Haute 100 LA: Robert Redford and Jane Fonda in Talks to Star in Netflix Film

As Netflix continues to expand on producing original content, the streaming service is hopeful to tap Hollywood heavy hitters Robert Redford and Jane Fonda to star in an adaption of Our Souls at Night, a novel written by Kent Haruf.

According to Deadline, Redford will produce the film and the script is going to be written by Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber, the writers behind 500 Days Of Summer, The Fault In Our Stars, Paper Towns and The Spectacular Now.

The book, which was Haruf’s last novel before his death in November, is set in the fictional small town of Holt, Colorado. According to the book summary, the novel follows “Addie Moore who pays an unexpected visit to a neighbor, Louis Waters. Her husband died years ago, as did his wife, and in such a small town they naturally have known of each other for decades; in fact, Addie was quite fond of Louis’s wife. His daughter lives hours away in Colorado Springs, her son even farther away in Grand Junction, and Addie and Louis have long been living alone in houses now empty of family, the nights so terribly lonely, especially with no one to talk with.”

The deal has not been confirmed as of yet, but it is likely Netflix will pick up the project.

Our Souls at Night was released in May and received rave reviews from a number of publications. According to Ron Charles from The Washington Post, “Utterly charming [and] distilled to elemental purity. . . . such a tender, carefully polished work that it seems like a blessing we had no right to expect.”

Currently, Netflix as well as Redford and Fonda are in Toronto for the Toronto Film Festival. The streaming service’s first big feature film, Beasts of No Nation, is playing at the TIFF. Redford’s film Truth, where he plays journalist Dan Rather, premiered on Saturday. Fonda’s film Youth, which first premiered in Cannes, is now showing at TIFF.

Redford is repped by WME, Fonda by CAA and Untitled, and Neustadter & Weber by CAA and Kaplan/Perrone.

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