Nine-year-old Australian actress Jordana Beatty is shown in this undated publicity photograph April 23, 2008. Beatty has been cast to play the title role of Eloise in the new live-action feature film 'Eloise in Paris', which begins principal photography August 12, 2008 in Paris, New York, and the south of France. (HandMade Films/Handout/Reuters)
Jordana Beatty, 9, will play the spirited Eloise, who lives in the Plaza Hotel in New York with her dog and her turtle, in "Eloise in Paris," producer HandMade Films said on Wednesday.
It said it was the first of various Eloise projects over the years to be made as a major motion picture.
Beatty, of Sydney, Australia, was cast after more than 4,000 girls were auditioned around the world for the part. She has been acting in television and commercials in Australia since the age of 4.
Uma Thurman, the star of the "Kill Bill" movies and "Pulp Fiction," will play Nanny in the movie that starts shooting in August.
Thompson's Eloise tales, illustrated by Hilary Knight, are among the most beloved U.S. children's classics.
An Emmy Award-winning 2003 version of her adventures, "Eloise at the Plaza," was made for U.S. television and starred Julie Andrews in the role of Nanny and Sofia Vassilieva, who is now 15, as Eloise.
Charles Shyer, who wrote and produced the 1998 remake of "The Parent Trap" that brought Lindsay Lohan to fame, will direct "Eloise in Paris."
(Reporting by Jill Serjeant; Editing by Bob Tourtellotte and Xavier Briand)
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