Director John Patrick Shanley was `` quite astonished '' by Streep 's acting in `` Doubt '' She stars opposite another Hollywood heavyweight , Philip Seymour Hoffman . `` Doubt '' is based on a Tony award-winning and Pulitzer prize-winning play also written by Shanley , which the director adapted for the big screen . The film is based on the true story of a woman who claims she had an affair with her husband and then killed him to cover it up. ` The set became like the ring that prizefighters go into '' Streep , Hoffman and co-stars , Viola Davies and Amy Adams are all Oscar nominated .
Director John Patrick Shanley was `` quite astonished '' by Streep 's acting in `` Doubt '' She stars opposite another Hollywood heavyweight , Philip Seymour Hoffman . The film is based on the true story of a woman who claims she had an affair with her husband and then killed him to cover it up. ` The set became like the ring that prizefighters go into '' Streep , Hoffman and co-stars , Viola Davies and Amy Adams are all Oscar nominated .