Danica McKellar and Olympic speed skater Apolo Ohno are to co-star in a made-for-TV film on the Syfy network. ‘Tasmanian Devil’ tracks a group of BASE jumpers who find themselves being hunted in a remote Tasmanian national park by colossal, grizzly bear-sized Tasmanian Devils.
McKellar is still best known for her role as Winnie Cooper in the television show ‘The Wonder Years’ (where she played the childhood crush of Kevin Arnold, and yes, it’s kind of hard to believe she’s still only 36), but she’s also the author of three New York Times bestsellers: ‘Math Doesn’t Suck,’ ‘Kiss My Math,’ and ‘Hot X: Algebra Exposed.’ She gave birth to her first son in September 2010.
More relevantly for her role in ‘Tasmanian Devil,’ she also has form in the sci-fi TV arena: in 2008, she starred in ‘Heatstroke,’ a Sci-Fi Channel original movie about searching for aliens on Earth. Either way, on-screen McKellar appearances are scarce, though she still does a great deal of voice acting.
That said, McKellar is positively prolific compared to Ohno, an American short track speed skating competitor by trade and an eight-time medalist in the Winter Olympics. ‘Tasmanian Devil’ will be his first TV work since the fourth season of ‘Dancing with the Stars,’ and his first acting gig, period.
The Syfy network revealed the film would be shot in British Columbia, and production would begin this month. The film will also star Kenneth Mitchell, from the post-apocalyptic series ‘Jericho.’
‘Tasmanian Devil’ is scheduled to premiere on the Syfy channel in 2012.
