Yes! Audrey Tautou WILL Play Coco Chanel

It turns out the rumours were true: our favourite French gamine, Audrey Tautou, will play the role of Gabriel 'Coco' Chanel in the Warner Bros. (huh?) biopic Coco Avant Chanel. The French language film starts shooting September 15th with a release date of 2009. (Above is a first look at the trade ad for the film.)

Karl Lagerfeld, art director for the House of Chanel, will be supervising recreations of the designer's groundbreaking attire. Of course, who else?

I am really looking forward to this. Somehow, it appeals to me a bit more than Shirley MacLaine playing the legendary designer in the Lifetime production (in her later years, obviously). So, would that be Coco Après Chanel? Actually, no. Just Coco Chanel. Apparently it stank. I really expected more from Lifetime - Unwed Father starring Brian Austin Green and Student Seduction with Elizabeth Berkley were really first rate.

It's a bit hard to rubbish this idea altogether, however - when MacLaine was young her good friend Audrey Hepburn gave her some advice, "You should think about doing Coco Chanel when you're older." To be fair, I don't think Ms. Hepburn was envisaging a Lifetime production.

Photo: Hpod.com