Frances McDormand to Star in HBO's OLIVE KITTERIDGE Miniseries

According to Deadline, HBO is finally moving on its upcoming OLIVE KITTERIDGE miniseries, based upon Elizabeth Strout's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel.

The network has tapped Lisa Cholodenko (THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT) to direct the four-hour project, with Frances McDormand and Richard Jenkins to star.

Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman will executive produce under their Playtone banner, alongside McDormand, who has pushed for the project for years.

OLIVE KITTERIDGE is officially described as:

"At times stern, at other times patient, at times perceptive, at other times in sad denial, Olive Kitteridge, a retired schoolteacher, deplores the changes in her little town of Crosby, Maine, and in the world at large, but she doesn't always recognize the changes in those around her: a lounge musician haunted by a past romance; a former student who has lost the will to live; Olive's own adult child, who feels tyrannized by her irrational sensitivities; and her husband, Henry, who finds his loyalty to his marriage both a blessing and a curse.

As the townspeople grapple with their problems, mild and dire, Olive is brought to a deeper understanding of herself and her life-sometimes painfully, but always with ruthless honesty. Olive Kitteridge offers profound insights into the human condition-its conflicts, its tragedies and joys, and the endurance it requires."

For the original report, head on over to Deadline.

Frances McDormand studied at the Yale School of Drama. Stage appearances include The Country Girl directed by Mike Nichols on Broadway, Caryl Churchill's Far Away directed by Stephen Daldry at New York Theatre Workshop, her Tony-nominated performance as 'Stella' in A Streetcar Named Desire, The Sisters Rosenzweig directed by Daniel Sullivan at Lincoln Center Theatre, The Swan at The Public Theatre, A Streetcar Named Desire (this time as 'Blanche') at the Gate Theater in Dublin, and Dare Clubb's Oedipus at the Blue Light Theater Company opposite Billy Crudup. With The Wooster Group, she performed in To You, The Birdie! and North Atlantic.

Films include Burn After Reading, Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day, Friends With Money, Laurel Canyon, Something's Gotta Give, Wonder Boys, City By The Sea, Madeline, Primal Fear, Lone Star, Palookaville, Chattahoochee, Darkman, Hidden Agenda, Short Cuts, Beyond Rangoon, Paradise Road, The Man Who Wasn't There, Raising Arizona, and Blood Simple. She can next be seen in Transformers 3 and opposite Sean Penn in This Must Be the Place.

She is the recipient of four Academy Award nominations: Mississippi Burning, Almost Famous, North Country, and Fargo, for which she received the award for her performance as 'Marge Gunderson.

Photo by: Walter McBride

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