Catherine Keener and Toni Collette Join Nicole Holofcener's Next Project, Filming Now Underway

Taking some time off after 2010’s “Please Give” to bring her caustic hilarity to “Parks and Recreation” and “Enlightened,” it's not like Nicole Holofcener had swapped the big screen for the small permanently. She’s had a couple scripts in development for years, including a French remake and the crime drama “Every Secret Thing” (which “West of Memphis” director Amy Berg recently signed on to direct), but after casting news broke earlier this summer on her latest directorial effort, it appears the film has rounded out its line-up with two veteran actresses.

Fox Searchlight announced today that filming has begun on Holofcener’s latest untitled comedy, and frequent collaborator Catherine Keener, along with actress Toni Collette, will join the cast that includes Julia-Louis Dreyfus and James Gandolfini in the lead roles. The film follows Eva (Dreyfus), a divorcee facing an empty nest who becomes empowered by a woman she sees her as her ideal self (played by Keener), which in turn inspires her to go after a new love interest (Gandolfini). However, when Keener turns out to be Gandolfini’s ex-wife, throwing a veritable wrench in both of Eva’s relationships, the revelation forces her to assess what happiness means in her life. There's no word on who Collette will play as yet, but her involvement is always good news for a project.

As Holofcener wrote the screenplay for the film, the narrative naturally falls well within the director’s usual wheelhouse of messy relationships and nuanced humor, as the underrated “Please Give” demonstrated most recently. Her latest project also looks to have some great comedic potential, especially as Gandolfini and Dreyfus are both coming off of experiences with Armando Iannucci (in “In The Loop” and “Veep,” respectively), so their roles should continue to offer different sides of both actors’ sensibilities, with Keener and Collette adding their usual class to the project as well.

Filming on Holofcener’s latest will continue through August and September around Los Angeles. [Coming Soon]