Hoffman, Keener on way to Kaufman's "Synecdoche"

By Nicole Sperling and Gregg Goldstein

LOS ANGELES/NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) - Philip Seymour Hoffman, Catherine Keener and Michelle Williams are in negotiations to star in "Synecdoche, New York," the directing debut of Oscar-winning screenwriter Charlie Kaufman.

Hoffman will play an ambitious theater director who attempts to put on a play by creating a life-size replica of New York inside a warehouse. Keener is set to play his first wife, and Williams his second wife.

Samantha Morton will appear as his sometime lover, and Tilda Swinton will portray Keener's best friend and the dubious mentor to the daughter of Hoffman and Keener's characters.

"It takes the term 'living theater' to a whole new level," said Anthony Bregman, one of the producers. "We were kind of hoping that Charlie would write a small, contained film set in a kitchen with a couple of easy-going characters. Instead, he came up with a massive undertaking of visually elaborate worlds and stunningly complex characters and ideas."

A spring shoot is anticipated in New York.

Hoffman most recently appeared as the villain in "Mission: Impossible III." Keener appeared in "Adaptation" and "Being John Malkovich," which Kaufman wrote. Williams last appeared in the Academy Award winner "Brokeback Mountain."

Morton next appears in "The Golden Age," in which she plays Mary, Queen of Scots. Swinton also appeared in "Adaptation" and will be featured in "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button."

Kaufman won an Academy Award in 2005 for co-writing "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind."

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter