Fresh off a Golden Globe win for her supporting turn in the musical adaptation of Les Miserables, actress Anne Hathaway is poised to tackle yet another highly regarded property: William Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew.  The Wrap reports that Hathaway will star in a modern-day retelling of the play set in mid-20th century Italy.  Abi Morgan (Shame, The Iron Lady) is handling the screenplay, but no director appears to be attached to the project at this time.  Debra Hayward and Working Title are onboard to produce the pic.

Hathaway looks poised to take home the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress next month, so she’ll obviously have quite a few projects to thumb through as her Les Mis follow-up. She was set to star opposite Chris Hemsworth in Steven Spielberg’s sci-fi adaptation Robopocalypse (which would’ve filmed this spring) until Spielberg abruptly pushed that project back.  The actress has long been attached to a developing Judy Garland biopic, but that pic has yet to move into the pre-production stage.

While David Gordon Green‘s directorial work on Eastbound & Down has been superb, his recent feature films, Your Highness and The Sitter, have fallen dreadfully short of what we’ve come to expect from the talented filmmaker.  Green recently finished shooting the “secret” low-budget indie comedy Prince Avalance starring Emile Hirsh and Paul Rudd, and it looks like the director plans to return to more dramatic fare with the gritty, southern drama Joe starring Nicolas Cage.  Today, Deadline reports that a bizarre project might be getting added to Green’s slate with Sony Pictures’ adaptation of the Laura Ingalls Wilder‘s semi-autobiographical novel series Little House on the Prairie.

Hit the jump for more.

Set in the time frame of the 2005 London train bombings, The Iron Lady tells a story about Margaret Thatcher from the view point of the Prime Minister in her elderly life, as she grapples with a fading memory of her family life and political career. The interplay between Margaret Thatcher and her husband Dennis (played by Jim Broadbent), gives the film a levity that balances the intensity of some of the political scenes. British actors Alexandra Roach and Harry Lloyd portray the younger versions of Margaret and Dennis, acting out a delightful courtship of a marriage that evolved out of shared values and a seriousness of purpose.

At the film’s press conference in New York, director Phyllida Lloyd, writer Abi Morgan, young Dennis actor Harry Lloyd, and the star herself Meryl Streep gave an interview to a room full of journalists. The group discussed how both the script and the rehearsal process reflected theatrical roots, the experience of depicting a person who is still living, and lots more. Streep is particularly candid, and offers a thoughtful response to those who have criticized the film. Hit the jump for the entire press conference.

In The Iron Lady, Meryl Streep stars as Great Britain’s first female Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher,  in an emotionally moving and inspiring performance. From the opening scene the film is immediately gripping, with an unexpected narrative.  The story glimpses into her political reign–seamlessly intertwining newsreel and rock ballads–but predominantly focuses on Thatcher’s older life as she struggles with dementia. The film has many similarities to The Weinstein Company’s pic from last year, The King’s Speech, in that it profiles a public figure, but chooses to spend most of the screen time on their imagined private lives, making for a film that hooks and involves audiences while educating them.

At the press junket, I talked exclusively with writer Abi Morgan, who penned both The Iron Lady and Steve McQueen’s Shame. We talk about why she chose to focus more on Thatcher’s post-political life, the universality of the film, and the themes and stories she’s attracted to as a writer. The Iron Lady opens in limited release on December 30th and it expands on January 13^th. Hit the jump for the interview.

The historical drama Hunger was a breakthrough hit for director Steve McQueen and star Michael Fassbender.  Now the pair are reuniting for McQueen’s sophomore effort, Shame.  According to Variety, “Fassbender will play Brandon, a 30-something man living in New York, who is unable to manage his sex life. The drama, penned by McQueen and Brick Lane scribe Abi Morgan, will examine the nature of need, how people live their lives and react to the experiences that shape them.”  I was already interested to see what McQueen would do next, but throwing Fassbender into the mix now has me excited out of my mind to see what the duo will produce this time around.  Filming is slated to begin in January.

Fassbender will be playing the young Magneto in Matthew Vaughn’s X-Men: First Class.  He’s also co-starring in David Cronenberg’s A Dangerous Method and is attached to Jim Jarmusch’s next film.  If you haven’t seen Hunger, it’s available to Watch Instantly on Netflix.  Shoot it to the top of your queue.

Director Joe Wright (The Soloist, Atonement) just wants to be a “part of that world.” Proof of this can be found in Variety‘s report that the British filmmaker is currently attached to direct a live-action adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen’s classic fairytale The Little Mermaid. The film, I’m going to assume you have a soul and are thus already familiar with its premise, is currently being developed by British production company Working Title Films who have championed each of Wright’s last three films Pride & Prejudice, Atonement, and The Soloist.

Hit the jump for more info on the project as well as a reason why this adaptation of the tried and true story is already unique.