For quite a while now, rumours have swirled that Keira Knightley will play Eliza Dolittle in a big-screen remake of the classic musical My Fair Lady, although the official word has been that she is just one of the actresses being considered for the role.
Well, according to The Telegraph, Knightley has now officially won the role, beating out the other main contender, Scarlet Johansson. Personally if I had been making the movie, I might have auditioned a few young people who can actually act for the main role, but hey, that’s just me.
The newspaper also revealed that Joe Wright has been chosen to helm the movie, which is good news for him, as only last week his movie Indian Summer, about the end of British rule in India, collapsed after Universal pulled funding from the film. Of course Wright and Knightley worked together on Atonement, and will hope to continue their success with My Fair Lady.
Keira has apparently been taking a lot of singing lessons in preparation for the film, as she’ll be hoping that she doesn’t suffer the same fate as Audrey Hepburn in the 1964 Oscar-winning version, who got redubbed by Marni Nixon against her will.
In case you haven’t seen it, My Fair Lady is the musical version of George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion, in which language Professor Henry Higgins makes a bet that he can pass off a lowly cockney flower seller as a society lady. Emma Thompson is apparently handling the script for this remake, with rumours that Daniel Craig is up for the role of Henry Higgins. It’s certainly a very good team they’re putting together behind-the-scenes, but we’ll have to wait and see whether Knightley has what it take to pull of Eliza.