Helen Mirren and Donald Sutherland to Reunite for THE LEISURE SEEKER

Variety reports that Helen Mirren and Donald Sutherland are set to star in Italian director Paolo Virzì's English-language debut film THE LEISURE SEEKER. The actors will play "a couple who escape from a U.S. retirement home and take one last cross-country adventure in a vintage van." The movie is based on Michael Zagoorian's novel of the same name.

The project marks a reunion for the veteran film stars. They portrayed a married couple in 1990's "Bethune: The Making of a Hero," directed by Philip Borsos. The "Seeker" screenplay was written by Francesca Archibugi ("Like Crazy") and Francesco Piccolo ("Human Capital") in collaboration with Amidon and Virzì.

Helen Mirren recently won the 2015 Tony Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play for her role as Queen Elizabeth II in THE AUDIENCE.

The actresss has won international recognition for her work on stage, screen and television. For her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth II in The Queen in 2006, she received an Academy Award®, Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Award®, and BAFTA Award for Best Actress. She was also named Best Actress by virtually every critics' organization from Los Angeles to London. In 2014 she was honored with the BAFTA Fellowship for her outstanding career in film. On television she played the title role in "Elizabeth I" for which she won Emmy, Golden Globe and SAG Awards.

Mirren began her career in the role of Cleopatra at theNational Youth Theatre. She then joined the Royal Shakespeare Company, where she starred in such productions as Troilus and Cressida and Macbeth. In 1972, she joined renowned director Peter Brook's Theatre Company and toured the world. Since then her theatre work has spanned numerous productions in the West End, the Fringe, the RSC, the National Theatre and Broadway, including A Month in the Country, for which she received a Tony nomination, and The Dance of Death opposite Ian McKellen. Subsequent productions include Orpheus Descending at the Donmar Warehouse and Mourning Becomes Electra at the National, for which she received an Olivier Best Actress Award nomination. She returned to the National in 2009 in the title role of Racine's Phèdre directed byNicholas Hytner. This made history when it became the first theatre production to be filmed for "NTLive" and was seen in cinemas throughout the world. In her most recent performance in 2013 in London's West End, she reprised her role of Queen Elizabeth II in Peter Morgan's The Audience, directed by Stephen Daldry, for which she won an Olivier Award for Best Actress.

Photo Credit: Walter McBride / WM Photos

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