The film’s main focus may be on Florence Foster Jenkins‘ operatic skills (or lack thereof), but for now fans awaiting Stephen Frears‘ biopic of the legendary New York heiress and socialite will have to do with just a photo.
The first still from the upcoming film shows Meryl Streep as the notably awful warbler cuddling up to Hugh Grant (playing her husband and manager, St Clair Bayfield) in the back of a car, both dressed in their finest. Streep clutches a brochure for Carnegie Hall, where Jenkins famously sang to a sold out crowd in 1944, having become a huge draw for countless “fans” who appreciated her appalling sense of rhythm and pitch.
Currently shooting in the U.K., the film is being produced by Michael Kuhn (The Duchess) and regular Frears collaborator Tracey Seaward (The Queen, Philomena) for Qwerty Films, and executive produced by Cameron McCracken for Pathe, Christine Langan for BBC Films and Qwerty’s Malcolm Ritchie.
Alongside Steep and Grant, the film also stars Simon Helberg, Rebecca Ferguson and Nina Arianda.
Meanwhile, Frears‘ upcoming Lance Armstrong biopic – which many expected would be in Cannes – has a new name: The Program. It had previously been known as Icon.
