Dustin Hoffman is in the final stages of negotiations to helm Quartet, a movie about a retirement home for opera singers in the Home Counties of England.

According to the Daily Mail, Dame Maggie Smith, Albert Finney and Tom Courtenay are all set to star in the movie, which will begin filming later this year. Finola Dwyer (An Education) is expected to produce.

Quartet is based on a 1999 theater comedy of the same name and was written by Ronald Harwood, who has previously worked on Australia, The Pianist and Being Julia.

Despite his illustrious film career, this will be Hoffman’s first directorial project. His last non-animated feature was 2008’s Last Chance Harvey with Emma Thompson. He’ll appear later this year in the Meet the Fockers sequel.