Benjamin Lefebvre
L.M. Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables, the recent telefilm that aired last February on YTV in Canada and that is scheduled to air on PBS on American Thanksgiving, will be released on DVD from PBS on 8 November 2016. It is available to preorder from the PBS Shop.
The Hollywood Reporter announced yesterday that PBS has acquired U.S. broadcasting rights to Breakthrough Entertainment’s recent telefilm L.M. Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables, featuring Ella Ballentine in the title role, with plans to broadcast the movie on Thanksgiving Day, 24 November 2016.
UPDATE: Breakthrough Entertainment also announced on Twitter over the weekend that the movie is set for theatrical release in Australia and New Zealand!
L.M. Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables in Australian cinemas June 9 opens in New Zealand July 7th: https://t.co/J6XHM1syJq @ellaballentine
— Breakthrough (@breakthru_ent) June 11, 2016
Breakthrough Entertainment’s new telefilm L.M. Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables, which airs tonight on YTV, has received a tremendous amount of coverage in the press. Here are a few highlights:
- Ella Ballentine, who plays Anne Shirley, interviewed by the Toronto Sun;
- Sara Botsford, who plays Marilla Cuthbert, interviewed by The Televixen;
- Ella Ballentine and Sara Botsford both interviewed by Monsters and Critics;
- Kate Macdonald Butler, L.M. Montgomery’s granddaughter and an executive producer of the movie, interviewed by The Toronto Star;
- Martin Sheen, who plays Matthew Cuthbert, interviewed by The Televixen and by the Globe and Mail;
- Melanie Fishbane, author of an upcoming YA novel based on the teen years of L.M. Montgomery, has contributed both a review of the telefilm and a tour of its set to the website Cinefilles;
- Additional coverage at the Charlottetown Guardian and at CBC News.
Have I missed anything? Let me know!
Plans to broadcast the movie outside Canada or to release it on DVD have not yet been announced.
UPDATE: “Young Actress ‘Excited’ to Play Anne of Green Gables in New TV Movie” (CBC News)
A press release circulated on CNW: A PR Newswire Company confirms that the world premiere of Breakthrough Entertainment’s telefilm L.M. Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables will be on YTV on Monday, 15 February 2016 from 6:00 to 8:00 PM EST. Also published today is a slightly extended trailer for the telefilm, which stars Ella Ballentine as Anne, Sara Botsford as Marilla, and Martin Sheen as Matthew.
Video: L.M. Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables premiering Monday, February 15 at 6 p.m. ET/PT on YTV.
Today, on what would have been L.M. Montgomery’s 141st birthday (she was born on 30 November 1874), I would like to share with you an extract from a journal entry dated exactly 101 years ago, on the occasion of Montgomery’s fortieth birthday:
Once I thought forty must be the end of everything. But it isn’t! I don’t feel any older today than yesterday—when I was only 39! Or the day before yesterday when I was—19! Thank God we don’t feel old. Life is much richer, fuller, happier, more comfortable for me now than it was when I was twenty. I have won the success I resolved to win twenty years ago. It is worth the struggle—but I would not wish to be twenty again with the struggle still before me.
Montgomery is trending on the Internet as I write this, due in large part to several Google Doodles paying tribute to Anne of Green Gables. And as Melanie J. Fishbane has pointed out in a blog post published earlier this afternoon, this is an exciting time for Montgomery and especially for Anne, thanks to the upcoming new telefilm version of Anne of Green Gables, a shout-out about the novel in a recent episode of The Simpsons, and numerous celebrity mentions. A list of “Five Fast Facts You Need to Know” about Montgomery was also published today, on the website Heavy, and mentions her rediscovered final book, The Blythes Are Quoted.
I’m glad, because all this media attention reflects the continued relevance and the persistent quality of Montgomery’s writing, not only as works of literature but also as the basis for an enduring popular culture icon and a set of new Anne texts for stage and screen. I’m looking forward to delving back into the novel Anne of Green Gables next term, when I teach the book in an undergraduate children’s literature course at Wilfrid Laurier University, as an example of a crossover text that continues to appeal to both adults and children.
This movie poster for Breakthrough Entertainment’s upcoming telefilm L.M. Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables was released this week via Twitter by “Anne” herself, Ella Ballentine! No news yet on a broadcast date on YTV (or outside Canada), but the fact that it appears with the subtitle “Holiday Special” indicates that it may be released by the end of 2015.
A first trailer for Breakthrough Entertainment’s upcoming telefilm L.M. Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables has been added to its corporate website. The ninety-minute telefilm stars Ella Ballentine as Anne, Sara Botsford as Marilla, and Martin Sheen as Matthew. Stay tuned for information about its release in Canada and around the world!
A recent listing on the Internet Movie Database provides new information about some of the actors who will appear in Breakthrough Entertainment’s upcoming telefilm Lucy Maud Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables, which is scheduled to debut on YTV in Canada early in 2016. The following links are to the actors’ IMDB profiles.
Martin Sheen as Matthew Cuthbert
Linda Kash as Mrs. Barry
Sara Botsford as Marilla Cuthbert
Ella Ballentine as Anne Shirley
Julia Lalonde as Diana Barry
Zoe Fraser as Ruby Gillis
Kyle Gatehouse as Mr. Phillips
Stefani Kimber as Josie Pye
Drew Haytaoglu Gilbert Blythe
Kate Hennig as Rachel Lynde
Isabella Ricker as Prissy Andrews
More information will be posted about this production as soon as it is released, so subscribe to the blog to get all the details!