Most of the non-music career news about Barbra Streisand in the past little while has been about her taking a role in the brewing big screen remake of "Gypsy" set to be penned by "Downton Abbey" writer Julian Fellowes, but it looks like Babs has a little trick up her sleeve, and something that will come first.
Showbiz 411 reports that she's set to return behind the camera for the first time in sixteen years, on the oddly named "Skinny And Cat" starring Colin Firth and Cate Blanchett. Described as "an epic love story," the film penned by Linda Yellen (not much notable on her IMDB page, though she seems to love Brit royalty weddings) will tell the true story of the romance between writer Erskine Caldwell and photojournalist Margaret Bourke White. The duo collaborated on three books, the seminal "You Have Seen Their Faces" about the South during the Great Depression, "North Of The Danube" and "Say, Is This The USA." They married in 1924, but were divorced a couple of years later.
The indie pic is still putting financing together, but should it all come through, filming will kick off in January. While she may not direct very often, Streisand knows how to pick 'em, with all her efforts behind the camera to date — "Yentl," "The Prince Of Tides," "The Mirror Has Two Faces" — getting Oscar play. Firth + Blachett + period movie + hardship = another contender for sure.