Maggie Smith has been cast for the upcoming film, The Lady in the Van, which is an adaptation from the play written by Alan Bennett, which has already been successful in the West End.
Smith is to star in this autobiographical piece as Miss Shepherd, a woman who parked her van on Alan Bennett’s Camden drive and lived there for 15 years.
Alex Jennings will portray Alan Bennett in the film, with Bennett himself writing the screenplay and Nicholas Hytner (who previously worked with Bennett on The History Boys) directing the piece.
The film will see TriStar Productions collaborate with BBC Films, and is likely to start being filmed in October this year in London, with a hopeful release date of late 2015.
Watch Maggie Smith as Violet Crawley in Downton Abbey below.
