Philip Seymour Hoffman suffer Doubt

Sophisticated thesps love scripts adapted from plays – there’s that added air of gravitas that something coming from the stage has about it. Well, unless someone adapts Bat Boy.

Still, Meryl Streep – already committed to star in Mamma Mia! – clearly likes movies born on the stage, as she’s just agreed to the lead in Doubt, which Miramax will build from John Patrick Shanley’s play.

Set in a New York Catholic school in the ’60s, Doubt finds a strict nun concerned that one of her charges is being abused by a popular, charismatic priest (Philip Seymour Hoffman, digging into proven his ability to play dubious characters).

Shanley has already adapted his own script and plans to sit in the director’s folding chair. But he’ll have to wait a while to make the movie as his stars both have plenty of films on their schedules – Doubt starts shooting this December in New York.