After a few weeks’ worth of rumors, Pathé International has announced that Meryl Streep and Hugh Grant will officially be teaming up for Stephen Frears’ biopic, “Florence”. Florence stars Streep as the real-life New York heiress Florence Foster Jenkins, whose dreams of becoming a renowned opera singer are stymied by her laughable lack of talent. Grant will play her live-in partner and manager, the English actor St. Clair Bayfield, who guides Jenkins away from the real truth, which proves challenging when Jenkins decides to perform live at Carnegie Hall. The film is currently in pre-production. Michael Kuhn and Tracey Seaward will produce, and Nicholas Martin will write the script. Here’s Pathé’s official synopsis:
The true story of Florence Foster Jenkins (Meryl Streep), the legendary New York heiress and socialite who obsessively pursued her dream of becoming a great opera singer. The voice she heard in her head was beautiful, but to everyone else it was hilariously awful. Her husband and manager, St Clair Bayfield (Hugh Grant) an aristocratic English actor, was determined to protect his beloved Florence from the truth. But when Florence decided to give a public concert at Carnegie Hall in 1944, St Clair knew he faced his greatest challenge.
