Following the success of the TV movie Shania: A Life in Eight Albums in 2005, Toronto’s Barna-Alper Productions has high expectations of its latest rags-to-riches tale, the two-hour biopic Céline, based on the life of the Quebec-born singing star, now shooting in Hamilton, ON for CBC.

‘Shania, when it ran, was the highest rated show [CBC] had on all season for drama… it was over 1.2 million viewers. We’re hoping to exceed that,’ says executive producer Laszlo Barna.

The story – written for the screen by Donald Martin (My Life as a Dog) from the book Céline Dion: A New Day Dawns by Barry Gills and Jim Brown – follows Dion’s rise to fame from her humble beginnings as the youngest of 14 children growing up in Charlemagne, QC. It is directed by Jeff Woolnough (CSI, Battlestar Galactica).

The larger-than-life singer is portrayed by newcomer Christine Ghawi, who ‘nailed the part’ in the audition process, according to Barna.

‘We’re very happy with Christine. She’s smart, feisty and also happens to have a great voice,’ he says. Enrico Colantoni (Veronica Mars, Galaxy Quest) plays the singer’s manager-turned-husband René Angélil, while Jodelle Ferland (Tideland) portrays a young Céline.

While much has been made of the fact that the $4-million film is shooting in Ontario locations including Toronto, Hamilton and Dundas, instead of Quebec, Barna says you have to follow the logic of the finance.

‘The ideal scenario is to go where it happened, but for a variety of reasons that’s not always possible,’ he explains. ‘As I say to people, Fiddler on the Roof was filmed in English, not Yiddish, and it was shot in Hungary, not Russia.’

The exec producer says filming Céline, which he describes as more of a musical than Shania, was like coming home.

‘I started in the business of theater, doing musicals, and this show has a lot of singing and performances in it. It’s so fresh and exciting for me,’ he says. Céline is funded in part by the Canadian Television Fund, plus federal and provincial tax credits.

BAP’s busy slate also includes the 13-part scripted series Da Kink in My Hair for Global Television, and the Romeo Dallaire biopic Shake Hands with the Devil, which is just finishing post-production, with an eye on a premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Though no airdate has been set, Barna expects Céline to air on CBC sometime in the 2007/08 season. BAP is handling sales in the U.S., though no deal has been finalized.