Jerry Ciccoritti has been tapped to direct The Rivals, a two-hour political thriller for CBC from a script by playwright Bruce Smith (Prairie Giant: The Tommy Douglas Story). Production gets underway this month in Toronto.

The movie of the week (MOW), produced by Bernie Zukerman (This Is Wonderland), chronicles the fierce struggle during the late 1850s between Conservative leader John A. Macdonald and George Brown, leader of what would become the Liberal Party, who both had dramatically different visions for Canada. Shawn Doyle (Big Love, Grown Up Movie Star) will portray the charismatic Macdonald, while Peter Outerbridge (ReGenesis) is set to star as Brown.

Ciccoritti’s credits include MOWs Trudeau and Shania: A Life in Eight Albums and the sci-fi series ReGenesis.

‘[It’s a] story of personal hatred, public passion and a political poison pill. Only the fire of the conflicting energies of Macdonald and Brown could have created a new country, our country,’ commented Zukerman in a release. An airdate has not been set.

From Playback Daily