The Piano Man's Daughter (film)
Encyclopedia
The Piano Man's Daughter is a television movie
Television movie
A television film is a feature film that is a television program produced for and originally distributed by a television network, in contrast to...
, adapted in 2003 by Sullivan Entertainment from the 1995 novel by Timothy Findley
Timothy Findley
Timothy Irving Frederick Findley, OC, O.Ont was a Canadian novelist and playwright. He was also informally known by the nickname Tiff or Tiffy, an acronym of his initials.-Biography:...
.
Rights to the novel's film adaptation were originally purchased by Whoopi Goldberg
Whoopi Goldberg
Whoopi Goldberg is an American comedian, actress, singer-songwriter, political activist, author and talk show host.Goldberg made her film debut in The Color Purple playing Celie, a mistreated black woman in the Deep South. She received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress and won...
. Deciding that as a Canadian novel it would be most appropriate to work with a Canadian film studio, Goldberg produced the film in collaboration with Kevin Sullivan
Kevin Sullivan (producer)
Kevin Roderick Sullivan is a Canadian producer and director of film and television programs.Kevin Sullivan began his filmmaking career at an early age of 24. His first foray into filmmaking was with a half-hour Hans Christian Andersen Christmas special titled The Fir Tree in which he edited and...
.
Plot
A young man must deal with several generations of madness and familial intrigue in this screen adaptation of the acclaimed novel by Timothy FindleyTimothy Findley
Timothy Irving Frederick Findley, OC, O.Ont was a Canadian novelist and playwright. He was also informally known by the nickname Tiff or Tiffy, an acronym of his initials.-Biography:...
. Charlie Kilworth (Christian Campbell) is a young man whose mother, Lily (Stockard Channing), is the daughter of Frederick Wyatt (R.H. Thomson), the owner of a well-known piano manufacturing company. Lily is also a free-spirited and unstable woman, who bore Charlie out of wedlock, has had a number of lovers over the years, and has an unsettling fascination with fire. Lily's mother Ede (Wendy Crewson) has put her daughter in a mental hospital on several occasions, and is considering having Lily lobotomized. Charlie, meanwhile, has had affairs with a number of women but has never settled down with anyone; working as an events coordinator at a resort hotel, Charlie becomes infatuated with Alex Lamont (Sarah Strange), the singer in a dance band Charlie has booked into the ballroom. Lily urges her son to get married and raise a family, but Charlie isn't so sure he's ready for a lifetime commitment, and Alex becomes frustrated by Charlie's inability to take their relationship seriously. Meanwhile, Ede and Frederick have decided that Lily needs to be permanently committed to an institution; Charlie insists that they send her to a comfortable private facility, but then discovers that a mysterious benefactor has been supporting Lily for years, and Ede and Frederick have decided if Lily is to be in a private institution, then the generous stranger must be the one who pays for it. Surprisingly, The Piano Man's Daughter was co-produced by noted comic actress Whoopi Goldberg
Whoopi Goldberg
Whoopi Goldberg is an American comedian, actress, singer-songwriter, political activist, author and talk show host.Goldberg made her film debut in The Color Purple playing Celie, a mistreated black woman in the Deep South. She received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress and won...
.
Cast
The film's cast includes Wendy CrewsonWendy Crewson
-Life and career:Crewson was born in Hamilton, Ontario, the daughter of June Doreen and Robert Binnie Crewson. She attended Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, where she won the prestigious Lorne Greene Award for outstanding work in the theater. She then studied at the Webber Douglas Academy...
, Christian Campbell
Christian Campbell
Christian Bethune Campbell is a Canadian stage and screen actor. He is married to actress America Olivo.-Personal life:Campbell was born in Toronto, Ontario. Campbell's mother, Marnie , is a yoga instructor and psychologist from Amsterdam, Netherlands...
, Stockard Channing
Stockard Channing
Stockard Channing is an American stage, film and television actress. She is known for her portrayal of First Lady Abbey Bartlet in the NBC television series The West Wing; for playing Betty Rizzo in the film Grease; and for her role as Ouisa Kittredge in the play Six Degrees of Separation and its...
, Marnie McPhail, R. H. Thomson
R. H. Thomson
Robert Holmes "R. H." Thomson, is a Canadian television, film and stage actor.Thomson was born in Richmond Hill, Ontario. He studied at the University of Toronto, and the National Theatre School. His own play The Lost Boys was staged at the Great Canadian Theatre Company in March 2000 and at...
, Sarah Strange
Sarah Strange
Sarah Strange is a Canadian actress, known for work in a variety of American and Canadian television and film projects, most notably as Helen in the Canadian drama Da Vinci's Inquest.-Life and career:...
, Susan Coyne
Susan Coyne
Susan Coyne is a Canadian writer and actress, best known as one of the co-creators and co-stars of the award-winning Slings and Arrows, a TV series which ran 2003–06 about a Canadian Shakespearean theatre company...
, Tamara Hope
Tamara Hope
Tamara Hope is a Canadian actress. Her starring roles include Guinevere Jones and The Nickel Children, a film about teenage prostitution, as well as a recurring role on CTV's Whistler as Leah McLure....
and John Alcorn.
- Wendy CrewsonWendy Crewson-Life and career:Crewson was born in Hamilton, Ontario, the daughter of June Doreen and Robert Binnie Crewson. She attended Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, where she won the prestigious Lorne Greene Award for outstanding work in the theater. She then studied at the Webber Douglas Academy...
as Ede Kilworth - Christian CampbellChristian CampbellChristian Bethune Campbell is a Canadian stage and screen actor. He is married to actress America Olivo.-Personal life:Campbell was born in Toronto, Ontario. Campbell's mother, Marnie , is a yoga instructor and psychologist from Amsterdam, Netherlands...
as Charlie Kilworth - Marnie McPhail as Young Lily Kilworth
- R.H. Thomson as Frederick Wyatt
- Sarah StrangeSarah StrangeSarah Strange is a Canadian actress, known for work in a variety of American and Canadian television and film projects, most notably as Helen in the Canadian drama Da Vinci's Inquest.-Life and career:...
as Alexandra Lamont - Deborah Pollitt as Eleanor Ormond
- Dixie Seatle as Eleanor Hess
- Chris WigginsChris WigginsChris Wiggins is an English actor.He started out as a banker in his home country before he began his acting career in Canada, where he moved in 1952....
as James Kilworth - Susan CoyneSusan CoyneSusan Coyne is a Canadian writer and actress, best known as one of the co-creators and co-stars of the award-winning Slings and Arrows, a TV series which ran 2003–06 about a Canadian Shakespearean theatre company...
as Ada Harrison - Joel S. Keller as Neddy Harrison
- David HemblenDavid HemblenDavid Hemblen is an English-born actor who frequently works in Canadian film, television and theater. He was a mainstay on the television series Earth: Final Conflict, playing Jonathan Doors, and played recurring roles in A Nero Wolfe Mystery and La Femme Nikita . He voiced Magneto on the popular...
as Dr. Warren - Nuala Fitzgerald as Eliza Kilworth
- Isabella Fink as Lilly Kilworth (5-8 yrs.)
- Tamara HopeTamara HopeTamara Hope is a Canadian actress. Her starring roles include Guinevere Jones and The Nickel Children, a film about teenage prostitution, as well as a recurring role on CTV's Whistler as Leah McLure....
as Lilly Kilworth (12-14 yrs.) - Jeffrey Peel as Charlie (8 yrs.)