RAY director Taylord Hackford has managed to coax his foxy sexagenarian wife Helen Mirren and semi-retired bad ass Joe Pesci into starring in his upcoming directorial effort, the drama LOVE RANCH. Based on the life of Joe and Sally Conforte from a script by TV scribe and New York magazine writer Mark Jacobson, the film centers on the aforementioned couple’s rather bumpy road to opening the first legal brothel in Nevada. Mirren and Pesci would, of course, be playing the couple. Hackford had this to say of Pesci’s involvement: “Joe didn’t have any desire to work, but he was the first person I had in mind to play the husband, this former cab driver who dreamed of making prostitution legal and carved out a tiny county and convinced the local politicians. He’s playing the godfather of legalized prostitution, and it convinced Joe to jump back into the fire.” And this of his wife’s involvement: “Dude, I totally hit that.” Filming begins in January in Albuquerque. Mirren can next be seen in the action adventure NATIONAL TREASURE: BOOK OF SECRETS and the fantasy adventure INKHEART.