Shirley MacLaine has joined the cast of the Anne prequel. She will be playing Amelia Thomas, mother of Louise (Rachel Blanchard). Filming of her scenes began today and will continue through the rest of the month.
Monthly Archive for October, 2007
I had made a post about the identity of the new Anne a few weeks ago but deleted it as it was mainly based on rumours spread around Youtube and because no formal announcement had been made.
I can now confirm the Youtube rumours are true. The young Anne will be played in the prequel by 12-year-old Toronto-based actress Hannah Endicott-Douglas, whose acting credits include The Good Witch and Samantha: An American Girl. Portraying Anne as a 50-year-old will be Oscar®-nominated actress Barbara Hershey (Beaches, The Portrait of a Lady). Rachel Blanchard (the TV series Clueless, Where the Truth Lies) is also among the cast, playing a woman named Louise.
The three-hour movie will air next year on CTV. Broadcast rights for other countries are unknown at this time.
In addition, CTV has also acquired broadcast rights to the the first three Anne miniseries (as well as a documentary about them), Road to Avonlea (as well as Happy Christmas Miss King), Anne: The Animated Series, Anne: Journey to Green Gables (the animated movie), The Magic Flute, and Mozart Decoded: The Magic Flute Diaries Documentary. The former two productions had their first Canadian runs, and some re-broadcasts, on CBC.
Sarah will be back in front of the camera again, this time for director Vincenzo Natali in what was–initially–going to be a follow-up to his 1997 film Cube: a sci-fi film entitled Splice. She and Adrien Brody will portray scientists who become well-known for their work in genetic engineering–in particular, splicing animal DNA to create new creatures.
Filming for the Canada/France co-production is to begin in Toronto in early December, with production to wrap in February 2008.
