Knightley to dance all night as Eliza Doolittle (VAR, THB)

By Nancy Tartaglione-Vialatte

Keira Knightley is in talks to play Eliza Doolittle in a feature update of classic �My Fair Lady.� The project is set at Columbia and produced by Duncan Kenworthy and London theater maven Cameron Mackintosh.

CBS Films, which owns the film rights to the Lerner & Loewe musical, will co-produce and Sony will distribute, says Variety.

Although the film is being billed an update, it will use Lerner & Loewe�s score and retain its 1912 setting.

Kenworthy and Mackintosh intend to shoot the film on location in the original London settings of Covent Garden, Drury Lane, Tottenham Court Road, Wimpole Street and the Ascot racecourse.

The filmmakers plan to adapt Alan Jay Lerner's book of the Broadway musical more fully for the screen by drawing additional material from George Bernard Shaw's play "Pygmalion," upon which �My Fair Lady� was based.

The goal is to dramatize the emotional highs and lows of Doolittle as she undergoes the change from foul-mouthed flower girl to full-fledged lady under the sometimes grueling tutelage of Professor Henry Higgins.

"This update will preserve the magic of the musical while fleshing out the characters and bringing 1912 London to life in an authentic and exciting way," Columbia co-president Doug Belgrad told Variety.

Kenworthy, who worked with Knightley on "Love Actually," said, "With 40 years of hindsight, we're confident that by setting these wonderful characters and brilliant songs in a more realistic context, and by exploring Eliza's emotional journey more fully, we will honor both Shaw and Lerner at the same time as engaging and entertaining contemporary audiences the world over."

Mackintosh has produced two stage revivals of "My Fair Lady," Variety notes. The first was in 1979 with Lerner directing; the second opened in the West End in 2001 and is now touring the US.

As for who�ll play Higgins, no word is out yet but The Hot Blog opines: �Would Crowe consider it? Can Liam Neeson sing? Is Hugh Jackman too hunky? Is Christian Bale uptight enough to overcome his muscle? Not a great Travolta role. Kevin Costner could never do the accent. Gere? Ralph Fiennes? Colin Firth?�

"My Fair Lady," with book and lyrics by Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe, was first staged in 1956 with Julie Andrews and Rex Harrison. Audrey Hepburn and Harrison starred in the Oscar-winning George Cukor-helmed film.