Actress Holly Deveaux says Casey Anthony role ‘just ended up not working out’
Posted Jul 22, 2013 3:01 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
TORONTO – Toronto actress Holly Deveaux says there are “no hard feelings” on either side after she decided to leave the lead role of a Lifetime biopic about Casey Anthony.
Deveaux was set to play the infamous Florida mother who was found not guilty in the death of her two-year-old daughter in “Prosecuting Casey Anthony,” which came out in January. Deveaux was replaced by Texas-born Virginia Welch one week into shooting.
“That was a scandal that was in the news for a while, and it wasn’t really something I followed because it seemed ridiculous. I knew there was such antagonism towards it,” she said on the set of her latest project, the CTV sitcom “Spun Out.”
“It just ended up not working out … and perhaps I dodged a bullet, because people don’t like that woman, obviously, or perhaps it would have been a great opportunity. But I will never know.”
Deveaux, 19, says her youth only added to the pressure. And while she declined to go into detail on her decision to leave the project, she expressed concern over being linked to such a controversial figure.
“I think that it’s such a gamble, to be seen for something which you do a great job in, where everyone that’s not in the industry will automatically associate you with someone that people really don’t like,” she says. “It’s like, do you want to risk that, but also know that you’re carrying some kind of media following, or do you play it safe, not get involved in that, choose your roles carefully and try not to piss anyone off?
“And it’s fascinating — I mean if you type in ‘Holly Deveaux’ on Google … all you see is Casey Anthony stuff,” she added. “And I’m just hoping perhaps one day that will change.”
Deveaux has appeared in Family Channel’s “Baxter” and the Netflix series “Hemlock Grove.”
“Prosecuting Casey Anthony” stars Rob Lowe, Elizabeth Mitchell and Oscar Nunez.
