Karl Lagerfeld to Direct Keira Knightley in Chanel Short

Chanel’s creative director is heading back to the director’s chair to create a short film for the100th anniversary of the French fashion house’s first boutique.

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Benoit Tessier / Reuters

Karl Lagerfeld at the end of his Fall/Winter 2013/2014 women's ready-to-wear fashion show for French fashion house Chanel during Paris fashion week on March 5, 2013.

Karl Lagerfeld is scheduled to make a short movie in Paris this week featuring Keira Knightley to mark the 100th anniversary of the first Chanel boutique, according to Women’s Wear Daily.

Knightley, who is the face of Chanel’s Coco Mademoiselle perfume, will portray the French fashion designer in the new film, while French actress Clotilde Hesme has been cast as Chanel’s aunt Adrienne.

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Deauville, the seaside town in France where the Chanel boutique first opened, will be recreated “in detailed retro sets,” WWD reported. Other cast members in the film include British model Stella Tennant; aspiring actress, and the creative director’s muse, Tallulah Harlech; French model and music producer Caroline de Maigret; and American-born model Brad Kroenig and his son Hudson (who also happens to be Lagerfeld’s godson), who will play a nephew in the film.

But this isn’t the first time Chanel’s commander-in-chief will have directed; he’s actually quite comfortable in the director’s chair.  Lagerfeld went behind the camera to create, produce and direct a series of three films starring actress Rachel Bilson, which premiered during a special event at the 2011 Tribeca Film Festival. Most recently, he directed the black and white film “Public Garden” to showcase Chanel’s 2013 Spring/Summer collection.

The Chanel boutique anniversary film will be screened in early May when Lagerfeld will present the fashion house’s 2014 Resort Collection in Singapore.

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