Whoopi Goldberg will star in and serve as executive producer in the family ensemble drama titled A Day Late and a Dollar Short, based on Terry McMillan‘s bestseller by the same name.
The Lifetime original film will see Goldberg as family matriarch Viola Price, who, after being diagnosed with life threatening asthma, attempts to amend her family’s ills, which include a sibling rivalry, teen pregnancy and prescription drug addiction from one of her children, teaching a jailbird son how to be a father, a granddaughter in big trouble and rescuing an ex-husband from a conniving young girlfriend.
As most of you are aware, author McMillan is best known for Waiting to Exhale and Stella Got Her Groove Back, so there should be plenty of good ol’ drama in this not-so-little lifetimer.
There seems to be quite a few roles for black actors to be cast in. We’re definitely looking forward to those casting announcements.
Have any of you read the novel? Thoughts?
See the full press release below:
LOS ANGELES, CA (June 21, 2013) – Academy Award®, Golden Globe®, Emmy®, Grammy® and Tony Award®-winner Whoopi Goldberg (Ghost, The Color Purple, The View) will headline and executive produce the Lifetime Original Movie A Day Late and a Dollar Short, based on the New York Times bestseller by Terry McMillan (Waiting to Exhale, How Stella Got Her Groove Back). The announcement was made today by Rob Sharenow, Executive Vice President, General Manager, of Lifetime.
In A Day Late and a Dollar Short, when irascible matriarch Viola Price (Goldberg) learns that her next asthma attack is likely to kill her, she sets out to fix her fractured family before she sets a foot anywhere near the grave. In this quest she has to contend with sibling rivalry, teen pregnancy and prescription drug addiction–and that’s just one of her four kids. There’s also a jailbird son to teach how to be a better father, a granddaughter in bigger trouble than her mother is willing to admit and an estranged husband to rescue from his scheming young girlfriend. It’s the kind of meddling that the Price family hasn’t experienced from Viola in decades, and she won’t have an easy time bending her loved ones to her will.
The project reunites Goldberg with McMillan, having co-starred opposite Angela Basset in the motion picture adaptation of McMillan’s novel How Stella Got Her Groove Back. Goldberg also executive produced the Lifetime drama Strong Medicine from 2000 to 2006, as well as the 2001 Lifetime Original Movie What Makes a Family.
“Terry McMillan is one of America’s most beloved writers and A Day Late and a Dollar Short combines her signature emotional storytelling with the complex characters viewers identify with and love. We are thrilled to be working again with Whoopi Goldberg, who will be emptying her enormous talents both in front of and behind the camera,” said Sharenow.
Production on A Day Late and a Dollar Short will take place this summer for a 2014 premiere. Produced by Ostar Productions, the film will be executive produced by Stephen Tolkin (Perception, Brothers & Sisters), Whoopi Goldberg and Tom Leonardis (Ruby’s Bucket of Blood), Jeffrey Hayes (Nightmares & Dreamscapes: From the Stories of Stephen King, The Starter Wife) and Bill Haber (Rizzoli & Isles, Beauty And The Beast). Tolkin will direct from a script by Shernold Edwards (Haven).
A+E Networks will handle international sales for A Day Late and a Dollar Short.
