The Lady in the Van "The Lady in the Van" was greenlit on 3 June 2014, with TriStar Productions and BBC Films working together to make the film adaptation of Alan Bennett's West End hit. TriStar won the film rights to handle worldwide distribution, while the BBC was the first to show the film on television in the UK. The involvement of Maggie Smith and Nicholas Hytner was announced simultaneously with the film, but they were attached to the project as early as 9 May (coincidentally Bennett's 80th birthday). Both of them had collaborated with Bennett in the past; Hytner on "The Madness of King
Back in the Saddle (film) arrested and taken away. Afterwards, Gene and Taffy join their friends at a picnic celebrating Tom's twenty-first birthday. The original working title for the film was "Song at Twilight". Margaret Tallichet was originally offered the leading lady role but her husband, director William Wyler, persuaded her to join him in Sun Valley for a winter vacation instead. The role was then offered to Jacqueline Wells, who later gained semi-stardom under the name Julie Bishop during the war years. Wells was born in Denver, Colorado in 1914 and became a silent film child actress who transitioned easily to talkies and adult