Biel takes "Easy" route with Coward adaptation

By Leslie Simmons

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Jessica Biel has been cast as the lead in "Easy Virtue," a romantic comedy based on the Noel Coward play.

Biel plays an American divorcee who travels to the South of France and marries a young wealthy Englishman (played by Ben Barnes) on the spur of the moment. They return to England to face his disapproving family. Colin Firth and Kristin Scott Thomas will play his parents.

Australian filmmaker Stephan Elliott ("The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert") is directing the indie project, which starts principal photography next week in London.

Alfred Hitchcock was the first to bring Coward's 1924 three-act play to the big screen, with a 1928 silent movie. His film changed the storyline considerably, and it was a challenge adapting Coward's dialog to the intertitles.

Biel was in theaters last summer with "I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry." She recently wrapped "Powder Blue" with Forest Whitaker and "A Woman of No Importance" with Annette Bening.

Firth is in U.K. theaters with the comedy "St. Trinian's." Scott Thomas can currently be seen in "The Golden Compass."

Barnes' credits include "Stardust," and he will next be seen in "The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian," playing the prince.

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter