Jerusha Hess directing romantic comedy AUSTENLAND, Stephanie Meyer producing

Jerusha Hess is set to make her directorial debut on an indie romantic comedy Austenland and Stephanie Meyer (Twilight) will make her producing debut. THR reports that Keri Russell, JJ Field and Bret McKenzie are set to star in the film. Hess co-wrote Napoleon Dynamite and Nacho Libre with her husband, helmer Jared Hess. Jennifer Coolidge, Jane Seymur, Rupert Vansittart and James Callis make up the supporting cast of the film, which is being produced and financed by Meyer's Fickle Fish Films banner, which she runs with Meghan Hibbett. Moxie Pictures’ Gina Mingacci is also producing.

The story centers on "a single thirty-something woman with a secret obsession with Mr. Darcy -- as played by Colin Firth in the BBC adaptation of Pride and Prejudice. The obsession is ruining her love life because no real man can compare. When she decides to spend her life savings on a trip to an English resort catering to Jane Austen-crazed women, the woman's fantasy of meeting the perfect Regency-era gentleman becomes more real than she could have imagined."

Filming begins this week in the UK. Russell wrapped indie feature Goats, which also stars David Duchovny and Vera Farmiga. Fields plays British superhero Union Jack in Captain America: The Next Avenger. This sounds like a great project for Hess and it is interesting to see Meyer using her fortune to produce film. What are your thoughts on this news?