Meryl Streep’s spending some time walking in Margaret Thatcher’s shoes (and swinging her handbag) for The Iron Lady, but she’s also got her eye on the future,finally locking in a deal to star in the comedy Great Hope Springs.
Last year we reported on the film’s producers trying to lure Mike Nichols to direct Vanessa Taylor’s script, which landed on the Black List and began attracting top-notch acting talent such as Streep and Philip Seymour Hoffman. But while Nichols didn’t end up taking the chair, a director has been found, with The Devil Wears Prada’s David Frankel agreeing to wield the megaphone.
Great Hope Springs will follow a middle-aged couple who, after 30 years of marriage, find that their relationship is faltering. So they agree to attend an intense counselling session at a retreat that causes some comic fallout.
There’s no word yet on who Streep’s co-star will be since, while Jeff Bridges was rumoured, he’s apparently passed already. Hoffman, who had to drop out when the film was originally scheduled due to a timing clash, could conceivably jump back in, but that’s nowhere near definite yet.
Frankel is aiming to get the cameras cranking in August this year.