Hot on the heels of the limited opening of The Duchess, a period piece starring Keira Knightley, comes news of The Beautiful and the Damned, a period piece starring Keira Knightley. There might be a difference between the two films. I think one used lace while the other will have satin.
There’s another difference: The Duchess was directed by Saul Dibb, the man also responsible for Bullet Boy, a film which suffered the principal deficit of not being about one of the four gents responsible for the prom party favorite ‘Smooth Up In Ya’.
The Beautiful and the Damned is to be helmed by Nick Cassavetes. His father, John, could make Gena Rowlands cry. Nick made half the women in America cry with The Notebook; I can only imagine what female population further Cassavetes generations might terrorize. Meanwhile, tearing up this time might be the estate and fans of F. Scott Fitzgerald, as the film (based on Hanna Weg’s screenplay) dissects the love between Fitzgerald (currently uncast) and Zelda Sayre (Knightley). Both used their relationship as fodder for art, though his was slightly more successful.