Romance of William & Kate

By Jay Bobbin © Zap2it

Four months after a royal wedding isn’t too late for a movie about the courtship, especially if the couple in question is Prince William and the former Kate Middleton.

That’s how Hallmark Channel sees it, at least, and evidence supports the newlyweds’ ongoing popularity with the worldwide public ... the attention to their recent trip to Canada and the United States being a prime example. Lifetime depicted their relationship the week before the wedding in the April drama “William & Kate,” and Hallmark offers its version when “William & Catherine: A Royal Romance” premieres Saturday, Aug. 27.

Newcomers Dan Amboyer and Alice St. Clair have the title roles, but the teleplay co-written by executive producer and director Linda Yellen also spends much time on other parties to the relationship, giving some veteran performers chunky roles.

Two-time Emmy winner Jane Alexander plays Queen Elizabeth II, and Victor Garber (“Alias”) and Jean Smart - fresh from what turned out to be a short stint as the governor on CBS’“Hawaii

Five-0” - are cast as Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles.

Debuting actress St. Clair came to “William & Catherine” with a bonus, though she didn’t let the producers know until she already had landed her part: She’s a lady. Her father is an earl and also the security chief for the queen.

“I went through the whole process of auditioning and everything,” St. Clair says, “then it was when I was already cast and having tea with Linda in London that she said, ‘You know what I read yesterday?’ She said it was so strange to see, having had no knowledge of that. And she also said, ‘This was even more meant to be.’ ”

Jane Alexander stars in “William & Catherine: A Royal Romance” Saturday on Hallmark Channel.

British-born but now a New York resident, St. Clair admits playing someone with such a globally public profile was “quite a challenge and relatively daunting, but at the same time, it’s quite amazing to play someone so of-the-moment. I felt very privileged.

“I kind of told my family I was auditioning for it, though I didn’t want to get anyone too excited,” St. Clair adds.“When I finally got the part, I got my mom on Skype and said, ‘Mom?’Then she got the whole family in, and there was screaming all through the house. And my little brother thought I was an extra. It was only later that he said, ‘You’re playing Kate?’ ”

Alexander was approached for “William & Catherine” in an interesting way byYellen, who had helped her land one of her Emmys by also making the 1980 drama “Playing for Time.”

Alexander reports she has “kept in touch with Linda through the years, so whenever she sends me an email, I pay attention.The first email on this just said, ‘From Linda,’ and it was a picture of me and a picture of Queen Elizabeth side by side.

Web Links

On Monday, truTV premieres

“Bear Swamp Recovery,” set in a New Jersey repo company (which repos neither bears nor swamps).Visit the company’s official home page at bsams.com/

VH1 debuts “La La’s Full Court Life” on Monday, with newlyweds Carmelo Anthony and La La Vazquez. Click on www.vh1. com/shows/la_las_full_court_ life/series.jhtml

BY MICHAEL KORB

Nickelodeon and Warner Bros. Her husband, Dan Schneider, is creator and head writer of “Drake & Josh” and “iCarly.” But having experience behind the scenes doesn’t mean the transition to being in front of the cameras is easy.

“Is it weird to be on camera? Yes,” Lillien says, laughing. “I was a little panicked at first ... . But creating content is what I have done forever. When I launched the brand I wanted to have that cartoon character because she was cute and represented the brand – she could be anything.”

But she knew in order to expand that brand she would need to step out from behind the cover of an animated foodie. After all, a cartoon character can’t do guest spots on “Today.”

“I live my brand. Nobody else can represent my brand the way I can,” says Lillien, a self-proclaimed perfectionist. “So many people ask me how much (market) testing I do – zero. It’s all about what I like.”

Lucky for us, we like the same thing Lillien does: eating. And the fact that she can keep us loving food while losing weight, well, that’s just the icing on the cake – so to speak.

• What are you reading right now?

In Focus

“Talihina Sky:The Story of Kings of Leon,” www.talihinasky.com

Premiering Sunday on Showtime, this documentary by first-time filmmaker Stephen C. Mitchell profiles the band, composed of three brothers and one cousin, all of the Followill family (all of whom go by their middle names).There isn’t a lot to the home page, just showtimes, a link to an article about the movie and a trailer. But there is a link for a site in the U.K., which is also in English and has links to more stuff, including a synopsis and a photo gallery.

Have you tried House Foods’ Tofu Shirataki noodles? If you like pasta but want to avoid the carbs and calories, they are a great alternative, says Lisa Lillien, better known by her alias, Hungry Girl. What started out as a regular email to 70 friends and family about foods that taste great but are also healthy and low in calories blossomed into a true phenomenon that, at last, has found its way to Sundays on Food Network.

“One day I woke up and thought, ‘There is a need for this, and I think I am the person to do it,’ ” says Lillien. Turns out she was right. Now, Lillien, as Hungry Girl, sends emails packed with low-cal recipes and dieting tips to more than a million fans daily. Of course, it’s not exactly as if she went from being a couch potato to an influential cartoon character overnight.

Before becoming an Internet sensation and now a TV star, Lillien worked as a producer at