The StarPhoenix - March 3, 2000

"Mini-series brings Anne of Green Gables full circle"
John McKay

There's a poignant moment in the new Anne of Green Gables mini-series that, literally, brings the story of the plucky red-headed island girl full circle.

A grown-up Anne -- still played by Megan Follows -- has adopted a boy orphaned during the First World War. Nervously, she arrives at the Avonlea station and peers around the corner to get a glimpse of the little tyke waiting on the platform.

The composition of the scene is identical to the one in the first film, when Matthew arrives for an awkward introduction to little orphan Anne, who, had there not been a mix-up, was supposed to be a boy.

Anne of Green Gables: The Continuing Story is the third and likely the final mini-series in the Anne saga from Toronto's Sullivan Entertainment. The two-parter airs Sunday and Monday on CBC- TV.

"I think so," says Kevin Sullivan, executive producer and co- author of the screenplay, when asked if this instalment represents closure of the drama that began back in 1986.

"My thesis . . . was to take Anne's character and allow her to mature and really put to rest many of the character flaws that make her so appealing."

Sullivan says the younger Anne was very insecure but with a dominant, A-type personality she used to try to control her world and to make the world like her. But he figured if we revisit Anne in her 20s, on the brink of war, we could find her grown up and learning self-sacrifice.

"That's the theme in terms of the orphan cycle where she essentially steps into Matthew and Murilla's shoes at the end and adopts a child that is not her own."

The story opens in 1914 as Anne returns to Prince Edward Island to find the neglected Green Gables in a shambles. She marries longtime sweetheart Gilbert Blythe (Jonathan Crombie), who promptly gets caught up in war fever and signs up as a battlefield surgeon.

In reprising her role of a lifetime, Follows does lose much of that endearing audacity. But not the pluck. When Gilbert is reported missing in France, Anne boldly sets out for Europe to find him.

Follows says it was complicated revisiting Anne Shirley after a dozen years.

"I always loved the character, the potential and possibilities. And it has its own host of challenges, trying to get through it."

Sullivan says it was remarkable watching the 29-year-old Follows stepping back into the role she last played as a teen.

"She's constantly able to erase any trace of her own personality and really project Anne. That's part of the charm of watching (Anne) grow up and then finally resolve many of the things that have haunted her all of her life."

Sullivan says the background of the story is based on the Lucy Maud Montgomery books but that his teleplay is original, largely because the series began in the Edwardian era, about 20 years after Montgomery's Victorian originals.

This mini-series actually follows directly on the heels of the Road to Avonlea TV series, which ended as the war began.

Sullivan insists that not using any of the Anne sequels had nothing to do with the legal feud that erupted last summer between him and heirs to the Montgomery estate. It was simply that the differing time frames made it impractical.

Like the previous two mini-series, this one was shot on 35mm film and will likely be released abroad as a feature film, especially in Japan where Anne continues to have a fanatical following.

Sullivan sees several reasons for that. Like the residents of P.E.I., the Japanese are islanders. Anne has red hair, which is considered exotic in Japan. But so is her outspokenness in a society which places a high value on a rigid family structure.

Source: The StarPhoenix