IFTA winning Irish actress Sarah Bolger (The Tudors) is tipped to star alongside Blythe Danner and Madeline Zima (Californication) in the pilot for ABC period drama ‘Gilded Lilys’ - tipped to become the US version of ‘Downton Abbey’. Irish director Brian Kirk (Boardwalk Empire, Game of Thrones) is to direct.
Set in 1895 New York, the drama is described as an “epic love story” following the lives of the people inside the city’s first luxury hotel. Sarah is to play Violet Lily, grandmother to family matriarch Caroline (played by Danner).
The project is being developed by Shonda Rhimes – the woman behind ‘Greys Anatomy’ and ‘Private Practice’. ‘Gossip Girl’ writer KJ Steinberg is to pen the screenplay for the pilot with Rhimes and Betsey Beers exec producing for ABC.
