Filming begins on TV movie about Jack Layton

The CBC has announced casting in its new biopic: Smilin’ Jack: The Jack Layton Story.

Rick Roberts, a veteran of Canadian televsion and made for television movies will be taking on the role of the late leader of the Opposition, while former rocker and Much Music VJ Sook Yin Lee will play his wife and colleague Olivia Chow.

The made-for-television movie, which started shooting in Winnipeg earlier this month, follows the 2011 election campaign, which ended with the Orange Crush and Official Opposition status.

While the CBC has not yet released when it plans to air “Smilin’ Jack,” the movie has already garnered some criticism from those who say the movie is politically motivated, and should not be propagated from the government-funded CBC.