Anne of Green Gableslovers, rejoice.
Theres a TV movie adaptation of Canadian author Lucy Maud Montgomerys classic novelstarring Martin Sheencoming your way.
Filmed in spring 2015, the movie aired in Canada in February.
Credit: PBS
Since then, the cast has reunited to film TV movie adaptations of two more books.
U.S. audiences now get to see their first effort, which airs on PBS Thanksgiving night.
It was not the first book.
I didnt read the original until I was asked to play it.
I just sort of… And gradually he kept encouraging me.
He said, Youre really going to miss something if you dont look at this thing.
At least read it.
Theres no vulgarity, theres no violence, its very humane, its a wonderful character.
I said, Of course.
Whats the matter with me?
and I couldnt be happier.
Hes a wise old owl, hes just not engaged the same as a lot of people are.
And Anne lights a fire under him.
Hes able to see himself in different ways and value himself and others now much differently because of her.
On Richard Farnsworth, who played Matthew in the beloved 1985 miniseries
He was wonderful.
He was an American actor who was a stuntman to begin with, then he became an actor.
He was more the character than I am.
He was more of an introvert.
He was really a very shy man.
He was very, very good.
He was very famous, too.
He had the character far better in hand than I did.
I made him more of an extrovert, more outgoing, more chatty.
His interpretation was far more faithful to the book than mine.
He was far better than I was as far as his authenticity to the real guy.
Also, he was a brilliant stuntman and he worked with horses in movies for most of his life.
And so he had the horse and the buggy and all the animals, it was like second nature.
With me, it was a trial.
On working with Ella Ballentine and Sara Botsford
I adore [Ella].
Shes much different now.
Shes maturing into a beautiful young lady.
We had great fun working together and it was a reunion to get back together with her.
Shes an extraordinary talent.
Shes not really a redhead.
It was always difficult for her to have her hair colored all the time.
She couldnt get used to it.
She just finished shooting and shes already got her hair back to the way she likes it.
And shes very funny as well.
We have great fun on the set and shes got a great sense of humor.
Shes a joy to work with.
[Sara, Emma, and I] work a lot together in most of our scenes.
I miss them already.
I had a great time with them.
I knew [Sara] fromThe West Wing.
She did an episode ofThe West Wingvery early in the series.
She played John Spencers [character Leo McGarrys ex-]wife.
So I knew her.
The substance that they used was a concoction made up mostly of oats and I wanna say sorghum.
It looks worse than it was.
It was very sticky and took a while to get off.
It was no problem.
I couldnt catch [the pig].
He was a little thing.
I didnt have to chase him much.
He just fled back to his mother.
She was in the barn.
He had a wrangler; there was a guy controlling him, and all the animals.
A wonderful family up there called the Bishop family: Tom Sr. and his son and his sons wife.
They provided the animals and the chickens and the horses and all that.
They made it look easy.
Im not sure [what the pigs name was].
I called him Abner [in the movie].Im not sure if that was his real name.
I did some publicity with her down in New York when we were filming.
She was very, very happy with what we were doing.
On the sequels
We just finished doing [the second and third one] two weeks ago in Canada.
[The first movie is book one], and book two and three are to follow.
I just got back from filming the second and third one with the same cast.
And then the Canadian Company, [Breakthrough Entertainment], made two more.
I would hope that PBS will pick it up.
On whether more books in the series will be adapted
My character dies in the third book.
Unless I came back as a ghost or in a flashback, I wont be required.
I had a wonderful funeral.
I enjoyed my funeral.
I wouldnt be able to be a part of it, unfortunately, but I dont know.
Its so clean and so wholesome, it stands out on its own.
I just hope that people will respond to that.
Anne of Green Gablesairs on PBS at 8 p.m.
ET on Nov. 24.
