Meryl To Play Florence Foster Jenkins
The film — titled “Florence Foster Jenkins” — follows the real life story of Jenkins (Meryl Streep), who used her wealth and high-class status at the turn of the 20th century to gain fame as a singer, even though she couldn’t actually sing. Hugh Grant will play her butler and best friend, who was gay in real life. (Who knows whether he is in the movie?) Stephen Frears, who directed Helen Mirren to her Oscar in “The Queen,” will be at the helm. Nina Arianda will play Agnes Stark, “a sexy showgirl trying to work her way into the social stratosphere with the help of her husband. When she first hears Florence’s singing, she cannot help but laugh, but eventually she becomes one of her biggest supporters.†Florence and her accompanist were the subject of a charming Broadway play a few years back: “Souvenir.”
