How did Elisha Cuthbert come to guest star on tonight’s episode of JANN?
Simple. the series’ star, Jann Arden, sent her a DM.
Arden, who tells the whole story now on brioux.tv: the podcast, called Cuthbert, “one of the funniest people I’ve ever met in my life.”
The singer was always a fan and had struck up a rapport through Instagram, “commenting back-and-forth on pictures. She has a cute, cute little girl” (with her hockey player husband and former Toronto Maple Leafs captain Dion Phaneuf).
In tonight’s episode, Cuthbert plays one of the organizers of a kid’s talent show at Jann’s nieces school. She develops an instant crush on Dave (Patrick Gilmore), the husband of Jann’s sister Max (Zoie Palmer). This is the first of two episodes Cuthbert will cause trouble on this season.
“She was brilliant,” says Arden. “We’re going to try and get her back for Season 3 — God willing and the creek don’t rise.”
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Cuthbert, Like Arden, is a native of Calgary, but spends much of her time now in P.E.I. with Phaneuf and their daughter. The 37-year-old also has a recurring role on Netflix’s The Ranch and also appeared this season on CTV’s Canada’s Drag Race.
Arden says the casting connection went this way: “I just sent her a direct message on Instagram — I’m not kidding you — saying Elisha, I’m doing this television show in Canada and I’d love if you could find time to do a guest spot. And she said yeah, here’s my manager’s information.
“People think that’s crazy,” she continues, “but maybe that’s how we’re doing things these days.” Arden also worked her own social media casting call earlier this season with Sarah McLachlan. “I just use social media and slipped into their DM’s and that’s how I’ve gotten to just about everybody.”
JANN airs Monday nights at 8/9mt on CTV.
