Dame Judi Dench And Steve Coogan Team Up For Stephen Frear’s ‘Philomena’

Dame Judi Dench and Alan Partridge star Steve Coogan are joining forces for The Queen director Stephen Fear’s upcoming project Philomena, according to Cinema Blend. In addition to co-writing the screenplay, Coogan will also co-star in the upcoming true story. For fans of the British comedian, his involvement in such a high-profile project is extremely good news.

The film, which is based on author Martin Sixsmith’s book The Lost Child of Philomena Lee: A Mother, Her Son and a 50 Year Search, finds Dame Judi Dench tackling the role of Lee, a woman who gave up her child while living at a Catholic home for unwed mothers in Ireland. In order to track down her offspring, Lee teams up with Sixsmith (Steve Coogan), and the two develop an unusual friendship.

“The film is a comic tragedy or a tragic comedy. It’s about two very different people, at different stages of their lives, who help each other and show that there is laughter even in the darkest places,” Coogan explained.

Variety explains that Lee’s son turned out to be Michael Hess, a lawyer and Republican during the 80s. After learning that he was dying of AIDS, Hess embarked on a quest to Ireland in order to discover the identity of his birth mother.

Director Stephen Frears has been a pretty busy guy as of late. Not only is he directing the aforementioned Dame Judi Dench and Steven Coogan picture, he also helmed the all-star comedy Lay the Favorite and Muhammad Ali’s Greatest Fight with Christopher Plummer, Benjamin Walker, and Danny Glover.

Steve Coogan, meanwhile, is still attached to the long-awaited Alan Partridge movie, a motion picture event which Internet Movie Database lists as being in pre-production. I certainly hope it is. Dame Judi Dench fans will be able to see their favorite actress on the big screen once again in Skyfall, the latest installment of the James Bond series. The film opens on November 9.