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Sofia Copppola Landed ‘Dream’ Cast For The Beguiled

Indie Director reveals delight as she joins Nicole Kidman, Elle fanning and Kirsten Dunst on red carpet in Cannes.  

Wednesday (May 24th) marked another star-studded night at the Cannes film festival when Sofia Coppolla promoted her latest project The Beguiled. A predominantly female cast, the flick is a remake of Don Siegel's 1971 Civil War film starring Clint Eastwood as an injured Union soldier who takes shelter in an all-girls boarding school in America’s South.

Adding to her canon of films about complicated and often tragic women, The Beguiled is a gothic period drama starring Nicole Kidman as the Headmistress of the school and Colin Farrell as the unfortunate soldier.

"I just thought of some of my favourite actresses," recalled Sofia in an interview with Deadline. "When I started thinking about it, I thought, 'Oh, Kirsten could play the teacher and Elle could play the student and I would love to have Nicole Kidman -- that was, like, my dream -- as the headmistress."

Kirsten is a regular in Sofia’s films, having had leading roles in Virgin Suicides and Marie Antoinette, and Elle was the lead in Somewhere when she was aged just 12. Sofia reveals that she thought the 19-year-old was ready for a more mature role.  

"Since 'Somewhere,' Sofia and I have been like: 'We have to do something together again.' She emailed me about this. She said, 'We can make you the bad girl,'" said Fanning. "It was my first time going without a family member, like my mom."

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