Alias Grace‘s cast just got a whole lot bigger.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the six-part Netflix mini-series has added famed horror director/actor David Cronenberg, Edward Holcroft (Wolf Hall, London Spy), Kerr Logan (Game of Thrones, London Irish), Rebecca Liddiard (Houdini and Doyle, MsLabelled), and Paul Gross (Republic of Doyle, Due South) to its cast. They join Anna Paquin, Zachary Levi, and Sarah Gadon (who has appeared in Cronenberg’s Maps to the Stars, Cosmopolis, and A Dangerous Method) in Sarah Polley’s Margaret Atwood adaptation.
Alias Grace centers on Gadon’s poor, Irish immigrant and domestic servant Grace Marks as she and stable hand James McDermott are convicted for the violent murder of their employers (Gross and Paquin as Thomas Kinnear and Nancy Montgomery) in 1843. The mini-series and novel are based on a true story.
Sarah Polley (Away from Her, Take This Waltz) is writing and producing the mini-series with American Psycho’s Mary Harron attached to direct. Both Polley and fellow executive producer Noreen Halpern were quoted in a Netflix press release thanking the cast and crew, and sharing their excitement for the upcoming mini-series.
“After almost 20 years of dreaming of bringing Alias Grace to the screen, it is beyond thrilling to see it all come together with such an amazing cast and crew,” said Polley.
“Alias Grace is both a chilling true-life murder mystery and a story about the immigrant experience. I am both delighted and honored to be a part of this project of such scale and scope, pairing an impeccable literary pedigree with a creative team comprised of the very best talent,” said Halpern. “And to be the first co-commission between CBC and Netflix is truly icing on the cake.”
The mini-series is currently shooting in Toronto and Ontario. Polley, Harron, Halpern, and D.J. Carson are executive producers on the mini-series. It is produced by Halfire Entertainment and CBC.