CBC will air this version – it’s simply titled “Anne’’ - of the story over eight episodes featuring 14-year-old Amybeth McNulty in the title role.
She beat out 1,800 girls from Canada to land the starring turn on the legendary Anne of Green Gables tale.
“Anne’’ also follows hot on the heels of the second part in the YTV Anne movie, which stars Ella Ballentine as Anne and Martin Sheen as Matthew Cuthbert. Unconfirmed reports say there will be a part three next February.
It’s all music to the ears of Brenda Gallant, director of marketing for Tourism P.E.I.
FIVE THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT ANNE
1 - Anne of Green Gables was an immediate success when it was first published in 1908. It sold nineteen thousand copies in the first five months.
2 - It went into ten printings in its first year and was translated into Swedish as early as 1909.
3 - The term "Anne of Green Gables" is currently a registered trademark, owned jointly by the province of Prince Edward Island and the heirs of L.M. Montgomery.
4 - Producers of Anne-related products outside of PEI pay a royalty to the family while Island producers make Anne items royalty free.
5 - About 3.3-million people world-wide have seen the musical in Charlottetown and other Canadian cities, as well New York, London and Japan. In Charlottetown alone, over 2.1-million people have seen the show.
“It’s really interesting. It seems to come in spurts,’’ Gallant said of the two new Anne productions.
The 1985 Kevin Sullivan production that starred Megan Follows as Anne is considered a classic, but many people aren’t aware that the story underwent a Japanese transformation in 2014 when Japan’s public broadcaster, NHK, featured a six-month series that told the story through the eyes of Anne’s translator.
As for the new CBC show, Gallant said it draws some characters out that may have had minor roles in the book.
“So it sounds like they’re really trying to create a type of production that will be true to the type of work that Lucy Maud Montgomery has done, perhaps giving a bit more of a role to some characters that she introduced.’’
CBC is expecting each of the eight episodes will draw about 500,000 viewers, giving the entire run of the show a reach of about four million viewers.
The P.E.I. government will spend $150,000 in advertising on the show.
Even though the Island government wasn’t consulted about the production (although it did supply footage) Gallant is confident the Island will be cast in a good light.
“Prince Edward Island is such an intricate part of who Anne is. It’s almost impossible to have a production of Anne of Green Gables without really featuring Prince Edward Island in it. It’s such a huge part of the novels. Lucy Maud Montgomery is so renowned for her vivid descriptions of Prince Edward Island.’’
And, while “Anne” was primarily shot in Ontario, it will feature some scenes from P.E.I.
“There was a little bit shot on the Island. We weren’t involved in that piece of it. Most of it was shot in Ontario, but it was depicting Prince Edward Island.’’
