STARS: Virginia Welch will play Casey Anthony, and Rob Lowe (above) plays the DA in Anthony’s case, Jeff Ashton. (Getty Images)
Virginia Welch (WireImage)
SUBJECT: Lifetime’s movie about Casey Anthony will air in January. (
)
Lifetime has set a January debut date for its true-crime TV movie about the infamous Casey Anthony murder trial — starring Rob Lowe as the prosecutor who lost the case.
The movie, called “Prosecuting Casey Anthony,” was shot last summer in Canada.
It has been kept under wraps for months by the cable network that has made its reputation on scripted movies of real-life crimes and scandals.
The Anthony movie is based on DA Jeff Ashton’s book, “Imperfect Justice,” and will be told mostly through the eyes of the lawyers in the case.
Lowe plays Ashton, and Oscar Nunez of “The Office” will play Anthony’s attorney, Jose Baez.
Former “Lost” co-star Elizabeth Mitchell plays the prosecutor, Linda Drane Burdick.
Actress Virginia Welch has been cast to play Casey Anthony — the young mother who was charged with, but acquitted, of the murder of her 2-year-old daughter, Caylee, who was found dead near the Casey family home in Orlando, Fla. in December 2008 — five months after she disappeared without a trace.
The Casey Anthony character makes only a few brief appearances in the film, the network says.
The Casey Anthony verdict set off a national outrage and forced Ashton to quit the DA’s office.
Still, Ashton ran against his former boss in local elections earlier this month and won.
He takes office a week before the movie about him is set to air Jan. 19.
For Lowe, the role is a complete about-face from his turn on Lifetime in which he played convicted wife-killer Drew Peterson in “Drew Peterson: Untouchable.”
The movie aired on Lifetime last January to good ratings, and Peterson was convicted of killing his third wife, Kathleen Savio, in September. He faces up to 60 years in prison.