Lily Collins will be stepping into the shoes of legendary actress and icon Audrey Hepburn.
Collins has been slated to play Hepburn in a film based on the book “Fifth Avenue, 5 A.M.: Audrey Hepburn, Breakfast at Tiffany’s and the Dawn of the Modern Woman” by Sam Wasson.
The movie will focus on a specific time in Hepburn’s career, when she filmed the 1961 movie, “Breakfast at Tiffany’s.”
Fans appear divided over her casting, despite her resemblance to the star, with some calling it a “bold choice.”
However, her son, Sean Hepburn Ferrer, gushed about the casting.
Ferrer, who authored the biography “Intimate Audrey,” told Fox News Digital: “I love Lily Collins. Sam Wasson, the book’s writer, is a good friend of mine and I’m very happy for him. I don’t have any huge thoughts on the film as it hasn’t been made yet.”
“I believe that my mother might cringe at ‘Dawn of the Modern Woman,’ but she cringed at any compliment. And now there are two films in prep for her, this one and ‘Dinner with Audrey,’” Ferrer noted.
Adding: “I’m not sure how one adapts such a ‘historical snapshot.’”
Fans took to social media to discuss the casting news.
Some called her casting the “perfect choice,” with Collins being “the most perfect person to play Audrey Hepburn,” while others said, “Dont [sic] bother love you look nothing like Audrey she was one and only and will never be replaced by you or anyone,” and another said: “Are you kidding me? You are nothing like her.”
Experts noted that while it’s a “tall order to fill,” the key to Collins nailing the role lies in her performance and whether she can embody the essence of the Oscar winner.
Professor Charlie Keil, Cinema Studies Institute, University of Toronto, says taking on a role like this “can be a field full of landmines.”
“When a contemporary star takes on the role of an iconic figure from the past, they may be judged by many different standards. If that figure is someone like Audrey Hepburn, who has been immortalized on screen in numerous famous roles, it is a much greater challenge,” Keil said.
Keil said that Hepburn “set the standard for 1950s-era elegance”: “She was at the vanguard of fashion trends, had perfect diction, and having been born in Europe,” noting she had a “distinctive and lightly accented voice. She is fondly remembered by her many fans as svelte and almost aristocratic, but also a bit coltish and beguilingly insecure at times,” adding that “this is a tall order to fill.”
Keil said fans “don’t necessarily want a carbon copy” of Hepburn, but rather, “they are looking for a new way to think about a familiar star and the performance should give them that.”
Keil gave Natalie Portman’s portrayal of Jackie Kennedy in the film “Jackie” as an example, and how she gave “a particular purchase on the former first lady, and not a comprehensive imitation of every known aspect of a famous person’s persona.”
“Don’t imitate — differentiate. Show, as an actress, that you are exercising some control in how you are conceiving of the re-imagining of a legend. And of course, hope the material you are starring in is worthy of the risk,” Keil added.
Paul Schnee, who, with his business partner Kerry Barden, has cast films such as “The Help,” “Winter’s Bone,” “Dallas Buyers Club” and “Spotlight,” called Collins a “wonderful actor,” noting that “her vague resemblance to Audrey will be an assist, but talent trumps that.”
Schnee said that “a vague resemblance is sufficient, but not always,” noting that what works best as a viewer is “the embodiment of the essence of the person.”
He and Barden cast her as Snow White in the film “Mirror Mirror,” noting that her “talent transcended her genes,” referring to her being the daughter of musician Phil Collins.
It boils down to the performance: “The better the actor is, the less focus there will be on physical appearance,” Schnee, who cast Jennifer Lawrence in “Winter’s Bone,” said.
Collins revealed the project has been in the works for almost 10 years, in an Instagram post she shared after the casting news was announced in late February, noting that she felt “honored and ecstatic.”
“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…” she wrote on her Instagram page.
Collins has been open about her love for the icon, often sharing her images on her Instagram.
Howard Fine of Howard Fine Acting Studio, who worked with Austin Butler as Elvis Presley on “Elvis,” Jaalen Best as Cassius Clay/Muhammad Ali in “The Greatest” and Carla Gugino as Vivien Leigh in “Vivien & the Florist,” said “the challenge when playing an iconic figure is not to do an imitation.”
“If Austin had done an imitation of Elvis, it would have been career-ending rather than award-winning. The actor must find where the character lives inside themselves,” Fine said.
Hepburn was known for her distinct voice and cadence, which is something Collins will have to focus on mastering.
“I am a big believer in voice and dialect work to master accents and the distinctive vocal patterns which Audrey Hepburn had. However, the actor must find the personality behind the patterns in order to steer away from a hollow copying them,” Fine added.
Fine said the actor “must avoid imitating” the actor, and focus instead on “inhabiting the soul that motivated this behavior.”
Fine said the actor must ask themselves: “Who am I as the character and then how can I find the character inside myself. The vocal and physical manifestations of the characters must become second nature. The actor needs to practice until everything becomes effortless, until we don’t see the acting.”
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