Weaver answers 'Prayers'

Actress to star in Lifetime movie

By CYNTHIA LITTLETON

Weaver

Sigourney Weaver is set to topline and co-produce the Lifetime telepic "Prayers for Bobby," playing a deeply conservative and religious woman who begins to question her opposition to homosexuality after the suicide of her gay son.

Telepic is based on the 1995 Leroy Aarons book of the same name that recounts the true story of a family's refusal to accept their son's homosexuality. Russell Mulcahy ("Queer as Folk") directs from a script by Katie Ford ("Miss Congeniality").

In her first telepic role, Weaver will star as Mary Griffith, a devout Christian who winds up becoming an advocate for gay and lesbian youths after her son is driven into a deep depression by his family's disapproval and attempts to "cure" him of his sexual orientation.

"Prayers for Bobby" is from Once Upon a Time Films, Permut Presentations and Sladek Taaffe Prods. Exec producers are Stanley M. Brooks, David Permut, Daniel Sladek and Chris Taaffe.