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Lifetime is taking on another ripped-from-the-headlines story.
The female-skewing cable network has tapped Rob Lowe, Candice Bergen and Paz Vega to star in Beautiful and Twisted, the murder story of the Fontainebleau hotel heir, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.
The story is set against a blue-sky Miami world of money, hotels and excess and begins when the millionaire heir to the Fountainebleau Miami Beach hotel fortune, Ben Novack Jr. (Lowe), is found brutally murdered. It shakes the city’s elite society to the core. Police ultimately untangled the sex, lies and payback behind Ben’s marriage to his wife and former stripper Narcy (Vega), whom they identify as the prime suspect in a killing that rivals history’s most chilling cases. Bergen will portray Ben’s mother, Bernice Novack. Narcy Novak received life in prison after being found guilty of murdering her husband in 2012.
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Beautiful and Twisted hails from Sony Pictures Television, with Judith Verno and Lowe on board to executive produce. The film will be written by Teena Booth (Lifetime’s Lizzie Borden, The Pregnancy Project, Drew Peterson: Untouchable), Inon Shampanier, Natalie Shampanier and Stephen Kay.
The drama continues Lifetime’s track record of adapting true stories as TV movies, including its Angela Bassett-produced Whitney Houston entry and its Tony Goldwyn starrer based on the life of Warren Jeffs. It also marks a return to Lifetime for Lowe, who starred in the cabler’s ratings hit Drew Peterson: Untouchable.
The cable network also recently ordered TV movies With This Ring from Gabrielle Union and starring Jill Scott, Eve and Regina Hall, as well as an adaptation of Stephen King‘s Big Driver, with Maria Bello attached to star.
For Lowe, the movie comes after his National Geographic movie Killing Kennedy earned an Emmy nomination. He also was nominated for a Golden Globe for his supporting turn last year in HBO’s Behind the Candelabra telepic. The Parks and Recreation alum is repped by WME, Brillstein and O’Melveny & Myers.
Murphy Brown alum and Oscar nominee (Starting Over) Bergen most recently had roles on The Michael J. Fox Show, House and Boston Legal. The five-time Emmy winner is with ICM Partners and Hirsch Wallerstein.
Vega, best known for Spanglish and Talk to Her, is with WME, Radius Entertainment and Sloane Offer.
Email: Lesley.Goldberg@THR.com
Twitter: @Snoodit
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