Lazzeretti. Lazzeretti also produced the film with Steven A. Jones. Kelly Macdonald (“No County for Old Men”) stars as the female lead, opposite Keaton. Additional cast includes Bobby Cannavale (“The Bone Collector”), Keith Kupferer (“Stranger than Fiction”) and Darlene Hunt (“I Heart Huckabees”).

In the film, Kate Frazier (Macdonald) is running away from a troubled marriage and hopes to find anonymity with a new home and a new job in Chicago. Despite friendly flirtation from co-workers and others, the shy and reserved Kate keeps her distance, avoiding questions about her sudden arrival and her recent past.

When Kate meets Frank Logan (Keaton), the two discover unexpected satisfaction in their mutual, shared silence. Haunted by the troubling choices he has made, Frank finds a kindred spirit in the younger Kate, and for a moment the two seem destined to redeem and remake each other. As the holidays and New Year pass against an urban landscape that seems both breathtakingly beautiful and starkly quiet, Kate and Frank’s friendship becomes one of necessity and survival for these two lost spirits. But neither lonely soul can escape the lives they have left behind. As events unfold and the painful truth slowly emerges, Frank is forced to face the man he really is, while Kate struggles to be the stronger woman she needs to be.