The nursery rhyme “Lizzie Borden took an ax…and gave her mother forty whacks…when she saw what she had done, she gave her father forty-one” has been folklore for generations. But, in fact, it was Lizzie Borden — one of the most legendary figures in American history – who first whetted the public’s voracious interest in scandalous crimes in the 1800s with her own gruesome story involving the brutal murder of her parents.
Starring Golden Globe and Emmy Award nominee Christina Ricci, Golden Globe Nominee Billy Campbell and Screen Actors Guild Award winner Clea DuVall, the Lifetime Original Movie Lizzie Borden Took An Ax premieres January 25, 2014, at 8pm ET/PT.
On a scorching, hot summer day in 1892 in Fall River, Massachusetts, Lizzie Borden (Ricci) returns home to the house she shares with her father Andrew, stepmother Abby and sister Emma (DuVall). But, unlike any normal day, Lizzie encounters the bloody scene of her parents violently murdered. Police quickly question multiple suspects in town, but evidence keeps pointing back to the Borden’s youngest daughter Lizzie, the seemingly wholesome Sunday school teacher, as the prime suspect. Lizzie’s lawyer, Andrew Jennings (Campbell), proclaims her innocence arguing that it is inconceivable a woman could commit the heinous crime of brutally murdering her family with an ax. Or is it? Lizzie is put on trial for the murders, both in the courtroom and in the press, sparking a widespread debate about her culpability. As the case rages on, the courtroom proceedings fuel an enormous amount of sensationalized stories and headlines in newspapers throughout the country, forever leaving Lizzie Borden’s name in infamy.
Lizzie Borden Took An Ax is produced by Sony Pictures Television for Lifetime. Judith Verno serves as executive producer with Michael Mahoney producing. Nick Gomez directs from a script written by Stephen Kay.
