Céline Dion's childhood to be depicted on TV

The early life of iconic singer Céline Dion is set to be the subject of a new television series titled "Growing Up Dion." The first season will focus on her formative years, from her birth in 1968 up to the presentation of her first song, "Ce n’était qu'un rêve," which she co-wrote with her mother and brother. The series promises to delve into the story of her family and her journey of learning to sing with their musical support.

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The series will start in 1968, when Céline is born, being the 14th child of the family, and will end when she presents her song ‘Ce n’était qu'un rêve,’ which she composed with her mother and brother, to René Angélil (music manager).

Mexican filmmaker Eduardo Rossoff is among the executive producers, working through the production company Diamant Rouge. He described the series as a portrayal of a family living in a modest three-bedroom house with one bathroom, accommodating 16 people. Rossoff mentioned that while dramatic liberties will be taken to enhance the narrative, the core of the story reflects their real-life circumstances.

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There will be dramatic liberties that everyone has already accepted to make it more interesting, but in real life, they lived in a house with three bedrooms and one bathroom, and it was a family of 16 people.

"Growing Up Dion" has been in development for over three years, with the full support of the four-time Grammy winner herself. Rossoff joined the project at the invitation of Nicolas Giafferi, a key architect of the series. The production aims to cast between two and five actresses to portray Dion at different ages, eschewing visual effects for a more authentic representation. A sophisticated casting process is planned in major cities like Toronto, London, Paris, and Los Angeles.

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There will be between two and five actresses playing her, we don't want to use visual effects. It will be a very sophisticated casting in several cities like Toronto, London, Paris and Los Angeles.

The script, penned by Zoë Green, is planned for an eight-episode first season, and the series is currently being presented to international buyers. Rossoff highlighted the unique context of Dion's childhood, noting that her father played the accordion and her mother the violin, while siblings played instruments by ear without formal musical notation. He described the era as one where Italian mafia influence was present in local restaurants and education was primarily managed by the church, painting a picture of a vastly different world.

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It's the story that nobody knows: the father played the accordion, the mother the violin, the brothers play some instrument, but they couldn't read musical notes, what they did was listen to something and play it; it was a time (Celine's childhood) when the restaurants where they lived belonged to the Italian mafia and the church was the one that educated, there was no ministry of education, it was another world.