According to the London News Telegraph, Oscar-nominated actress Keira Knightley--a self-professed fan of musicals--will play the feisty Cockney flower girl tutored by Henry Higgins in My Fair Lady.
"Knightley...is said to be 'thrilled' at the prospect of taking the role made famous on film by
Audrey Hepburn in the 1960s," states the article.
Cameron Mackintosh--who was also behind the hit 2001 London revival starring Martine McCutcheon and
Jonathan Pryce--will produce, and that same production's director
Trevor Nunn will helm the new
My Fair Lady. However, both are as of yet unsure whether they will be taking on
My Fair Lady as a stage production or as a movie musical. Knightley--who will soon be meeting with the Mackintosh's musical director and who was seen "studying the script madly" while filming
Pirates of the Caribbean 2 in the Bahamas--is reportedly prepared to star in
My Fair Lady on either stage or screen.
Although known for her sultry image, the 21 year-old actress--a major box office star--is "desperate to do theatre," and lists
The Lion in Winter's Eleanor of Aquitaine and Electra (of Greek tragedy fame) as dream roles. Knightley, who rose to fame as the heroine of
Pirates of the Caribbean, earned an Oscar nomination for her recent performance as Elizabeth Bennet in
Pride and Prejudice. Other film credits include
Domino, The Jacket, King Arthur and
Love Actually. She is currently filming a third sequel to
Pirates of the Caribbean, among others.
My Fair Lady concerns
the attemps of linguistics professor Higgins to win his bet that he can
turn common flower girl Eliza Doolittle into a full-fledged lady who can properly
speak the King's (Edward's, in this case) English. Based on George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion, the show opened
on Broadway at the Mark Hellinger Theatre on March 15th, 1956; it would
run for 2,717 performances and win 6 Tony Awards, including Best
Musical. With music by Frederick Loewe and lyrics and book by Alan Jay
Lerner, My Fair Lady originally starred Julie Andrews and Rex Harrison (who repeated their triumph in London). A 1964 film version directed by George Cukor starred Harrison and Audrey Hepburn.
