If you, like me, are an Emily in Paris apologist, then you’ll know how frequently that hapless Midwestern marketing executive, as played by the sprite-like Lily Collins, cosplays Audrey Hepburn. There she is, skipping down the stairs of the Palais Garnier in a black ball gown like Funny Face’s gamine Jo Stockton; wandering through cobblestone streets in a neckerchief like Roman Holiday’s Princess Ann; swaddled in plush knits on the slopes in the style of Charade’s Regina Lampert; and sporting a giant hat and floor-length showstopper in a tribute to My Fair Lady’s Eliza Doolittle.
But, what about Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Hepburn’s best-known and still most-obsessed-over entry to the canon of the most stylish films of all time? Well, now it seems Collins is finally donning that black dress, giant diamond necklace, long gloves, and sunglasses—and it’s not for the Netflix smash hit, either. No, she’s about to play Hepburn herself in a new movie about the making of the Givenchy-filled romance.
Based on Sam Wasson’s best-selling Fifth Avenue, 5 A.M.: Audrey Hepburn, Breakfast at Tiffany’s and the Dawn of the Modern Woman, which tells the behind-the-scenes story of the film’s production, the release will be penned by Alena Smith, the creator of Apple TV+’s Dickinson.
The book’s log line states that it “goes beyond the legend to explore the woman inside the little black dress and the film that captured the imagination of the nation in 1961—when the staid propriety of the Eisenhower years gave way to the glamorous modernity of the Kennedys. With a colorful cast of characters including Truman Capote, Edith Head, Givenchy, ‘Moon River’ composer Henry Mancini, and, of course, the iconic Audrey Hepburn herself, Wasson immerses us in the America of the late fifties and early sixties before Woodstock and birth control, when an alluring, not-so-virginal girl by the name of Holly Golightly melted hearts, raised eyebrows, and forever transformed Americans’ notions of fashion, film, sex and culture.”
Collins confirmed the news on her Instagram, writing: “It’s with almost 10 years of development and a lifetime of admiration and adoration for Audrey that I’m finally able to share this. Honored and ecstatic don’t begin to express how I feel…”
The Golden Globe and Emmy nominee is producing the project alongside her husband, Charlie McDowell, but other questions remain. Who, for instance, will play a young Hubert de Givenchy? Or the formidable Edith Head? Or the grouchy Capote? (Is Feud: Capote vs. The Swans’s Tom Hollander still available?) And what about the glorious costuming—not just the LBD, but the bow-laden hats, the off-duty denim, the perfect trench, the retina-searing orange coat, pink cocktail dress, et al? A fashion fantasia surely awaits.
