RIALTO CHATTER: Minnelli Urges 'GET HAPPY' Filmmakers to Stay 'Positive'

While speaking to Canada's Citytv, Liza Minnelli commented on the planned Judy Garland bio film 'GET HAPPY' and urged filmmakers to avoid focusing on her late mother's drug addiction in the upcoming project.

Actress Anne Hathaway has been cast as The Wizard Of Oz star and will also be singing her hits as part of the Weinstein Company's planned theatre and film project, based on biographer Gerald Clarke's 2001 book Get Happy: The Life of Judy Garland.

Minnelli has approved of casting Hathaway in the role - but is convinced the new versions must focus on her mother's talent instead of her well-documented personal problems reports the news service.

She told Canada's Citytv, "Well, I love Anne Hathaway. And I hope that it's a good movie and I hope that it's true. You know, that they don't just concentrate on the crap like they usually do.

"(I hope) that they talk about her the way she should be talked about which was she was a fabulous entertainer, a great mother and just a wonderful human being." To read the complete recap of the interview click here.

Variety reported late last month that Anne Hathaway will star in both stage and screen as Judy Garland in the Weinstein Co.'s stage and film adaptations of the Clarke's bio of Garland. The Weinstein Company recently optioned the legit and film rights to the book, first published by Delta in 2001.

Harvey Weinstein commented that Anne Hathaway "will be a true class act in this challenging role." While Garland's life and legacy have been explored before in popular culture, Weinstein explained Clarke's take on the iconic Garland "is particularly outstanding because of its exlusive details from her own writings."

The 26-year-old actress was very keen to appear in the movie - which charts Judy's rise to fame and her struggle with drink and drugs - that she had to sacrifice other projects to secure being a part of it.