Just yesterday it was revealed Meryl Streep had signed up to reunite with Robert De Niro for The Good House. Now Deadline and The Wrap report that she’s also circling The Giver, which perhaps surprisingly will mark the first time she’s star alongside Jeff Bridges. Alexander Skarsgard & Cameron Monaghan are also up for the movie.
Phillip Noyce is set to direct the sci-fi drama, which is based on a novel by author Lois Lowry. The story is set in the future where the entire range of human emotion has been forgotten. In the society, The Giver has been given the right to remember the past in case it is deemed necessary to make use of it. A young boy named Jonas (Brenton Thwaites) has been given the right to become the next Giver and his life is thrown into question when he begins his training with an elderly Giver.
Meryl Streep will be playing the Chief Elder in the movie, an antagonist and “authoritarian charged with keeping order in [the] society.” Jeff Bridges meanwhile will be the title character, who delivers the memories that uproot a rebellion in the young man. Skarsgard is set to play Jonas’ father, while Monaghan will portray Asher, Jonas’ best friend.
The Weinstein Company and Walden Media are backing the movie, although it isn’t clear when it will shoot.