Meryl Streep and Robert De Niro to Couple Up Again for ‘The Good House’

Meryl Streep and Robert De Niro will be pairing up again for the screen adaptation of Ann Leary’s darkly comic novel The Good House. The two have played love interests in several films over the years including The Deer Hunter, Falling in Love, and Marvin’s Room. In this film, Streep will be playing Hildy Good, a New England realtor struggling with alcoholism who befriends a woman named Rebecca McCallister. Hildy’s life begins to go awry when Rebecca becomes the focus of the town’s gossip. While all of this is going on, Hildy reconnects with old flame Frank Gethell (De Niro), who is described as “a tell it like it is Yankee, who tries to uncomplicate her complicated life.”

The screenplay will be handled by The Hours scribe Michael Cunningham, and FilmNation Entertainment acquired the rights to the book from producer Jane Rosenthal. Rosenthal has recently had her name attached to projects such as Jeff Nichol’s critically acclaimed film Mud, starring Matthew McConaughey, and the upcoming drama The Rules of Inheritance, starring Jennifer Lawrence. De Niro’s production company, Tribeca, will be teaming up with FilmNation to produce.

There is no news of a possible director yet, but Rosenthal has commented on the promising collaboration for the film in a report from Deadline:

“Ann Leary has an intoxicating voice and created a truly original character in Hildy Good. When I read the book, I was only sorry it ended – but so thrilled that we’ll be able to bring it to the screen with Meryl Streep as the irresistible Hildy. It’s the perfect project to work on with Michael Cunningham and we are excited to be doing this in partnership with FilmNation, as they were equally passionate about Ann’s characters.”