Tuesday,
July
31,
2007
Keira
Knightley
is
all
set
to
play
the
18th
century
aristocrat
Georgiana,
duchess
of
Devonshire,
in
Saul
Dibb's
"The
Duchess." The
film,
co-financed
by
Pathe
and
BBC
Films,
is
adapted
from
Amanda
Foreman's
best-selling
biography
of
the
controversial
royal,
who
has
been
called
the
Princess
Diana
of
her
time,
reports
Variety.
A
predecessor
of
Princess
Di,
Georgiana
married
the
fifth
Duke
of
Devonshire
in
an
arranged
marriage,
becoming
one
of
the
great
political
hostesses
of
the
era.
The
aristocrat
lived
an
extravagant,
squandering
and
promiscuous
life
of
political
and
romantic
deception,
becoming
a
significant
powerbroker
among
Britain's
ruling
elite.
The
movie,
set
to
start
shooting
in
October,
is
being
produced
by
Michael
Kuhn's
Qwerty
Films,
and
scripted
by
Jeffrey
Hatcher.
Meanwhile
Keira
has
just
completed
filming
The
Edge
Of
Love
for
director
John
Maybury
and
is
starring
with
James
McAvoy
in
Joe
Wright's
film
Atonement,
which
opens
the
Venice
Film
Festival
late
next
month.