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Add Lifetime to the number of broadcast and cable networks prepping religious-themed programming.
The female-skewing cable network is adapting Anita Diamant‘s best-selling book The Red Tent, setting an all-star cast for the two-part miniseries, The Hollywood Reporter has learned. The White Queen‘s Rebecca Ferguson, Homeland‘s Morena Baccarin, About a Boy‘s Minnie Driver, Terms of Endearment‘s Debra Winger and Game of Thrones‘ Iain Glen and Will Tudor round out the cast.
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Red Tent is a first-person story of Dinah, the daughter of Leah and Jacob and sister of Joseph, a minor character who was briefly referenced in the Old Testament, but whose story Diamant expanded in her 1997 best-seller.
The miniseries begins with Dinah’s (Ferguson) childhood spent inside the red tent where only the women of her tribe are allowed to gather and share the traditions and turmoil of ancient womanhood. The drama, which will begin production this month in Morocco, recounts the story of her mothers — Leah (Driver), Rachel (Baccarin), Zilpah and Bilhah — the four wives of Jacob (Glen), and his courtship of them. The story will follow Dinah as she matures and experiences a love that leads to a devastating loss and changes her family’s lives forever. Winger portrays Rebecca, Jacob’s mother, while Tudor stars as Joseph, Dinah’s brother.
From Sony Pictures Television, Red Tent will be exec produced by Blood Diamond‘s Paula Weinstein. Roger Young (Law & Order) will direct the drama, which is written by Elizabeth Chandler (Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants) and Anne Meredith (Secrets of Eden).
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Diamant’s novel has been translated into 28 languages and sold millions of copies worldwide. The book is a New York Times, L.A. Times, USA Today, Washington Post and San Francisco Chronicle best-seller.
Red Tent joins a rapidly growing roster of religious-themed original minis and movies as broadcast and cable networks look to capitalize on History’s record-breaking 10-part drama The Bible. NBC snagged Mark Burnett‘s follow-up A.D.: Beyond the Bible, which takes place in the days after Jesus’ death. (He’s also prepping limited entry Plymouth.) For its part, CBS is teaming with Burnett to adapt Alice Hoffman‘s The Dovekeepers — about the siege of Masada — as a four-hour mini and Fox is readying Nazareth as an event series.
The drama reteams Lifetime with Driver, who recently starred in the cabler’s original movie Return to Zero. She’s repped by UTA, Untitled and Morris Yorn. Ferguson, who earned a Golden Globe nom for her starring turn in Starz’s The White Queen, is repped by Tavistock Wood. Winger is a three-time Oscar nominee who also earned an Emmy nomination for her role in Lifetime’s telepic Dawn Anna. She’s with WME, Framework Entertainment and Schreck Rose. Emmy nominee Baccarin, who has a starring role in ABC drama pilot Warriors, is with UTA, Seven Summits and Jackoway Tyerman. Glen, who plays Jorah Mormont on HBO’s Game of Thrones, is with Independent Talent Group in the U.K. and Wishlab. Tudor, who has filmed a handful of Thrones episodes as Olyvar, is with Curtis Brown Group in the U.K. and Wishlab.
Email: Lesley.Goldberg@THR.com
Twitter: @Snoodit
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