Emma Thompson is working on the screenplay for a new film version of Lerner & Loewe's classic musical My Fair Lady, according to an interview the actress/writer gave to Parade magazine on July 20. Thompson, who opens on July 27 as Lady Marchmain in the new feature film version of Brideshead Revisited, told writer James Brady, "I've been hired to write a new screenplay for My Fair Lady, based on the foreword and afterword of Shaw's Pygmalion—different from the musical and not as sweet an ending."
According to press reports out of London, Keira Knightley will play Eliza Doolittle in the feature film remake, produced by Cameron Mackintosh and Duncan Kenworthy. Daniel Day-Lewis, star of Rob Marshall's forthcoming film version of the musical Nine, has been mentioned to play Henry Higgins. The original film version of My Fair Lady was released in 1964 and starred Rex Harrison recreating his stage role as Higgins and Audrey Hepburn whose singing was dubbed by Marni Nixon as Eliza.
Thompson won an Academy Award for her screen adaptation of Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility as well as a Best Actress Oscar for Howards End. Most recently, she wrote the screenplay and played the title role in Nanny McPhee.
