Pamela Anderson and François Arnaud have jumped on board Nadia Litz’s The People Garden, now shooting on Vancouver Island.

Anderson, who became a star with her 1990s star-turn on Baywatch, will play a former 90’s sex icon, Signe, in Litz’s drama about an actress, played by Dree Hemingway, who goes to Japan to break up with her rock star boyfriend.

“Casting Pamela felt like a eureka moment for us. This is not the kind of movie most people would associate her with, but that’s exactly why I think audiences will be highly curious – to see this icon in a different context,” Daniel Bekerman, whose Scythia Films, is coproducing The People Garden, told Playback Daily about Anderson as a bankable star outside of Canada.

Arnaud will play the boyfriend in the indie, with James Le Gros, Liane Balaban, Jai West and Dennis Akiyama rounding out the cast in supporting roles.

Written and directed by Nadia Litz, The People Garden is also produced by Aiken Heart Films and JoBro Production. Mark Gingras and Lon Molnar are executive producing.

The film has financing from Telefilm Canada and the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund and will shoot in Sudbury, Ontario in the new year.