NAMES IN THE NEWS : Close Stars in Opera Comedy

Glenn Close will star in “Meeting Venus” for Warner Bros., scheduled to begin a 12-week shooting schedule Monday on locations in Budapest and Paris.

Co-starring with Close will be Niels Arestrup and Erland Josephson, under the production reins of England’s David Puttnam, with Istvan Szabo directing from his original screenplay co-authored by Michael Hirst.

“Meeting Venus” is a comedy about the chaos and confusion surrounding an orchestra conductor’s efforts to stage an opera with a multi-national company in France. Close will play an internationally famous soprano, her singing dubbed by Dame Kiri te Kanawa.