How do you follow up when you win an Empire Award? Well, besides playing the Queen on stage, voicing a Pixar film and showing up for more OAP-driven carnage in Red 2, it appears Helen Mirren might be working with Lasse Hallstrom on** The Hundred-Foot Journey.
Though it sounds like the world’s shortest travelogue, Journey will actually be based on Richard C. Morais’ novel about a rivalry between a posh eaterie and an Indian restaurant 100 feet away.
Mirren is in talks to play Madame Mallory, chef at the three-Michelin-star joint who is none too pleased about the competition. She takes a shine to the young lad whose family owns the Indian place, however, and their friendship with his quest to learn more about cooking, fuels the film.
DreamWorks has this one on the front burner with Hallstrom on board to direct and a shoot pencilled in for the autumn. Given that he made Chocolat back in 2000, it seems the director is a man who likes to enjoy his dessert first.
As mentioned above, Mirren will be heard as Dean Hardscrabble in Monsters University (out July 12) and seen as the gun-toting Victoria in Red 2, which hits on August 2.
Flash
Flash