Stephen Frears

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Stephen Frears to direct 'Tamara'
U.K. helmer boards live-action adaptation
Source: Variety

British helmer Stephen Frears has officially signed on to direct a live-action feature adaptation of Posy Simmonds' acclaimed graphic novel "Tamara Drewe."

Brit thesp Gemma Arterton will play Drewe, a sexy flirt who returns to her small country village and stirs up dark passions among the locals.

Also boarding the cast are Dominic Cooper, Roger Allam, Luke Evans, Bill Camp and Tamsin Greig.

Simmonds' novel, itself a collection of comicstrips she first published in U.K. newspaper the Guardian, is a modern reimagining of Thomas Hardy's classic novel "Far From the Madding Crowd." Moira Buffini has adapted the script.

Ruby Films and BBC Films are producing the project, along with West End Films, which is handling international sales.

Ruby Films co-topper Alison Owen receives a producer credit along with Tracey Seaward ("The Queen"); Paul Trijbits, Scott Rudin, Sharon Harel and BBC Films' Christine Langan all draw exec producer credits.

Project has also received development and production coin from the U.K. Film Council's Development and Premiere funds.

Lensing begins Sept. 21 on location in the U.K. and at Pinewood Studios.

"I've loved Posy Simmonds' work for a long time," Frears said.

Frears had been circling a number of projects, including Fox Searchlight's "The Descendants," before committing to direct "Tamara Drewe." (Alexander Payne recently signed on for "The Descendants.") Pic will be Frears' first feature since Michelle Pfeiffer starrer "Cheri."

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'High Fidelity' writer, director may reteam
Stephen Frears eyeing dramedy penned by D.V. DeVincentis
Source: Hollywood Reporter

Call it higher fidelity.

Stephen Frears and D.V. DeVincentis, who teamed up on the John Cusack breakout "High Fidelity," could be joining forces again.

DeVincentis is writing and Frears is attached to direct "Lay the Favorite," a dramedy set in the world of geeky gamblers that's set up at Focus Features.

The project is based on Beth Raymer's upcoming memoir "Lay the Favorite, Take the Dog," which Random House is set to publish in the spring. The pic springs from and is a co-production with RH Films, Focus' label with book-publishing giant Random House.

Raymer's memoir is set amid a group of fiftyish math geeks who figure out how to work the sportsbook system in Las Vegas for their own profit. It centers on a woman in her early thirties who has made a series of bad choices but achieves a redemption of sorts when she meets and then becomes involved with the gamblers.

"It's a less violent, less sketchy version of the mob," DeVincentis said of the colorful gamblers, who are based on real people. "This is the version of 50-year-old math geeks from Queens in basketball shorts who have pet guinea pigs."

Both Frears and DeVincentis solidified their reputation with the 2000 Touchstone title "High Fidelity," the adaptation of Nick Hornby's book about the relationship struggles of a man-child who sees the world in terms of lists and musical preferences.

While the projects have plenty of differences, both films deal with the tribulations of adulthood as well as with the appeal and perils of living in an insular world.  Like the record store snobs of "High Fidelity," the gamblers of "Favorite" "have an intense pride in a very specific expertise -- and a lack of socialization," DeVincentis said.

The ICM- and Casarotto Ramsay-repped Frears is currently working on the coming-home drama "Tamara Drewe." In addition to working on a draft of "Favorite," the UTA- and Management 360-repped DeVincentis has recently signed on to write "You Are a Miserable Excuse for a Hero," the Mandate project based on a "Choose Your Own Adventure" novel.

RH Films, overseen by Focus topper James Schamus and longtime Random House editor and television writer Peter Gethers, currently has a number of projects in development, including pics based on the Ross Macdonald mystery "The Galton Case" and the Dean Koontz thriller "The Husband."

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Ben Foster to Play Lance Armstrong in Biopic
Source: Variety

Ben Foster is in early negotiations to portray Lance Armstrong in a biopic that will be directed by Stephen Frears.

The movie is being produced by Working Title partners partners Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner and written by John Hodge ("Trainspotting").

Foster will be seen next in IFC's "Ain't Them Body Saints," Sony Classics' "Kill Your Darlings" and Uni's "Lone Survivor" opposite Mark  Wahlberg.

Variety's sister site Deadline.com first reported Foster's potential attachment to the Armstrong project.

Foster is repped by WME.