Jane Alexander Cast as Ex-CIA Operative in 'Lillian, Next Door'
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- Jane Alexander will star in "Lillian, Next Door" as an ex-CIA operative with a sly wit who infiltrates the lives of two gay men next door, with secrets unfolding into an "unexpected friendship and life-altering choices" (per the film's description).
- "Lillian, Next Door" begins production this month in Nova Scotia under director Janice Engel, whose prior film "Raise Hell: The Life & Times of Molly Ivins" won the SXSW Audience Award.
- Marco Pigossi and Kanoa Goo will play the two gay neighbors whose lives Alexander's character enters, with the story described as an "emotionally layered" drama-comedy.
- Tim Atkin, a former Coast Guard officer and National Security Council staff member under President Clinton, wrote the script, which is described as "inspired by lived experiences."
- The project's creative team is predominantly LGBTQ+, including director Engel, producer James Egan, writer Atkin, cinematographer Bianca Butti, and editor Phyllis Housen, with production from Wild at Heart Films, Emotion Pictures, and Snarky Elephant Productions.
- WME Independent will handle sales, and Engel said the story's chosen-family theme reflects her own life: "people who understand me and let me be myself authentically."
Why it matters: Alexander, a four-time Oscar nominee, joining a predominantly LGBTQ+-led, independently financed production broadens the space for prestige veteran actors in queer-centered drama beyond studio backing. Writer Tim Atkin's Coast Guard and Clinton-era National Security Council résumé brings uncommon firsthand government experience to a spy character whose arc resolves into chosen family, not espionage tradecraft.
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