British actress Keira Knightley will star in a new film about the life of Coco Chanel, directed by Karl Lagerfeld.To mark the famed fashion house's 100th anniversary, the legendary creative director will direct Keira in the short video set in the French seaside town of Deauville, the location of the first ever Chanel boutique that was financed by Gabrielle 'Coco' Chanel's lover, Arthur 'Boy' Capel.Karl is said to have ordered the crew to build "detailed retro sets" in the town, where Chanel was known to send her sister and aunt to walk through the streets in her creations in order to attract customers.
Following in the footsteps of Audrey Tatou and Shirley MacLaine, Keira will take on the role of the late designer, while French actress Clotilde Hemse will play Coco's aunt, Adrienne. Stella Tennant, model Tallulah Harlech, who is the daughter of Karl's longtime collaborator Lady Amanda Harlech, Karl's four-year-old godson Hudson and male model Brad Kroenig will also star in the film.It will premiere in May, when the label unveils the next Cruise collection in Singapore.British beauty Keira is already associated with Chanel. Karl has cited her as one of his muses and she has been the face of the brand's Coco Mademoiselle perfume campaign for several years.
She is also said to have called on Karl to design the dress she will wear to marry fiancé James Righton. "Karl's amazing," Keira said of the fashion maestro last year. "He’s an avid reader, and he speaks about five different languages, so he’ll be rattling off in English to you and in French to someone else, and in German to someone else and then the phone rings and he’s speaking Italian!"
