Call Me Claus,

Academy Award ® -winning actor Whoopi Goldberg stars in and Grammy Award-winning singer/songwriter Garth Brooks contributes new music to the Turner Network Television (TNT) Original film CALL ME CLAUS, a heartwarming comedy about the true meaning of Christmas.

Goldberg and Brooks also executive-produce CALL ME CLAUS, along with Lisa Sanderson, CEO of Brooks' Red Strokes Entertainment. The two-hour film is a Columbia TriStar Television production, in association with Red Strokes Entertainment and Goldberg's One Ho Productions. Goldberg's producing partner, Tom Leonardis, and Jay Benson are the producers. Peter Werner (The 70s, Almost Golden: The Jessica Savitch Story) directs from a script by Sara Bernstein & Gregory Bernstein and Brian Bird with a story by Paul Mooney and Sara Bernstein & Gregory Bernstein.

In the film, Goldberg plays Lucy Cullins, a slick and cynical producer at the Shop-A-Lot home-shopping network, who is desperately in need of some Christmas spirit. Help arrives just in the Nick of time, when Lucy hires an actor to play Santa Claus on her station's holiday programming. She gets more than she bargained for: The actor, not so coincidentally named Nick, really is Santa Claus and faces mandatory retirement after 200 years on the job. Nick must find his replacement by Christmas Eve or the world will face dire consequences. His sights are set on Lucy, but can he thaw her heart in time? Academy Award®--nominated actor Sir Nigel Hawthorne (The Madness of King George) stars as Nick, the soon-to-be-retiring Santa Claus; Tony Award-winning actor Brian Stokes Mitchell (Broadway's Ragtime and Kiss Me Kate) stars as the network boss; Victor Garber (Titanic) stars as Lucy's stage manager; and Taylor Negron (Stuart Little) stars as Santa's head elf.

Brooks contributes new music to CALL ME CLAUS: A re-make of Louis Armstrong's song, "'Zat You, Santa Claus?"; the title track, "Call Me Claus"; and a moving gospel hymn he wrote, "Ready for Jesus," recorded by Vicki Hampton solely for the movie. The film also features three more songs from Brooks' popular The Magic of Christmas CD: "Winter Wonderland," "Sleigh Ride" and "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas." The Magic of Christmas, with the new songs from CALL ME CLAUS, is currently in stores.

"One of the reasons I wanted to make this movie is because I just wanted to have a little holiday special for my grandkids," Goldberg said. "As we're faced with little kids running around being afraid of things that happen in the world, I think it's the holidays that we owe them, to keep their belief in Santa Claus and all other mythological figures alive so that they can have their childhood."

"My greatest hope for this film is that we get families gathering to watch it together, and that the music enriches the experience for them," said Brooks. "Christmas is everything for me. It is a holiday where it seems that, for 24 hours, people take down the walls. Christmas has become one of the biggest money holidays, but right in the center of all of it is this 24 hours of being with your family, loving one another. Everything's all right for 24 hours, and that's how it should be, especially with the recent tragic events that have affected all of us."


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