Renee Zellweger heading to Lifetime with period drama series

Renee Zellweger has sold a TV series project to Lifetime entitled “Cinnamon Girl”, which follows four young women navigating the wilds of Los Angeles during the 1960s and ’70s.

Zellweger co-created the show with Anthony Tambakis, who penned the screenplay for “Warrior”, and both will serve as executive-producers along with “Warrior” co-writer/director Gavin O’Connor, according to Deadline. Tambakis will write the pilot script and O’Connor will direct.

“We believe the timing is perfect for ‘Cinnamon Girl’ to have found a home at Lifetime during this transformative juncture at the network,” Zellweger said, referring to Lifetime President Nancy Dubuc’s stated plans to revamp the network after taking over the post last year. “We”re really looking forward to making ‘Cinnamon Girl’ come to life as part of their campaign to expand audience expectations and redefine what it means to be a Lifetime show.”

Zellweger previously executive-produced the 2008 Lifetime Original Movie “Living Proof” starring Harry Connick, Jr., Angie Harmon, Paula Cale and Bernadette Peters. The film debuted to an audience of 2.5 million. Danny Bramson, who worked as a music supervisor on Cameron Crowe’s 2000 film “Almost Famous” among other efforts, will fill the same role here and also produce the series.

“Renée”s passion, clarity of character and deep emotion for this project immediately transported us to the late ’60s/early ’70s and created a resonance with us wanting to relive that energy,” said Dubuc. “Cinnamon Girl is a game changer for our network and is exactly the type of show we want to deliver.”

Zellweger is next expected to star in ‘Bridget Jones 3’, though a director hasn’t yet officially signed on.

Lifetime also announced this week that they would be remaking the 1989 hit film “Steel Magnolias” with an all-African-American cast. You can check out our dream cast list for the project here.

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