Olivia Wilde and Hailee Steinfeld are ‘Keeping Room’ for Daniel Barber to Direct

Harry Brown helmer Daniel Barber will begin lensing his sophomore feature early next year alongside a female-driven cast comprised of thesps Olivia Wilde, Hailee Steinfeld and Nicole Beharie. The weather the storm, gunpowder friendly The Keeping Room is a co-production set up with Gilbert Films’ Jordan Horowitz (The Kids Are All Right) and Matt Williams, David McFadzean, Judd Payne and Dete Meserve of Wind Dancer Films (Bernie). Anonymous Content’s Michael Sugar will exec. produce while Nicole Romano and Trevor Adley of will serve as co-producers. The project currently being pitched at the AFM is scheduled to begin principal photography in March in North Carolina.

Gist: Written by newbie scribe Julia Hart, this tells the story of three Southern women – two sisters and one African American slave – who, left without men in the dying days of the Civil War, are forced to defend their home from the onslaught of a band of soldiers who have broken off from the fast approaching Union Army.

Worth Noting: Prior to Barber’s 2009 TIFF premiered Michael Caine revenge flick, it was The Tonto Woman (see trailer) the Oscar nominated short where the filmmaker put his name on the map.

Do We Care?: While she is seriously building up some studio and indie cred in the past year (Can a Song Save Your Life?, Romeo and Juliet, Ender’s Game, Hateship, Friendship, and Why We Broke Up) this is likely going to a part where Steinfeld gets to stand-out once again a la True Grit.