Paramount has announced a Little House on the Prairie movie but who will play Charles Ingalls? Michael Landon passed away in 1991 and he has left very big shoes to fill.
Charles Ingalls was the best dad in the whole, wide world. There’s a casting director out there who is pulling their hair out, right?
Little House on the Prairie – which aired on TV screens from 1974 until 1983 – was a show that portrayed family love, childhood innocence, the struggles of life on the land in a way that no other show succeeded in doing. It was pure and perfect.
Please don’t ruin it by making a crappy movie. Please, please, please.
The feeling of nostalgia when watching the Little House on the Prairie show intro is instant. Article continues after this video.
The TV show was based on a series of books written by the real Laura Ingalls Wilder, based on her family’s experiences in the northern mid-west of America. Since then there have been screen adaptations and now a movie.
It seems the cinema-going public is in the mood for something wholesome and feel good, for old-fashioned family values and the exploration of the extraordinary bond that can exist between family members, during good times and bad.
At least, that’s what I loved about it.
In particular, the relationship between Laura and her father Charles mesmerised me, because I loved my dad that much too. I worshiped him and adored him and sought his approval more than anyone’s. Whenever he was disappointed in me, I felt like my worl crumbled.
Laura Ingalls – who was played perfectly by Melissa Gilbert – owing to her sparky personality and rebellious nature, found herself on the receiving end of her father’s disappointment one too many times as she navigated the challenges of rural childhood.
The bond between them was one of the most magical in all of television history.
Now that a movie adaptation has been confirmed, it's hard not to be filled with trepidation. Remember The Brady Bunch movies which were spoofs that seemed to mock our entire childhoods?
Let's hope Paramount doesn't turn the iconic Little House on the Prairie into some ridiculous, joke-filled farce.
However, what if their attempt to re-create such a magical show into an equally-magical movie falls flat? Won't that be just as painful to the millions of fans who grew up watching the Ingalls on their TV screens?
All we know so far is that the movie will be directed by little-known Sean Durkin and the script will be written by Abi Morgan (writer of Suffragette as well as Shame and The Iron Lady).
In Paramount we trust.
One thing is for sure. It will take incredibly special casting to recreate the magic of the Ingalls marriage, the relationship between the parents and their children, the perfection of the performance of school bully Nellie Oleson.
The movie is still in the development stage so we are a long way off from re-entering the Ingalls' world. In the meantime we have plenty of time to sink into a blissful binge-watch of the TV show that helped raise us and taught us all the life lessons we would ever need.
Little House on the Prairie ran for 10 brilliant seasons. Better get started then.