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Jack Layton biopic commissioned by CBC could fuel backlash: critic

Journalist Scott Stinson seems to believe that a CBC commissioned film about the life and times of the late Jack Layton will create some sort of an anti-CBC backlash.

The made-for-TV biopic, set to start production in Winnipeg this August, will be set against the backdrop of the 2011 federal election and the weeks that followed, chronicling the rise of the late NDP leader as well as the love story between Layton and Olivia Chow.

Stinson worries the story will be too much for right-leaning Canadians to handle.

"A laudatory film about the late NDP leader? Outrage! Taxpayer dollars! Why not Irish Eyes: The Brian Mulroney Story or Shawinigan Handshake: The Jean Chrétien Story or Sweater Vest: The Stephen Harper Story," he quips in a column for the National Post.

"It's an interesting story, no doubt, but it remains that the CBC is giving ammunition to its critics with this project. The next time someone wants to list off its perceived biases, the phrase 'commissioned a biopic of the socialist icon Jack Layton' is likely to appear in there somewhere."

The film's executive producer, however, thinks his movie will transcend party politics.

"Jack comes from a very political family," said Laszlo Barna, who has also produced biopics on Celine Dion, Don Cherry and Sue Rodriguez.

"His father was a cabinet minister in the Mulroney government, his great-great-great-great-grandfather was one of the Fathers of Confederation, his grandfather was in the [Quebec Premier Maurice] Duplessis cabinet. So this is a family that was woven with the fabric of Canadian politics," he told Yahoo! Canada News.

"And the film is about public service and the notion of public service. I don't look at it from a partisanship point of view. It's about people who believe in this country and try to do something about it."

Barna says casting for the film is underway and he expects to have an announcement about who will play Layton very soon.