Toronto-based Manks Productions’ James Russell finally nabbed his coveted leading lady for his upcoming TV movie adaptation of Canuck author Austin Clarke’s The Polished Hoe.

Yanna McIntosh (pictured right), a two-time Dora winner who most recently completed a turn as the title character in the Greek tragedy, Elektra at Stratford, will star as the unwilling mistress of a plantation owner on a fictitious Caribbean island who eventually murders the man who robbed her of her youth and innocence.

When not busy on stage, McIntosh has made appearances on TV shows, including The Listener and XII: The Series, and in films, such as John Q and Deepa Mehta’s Heaven on Earth.

Already on board to direct The Polished Hoe is CFC alumnus Dawn Wilkinson.

Russell, meanwhile, has written the script and will produce.

He will also continue to look for other producers to add on to the project, with the goal of seeking funding through Astral’s Harold Greenburg Fund, and says he is in early stages of talks with Star Trek: The Next Generation‘s LeVar Burton to have him star alongside McIntosh.

As previously reported, preproduction and shooting are tentatively slated for early 2013, with interiors to be shot in Toronto and exteriors in Jamaica or Barbados.

Russell adds that he will continue to look at eOne as a potential distributor.