Just when it seemed like Keira Knightley might take a break from period pieces, she signs up for one more. The young gal just can't get enough of them, and at least this time around it isn't a costumed drama full of big hair and big dresses. The Hollywood Reporter posts that Nick Cassavetes has signed on to direct The Beautiful and the Damned, with Knightley in talks for the lead.
Written by Hanna Weg, the film focuses on the love story between F. Scott Fitzgerald and Zelda Sayre, which means that Keira would play the doomed lover. So this time around, the corsets will be turned in for flapper dresses. In a time before the proliferation of gossip rags and celebrities, the couple were icons of the roaring twenties. The romance of the union, however, was short-lived, and as their marriage began to fail, both used the material for their own novels. Zelda grew increasingly unstable, was admitted to a sanatorium, and diagnosed with schizophrenia. It's not the most uplifting story.
Now I'd love to see more Fitzgerald on the big screen, and their lives should provide a lot of material for a film. However ... 1. Could we PLEASE have a based-on-truth story that is not focused on romance? Amelia, now Zelda. These people were more than just romantic figures. 2. Keira does a decent job with these sort of roles, but Zelda was not a waif. I hope, at the very least, she tries to get that cherubic flapper look for the role. Otherwise, it's just all wrong and maybe Coco should've gotten it.
