There’s a St. Patrick’s Day treat to follow, but first I thought you might like to know this bit’o’news:
Remember Ice Castles, the 1978 classic film that we just discussed here in December? It’s back—that is to say, a remake is on the way.
According to this week’s Inside Edge with Sarah and Drew at IceNetwork.com, Taylor Firth has been cast as everyone’s favorite skater-gone-blind Lexie Winston in a new version. Apparently Firth—who recently finished 13th at this year’s senior U.S. Nationals—was requested to audition via an e-mail to her coaches that they found in the SPAM filter, of all places.
The film is being produced by Sony Pictures and actually boasts the same director as the original Ice Castles (Donald Wrye); others in the cast include Rob Mayes as Lexie’s boyfriend Nick Petersen, and Morgan Kelly as Lexie’s coach. A warning here: Morgan Kelly is, judging by the IMDB profile I looked up, a relatively attractive, 32-year-old MAN… so I’m left to wonder if he’s going to be the romantic spoil here instead of the sports reporter who wooed Lexie in the original. I hope not… a male coach smitten with his female student is not someplace a film like this should go.
Another warning of sorts: Firth, while clearly an accomplished skater who has competed at the senior level for three years, has never acted before (according to the article). The same was not said of Lynn-Holly Johnson from the original; not only had she done commercials and other small parts, she’d even played blind and deaf before (in a production of The Miracle Worker).
Shooting recently began up in Halifax, Nova Scotia… so we’ll see how this goes. No word on what they’ll do with Colleen Dewhurst’s character :-)
As for the aforementioned “treat”…
This article written by J.Barry Mittan for Skate Today features something you don’t see every day: a full-length article about the top figure skater out of… Ireland!
Her name is Clara Peters, and she apparently made history as the first Irish skater to compete at an ISU championship, finishing 38th at Europeans out of 40. “I didn’t want to come in last, and I didn’t,” she says charmingly.
In addition to finding out more about Peters and her Euros experience, the article addresses skating’s rising popularity in Ireland. Somewhat ironically, the pride of the Irish herself now lives and trains out of … Newark, Delaware.
A double Clip of the Day for you!
This one shows Taylor Firth skating her SP back at the 2007 U.S. Nationals…
And this one is Clara Peters skating her SP at the 2009 Euros.
Happy St. Patrick’s Day to all! I’m off to bake my annual batch of Irish soda bread.
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4 comments:
NO WAY! i was just joking about I.C. with a friend. how exciting. i sang that theme song at so many weddings i wanted to gag. but, it is a great movie. you know, i wish they would have considered mollie oberstar... she is a sensational skater from MN, i believe, who i've always thought would be perfect for such a project. hopefully she'll have her chance one day too. —"jcm"
I heard, Kelli, that it is going to be her coach that she develops a personal relationship with. I'm with you, they should NOT go there with that. It's just creepy to me. Especially if he is 32! What are they thinking. Dewhurst was an important character, I wonder, too, if they will keep her. I do have a soft spot for that movie so it will be interesting to see how the remake goes. Nothing will top "Cutting Edge", though for me!
You know-- the really sad thing is that not only has the older male coach/teenage female student thing happened in real life... it's happened on the kind of scale that has gotten coaches a lifetime ban from the USFS. The original "Ice Castles" found a way around it with the sports reporter falling for Lexie... why is that not good enough now?
Pretty irresponsible storytelling if all that proves to be true.
Boo to both remakes and relationships with coaches. But yay to ice skating movies! I am torn.
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