Watch: Awards Hopeful Maggie Smith is ‘The Lady in the Van’ in Charming Trailer

READ MORE: Sony Classics Puts Maggie Smith’s ‘Lady in the Van’ Back on 2015 Awards Slate

Maggie Smith stays true to form in the trailer for the new film from director Nicholas Hytner (“The History Boys”), playing a feisty older lady who shows one can still have plenty of fun at 80 years old.

Smith plays a sharp, educated and free spirited older woman named Miss Shepherd who insists on living life her own way: in a van parked on the sidewalk. The trailer showcases Smith’s ability to deliver lines with her trademark brand of charming irreverence that belies her years and leaves audiences of all ages howling. The film is adapted by a memoir by Alan Bennett, played by Alex Jennings in the film, a playwright whose driveway became Miss Shepherd’s home base for over a decade. Bennett has also adapted his memoir for the stage.

The official synopsis is as follows: “Based on the true story of Miss Shepherd, a woman of uncertain origins who ‘temporarily’ parked her van in writer Alan Bennett’s London driveway and proceeded to live there for 15 years. What begins as a begrudged favour becomes a relationship that will change both their lives.”