Rooney Mara to play Audrey Hepburn in upcoming Apple biopic

Hollywood’s recent efforts to give its most iconic and classic performers the biopic treatment—and, thus, also give many of today’s hottest stars the chance to functionally cosplay as their most beloved idols for pay—got a new installment this evening, as Variety reports that Rooney Mara has stepped up to star in and produce an upcoming biopic of Audrey Hepburn for Apple.

Mara—whose most recent film credit is Guillermo Del Toro’s Nightmare Alley, and who’s set to co-star in Sarah Polley’s upcoming Women Talking—is teaming up on the Hepburn project with director Luca Guadagnino. The Call Me By Your Name director’s most recent feature was his Suspiria remake back in 2018; he’s reportedly in post-production on cannibalism romance Bones & All with his old co-star Timothée Chalamet.

Details about the Hepburn project, beyond its basic existence, are pretty scant at present. Per Deadline, Michael Mitnick, who wrote the screenplay for The Giver and served as an executive story editor on HBO’s short-lived Bobby Cannavale series Vinyl, will write the script. But past that, it’s not clear which parts of Hepburn’s life the film will take on. (Mara is 36, which would put her right around My Fair Lady on Hepburn’s personal timeline.)

Hepburn is, obviously, a deeply intimidating subject to try to tackle: one of the most successful performers in Hollywood history, a crush object to millions, a style icon, and possibly simply the definition of a classic movie star. It’s a big bite to attempt to chow down on, is all we’re saying. But Mara’s apparently game.

News of the Apple project breaks not long after it was announced that Chris Evans is likely to step into the shoes of (an imaginary) Gene Kelly for an upcoming film. There’s also Tom Holland’s upcoming biopic of Hepburn’s Funny Face co-star Fred Astaire; do we smell a crossover?! (God, we hope we don’t smell a crossover.)