Barbra Streisand is set to make a return to the big screen, directing a Catherine the Great biopic.
The Oscar-winning, 73-year-old actor and director is attached to a retelling of the life of the Russian empress who came to power after orchestrating a coup against her husband, Tsar Peter III who was subsequently killed by one of his captors, a co-conspirator of Catherine. The plot is set to focus on the younger Catherine, trapped in a unhappy marriage.
The film will be produced by Gil Netter, known for The Blind Side and Dude, Where’s My Car? with a script from Kristina Lauren Anderson.
It will be Streisand’s first film behind the camera since the 1996 romantic comedy The Mirror Has Two Faces, in which she also starred alongside Jeff Bridges. Since then she has directed two of her own concert specials. She was also briefly attached to direct Skinny and Cat in 2012, with Colin Firth and Cate Blanchett, but the project collapsed.
Streisand, who won the best actress Oscar for her first film Funny Girl, has made fewer appearances in recent years, last starring alongside Seth Rogen in comedy The Guilt Trip.
The story of Catherine the Great has previously been the basis of a number of TV movies including a 1996 drama starring Catherine Zeta-Jones.
