CBS

CBS's scripted programming was being run by former fellow movies-for-television producer Larry Sanitsky. I knew Larry grew up watching The Mickey Mouse Club and I took a chance that he might have a crush on Annette too. Working on that hunch, I had Annette call Larry's office and invite him up to her house for a cup of coffee. How could he resist America's sweetheart? Sure enough, Larry was a fan and agreed to the meeting.

I had a pair of Mouseketeer ears made for Mr. Sanitsky, with the name "Larry" stitched in yellow thread on to the front. Annette handed Larry his "ears" as soon as he arrived. He melted -- and we knew we had sold the movie to CBS.
Six months later we had a wonderful screenplay adaptation of the book from John McGreevey and Peter Torokvei. The CBS executive from the movies-for-television department, Michael Healy, was able to get his network to order the film into production. Off we went to Vancouver to make a movie.

Actress Eva LaRue (known now for her work on CSI: MIAMI) was cast to play Annette as an adult and young singing and dancing star Andrea Nemeth was cast to play Annette before and during her Mouseketeer years.

The film opens and closes with Annette sitting on a lounge in a living room on the day that her daughter Gina is to be married. A small group of nieces, nephews and friends sit around her as she begins to tell them the story of her life. From that point she narrates portions of the film, so we can jump forward in time, and, occasionally we return to her in the salon. The film ends with Gina's wedding ceremony. Eva LaRue is in a wheelchair and as she's wheeled past camera she becomes the real Annette -- so do all the other family members in the chapel. The actors are magically replaced by the real family. We had flown up Annette's mom and dad, Virginia and Joe, her brother Joey and her children, Jack Jr., Gina and Jason. Jack Gilardi -- also portrayed in the film -- stayed very close to us during the production and was instrumental in getting the whole family to appear in the final scenes.