Lily Collins to Play Audrey Hepburn in Making‑of Film About Breakfast at Tiffany’s

Lead

Lily Collins has been tapped to portray Audrey Hepburn in a feature that dramatizes both the life of the screen icon and the making of her 1961 film Breakfast at Tiffany’s. The project, being developed by Case Study Films together with Imagine Entertainment and producer Scott LaStaiti, adapts Sam Wasson’s bestseller Fifth Avenue, 5 A.M. Alena Smith, creator of Dickinson, is attached as the screenwriter. Producers from both companies and multiple executive producers are listed as attached to the project.

Key Takeaways

• Lily Collins is set to star as Audrey Hepburn; the role anchors a biographical “making‑of” film based on Sam Wasson’s book Fifth Avenue, 5 A.M.
• Case Study Films and Imagine Entertainment are developing the picture, with producers Brian Grazer, Jeb Brody and Justin Wilkes among Imagine’s team and Collins producing for Case Study with Charlie McDowell and Alex Orlovsky.
• Alena Smith, creator of Dickinson, is adapting the book for screen, bringing television writing experience to the project’s narrative.
• The source book chronicles the making of Breakfast at Tiffany’s and its late‑1950s cultural context, including figures like Truman Capote, Edith Head and director Blake Edwards.
• Breakfast at Tiffany’s was nominated for five Academy Awards, won two (Score and Song), and was added to the U.S. National Film Registry in 2012.
• Collins currently stars in Netflix’s Emily in Paris, which aired a fifth season in December and has been renewed for a sixth; she also launched Case Study Films in November 2022.
• Multiple executive producers are attached, including Marc Gilbar, Joyce Choi, Sam Wasson, Brandon Millan and Michael Shamberg, signaling broad industry backing.

Background

Audrey Hepburn emerged as one of Hollywood’s defining postwar figures, winning an Academy Award for Roman Holiday and later starring in Sabrina, Funny Face and Breakfast at Tiffany’s. That 1961 film, directed by Blake Edwards and adapted from Truman Capote’s novella, amplified Hepburn’s status as a global fashion and cultural icon and remains widely discussed for its lead performance and visual style. Sam Wasson’s Fifth Avenue, 5 A.M. presents a detailed, researched account of the film’s production and its cultural reverberations across fashion, film and social mores of the late 1950s.

The new project is positioned as both a biopic of Hepburn and a manufacturing of a single film: a meta‑narrative that blends personal biography with production history. Production companies and producers attached bring a mix of studio and indie credentials—Imagine Entertainment has a long slate of film and TV projects, while Collins’s Case Study Films is a recently launched production banner. Attaching a television showrunner like Alena Smith signals an interest in character nuance and episodic pacing even within a single feature.

Main Event

Case Study Films announced that Collins will lead the production as Hepburn, with Imagine Entertainment producing alongside Scott LaStaiti. Brian Grazer, Jeb Brody and Justin Wilkes are named as producers representing Imagine, while Marc Gilbar is listed as an executive producer and Joyce Choi oversees development. Collins, Charlie McDowell and Alex Orlovsky are credited as producers for Case Study Films, and Sam Wasson and Brandon Millan are executive producing for Felix Farmer Productions; Michael Shamberg is also an executive producer.

Alena Smith, best known for creating the Apple TV+ series Dickinson, has been engaged to adapt Wasson’s book for the screen. The book’s narrative centers on a cast of behind‑the‑scenes figures—Truman Capote, costume designer Edith Head, and director Blake Edwards—whose interactions shaped the final film and its reception. The production aims to dramatize both Hepburn’s performance choices and the cultural debates the film provoked in late‑1950s America.

Collins brings both acting and producing credits to the project; she currently stars in Netflix’s Emily in Paris, which returned for a fifth season in December and has an announced sixth season, and has EP credits on multiple recent projects. Case Study Films, launched by Collins with McDowell and Orlovsky in November 2022, also announced a Polly Pocket adaptation with Amazon MGM; those prior moves illustrate Collins’s dual profile as a lead performer and a production executive.

Analysis & Implications

The choice of Collins signals a production that seeks a commercially recognizable actor with established popularity and producing experience. Casting a contemporary star in a high‑profile historical role can drive box office and streaming interest, but it also invites scrutiny about fidelity to historical record and the ethics of portraying living memory. Producers appear to be positioning the film to appeal to both mainstream audiences drawn to Hepburn’s iconography and to cinephiles interested in the behind‑the‑scenes account detailed in Wasson’s book.

Attaching Alena Smith as screenwriter introduces a television‑first narrative sensibility to the adaptation, which could result in a character‑driven portrayal emphasizing interior life and complexity. That approach may help modernize aspects of Hepburn’s story for contemporary audiences while preserving the production history’s archival detail. The involvement of multiple veteran producers and executive producers suggests the project will seek both creative depth and market reach—balancing prestige positioning with commercial partners.

Industry timing matters. Hollywood’s appetite for heritage properties and star‑led biopics remains robust, but films that revisit controversial elements of classic works must navigate critical reappraisals and audience expectations. Breakfast at Tiffany’s has been reevaluated over time for aspects of representation and adaptation; a making‑of film will likely need to handle those conversations with context and care to avoid reductive nostalgia or uncritical celebration.

Comparison & Data

The table summarizes the named creative and production participants disclosed so far. Those attachments reflect a mix of creative roles (screenwriter, lead actor) and executive/financial producers; they do not yet indicate director, distributor or release strategy. Contextual data: Breakfast at Tiffany’s was nominated for five Academy Awards and won two (Score and Song); it entered the U.S. National Film Registry in 2012.

Reactions & Quotes

Industry notices emphasize the project’s combining of a major star with a detailed production history.

Deadline (trade publication)

Observers point out that attaching Alena Smith may bring a character‑driven, television‑savvy voice to the adaptation.

Deadline (trade publication)

Trade coverage highlights the broad producer list—from Imagine and Case Study to multiple executive producers—indicating significant studio and indie support.

Deadline (trade publication)

Unconfirmed

• No public announcement has yet disclosed a director attachment or confirmed a release window for the film.
• Full casting beyond Lily Collins has not been confirmed; roles such as Truman Capote, Edith Head and Blake Edwards are discussed in the book but not yet cast.
• Distribution terms, budget range and shooting schedule have not been disclosed publicly at this stage.

Bottom Line

The project pairs a contemporary star‑producer with a detailed, well‑regarded account of a classic film’s production, signaling an effort to translate archival history into mainstream cinema. That combination could renew interest in both Hepburn’s legacy and the complex cultural moment around Breakfast at Tiffany’s, but it will require careful handling of historical nuance and representation to satisfy critics and audiences alike.

Key unknowns—most notably the director, distribution strategy and fuller casting—will shape whether the film leans toward prestige awards positioning or streaming/box‑office accessibility. For now, the announced attachments make clear the project has substantial industry momentum and a creative team intent on interrogating how one film helped reshape fashion, film and cultural conversations in the late 1950s.

Sources

• Deadline — trade publication: original report on casting, producers and adaptation