Escaping the Madhouse: The Nellie Bly Story — Trailer

source:   youtube.com

added: Tue, Oct 23rd '18

Christina Ricci (The Lizzie Borden Chronicles, Monster) is an intrepid investigative reporter going undercover as a mental patient in the trailer for the forthcoming Lifetime movie "Escaping the Madhouse: The Nellie Bly Story."

The cable movie, which also stars Josh Bowman (Revenge, Time After Time) and Judith Light (Transparent, Ugly Betty), is inspired by the incredible true story of Nellie Bly, a groundbreaking female journalist (portrayed here by Ricci), who in 1887 masqueraded as a young homeless woman with severe mental problems in order to write an investigative newspaper piece about the shocking patient abuse and mistreatment committed by the psychiatric staff at the Women's Lunatic Asylum on New York's Blackwell's Island.

The TV movie is directed by helmer Karen Moncrieff (13 Reasons Why, The Dead Girl, The Trials of Cate McCall), working from a script by Helen Childress (writer of "Reality Bites").

"Escaping the Madhouse: The Nellie Bly Story" is scheduled to premiere Saturday, January 19, 2019 on Lifetime.

synopsis:
On a mission to expose the deplorable conditions and mistreatment of patients at the notorious Women's Lunatic Asylum, investigative reporter Nellie Bly (Christina Ricci) feigns mental illness in order to be institutionalized to report from the inside. The movie delivers an intense and fictionalized account of actual events surrounding Nellie's stay beginning after Nellie has undergone treatment, leaving her with no recollection of how she came to the asylum or her real identity. Nellie's unwillingness to submit to authority results in unspeakable torture at the hands of the head nurse, Matron Grady (Judith Light). When Nellie captures the attention of Dr. Josiah (Josh Bowman) who tries to help her, Grady's barbaric tactics only intensify, leading Nellie to questions if she actually does belong in the asylum after all.

 

directed by   Karen Moncrieff

starring   Christina Ricci, Judith Light, Josh Bowman

release date   January 19, 2019 (on Lifetime)