Keira Knightley in F. Scott Fitzgerald movie

Keira Knightley to play F. Scott Fitzgerald’s wife in biopic

Keira Knightley never shies away from challenging scripts, and the young star is set to take on one of her most demanding roles to date – as 20s literary socialite, and F. Scott Fitzgerald’s wife, Zelda Sayre.

Some say that Zelda was the inspiration for Fitzgerald’s Jazz Age novels, like The Great Gatsby – some of the most celebrated of the era – while others insist she stifled his creativity.

New film The Beautiful and the Damned, whose title was taken from Fitzgerald’s second novel, will doubtless start the debate embers burning again – and Keira Knightley is in talks to play the lead role.

Zelda and Fitzgerald married in 1920 and were hailed as the roaring Twenties' most perfect society couple. But their marriage was far from ordinary, thanks to Zelda’s schizophrenia, which, many historians believe, led Fitzgerald to fits of jealous rage and alcoholism. Fitzgerald’s battle with booze reportedly compounded Zelda’s mental instability and, in 1930, she was admitted to a sanatorium. While in a clinic in Maryland, Zelda wrote the novel Save me the Waltz, which incensed Fitzgerald for its use of real-life material from their marriage, although he did the same for his 1934 book, Tender is the Night.

The Beautiful and the Damned is written by Hanna Weg, who also wrote Enigma, and directed by Nick Cassavetes, and is set to begin shooting in April, although the role of Fitzgerald has not yet been cast.

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