Dustin Hoffman makes his directorial debut this year with Quartet, which premiered at TIFF to positive early reviews, and which will soon be given an Oscar-qualifying limited US release next month.
The film features an all-star cast led by Dame Maggie Smith, and after recently catching the excellent first trailer last week, we’ve got the rather beautiful first poster to share.
“Lifelong friends Wilf (Billy Connolly) and Reggie (Tom Courtenay), together with former colleague Cissy (Pauline Collins), are residents of Beecham House, a home for retired opera singers. Every year on Giuseppe Verdi’s birthday, the residents unite to give a concert to raise funds for their home. But when Jean Horton (Maggie Smith), a former grande dame of the opera fallen on hard times, also Reg gie’s ex-wife and the fourth and most celebrated member of their former quartet, moves into the home to everyone’s surprise, the plans for this year’s concert start to unravel.”
Tom Courtenay, Billy Connolly, Michael Gambon, Pauline Collins, and Sheridan Smith star alongside Smith as part of the promising ensemble, with Hoffman directing from a script by the Oscar-winning screenwriter/playwright, Ronald Harwood (The Pianist, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly), who adapts his own play.
Connolly was announced yesterday as one of the nominees for Best Supporting Actor for the British Independent Film Awards, and we’ll hear next month, even before the film sees its release, whether or not his performance has earned him the trophy.
Quartet will be given a limited release in the US on 28th December, before then opening here in the UK on 1st January, followed by a wide release in the US on 4th January. It looks like a perfect start to the New Year, and I can’t wait for it to arrive. For now, here’s the wonderful first poster, which you can click through to enlarge.
