If I was to grade this casting decision I would have to give it an A. It’s hard to imagine a better director for Emma Watson to team-up with as she begins her post-Harry Potter career than Sofia Coppola. Coppola was directed the likes of Kirsten Dunst (The Virgin Suicides), Scarlett Johansson (Lost in Translation) and recently Elle Fanning (Somewhere) to excellent performances in films that warrant more than one sitting is not several and Watson will be the latest as Variety reports she’s been cast in the lead role of Coppola’s The Bling Ring.
The film will be shot on location in Los Angeles and will tell the true story of the titular group who are also known as the “Hollywood Hills Burglar Bunch,” “The Burglar Bunch” or the “Hollywood Hills Burglars”. Already Michael Lembeck (Tooth Fairy, The Santa Clause 3) directed a made-for-TV movie with the same name that aired on Lifetime last September starring Jennifer Grey and even “Law & Order: Los Angeles” dedicated an episode retelling the crimes the group were involved in.
Victims of their alleged exploits included Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, Audrina Patridge, Rachel Bilson, Orlando Bloom and Miranda Kerr, Brian Austin Green and Megan Fox, but there’s no indication as to whether or not actual celebrities will be the group’s targets in Coppola’s film, which she will both write and direct.
Making up the “Bling Ring” were three girls and three boys, which gives some indication as to how many more names we should expect in the lead cast. Coppola told Variety she was “excited about the young cast” she was assembling, which may mean additional names will be announced shortly.
I remember seeing either a “60 Minutes” or “20/20” report on the group a few years back, but if you’re interested in more information, Vanity Fair‘s Nancy Jo Sales covered the story back in 2010 both here and here.
As for Watson, she was recently seen in My Week with Marilyn and has a role in the upcoming The Perks of Being a Wallflower for director Stephen Chbosky.
