FACE OFF: Christina Ricci (left) will star as the infamous Lizzie Borden (right) in an upcoming Lifetime movie. (
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Lifetime will produce a biopic of Lizzie Borden — with Christina Ricci starring as the infamous spinster acquitted of hacking her father and stepmother to death.
Ricci, who’s tackled her share of oddball roles — including “The Addams Family” and “Monster” — will portray Borden, who was tried and acquitted of murdering her father, Andrew, and stepmother, Abby, with an ax in Fall River, Mass. in 1892.
The violence of the crime — Andrew was struck over 10 times with an ax, and Abby received 19 deadly ax blows — was one of the country’s first headline-grabbing, sensational murder cases.
Borden’s acquittal, despite overwhelming evidence and suspicion that she was the killer, ensured the case a vaunted, macabre position in American folklore.
The Borden house, in fact, was eventually turned into a tourist destination.
(The case was never solved, and Borden — who never moved from Fall River — died in 1927 at the age of 66.)
Ricci’s most recent TV role was in ABC’s short-lived series “Pan Am,” which aired for only 14 episodes during the 2011-12 season. She received an Emmy nod for her role as a paramedic on “Grey’s Anatomy” in 2006.
There have been several books written about the Borden case and, in 1975, former “Bewitched” star Elizabeth Montgomery starred as a suitably creepy Lizzie in “The Legend of Lizzie Borden” on ABC, which left viewers with an ambiguous ending regarding Borden’s guilt or innocence.
HBO’s Lizzie Borden miniseries, announced in March 2011 — starring Chloe Sevigny, who would also produce — has yet to begin shooting.
Judith Verno (“Drew Peterson: Untouchable”) will executive-produce Lifetime’s Borden flick.