Country star LeAnn Rimes is going to star as heroine Meg Galloway in the Lifetime TV adaptation of Nora Roberts’ Northern Lights.
According to People magazine, Rimes is very excited about the role, but also aware of the sudden fascination with women from Alaska:
Rimes will play Meg Galloway, a feisty bush pilot who knows how to handle a gun, living in tiny Lunacy, Alaska – though comparisons to Sarah Palin should not be drawn.
“Funny timing, I know,” Rimes said with a smile. “But the similarities end there. Meg Galloway is a very young and single woman.”
She’s also a bush pilot, a hell of a shot with a rifle, and takes no crap from anyone. Interesting casting choice since I always envisioned Meg as similar to the character she most reminded me of: Maggie O’Connell from Northern Exposure.
I’ve never seen Rimes acting, though, damn, can the woman sing, so I’ll set the DVR to record it when it’s on. But I admit: I have my reservations. Her IMDB filmography seems to indicate she’s appeared as a performer on a variety of programs, and she’s done a “one of” appearance on Days of Our Lives. But I don’t see a lot of full-on movie acting roles. I hope she pulls it off – this is one of my favorite Roberts’ books. Even if the paperback is in the inconvenient venti size.
I got my s.o. his very own copy of Northern Lights so we could read it out loud to each other (yes, we are weird) and he has complained more than once about the awkward size that requires both hands to hold open and read.
I always imagined Meg as Maggie O’Connell as well, but I was never sure how much of that was from the actual descriptions of Meg in the book (which I’m too lazy to go check right at this moment) and how much was because the book’s about a bush pilot in Alaska and my brain just filled in the blanks.
LeeAnn Rimes just doesn’t fit my mental picture of Meg…
LeeAnn Rimes? Seriously? I just can’t see it …
And, Azteclady, I have got to agree with your s.o.: I absolutely loved that book, but it was so awkward and uncomfortable to hold. I had to keep putting it down.
I like LeAnn Rimes fine, but what I’ve seen of her acting makes me worried about this project. It’s one of my favorite Noras so I’ll be bummed if she isn’t up to the challenge.
And, ironically, the actress who played Maggie O’Connell is currently out campaigning for Sarah Palin.
I always pictured Meg as a brunette – but it has been a while since I read this one. I think it is my favourite of Nora Roberts’ stand-alone books – so much so that I made my husband read it and he enjoyed it too 😉
This is one of my favorite Nora books. I’m a little sad at the casting. I’m pretty sure Meg was a brunette. And yes, hair color can be adjusted, but I’m not sure that Rimes fits the story. I could be wrong, though. I’ll definitely watch the movie because I LOVED this book.
To echo others: I thought Meg was a brunette. Oh well.
Also, while at the grocery store last weekend, I saw Montana Sky among the DVDs for sale. Readers anxious to be able to watch at their own convenience, rather than waiting for Lifetime to reair, can now have a copy of their very own!
I will need to find the dvd of Montana.
I will reserve judgement of LeeAnn until I see the movie. I hope she does it justice. Nothing I hate worse than someone killing a good character.
Which of Nora’s books have been filmed so far? I’ve seen a few in the shops and contemplated buying. Any standouts? Any not worth buying on DVD?
spamfilter: already44. How does it know my age? lol
Oh no, not LeeAnn Rimes!! 🙁 She is SO far away from my mental picture of Meg. Aww, nuts, this is one of my favorite of all time Noras.
*sigh*
Well.. I guess what’s important is who has the male lead (because he was always the more fascinating character for me.) – it’s really more his book than hers.
Thank you for linking our website! Cute blog!
Well at least they aren’t going to dust off Heather Locklear. Will someone please tell her she’s too old to play the engenue!
According to IMDB, the following are Nora Roberts film adaptations:
Carolina Moon (2007), Angels Falls (2007), Montana Sky (2007), Blue Smoke (2007), Sanctuary (2001), and Magic Moments (1989).
I do know that at one time Mel Gibson’s production company had purchased the option rights on, if memory serves, Naked in Death from her JD Robb series. That is the one I really wish they would make. I can see it working as an HBO series, or something like that. It has great recurring male and female characters, the future setting let’s them be creative and the Roarke and Eve storyline is one of the best ever. Is anyone listening?
I’ve always imagined Meg like Maggie O’Connell too. It just fit. LeeAnn Rimes just fits wrong.
Northern Lights is definitely my favourite Nora.
The action centres much more round the hero than it does the heroine. So depending on how it is filmed, the part of Meg could be relatively small (and handlable by a less experienced actress), while the (rather good) mystery/thriller story is played up.
So what I want to know is: who will play Nate, one of my favourite tortured heroes?
Northern Lights is my favourite Roberts book…now Leann Rimes (of all people??) is going to butcher it. Meg, if I’m not mistaken, has black hair and a small, wiry frame.
I’ve never heard of Northern Lights before today. Was at Heritage Park, a local historic village, today & saw Alaskan-plated police vehicles in the parking lot. Emblazoned on the side: “Lunacy PD.” After the recent Palin fiasco, I thought this must be a joke. Googled “Lunacy, Alaska” & found reference to Roberts’ book that’s slated to be a made-for-t.v. movie. Does anyone know if it’s scheduled to be filmed or partially filmed in Calgary, AB? Is there a historical component to the book?
@Nell: the only place I’ve seen this discussed is the Lifetime press release. It doesn’t mention when they will start filming. The country music site in SB Sarah’s link says “next month” (we’re here!) in Canada, so I’m guessing you saw the real deal.
Lee Ann can be brunette, and she’s pretty spunky and outspoken in real life, so I’m thinking she may be okay as Meg. Nate is being played by Eddie Cibrian of Ugly Betty. I think I’m most excited that Rosanna Arquette is playing Meg’s mother, Charlene—talk about an actress with chops! She should give the others some good stuff to play off of, that’s for sure.
This is one of my VERY favorite books by one of my VERY favorite authors, so yeah, I’m excited. SB Sarah, isn’t this the book we sent to Paul the ferret writer?
Yup. I’ll have to ask Paul if he’s had a chance to read it yet.
Y’all leave LeAnn alone. If you think you can do it better, step up to the plate. There is probably a reason that she was picked for this role. No one knows for sure. Maybe this is how the director saw it. Book-to- movie recreations are never perfect. So it’ll be fine. And if “LeAnn” lets you down, you can all boycott Lifetime!
I just wanted to say that I am a huge LeAnn fan, and I have seen all the lifetime versions of Nora Roberts movies. And I thought they were all done perfectly, especially the one with Heather Locklear, loved that one. And fyi, although it’s only shown durring the christmas season, Holiday In Your Heart, has LeAnn acting, and showing a bit of skills at that. If anyone is at all interested to know, she is also suppose to be in a movie with a friend of hers, called Good Intentions.
I have to agree with everyone, Meg is a brunette in the book and I had such a clear mental picture of her that it’s going to be kidn of disappointing to watch a blonde. I have nothing against Leanne Rimes I think she’s a great singer and I haven’t seen her act but I’m hoping she’ll be great, I kind of wish they had died her hair though….
and by died I meant dyed….jeez what a horrible typo
the female role does bother me b/c the first thing in the book that catches his attention is her BLACK hair and BLUE eyes
I’ve always enjoyed Nora Roberts books but it does seem as though she lifted some of her ideas from the TV show Northern Exposure and that bothers me.
Doesn’t anyone else feel that way?
The only similarities I saw between Northern Lights and Northern Exposure were the details of what life in Alaska can be like. I’ve read a couple of other authors’ works set there (Dana Stabenow has good detective series there, for example), and they all have some common elements. Just like books set in the frontier West have certain commonalities, or Regency romances—details of the setting, and some story elements that reflect the setting, too.
So I’m watching the movie now, and some things bother me—a) Meg is blonde. Blonde! b) Random name changes. Apparently Burke is Burns, and Meg’s last name may be Gallowen or something. It’s hard to say. c) Meg’s dog is a pitbull. The hell?? Why the random changes?
Edit: Holy God, the acting is so bad!
And the entire movie is like one big long visit to the Department of Backstory.
Ok, after watching the whole thing, it really wasn’t too bad. The hardest part to get through was the expositionlicious beginning, but that’s to be expected since they had to cram a huge book into two hours—which they did a pretty good job of. The guy who played Burke/Burns was good.
Wow. I am so disappointed. Nothing against Leann Rimes (not really at least), but she could not be a worse fit for the character of Meg. Meg has black hair… I just can’t get past the “blonde” thing. Seriously, couldn’t they just try a little bit?
Adriana—I felt like she just wasn’t Meg. They didn’t get the personality right either, and that might be less her than the writers. This was really bothering me, and I realized that when I couldn’t get into the movie until she was off on her trip and it was just Nate for awhile. Also, I felt like their relationship moved really fast—it was fast in the book, too, but it was spread over something like four months as opposed to three weeks.
I guess I’m just weird… but I studiously avoided the movie just because I liked the novel so much! I hate it when my mental images of protagonists are all shot to shite! I generally avoid all movies of books I’ve enjoyed.
Learned that the hard way from the travesty HBO made of the M.M. Kaye book “The Far Pavilions” 25 years ago, not to mention the Stephen King atrocities (with a very few notable exceptions)!
I was actually hoping it would be so bad it was good, because I embrace the trashy. But sadly it was just ok.
This was pretty much the only Nora Roberts book-to-film adaptation that I thought was decent. Not great, but decent and, over all, entertaining. LeAnne was all wrong for Meg (at least physically) but not nearly as wrong as Heather Locklear was in Angel Falls. Frankly, I thought she did a much better acting job than both Locklear and the redhead in Blue Smoke, too. Also, this one didn’t feel nearly as rushed as the aforementioned Angel Falls or Blue Smoke. The relationship was incredibly quick in Northern Lights, but I watched part of Blue Smoke again during the “Nora-thon” on Lifetime Saturday and was once again amazed how quick the heroine went from “he’s a little creepy and possibly a stalker” to “I think I might love him” (about a day? less?) in that one. At least Meg & Nate met more than once before they fell into bed and started talking marriage with the future inlaws! All in all, solid C+ or even a B-.
I loved Blue Smoke, and that’s another one I so did not want to see!
Just finished watching it on the DVR. Overall, OK. Didn’t understand the random name changes, either. What makes Burns better than Burke? The dude playing Nate is a cutie-pie, but he just wasn’t sad enough. I love this book, love the hero and his journey. But I guess with the compressed time frame, they couldn’t have him “cured” in the, what, three days? the movie took place. Leann didn’t really nail the book-Meg, but I wasn’t as bothered by her because her character was second to Nate anyway.
Midnight Bayou’s up next. Another great male character, let’s see what Jerry O’Connell does with him.
I thought the movie was OK, but I had to consider it a totally separate thing from the book. That was OK because I knew going in that the movie wouldn’t be truly faithful to the book. Northern Lights is Nate’s story and Lifetime movies are about the female character. Things were bound to get lost in translation.
I don’t understand some of the changes that they made, but judged on it’s own I didn’t think it was a waste of my 2 hours. As others have mentioned, I definitely liked it better than some of the other adaptations.
I very much enjoyed the movie, I am reading the book now. I visited Alaska last year and fell in love with it. I googled where it was filmed and was pleased that it was in Canada. I visited Canada two years ago and loved it as well (so much different from our lone star state)
I really enjoyed LeAnn. I would like to know the name of the song played with the first intimate love scene.
You Canada folks are great and very friendly.