By Richard Eden.

Keira Knightley has fought marauders in Pirates of the Caribbean and suffered in the Second World War in Atonement, but now faces her biggest challenge. Mandrake hears that the 24-year-old actress has been forced to compete with Scarlett Johansson for the role of Eliza Doolittle in a remake of My Fair Lady.

After I disclosed in 2006 that Knightley was being lined up for the part by Sir Cameron Mackintosh, the co-producer, she confirmed last year that she had auditioned and begun singing lessons.

She has since been told, however, that she has an American rival for the part of the Cockney flower seller played by Audrey Hepburn in the 1964 film.

“I have two actresses as potential Elizas, one British, the other American,” said Sir Cameron. “You’d know their names, but I’m not letting on.”

Emma Thompson is writing the script for the film, which Stephen Daldry is expected to direct. Daniel Craig may be Professor Henry Higgins.

Johansson, 24, who made her debut as a vocalist with an album last year, was once approached by Lord Lloyd-Webber about playing Maria in The Sound of Music on the West End stage, but he decided to choose an actress through a television talent contest instead.

Source: Telegraph.co.uk

Keira Knightley appears to have been given the airbrush treatment once again in a Chanel advertisement which gives her a noticeably bigger bust.

The slimline British actress looks to have increased several cup sizes in the latest campaign for Coco Mademoiselle perfume.

In 2004, an image of Knightley was digitally enhanced for the US posters advertising her film, King Arthur. She said at the time: “Those things certainly weren’t mine.”

For the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, make-up artists took a more old-fashioned approach by painting in a cleavage to give the impression that she was spilling out of her corsets.

“They painted my **** on me for the films, which is extraordinary because it’s kind of a dying art form. In the past, they used to have whole sections of the studios devoted to bosom make-up. And I loved it, completely loved it. Because it was the first time in my life I had big **** and I didn’t even need surgery,” she said.

The 24-year-old actress was signed as the face of Coco Mademoiselle in 2007.

Her slender frame has attracted much attention since she sprang to fame in Bend It Like Beckham, and in 2007 she won libel damages from a newspaper which falsely implied she had an eating disorder.

The Oscar-nominated star will be seen next in Never Let Me Go, an adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro’s novel. She has also been cast as Eliza Doolittle in a forthcoming screen version of My Fair Lady.

Source: Telegraph.co.uk