From the Minneapolis Star Tribune comes word that director Robert Altman is about to begin work on a film loosely based on Garrison Keillor's A Prairie Home Companion radio show:

Keillor said Altman is thinking of the story "as a fictional documentary, but I think it's just a big joke — with Miss Streep and Lily Tomlin as a fading sister duet act, and Tom Waits and Lyle Lovett as Dusty and Lefty, the singing cowboys."

Judge said "Prairie Home Companion" is likely to be the film's title: "We certainly want to take advantage of the audience who knows and listens to the program."

I would go see this movie, and I don't even listen to APHC. But I do have wonderful memories of Keillor's book WLT: A Radio Romance, one of the finest light novels (in my opinion) of the 90s.

The article notes that financing for this movie is still pending, but I can't imagine it being too tricky to arrange with such known and beloved quantities involved.

(First posted at THE BEMUSEMENT PARK.)