The Swiss Miss has hit. Yes, Heidi, everybody’s favorite character from the Swiss Alps is yodeling her way back to the big screen. Toronto animation giant Nelvana is developing a 50-50 coproduction of the long-loved children’s tale with Germany’s TV-Loonland and KirchMedia. The project was greenlit at MIPCOM earlier this month.

Nelvana promises the newest incarnation of the fable will be true to the popular story and colorful personalities that surround the preteen hero. Nelvana supervising producer Cynthia Taylor says the project is for ‘theatrical release in Europe and very likely theatrical release here. That’s still being worked on.’

Currently finalizing development on the project, Taylor explains Nelvana will be selecting the cast over the next month. ‘We’re going into our storyboarding and everything else at the end of November,’ she continues. A March 2003 release date is expected.

Taylor also says there is ‘discussion’ of a series that would spin off from the US$4.5-million animated feature.

Nelvana and KirchMedia are funding the project. Additional funding applications are also pending, but cannot be discussed. No distributor has been attached.

Nelvana’s Ray Jafelice and TV-Loonland/KirchMedia’s Hanan Kaminsky are codirecting. Taylor is confident the two directors are working from the same vision; Jafelice and Hanan collaborated on the feature film Babar, King of the Elephants.

Susie Snooks and Ann McNaughton are penning the new Heidi project. Executive producers are Nelvana’s Patrick Loubert and Michael Hirsh along with KirchMedia’s Ernst Geyer and TV-Loonland’s Peter Volkle.

The novel Heidi, by Swiss author Johanna Spyri, was first published in 1880.

King of Pop declares Ontario Home of the Angels

Michael Jackson, the undisputed King of Pop, has selected Ontario as the location for his feature film directorial debut, Home of the Angels. Jackson will codirect and produce the flick with Ontario native Bryan Michael Stoller (Undercover Angel/The Random Factor). Stoller is also writing the screenplay and producing the film.

The US$12-million project is a dramatic piece that Stoller says ‘is kind of in the style of Oliver and Stand By Me.’ The true story follows the adventures of a young boy who grows up bouncing between orphanages and dreams of a family of his own. At the orphanages, he learns the unwritten rule – don’t get to like people too much because eventually they will go away and cause you pain. But through unconditional friendships and faith, the young boy rejects the rule and learns to love and trust people again.

Stoller’s Stellar Entertainment Canada and Jackson’s Neverland are producing the project that the two men hope is the start of a new filmmaking relationship. A new joint company will be created for the picture. The two came together with the common experience of having been child stars (Stoller hosted the CBC show Film Fun in the summer of ’72, while Jackson rocked the world with his family band The Jackson Five).

Although development funding is coming solely from Jackson’s vast resources, Stoller says they ‘are talking to several of the major studios.’

While the team hopes to attract big-name actors to the feature, plans are to cast an unknown actor as the young male lead. Auditions for the part will be held in both Canada and the U.S.

Jackson was attracted to Ontario as a location when he saw Stoller’s feature film Undercover Angel, where Ottawa served as a location.'[Jackson] didn’t realize it was that pretty. He loved the look of Ottawa.’ Stoller says.

Both Ottawa and Kingston are being scouted as possible locations for the shoot, expected to commence its two- to three-month schedule in June 2002. The earliest date the movie will hit theatres, says Stoller, is Christmas 2002.

Stoller says he will utilize a Canadian crew and keep the post-production in Canada, as well.

High-definition reverend

Oakville-based Sunny Days Productions has wrapped shooting in western Ontario on a 24-day HDTV direct-to-video and DVD feature that began rolling tape on Sept. 17. The Rev is directed by Canadian Christopher Bessette, recent winner of the best director award at the New York International Film Festival for his short drama Apples of Eden.

Written by SCTV alumnus Robin McCullough along with Glen Bonham, The Rev is a family comedy about an Elvis-styled white preacher who takes over an all-black church. The production marks Bessette’s first feature project.

Sunny Days producer Wendell Wilks says the film is a ‘backdoor pilot for a sitcom based on the situation in the movie.’

The $2-million project is being executive produced by John Carmen, who also plays the lead role as Reverend Johnny Starr. Sunny Days is funding and distributing the project privately.

The movie features the ‘black gospel music’ of John Elison, who wrote the international mega-hit song Some Kind of Wonderful. Elison is also consulting on dialogue authenticity as well as acting in the picture along with Soul Brother Six, an all-star soul and gospel group that reunited for the film after 32 years. ‘It was a gas,’ says Wilks of the musical reunion.

A 13-episode ‘making of’ series is also planned, although no broadcaster has been attached.