Mary Pickford Biopic Now Has a Title: ‘The First’

Poverty Row Entertainment, which is producing the picture, will host a party in its honor at the Toronto Film Festival 

Poverty Row Entertainment has finalized a title for its upcoming Mary Pickford biopic, “The First,” which highlights the primacy of the legendary actress in early Hollywood.

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The film, based on Eileen Whitfield’s biography, “Pickford: The Woman Who Made Hollywood,” will star Lily Rabe (pictured left) as Pickford. 

Jennifer DeLia will direct from a script currently being worked on by Josh Fagin. Fagin is expected to finish within the next month or two.

“There’s something very powerful and definitive about the words ‘the first,’” DeLia said in a statement. “Mary Pickford was one of the first independent producers and was the most powerful woman in the male-dominated Hollywood of her day. Universally loved, a fashion icon, and the face of a multitude of products, she became the world’s first movie mega-star and most beloved icon, kicking off the still-thriving practice of celebrity worship.” 

Also read: Mary Pickford Returns to the Big Screen in Biopic

In addition to her acting career, Pickford founded United Artists with then-husband Douglas Fairbanks and early Hollywood titans Charlie Chaplin and D.W. Griffith. Poverty Row is in the process of casting the roles of Chaplin and Fairbanks, which needs to happen before they can set a shoot date.

DeLia and Julie Pacino, who run Poverty Row, will host a party on the opening night of the Toronto Film Festival for the new film.

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