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Audrey Tautou to play Coco Chanel in new biopic

27/08/2008

Audrey Tautou is to star as fashion legend Coco Chanel in an upcoming biopic, it has been confirmed.

The Amelie actress will play the iconic designer in Coco Avant Chanel, a Warner Bros production set for release in 2009.

Tautou, 32, was last seen in Cote d'Azur comedy Priceless and will begin shooting the Chanel biopic in Paris on September 15th.

Her role was mooted at the Cannes film festival but now Warner Bros has stepped in to produce and distribute the French language production.

Anne Fontaine is to direct her own adaptation of Edmonde Charles-Roux's Chanel biography L'Irreguliere (The Nonconformist) while Oscar-nominated Atonement screenwriter Christopher Hampton is on board as a script consultant.

Karl Lagerfeld, art director of the House of Chanel, has been signed up to supervise recreations of the designer's groundbreaking attire.

Chanel, born 1883, revolutionised women's fashion by combining menswear-inspired couture with daring elegant design and is credited with popularising the 'little black dress' staple of female wardrobes.

Her signature scent, Chanel No 5, is considered the top-selling perfume in the world and Chanel's significance in the field of fashion saw her named in Time magazine's list of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century.