THE NETWORK ANNOUNCES EXCITING CASTING FOR ‘LIFE SIZE 2’ AND ‘NO SLEEP ‘TIL CHRISTMAS’
Francia Raisa, Gavin Stenhouse, Shanica Knowles, Hank Chen and Alison Fernandez Join Tyra Banks in ‘Life Size 2’
Dave and Odette Annable, Charles Michael Davis, Sheryl Lee Ralph and Alphonso McAuley Set to Star in ‘No Sleep ‘Til Christmas’
Freeform doubled down on their promise to make the holiday season bigger than ever by announcing casting for two original holiday movies. Actors Francia Raisa (“grown-ish”), Charles Michael Davis (“Younger”), Sheryl Lee Ralph (“Moesha”), Gavin Stenhouse (“Allegiance”), Shanica Knowles (“The Young & the Restless”), Alphonso McAuley (“The Middle”), Hank Chen (“The New 30”) and Alison Fernandez (“Once Upon a Time”), as well as the previously announced Dave Annable (“Yellowstone”) and Odette Annable (“Supergirl”), have all been cast to star in holiday films airing during Freeform’s “25 Days of Christmas” annual programming event. Both projects will start production this month.
Announced by Tyra Banks on her Instagram account, the cast of “Life Size 2” has been confirmed. Francia Raisa will play Grace Manning, the confident and funny CEO of Marathon Toys, a huge toy company started by her mother that is most famous for manufacturing the iconic Eve doll. Grace is also a hot mess in the middle of her quarter-life crisis and realizing that she is in over her head as CEO. To make matters worse, her wild-child ways are causing the company’s stock to plummet. Joining Raisa and Banks are Gavin Stenhouse as Grace’s potential love interest Calum; Shanica Knowles as Tahlia and Hank Chen as Brendan, who are Grace’s best friends; along with Alison Fernandez as Lex, Grace’s young next-door neighbor.
Dave and Odette Annable will star in “No Sleep ‘Til Christmas,” an unexpected and whimsical holiday romantic comedy about two insomniac strangers plagued by exhaustion. Lizzie (Odette Annable) is a high-end event planner preparing for her own life’s biggest event – her wedding. She lies awake nightly while her devoted fiancé Josh (Charles Michael Davis) rests peacefully, unaware of how to solve her issue. When a sleep-deprived incident causes her to run into Billy (Dave Annable), a low-key bartender who is just as sleepless and frustrated as she is, they discover that they can only fall asleep while next to each other. What seems like an odd coincidence, and frankly a disruption to their lives, might be more meaningful than they’d like to admit. Sheryl Lee Ralph also stars as Josh’s mother Mrs. Wright with Alphonso McAuley as Andy, Billy’s best friend.
“Life Size 2” is executive produced by Tyra Banks (“America’s Next Top Model”) and Stephanie Allain (“Dear White People”). The film is written by Cameron Fay (“Brother Nature”) and Stacey Harman (“The Goldbergs”), with Steven K. Tsuchida (“Younger”) set to direct.
“No Sleep ‘Til Christmas” is written by Phil Traill (“The Middle”) and Steve Smith (“The Red Green Show”) and will be directed by Traill. Traill also serves as an executive producer alongside Cameron Johann (“Away and Back”) and Brent Shields (“Just In Time For Christmas”).
A Disney blooded, crafty, fun-lovin’ wife/mom/organizer/planner, etc who is obsessed with all things Disney 🙂 Maria grew up with the Magic Kingdom and has loved watching WDW evolve into what it is today. A firm believer in the Power of Pixie Dust, she is the owner of The Disney Driven Life – A Community for Neurotic Disney People & a d.i.y. crafty blog, Carousel of Projects – create~inspire~share.