Meghan McCain is getting into the movie business.
The media personality, who exited her role on ABC’s roundtable talk show “The View” earlier this month, will executive-produce the film “Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff: The Kristine Carlson Story,” for the Lifetime network.
The movie tells the true story of Carlson, widow of bestselling author Dr. Richard Carlson, best known for his self-help book series, “Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff.” After her husband dies at the height of his career, Carlson is left to manage his literary legacy while raising their two young children. Along the way, she learns the wisdom of his words.
Casting has already begun for the project, with Heather Locklear signed on to play Carlson and Jason McDonald of “Vampire Diaries” tapped to play her husband, Richard.
People magazine quoted McCain addressing the hubbub her View departure created in a now-deleted Twitter post. “So much chatter, so much gossip, so many, many, many questions people are asking me this past week,” she says. “I pride myself on always taking big risks, rolling the dice, and making unpredictable life and career choices. I’ve never fit in a box and I never will.”
The outspoken conservative announced her new endeavor on Instagram, saying, “I am beyond excited and honored to be partnering with @lifetimetv and @kristine_carlson to executive produce the legendary ‘Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff’ book into a Lifetime film with icon @HeatherLocklear starring as Kristine.” She added in an apparent reference to her father, the late Senator John McCain, “This book helped me through my own journey in grief and loss with inspiration from Kristine and the ‘Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff’ story.”
McCain shocked the TV industry when she revealed her resignation from “The View” on July 1. “This was not an easy decision,” she told viewers. “It took a lot of thought and counsel and prayer, and talking to my family and my close friends, and, you know, look — COVID has changed the world for all of us and it changed the way, at least for me, the way I am looking at life, the way I’m living my life, the way I want my life to look like.”
Citing her father, she said, “He said that I could never give up an opportunity to work on such an iconic show and to work with Whoopi Goldberg — and he was right. It was one of the last things he told me to do before he died.”
As The Daily Wire reported, some left-wing media outlets have been snarky about McCain’s resignation, with The Daily Beast tweeting, “Without Meghan McCain on ‘The View,’ how will we be reminded every ten seconds that she is John McCain’s daughter?”
“Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff: The Kristine Carlson Story,” which will be shot on location in Nashville, begins production soon and will air on Lifetime later this year.