Colin Firth and Carey Mulligan to Star in MY FAIR LADY Film?

Colin Firth, who may walk away this March with an Academy Award for his role in "The King's Speech", may also add an iconic role of both stage and film to his impressive resume: MY FAIR LADY's Professor Henry Higgins.

According to the Daily Mail, though when the film was first announced the idea of Firth being cast was rejected, with his recent successes he has become the Sony's first choice for the role. 

In 1983, Firth starred as Guy Bennett the award-winning London stage production of Another Country. He later gained wide public attention in the 1990s for his portrayal of Mr. Darcy in the 1995 television adaptation of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. He subsequently achieved film stardom with the international box office success of Bridget Jones's Diary, Mamma Mia!, A Single Man, and The King's Speech.

When the project progresses further - which despite various copyright tangles, is expected to happen in time for next spring's tentative starting date for filming - Carey Mulligan will most likely retain her spot in the role of Eliza Doolittle, made famous by Julie Andrews in the Broadway musical. However, if the delays last beyond next spring, she may no longer be available for filming due to scheduling conflicts. 

Mulligan will return to the New York stage this spring in Atlantic Theater Company's Through A Glass Darkly following her Broadway debut in the 2008 revival of Anton Chekhov's The Seagull, for which she received a Drama Desk Award nomination. She received Academy Award and Golden Globe Award nominations and a BAFTA Award for her critically acclaimed breakthrough role in the film An Education.

MY FAIR LADY is based upon George Bernard Shaw's 1913 play Pygmalion, with book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Lowe (Brigadoon, Gigi, Camelot, The Little Prince). The musical's 1956 Broadway production, starring Rex Harrison and Julie Andrews, was a smash hit, setting a new record for the longest run of any musical in history. It was called "An irresistible hit" by Variety and "One of the best musicals of the century," by The New York Times. The show won six Tony Awards including Best Musical. 

Read the full Daily Mail article here; stay tuned to BroadwayWorld for more news on the film as soon as it becomes available!

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