EXCLUSIVE: Thomasin McKenzie and Ansel Elgort are attached to star in Dinner With Audrey, a feature film from Wayfarer Studios, Hyde Park Entertainment and Mad Chance Productions. Two-time Oscar nominee Michael Shannon is in talks to board the Abe Sylvia-directed movie based on the true story of the 40-year friendship of Audrey Hepburn (McKenzie) and designer Count Hubert de Givenchy (Elgort) over the course of one magical, fashion-filled night in Paris. Kara Holden penned the screenplay.
Their dinner sparked a decades-long collaboration between Hepburn and de Givenchy who was the head of her wardrobe on such classics as Breakfast at Tiffany‘s, Funny Face, How to Steal a Million, Charade and Sabrina. In fact, Hepburn wore Givenchy when she won the Best Actress Oscar in 1954 for Roman Holiday.
De Givenchy and Hepburn
Darlene Hammond/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
Ashok Armitraj and Priya Amritraj will produce through Hyde Park, along with Andrew Lazar from Mad Chance and Andrew Calof from Wayfarer. Holden will executive produce and Wayfarer is co-financing the film. Carl Clifton of Hyde Park Entertainment will introduce the package to distributors at this year’s American Film Market.
Sylvia is the creator of the Emmy-winning Apple TV series Palm Royale starring Oscar nominee Kristen Wiig, now entering its second season which is set to premiere next month. He also penned the screenplay for Searchlight’s The Eyes of Tammy Faye, for which Jessica Chastain won an Academy Award. Sylvia created George & Tammy for Showtime starring Michael Shannon and Chastain, and has written on such series as Dead to Me, The Affair, Nurse Jackie and more. He is repped by CAA, The Gartner Group, and Lichter, Grossman, Nichols, Feldman, Rogal, Shikora & Clark.
McKenzie can next be seen in Searchlight’s The Testament of Ann Lee from filmmaker Mona Fastvold and starring Amanda Seyfried. She is also in Paul Greengrass’ next movie The Uprising, opposite Andrew Garfield, and can next be seen in Bleecker Street’s British period satire Fackham Hall. Other feature credits include Jojo Rabbit, Last Night in Soho and The Power of the Dog. She recently wrapped shooting the Gothic horror film Victorian Psycho alongside Maika Monroe. McKenzie is represented by UTA and Untitled Entertainment.
Hyde Park
Elgort starred in Steven Spielberg’s remake of West Side Story, Edgar Wright’s Baby Driver, as well as The Fault in Our Stars, the Divergent franchise and HBO Max’s crime series Tokyo Vice. Next he’ll star on stage in Pete Townshend’s rock ballet Quadrophenia at New York City Center. Elgort is represented by CAA and Brookside Artist Management.
Shannon can be seen next in Sony Pictures Classics’ Nuremberg and has Daniel Meyer’s Bulls and Courtney J. Camerota’s Dead Guy upcoming. The star of the HBO series Boardwalk Empire received supporting actor Oscar noms for Tom Ford’s Nocturnal Animals and Sam Mendes’ Revolutionary Road. Shannon is repped by CAA, Range Media Partners, and Yorn, Levine, Barnes, Krintzman, Rubenstein, Kohner, Endlich, Goodell & Gellman.
Holden is represented by Verve and Hansen Jacobson Teller Hoberman.