Veteran actor/musician Cher is to star in a feature film concerning toxic contamination in the Michigan city of Flint's water supply since 2014.
The dire situation in that city has led to multiple charges of misconduct against local officials.
According to Deadline, Cher has been cast as a woman whose family has been severely affected by the water contamination crisis. The story was developed from Time magazine’s 2016 cover story, The Poisoning of an American City, by Josh Sanburn.
Bruce Beresford (Driving Miss Daisy) will direct the film, and the project is being produced for the Lifetime cable network.
Cher won a best actress Oscar in 1988 for Moonstruck, and her movie roles are relatively rare. Her last substantial film role was as a club-owner in Burlesque, which appeared in 2010. The 70-year-old actress's previous film, Tea With Mussolini appeared 11 years before that, in 1999.
The latter two roles were essentially comedic in spirit, but, as a pointer towards the new casting, it is worth recalling Cher’s striking performance in the activist drama, Silkwood in 1983. The actress received a Best Supporting Actress nomination for her role in that movie.
Cher donated thousands of bottles of mineral water to Flint residents via the Food Bank of Eastern Michigan in January 2016. The Flint crisis will also be the subject of a documentary produced by Crash director Paul Haggis.
