Lifetime casts 'Northern Lights'

Rimes, Cibrian, Arquette to star in telepic

By DANIEL FRANKEL

Lifetime has cast LeAnn Rimes, Eddie Cibrian and Rosanna Arquette in the telepic "Northern Lights," the third of its four adaptations of Nora Roberts' novels that are slated for next year.

Cibrian ("Ugly Betty") will play a distraught cop seeking refuge in a remote Alaskan town following the death of his partner, only to become entangled in a murder mystery involving a new love interest (Rimes) and her mother (Arquette).

Mandalay Television and Stephanie Germain Prods. will produce the pic, with Peter Guber and Germain serving as exec producers.

Lifetime has already secured Cybill Shepherd and Faye Dunaway, respectively, to play grandmothers in its first two Roberts adaptations, "High Noon" and "Midnight Bayou." The fourth and still uncast fourth pic is "Tribute."

Four previous Roberts adaptations garnered 34 million total viewers for Lifetime in 2007, highlighted by "Nora Roberts' Angels Fall," which was the cabler's highest-rated pic overall last year.