More than in years past, 2007 was a huge year for not only Anne and RTA alumni, it was also a big year for fans as well, particularly for fans of Anne.
Archive for the 'General Avonlea News' Category
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.
The third Avonlea Convention–AvCon 2007–was held last weekend in Toronto.
Friday, July 27: Nearly 50 fans took part in a filming sights tour that included the Sullivan Entertainment backlot, the harbourfront, the Distillery District, and Spadina House.
Saturday, July 28: Fans gathered at Black Creek Pioneer Village to hear our various guests speak. This year, the Convention welcomed author Kevin McCabe (author/compiler of The L.M. Montgomery Album as well as another one regarding her poetry); composer John Welsman; and cast members Ian Clark (Simon Tremayne), Michael Mahonen (Gus Pike), and James O’Regan (Constable Jeffries). They were also able to screen a DVD featuring some of the various dance sequences from throughout the series.
Sunday, July 29: The Convention moved downtown to the Royal Ontario Museum. In the morning was the charity auction, where $4700 was raised for the ROM, which was the selected beneficiary for the year. The afternoon was emceed by Mag Ruffman (Olivia King/Dale) and Kevin Sullivan–the latter discussing various aspects of making the series. For example, the third season episode, “A Dark and Stormy Night” was meant to be a parody of 19th century melodrama. Also in the afternoon, fans got to see a DVD of series outtakes.
In words and pictures…
Corey’s Flickr set
Bobby’s Flickr set
Toronto Star
A more detailed report by Sonya (PDF file; hosted at Avonlea.hu)
Sullivan Boutique has announced that the final season of Road to Avonlea is available for preorder and will be shipped on March 2.
Special “goodies” for this sent include…
- A special Behind the Scenes Souvenir brochure
- Photo Gallery Souvenir DVD with soundtrack
- landscapes and souvenir moments of the cast and the locations.
The price for the five-disc set is $79.99 USD.
