Shania: A Life in Eight Albums

Shania: A Life in Eight Albums is a Canadian television movie, which premiered on CBC Television at 8pm on November 7, 2005.[3] It is a biopic of Canadian country star Shania Twain, that was originally scheduled to air in October,[4] but was delayed by the CBC labour dispute. The film was divided into eight chapters, each defined by its own colour code, style and symbolic album cover title.[5]

Shania: A Life in Eight Albums
DVD cover
Genrebiopic
Directed byJerry Ciccoritti
StarringMeredith Henderson
Shenae Grimes
Megan Follows
Eric Schweig
Gordon Tootoosis
Country of originCanada
Original languagesEnglish
French[1]
Production
Running time90 minutes[2]
Release
Original networkCBC
Original releaseNovember 7, 2005 (TV)
April 24, 2007 (DVD)

Production and release

The role of Shania was shared between eight-year-old Reva Timbers, teen Shenae Grimes, and Meredith Henderson who plays Twain as an adult. They worked out shared mannerisms to improve continuity and all did their own singing.[5] The film also stars Megan Follows and Eric Schweig as Twain's parents, and Gordon Tootoosis as her grandfather.[6]

The film was directed by Jerry Ciccoritti[5] and produced by Barna-Alper Productions.[2]

Filming started on September 20, 2004[7] and mainly occurred in Sudbury.[8] Additional filming was done in Huntsville, Timmins and Toronto.[5] The film contained only brief footage of Timmins even though Twain grew up there. In 2004, Timmins mayor Vic Power publicly criticized the filmmakers for not producing the film in Timmins, calling it a "horrible miscarriage of justice".[9] Nevertheless, the director was successful in recruiting cousins of Twain as extras, and more importantly he secured High Park House, where Twain lived with John Kim Bell, as a filming location. In a random case of good fortune, the current owner of the house provided the crew with a guitar Shania had left behind. Meredith Henderson played it in the film.[10]

The film was not authorized by Twain and made without her participation. The film ends with a disclaimer stating so.[11] Because of Twain's lack of participation, the producers were not allowed to use any of her songs, and thus relied on early bootlegs of Twain singing public domain songs.

The film was released on DVD on April 24, 2007.[1]

Cast

Awards

The film was nominated for two Gemini Awards in 2006. Megan Follows was nominated in the category "Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Supporting Role in a Dramatic Program or Mini-Series". The film was also nominated in the category "Best Sound in a Dramatic Program".[12] It also won the DGC Craft Award for "Outstanding Sound Editing - Television Movie/Mini-Series" that same year.[13]

References
  1. "Shania: A Life in Eight Albums (2005) <DVD page>". New York Times. Retrieved 2009-01-28.
  2. "Shania: A Life in Eight Albums". Barna-Alper. Archived from the original on 2009-04-12. Retrieved 2009-01-28.
  3. van Wyk, Anika (2005-11-07). "Henderson steps into big boots". Calgary Sun (Alberta). pp. Entertainment, Country, 33. Retrieved 2009-01-28.
  4. Dixon, Guy (2005-08-31). "Lockout shuts out CBC's high-impact series". The Globe and Mail. pp. Entertainment section front.
  5. McKay, John (2005-11-07). "The Ballad of Shania; CBC Telepic Sings Praises of Twain's Life & Career". Winnipeg Sun (Manitoba). pp. Entertainment, 18.
  6. "Shania: A Life in Eight Albums (2005)". New York Times. Retrieved 2009-01-28.
  7. "IN BRIEF: From Sherlock's Shirley to Shania; more". CBC. 2004-09-08. Retrieved 2009-02-02.
  8. "CBC to premiere "Shania: A Life in Eight Albums"" Archived 2014-08-19 at the Wayback Machine. Bay Today, November 2, 2005.
  9. O'Reilly, Neal (2004-12-31). "Shania does us proud ... yet again". Timmins Daily Press. pp. Year in Review, A3.
  10. Zekas, Rita (2005-11-04). "The Twains shall meet". Toronto Star. pp. Movies E07.
  11. Harris, Bill (2005-11-07). "Biopic looks at Twain's early years". Toronto Sun. Retrieved 2009-01-28.
  12. "The 21st Annual Gemini Awards Nominees are..." (PDF) (Press release). Gemini Awards. 2006-08-29. Retrieved 2009-01-28.
  13. ""History of Violence" leads 2006 Directors Guild of Canada Awards" (PDF) (Press release). DGC Awards. 2006-10-15. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-09-19. Retrieved 2009-01-28.
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