HOME TRAILERS RELEASE DATES PODCAST REVIEWS POSTERS INTERVIEWS MOVIE NEWS ABOUT US APPS FSnetwork

LATEST NEWS

Keira Knightley Reteaming with Joe Wright for My Fair Lady

by Alex Billington
October 26, 2009
Source: Daily Telegraph

Well it looks like Keira Knightley really has given up on contemporary films. The 24-year-old actress is reportedly going to star in My Fair Lady, the latest adaptation from English director Joe Wright, whose other project, Indian Summer, fell apart just last week. England's Daily Telegraph reported last Friday that they had gotten word from "a friend of the director" that Wright would be directing My Fair Lady next with Knightley starring in the read role as Eliza Doolittle. This remake has been around for a while, with Scarlett Johansson also rumored for the role, but apparently it's now in Knightley's hands with Wright on-board.

My Fair Lady is a musical based upon George Bernard Shaw's novel Pygmalion. The story concerns Eliza Doolittle, a Cockney flower girl who takes speech lessons from professor Henry Higgins so that she can pass as a lady. Higgins takes credit for Eliza's success, but she realizes that she can now be independent and does not need him. It was first brought to the big screen in 1964, with Audrey Hepburn playing Eliza Doolittle. Apparently fellow actress Emma Thompson (who wrote Pride & Prejudice for Joe Wright in 2005) is writing the script, and Daniel Craig has been rumored as a possible Professor Henry Higgins, but that's all we know.

Knightley last starred in The Duchess and has a few new upcoming roles, including in William Monahan's London Boulevard. We also reported that she would star in Never Let Me Go, a futuristic sci-fi thriller. Glad to see she's branching out after playing Elizabeth Swann, but she hasn't really done anything that impressive. And I don't expect My Fair Lady to change my mind nor am I excited for it, but that's just me.

Pin It

Related categories: Movie News, Opinions

VoR

So in spite of the fact that her next THREE films are all contemporary you come out with this drivel? Really? Does no thought go into the posts here at all? Jesus wept.
http://www.firstshowing.net Alex Billington

Ha I knew someone was going to give me crap for that! It was a half joke. First off, what of these upcoming roles have you SEEN her in? Just cause they're listed on her IMDB doesn't mean she's actually shot or done any of them. Secondly, it was a joke! I *feel* like all I see her in are period pieces with elaborate costumes... Those or Pirates!
Janny

i will be the first to admit that I am not the biggest fan of My Fair Lady, but I will admit that it is a classic movie. Its like if they came out with Nosferatu starring justin timberlake.... can we leave the good old movies alone. If you have to remake/reboot/reimagine something how about you find a movie that had a good idea/basis and was presented poorly or can be made in a grander scale with todays CGI or something. Like that Dune remake... although I do love the 1984 movie, it will be interesting to see what hey do with it with todays technology
http://www.thinkwatchthink.com Liz

I'm of two minds about remakes. On the one hand, there is a lack of originality in it. If there's nothing new to say with a story, then why bother? On the other, I always did think it was a little unfair that once a film had been made, that role was off the table for all other actors forever and ever. I have a little more trouble imaging Daniel Craig as Professor Higgins. He's just a little thinner and sharper than I picture Higgins being.
Hattori Hanzo

The only way they have any chance of a new My Fair Lady movie is if it's not a musical. They can get away with a straight story version, but if they try to remake the musical, they'll be crucfied AND rightly so.
M

Again a remake :rolleyes: I like Knightley but these people need to start doing something original.
VoR

I obviously haven't seen films which have yet to be released. But all three of those have indeed been shot and there are plenty of press stories documenting that fact, along with photographs of cast members in costume and even video clips of outdoor scenes from two of them being shot. You could do just a little bit of research before spouting off, you know. The internet makes this a fantastically easy thing to do.
CatieLee

Poor Shaw is spinning in his grave. I think #5 has got it right. Stick to Pygmalion and skip the music.
atoj

I love Keira Knightley in period pieces... but no. No. This is a movie that shouldn't be allowed to be remade. Perfect as is. Nobody to this day can beat Hepburn.
hyacinth

Classics like this should be left as that. Classics. Worshiped. Glorified. UNTOUCHABLE. If they had any sense (even though joe wright is an amazing director) they should walk away slowly. If Knightley wants to solidify her name in cinema history (which her obvious Oscar bait choices are oozing of), she should go into something original and unexpected of her. Oh yeah, and amen to #5. That and maybe take a different approach to the whole thing.
xerxex

Knightley is the only actress today capable of period pieces, she was great in Pride and Prejudice amd Atonement, so even though My Fair Lady isn't all to great, I'm excited for this.
esophus

My choice would have been Anne Hathaway!
JP

My Fair Lady should never ever be remade. There is no need, and there is no point. I like Keira Knightly, Emma Thompson, and Daniel Craig, but no matter how many big-name, well-respected Hollywood people are attached to this movie it will not justify a remake of this classic film.
Lindsey

I've grown beyond tired of Kiera Knightley. I'll stick with the classic, thanks.
http://www.twitter.com/bkendrick Brandon

Alex, Keira's logic in choosing these period pieces is simple: squeeze yourself into a corset enough times and your body will eventually be molded into a shape more closely resembling a real woman's.
stuckey

Pretty Woman could be considered a remake of this story. That was almost 20 years ago though.
Hattori Hanzo

Good point #15.
Tir na nog

Daniel day-lewis is playing Higgin's.He was at Knightley's audition.Thats what I read six month's ago.
splinter

UM no, they really need to stop this remake bs.
Lindsey

Oh Brandon. I love it.
http://diamondad.com Sara Whites

I think these actors can hardly fit the Show's play. Can't imagine Daniel Craig as a Professor Higgins.
lumière

urgh. will she at least stop. the. pouting. in this one? let me guess, will this be as good as the hilarious Pride and Prejudice adaptation; best comedy i've seen in ages. the best joke of that fim was that she was nominated for an Oscar for her tirade of pouts, lowered head speech and flounces that some have mistaken for acting. Austen would genuinely have been horrified. i don't begrudge her success - she is playing the Hollywood game and seems to be doing so very well. but please don't tell me she is a great actress. who knows - maybe she will become one? she shows no inclination so far, however. as for remaking the story - why not, #16 / stuckey's right in that Pretty Woman was basically Pygmalion, and i have far less distaste for literary adaptations than basic film remakes. but Hepburn is completely untouchable, and i just don't believe that she can sing / as well as Julie Andrews, so no musicals, please!
Lindsey

Well said #22! The pouting--will it ever stop?
CatieLee

Pretty Woman starts out as an adaptation of Pygmalion, but looses the intent at the end. In PW a knight in shining armor rides up on a white stallion to save the day. She does not save herself. In Pygmalion, she needs no one to save her - in the end she is "a tower of strength: a consort battleship". She continues to live with Higgins, but on her own terms. A much more positive image for/of women. Especially given the time it was written. PW pales in comparison.