flowers in the attic

Sy Levin, the only surviving producer of the Flowers in the Attic movie, had a different actress in mind for Cathy:

"I used to manage Dana Plato on the TV show "Different Strokes." She brought the book to my attention. She wanted to play Kathy [sic]. I read the book and bought the option rights for Dana to play Kathy [sic]. That was in 1978 [book was published in 1979]. As you know was not able to get it funded for 8 years. Wes Craven I knew and he was the first one I approached with it. Now Dana and Gary passed away and Todd is alive somewhere, who knows. This is the beginning of a nightmare on getting it made. I will discuss more in details at a later date. If you get a chance to watch the film you will see a made cleaning the window of the mansion. That wonderful lady is VC. God rest her soul. I wanted her in the picture some how and that is what I was able to do for her. You know she is permanently in a wheel chair. So we had to prop her up to make it look real."