British actors Billy Connolly, Pauline Collins, Sheridan Smith and Michael Gambon join the cast of the film, which is being produced by Finola Dwyer.

Shooting has begun in Buckinghamshire on Dustin Hoffman’s directorial debut Quartet, which stars Maggie Smith, Tom Courtenay, Billy Connolly and Pauline Collins.

Sheridan Smith and Michael Gambon have also joined the cast of the film, which is based on Ronald Harwood’s stage play of the same name about a group of retired opera singers.

Finola Dwyer (An Education) is producing along with Stewart Mackinnon of Headline Pictures. It has been backed by BBC Films, DCM Productions and Decca.

HanWay are handling international sales on the film and have already completed deals with Momentum for the UK, Transmission for Australia / NZ, Delphi for Germany, Lusomundo for Portugal, A Film for Benelux, Vertice for Spain, Odeon in Greece, Elite Film AG in Switzerland, MG Film in former Yugoslavia, Front Row in the Middle East, Ster-Kinekor in South Africa and Atom Cinema in Taiwan.