The Weinsteins Pick Up Dustin Hoffman Directing Debut

In what has been of a year of coups, the Weinstein Company (fresh off a busy Cannes season and the high profile win of THE ARTIST at the Academy Awards) has announced yet another coup…..the distributor has acquired U.S. and Latin American rights to QUARTET, the directorial debut of veteran actor Dustin Hoffman. The British-set comedy has a who’s who cast of Blighty thespians, including Maggie Smith, Michael Gambon, Tom Courtenay, Billy Connolly, Billy Collins and Pauline Collins. Scripted by Oscar winner Ronald Harwood (THE PIANIST), the film tells the story of residents of Beecham House, a home for retired opera singers. Each year they stage a concert to celebrate Verdi’s birthday, which also raises funds for the home. The film will be shot this Fall and should hit the Festival circuit in 2013.

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