Deadline reports that Alien and Ghostbusters legend Sigourney Weaver is set to executive produce and star in The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart, an adaptation from Amazon of Holly Ringland’s novel of the same name.
The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart focuses on “a young girl, Alice Hart, whose violent childhood casts a dark shadow over her adult life. After a family tragedy in which she loses both her abusive father and beloved mother in a tragic and mysterious fire, nine-year-old Alice is taken to live with her grandmother June on a flower farm where she learns that there are secrets within secrets about her and her family’s past.
Set against Australia’s natural landscape, and with native wildflowers and plants providing a way to express the inexpressible, the family drama spans the decades as Alice grows from a child into a woman, is epic and visceral. Her journey builds to an emotional climax as Alice, once again, finds herself fighting for her life against a man she loves.”
The series, which will run for seven episodes, will be written and showrun by Sarah Lambert (Lambs of Gods) while Glendyn Ivin (The Cry) will direct. Weaver, Lambert and Ivin will serve as an executive producers alongside Made Up Stories’ Jodi Matterson, Bruna Papandrea, Steve Hutensky and Allie Goss. Producing will be Barbara Gibbs and with Lucinda Reynolds as a co-executive producer.
“Although I mostly wrote The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart thinking that no one other than me would ever read it, I wanted my novel to find its people – I was driven by a deep, aching desire for connection,” said Ringland. “To use my voice. To roar like I used to on bushwalks as a child, yelling cooee out into the Australian bush, waiting with breath held to hear someone else, unknown and unseen to me but on the same track, yell cooee back. I’m here. You’re not alone. It’s what I wanted to feel in my writing; it’s the feeling I wanted Alice and her story to give others. This is my wildest dream, seeing my first novel, Alice’s story, be brought to life on screen and for a global audience on Amazon Prime Video.”
“From the moment I read The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart I knew I wanted to bring this story and these characters to the screen,” Lambert said. ” It’s such a timely drama about family, love and relationships born out of the violence so often hidden neatly away behind closed doors. Leaving behind untold damage. However, it is also an extraordinarily hopeful story about women, resilience, friendship, and giving voice to the truth to finally break free of the past. I cannot wait to take audiences on this journey with the indomitable Alice Hart. There really is no better platform than Amazon Prime Video to bring this story to the world with their commitment to original voices and groundbreaking shows.”
“We are thrilled to be bringing The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart to Prime Video. The story is a compelling tale of female resilience, which will be perfectly embodied by the talented Sigourney Weaver,” said Matterson and Papandrea. “Holly has created a distinctive and powerful novel told with authenticity, courage and love. We have been a fan of Holly’s book for quite some time, a long-time admirer of Sigourney’s, and am excited to be partnering with Amazon Studios to bring this story to a global audience.”
“This gripping and emotional story is a broad-skewing drama featuring strong female characters, written and produced by an incredible team of talented female film-makers, and set against a stunning local landscape,” said Erika North, Amazon’s Head of Originals for Asia Pacific. “We are thrilled that the wonderful Sigourney Weaver signed on to this project to bring the complex and powerful story to life. We will continue to produce more local content, offering and unearthing compelling stories featuring Australian artists, writers and producers and are proud of the Australian originals we have created with local production partners.”
Weaver has had a busy schedule as of late as she filmed James Cameron’s Avatar 2 and Avatar 3, reprising her role as Dr. Grace Augustine and is set for Cameron’s fourth and fifth Avatar sequels. She will also reprise her Ghostbusters role as Dana Barrett in this summer’s Ghostbusters: Afterlife alongside much of the original cast.
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