A new Shania Twain biography/docudrama has been confirmed by Ashla Taylor, the singer/actress that will play Shania. It will air in February 2018 on ReelzChannel.
Ashla Taylor @ashlataylor
I MUST have dreamed this. I had the #honor of playing my #idol, #shaniatwain in an upcoming docudrama on the @reelzchannel Her life, music & courage is my biggest #inspiration . Nana took me to my first concert at 8 years old to see #Shania in #birmingham . Since that day, I wanted to be like her- studied her music, voice, movements, & life story. I used to pretend I was her and always went as her for #halloween hahaha. To grow up and actually portray her as an #actress is a true #dreamcometrue - a role I've been unknowingly preparing for since I was 8 years old. đ #comingsoon #february2018 #docudrama #reelzchannel #nationaltv #acting #onset #behindthescenes #newseries
REELZ Lines Up Brand-New Titles & Episodes for 2018
By Sara Alessi | World Screen | January 2, 2018Â
REELZ has unveiled a programming slate for winter, spring and early summer that includes six new original series, fresh episodes of five returning shows and four upcoming specials.
New series coming to REELZ are Stalker Files, debuting January 27 at 9:30 p.m.; The Price of Fame, premiering February 11 at 9 p.m.; and It Happened Here, dropping March 10 at 8 p.m. Additional new shows are Breaking the Band, Irreconcilable Differences and Cashed Out, all coming to REELZ in June 2018.
Stalker Files offers an unnerving look into the cases of stalkers whose obsession with a celebrity led to jarring and sometimes tragic ends. Episodes will feature stalking cases involving Madonna, Erin Andrews, David Letterman, Gwyneth Paltrow, Michael Douglas, Steven Spielberg, Jodie Foster, Christina Grimmie, Rebecca Schaeffer and Brooke Shields. The Price of Fame tells stories of how celebrities such as Shania Twain, Johnny Depp, Carrie Fisher, Patrick Swayze, Prince and Robin Williams became famous. Each episode of It Happened Here brings viewers to the exact sites where controversial or tragic events connected to celebrities took place.
Upcoming specials include ABBA: When All is Said and Done, about the titular Swedish pop group (January 20 at 8 p.m.); Elton John: The Nationâs Favorite Song, celebrating the legendary singerâs top 20 hits (January 27 at 8 p.m.); Queen: How They Broke Free, which tells the true story behind the rise of rock band (January 28 at 10:30 p.m.); and Martin Luther King Jr.: One Man and His Dream, offering a timely look at the life and legacy of the renowned civil rights leader, as 2018 marks the 50th anniversary of his assassination. The special will premiere on April 1 at 9 p.m.
REELZ will also present new episodes of returning series in 2018. This includes Real Story of⌠(January 9 at 9 p.m.), Autopsy: The Last Hours ofâŚÂ (February 11 at 8 p.m.), Gangsters: Americaâs Most Evil (March 6 at 9 p.m.), Murder Made Me Famous (April 2018) and The Shocking Truth (April 2018).
âWeâre excited to continue our commitment to showing our viewers insightful, relevant and powerful real stories about celebrities, including a very fun look at superstar entertainer Elton John, which is scheduled the day before the Grammys,â said Steve Cheskin, the senior VP of programming at REELZ. âWe also have an essential look at iconic civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr., which will run in the days leading up to the 50th anniversary of his assassination. With this lineup of returning and new series and specials, we look forward to fulfilling our viewersâ desire for programming that shows the complete picture of fame and captures their fascination with the burdens and blessings of celebrity status.â
Shania Twain: From Penniless Child To Country Music Superstar
The best-selling singer's parents could barely afford to feed her and her siblings.
By Rosa Sanchez | Radar Online | February 13, 2018
Shania Twain may now be known as the best-selling female artist in country music history, but as a child, she was part of a penniless family that barely had enough means to feed her and her siblings!
REELZâs newest docuseries, The Price of Fame: Shania Twain, music journalist Mark Ebner digs into the mysterious life of the great singer, and the life experiences that led to her fame.
When Twain, 52, was young, her parents could barely afford fruit or meat that they didnât hunt themselves, so she and her siblings suffered from both malnutrition and embarrassment. They had to face bullies in school and later, learn to raise themselves following their parentsâ tragic car accident deaths.
âYou know, I think that her flashiness today, is a result of being that little torn kid with the sack lunches and beat-up clothes⌠walking through the dirt to school,â Ebner says in the clip.
The Price of Fame: Shania Twain airs Sunday, February 18 at 9 ET / PT on REELZ.
Shania Twain: The Love Affair That Launched Her Stardom
It was not just pure talent that got the singer onto the Hollywood stage.
By Rosa Sanchez | OK! Magazine | February 14, 2018
Shania Twain reached international Hollywood fame because of her musical talents and striking beauty â but her romance with award-winning producer Mutt Lange helped too.
REELZâs new docuseries, The Price of Fame: Shania Twain, seeks to shine a light on the fabulous career of the iconic singer, 52, and the dark past that pushed her to stardom.
âShania, of course, was impressed by his talent, but Mutt treated her like a queen â which is very sexy â and his accent didnât hurt either,â says Syndicated radio host, Kellie Rasberry, in the show clip.
After linking up with then-producer Mutt Lange, Twainâs career skyrocketed. She married Lange and launched her second album. Until this day, she is known as the best-selling female artist in country music history.
Everything seemed to be going swell for the talented beauty. Then, Langeâs affair with the coupleâs assistant was exposed, and Twainâs life and career began spiraling downwards.
Ashla Taylor Talks Portraying Shania Twain in New Movie: 'It Was Natural For Me'
By Chuck Dauphin | Billboard | February 15, 2018Â
Since she first broke onto the national music scene some 25 years ago with her debut album, the idea that a young female artist might consider Shania Twain a role model is far from foreign. But, Ashla Taylor is getting a chance to take that admiration of the crossover queen to a level that few get the chance to do.
Taylor is stepping into the shoes of the best-selling vocalist with her portrayal of the title figure in The Price of Fame: Shania Twain, a docudrama that airs on the REELZ Channel this Sunday (February 18). She tells Billboard itâs something sheâs been working toward for years. âIt was so natural for me to fall into that character. I have been studying Shania for a long time. She has been my personal and my musical influence in life. Needless to say, I didnât have to do a lot of character study.â
The Alabama native says that seeing Twain in 1998 had a profound impact on her life. âWhen I was eight years old, my grandmother took me to see Shania. It was my first concert. I saw her in her glory, and I remember thinking â even then â that was exactly the kind of woman I wanted to be. The light just turned on for me, and I began to study everything about her â her music, her writing, her voice."
Once she started digging into Twain's backstory, Taylor says it wasn't hard for her to find common ground with the country legend. "Because I was such a fan, I started to study her personal life story, and I found out that we had a lot of similarities," she explains. There were a lot of things that I could relate to, and she really inspired me as a woman. It started as a musical thing, and when I got to really know her story, it became personal. I kept telling myself over the years that if Shania can overcome, then I can too. I really hope to meet her one of these days, and tell her that it was because of her that I could do this.â
Taylor moved to Nashville, and began to develop her skills as a performer. Then, one day the phone rang â with some interesting news. âI heard from my agent that there was an opportunity to play Shania. She told me it was a long shot, but letâs send it in. I thought there was no way. Nothing in my brain told me that there was even a chance that it would happen. Two days later, I got the call, and they booked me immediately. They couldnât have cast anyone who was more humbled by the experience.â
Taylor -- who also cites Dolly Parton and The Judds as career influences -- says that that she was a fan even before Twainâs sophomore album, 1995âs The Woman In Me, broke her through into the career stratosphere. âI had been watching her on TV and fell in love with her first video, âWhat Made You Say Thatâ [from 1993]. She made such an effect on me. I was a fan of hers then. But, it was The Woman In Me that became such a string influence on me as a songwriter.
Taylor, who has been featured in a stage production of The Wizard OfOz, says that being on a stage is her natural habitat. âIâm more comfortable in front of a camera or on stage than I am in front of people. I have this ability to go into another realm when Iâm in front of the camera.â
Of the Price of Fame series, which also features Johnny Depp, Robin Williams, Prince, and Carrie Fisher, Taylor stresses that the goal was to show all areas of Twainâs life.
âIt shows her as a child all the way to her Now record. The girl who plays her as a child is phenomenal and such a great actress. We look like sisters. It doesnât touch a lot on the glitz and glamour. We all know that. Thereâs a lot of details about the price of fame... Her family was poor and couldnât eat sometimes. Her mother was taking her to bars to play just to keep the power on. She worked for her fatherâs business, which I can relate to. Itâs so scary in the parallels that Shania and I have. Then, her parents were killed in a car wreck, and she was left with the responsibility of having to raise her siblings. She had all of that on her shoulders, but she kept singing and creating music. â
Twainâs ascent to the top of the music scene is also documented, as is her marriage to producer Robert John âMuttâ Lange. The Price of Fame also deals with the coupleâs divorce in 2010. Taylor says that telling that particular moment wasnât easy. âThe scene where Mutt tells her that he wants a divorce was one of the hardest and best scenes for me as an actor. I got to sink into the emotion of the moment. That was painful as an actor, and I took on those emotions. The tears are so genuine, because I can feel the pain of someone jerking all this away from me, and what that would feel like â losing the man you love.â
As seamless as her portrayal of Twain may be, Taylor is also very much her own musical artist. Her new single, âNothinâ About Love,â will be released to radio on Monday. The track is from her EP, Truth IsâŚ.
A new TV docudrama explores celebritiesâ tragic pasts. Hereâs why it includes Shania Twain.
By Emily Yahr | The Washington Post | February 16, 2018
Country singer Ashla Taylor plays Shania Twain in Reelz Channelâs âThe Price of Fame.â
âThe Price of Fame,â a new TV series that debuted on Reelz Channel last weekend, takes a deep dive into the tragic and troubled lives of celebrities, from Robin Williams to Johnny Depp to Carrie Fisher to Prince. But thereâs one name on the list that, if you donât know her story, might seem out of place: Shania Twain.
Twain â the highest-selling solo female artist in country music history â is known for karaoke-favorite hits such as âMan! I Feel Like a Womanâ and âThat Donât Impress Me Much.â But the creators of âThe Price of Fameâ felt that aside from her much-chronicled split from her husband in 2008 (he reportedly had an affair with her best friend, then Twain married that friendâs ex-husband), the mainstream audience may not be familiar with her earlier journey, as she suffered through abuse and extreme poverty before she became a star.
âWhen the network bought the series and we had to come up with our subjects for the first season, right away Shania came up, because her story is incredible,â said Brad Osborne, the writer and director of the episode, which airs Sunday at 9 p.m. âAnd not a lot of people know it.â
The hour-long docudrama is a mix of interviews with people who knew and worked with Twain (former band members, journalists) along with dramatic reenactments of her life that could easily fit in a Lifetime original movie. Although Twain did not participate in the project, Osborne relied on details from her 2011 memoir, âFrom This Moment On.â
Twain grew up very poor in rural Canada; as a child, her mother used to wake her up late at night so she could go sing for tips at a local bar to help support the family. Various scenes show Twainâs stepfather being physically and verbally abusive toward Twain and her mother, who became severely depressed. Twain used music as an escape and moved to Nashville â though when her mother and stepfather were killed in a car accident, she returned home to take care of her siblings.
The show also goes in-depth on her career struggles, as her first record tanked. Then she started working with Mutt Lange, the star producer who eventually would also become her husband. Together they produced her hugely successful albums, including âThe Woman in Meâ and âCome On Over,â a blend of country music and pop that Nashville had never seen.
In one reenactment, country newcomer Ashla Taylor (who plays the grown-up version of Twain) faces off with a radio programmer who, like many at the time, was deeply suspicious of Twainâs music â particularly because it was produced by Lange, known for his work with AC/DC and Def Leppard.
âA lot of people in country music back then didnât support her,â Taylor said. âI think she opened the door for a lot of females, including myself, who love pop and are inspired by rock and blues and R&B ⌠When she came onto the scene, it busted wide open.â
The episode goes through present day and tackles Twainâs painful divorce; her battle with Lyme disease; and her comeback album released last year. Osborne hopes that viewers learn more about Twain, whom he feels isnât given enough credit for how much she paved the way for stars such as Taylor Swift and Carrie Underwood.
âShe was an incredible influence on this whole birth of pop and country that dominates country now,â Osborne said. âI think thatâs one of the most underestimated things about Shania â her impact not on just country music, but the music industry as a whole.â
Im watching a little of it. Is or does anyone think this is all true?
I thought it was very accurate. Most of it came from Shania's "From This Moment" memoir book.Â
 I have the book too. I might have forgotten a few things but I was hoping to get your seal of confirmation. I know as much as you and possibly others. It was really an eye-opener to the truth and everything. I truly hope many more fans watch this and possibly new fans.Â
Im watching a little of it. Is or does anyone think this is all true?
I thought it was very accurate. Most of it came from Shania's "From This Moment" memoir book.Â
Hi,
I think the timeline that they gave may have been off in some places. Like when Mutt and Shania actually started having problems and when she contracted the Lyme's Disease may have been a little different than what I read.
I think she has been saying that the tick bit her during the Up! tour in Virginia and she has never mentioned that she and Mutt were in trouble then so I think you would really have to go back into the book and get the timeline figured out from there. Unless the trouble was going on longer than anyone knew or was told. That is where I had trouble figuring things out while watching the movie.