Barbara Hershey is heading to Lifetime.
The Oscar nominee has been tapped to star in the female-skewing cabler’s original telepic Left to Die, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.
Based on a true story, Hershey will play Sandra Chase, a woman who takes an innocent vacation in Ecuador but ends up being wrongly imprisoned for drug trafficking. Rachael Leigh Cook (Perception) will play Tammi, Sandra’s daughter who fights for her mother’s release in the TV movie from Sony Pictures Television, Blue Blazer Productions and Sandbar Pictures.
Frank von Zerneck, Danielle von Zerneck, Elizabeth Zox Friedman, Greg Little and Tammi Chase will executive produce the effort, with Agatha Dominik and Suzette Couture penning the pic. Leon Ichaso will direct.
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Hershey, whose recent credits include Black Swan and an arc on ABC’s Once Upon a Time, picked up a supporting actress Oscar nomination for 1996’s The Portrait of a Lady. She’s repped by Pakula/King & Associates, Impression Entertainment and Jackoway Tyerman.
Cook next co-stars opposite Eric McCormack in TNT’s upcoming drama series Perception. She’s with Paradigm, James/Levy Management and Fuller Downs.
For Lifetime, Left to Die joins a growing list of high-profile TV movies including its Elizabeth Taylor–Richard Burton effort Liz & Dick, starring Lindsay Lohan, and a June Carter Cash biopic starring Jewel.
Email: Lesley.Goldberg@thr.com; Twitter: @Snoodit
