Keira Knightley to star as Coco Chanel in short film directed by Chanel creative director Karl Lagerfeld.

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES  (REUTERS) -  Keira Knightley has signed on to play Coco Chanel in a new short film being directed by the brand's creative director, Karl Lagerfeld. The British actor will play Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel in the film to mark the French fashion house's 100th anniversary. It will be filmed in the chic seaside town of Deauville, where the first Chanel boutique opened in 1913, financed by her lover Captain Arthur "Boy" Capel, a wealthy British aristocrat.

Knightley is the face of the brand's Coco Mademoiselle perfume campaign, for which she was handpicked by Lagerfeld, who has described her as one of his muses.