Helen Hunt Found Producer Vachon

Lesbian super-producer Christine Vachon likes to keep multiple plates spinning. And she's added some big-name talent to her roster of producing projects.

Having made her name as the shepherd of some of the most adventurous independent films of the '90s, one of her new projects, Then She Found Me, finds Vachon taking on the directing debut of A-lister Helen Hunt.

Hunt - who also stars in and co-wrote the film - has assembled Bette Midler, Colin Firth, and Matthew Broderick for her comedy-drama about a middle-aged teacher in transition: her husband has left, her adoptive mother has died, her birth-mother has reappeared, and she's beginning an affair with a student's father.

In post-production now, the movie, which also features gay actor John Benjamin Hickey in a supporting role, will most likely be found in theaters close to the end of this year.