Not the best of starts for a promising production.
Last week, it was announced that Elisabeth Moss would be taking a lead role in the Australian TV miniseries, "Top of the Lake," playing an enterprising police officer investigating the disappearance of a young girl. To be directed by Jane Campion and co-starring Holly Hunter, the mini-series was to be backed in part by $600,000 from ABC, a national network in Australia, but in a sudden reversal, they announced that they would be pulling the cash from the project.
"We went into this with the understanding the lead actor would be an Australian. But when that could not happen, we removed ourselves from the deal," a spokesman for the network said (via the Herald Sun). "We love Elisabeth Moss, but she's not an Australian. We have a fine calibre of Australian actors available and we would have preferred to see one of them in the role."
The six part series will get the missing funding from UKTV; it's also backed by money from Screen Australia, and is being co-produced by the US Sundance Channel, meaning the Emmy-nominated Moss will have her solo star turn featured on American televisions, as well.
For more, click over to the Herald Sun.