Coppola to remake The Beguiled with Kidman, Dunst, and Fanning

Last Updated on July 31, 2021

A decade after making the original INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS, director Don Siegel struck up a very successful working relationship with Clint Eastwood. Of the five films Siegel directed Eastwood in, 1971's DIRTY HARRY is undoubtably the most popular, but that same year the director/star duo worked together on another film that was called THE BEGUILED. It's a movie that's presented as being a Western drama, but takes a horrific turn that The Arrow, in his 8/10 review, said made him feel like he had been bitch-slapped.

Forty-five years later, THE BEGUILED is getting a remake, and taking over the helm from Siegel is Sofia Coppola, the daughter of Franis Ford Coppola and the director of such films as THE VIRGIN SUICIDES and LOST IN TRANSLATION (for which she won a Best Original Screenplay Academy Award).

Based on a novel by Thomas P. Cullian, THE BEGUILED is set during the Civil War and tells what happens when 

a young girl from an all-female Confederate boarding school comes across an injured Union soldier. The school takes him in to help him recover, but he cons his way into their hearts and the women start to fight with him and each other for his attention.

The actor who will be replacing Eastwood in the role of the Union soldier has not yet been found, but the search is on for "a Chris Pratt type". 

Three actresses have signed on to portray characters at the boarding school. Nicole Kidman is set to play Head Mistress Martha Farnsworth, stepping in for the original's Geraldine Page. Coppola's VIRGIN SUICIDES / MARIE ANTOINETTE star Kirsten Dunst will play one of the teachers, while her SOMEWHERE star Elle Fanning will be one of the students.

This new take on THE BEGUILED will be released by Focus Features. I'm not sure how much call there is for a remake of this material, but the talent involved with this one does make it seem quite interesting.

Kirsten Dunst as Coppola's MARIE ANTOINETTE