With his run on “The Office” set to end soon, Steve Carell will be looking to fill up his calendar with movie roles. He’s been linked to numerous projects over the past year — too many to recount here — but it looks like he’s lining up one that will pair him with one of the great screen actresses of all time.
Deadline reports the Carell has started negotiations to star opposite Meryl Streep in the forthcoming dramedy “Great Hope Springs.” Written by Vanessa Taylor, making her feature debut after working on television shows like “Everwood” and “Alias,” the Black List-approved script follows a middle-aged couple, who after 30 years of marriage, attend an intense counseling weekend to examine the intimacy issues that are threatening their marriage. Streep will play one half of the couple with an actor to be cast opposite her soon, while Carell will play the marriage therapist.
The film will be directed by David Frankel (“The Devil Wears Prada“) and things are coming together for an August shoot. And in case you missed it, “The Office” last night dedicated an episode to a re-enactment of Michael Scott’s dream movie project “Threat Level Midnight.” It was kind of amazing. Check out the trailer below (and Ed Helms‘ townie accent was the biggest highlight of the entire episode).