Pictures of Audrey Tautou in Coco avant Chanel at TheBadandUgly and fashionologie. Film also stars Alessandro Nivola (Junebug, Goal!) as Arthur "Boy" Chapel, Chanel's lover and patron. [imdb]

Empress Regnant Wu Zetian (625-705 CE) is quite an interesting figure in ancient Chinese history. Confucians probably think of her privately as "that upstart bitch" or the Chinese equivalent; while I think of her as what you'd get if you threw all three Borgias together - Alexander, Cesare, and Lucretia - only Wu Zetian managed to live to a ripe old age. Perhaps not surprisingly, there haven't been many films about her, which is why the mere mention of "Empress Wu" in an upcoming period martial arts suspense thriller starring Andy Lau (Infernal Affairs) and directed by Tsui Hark, Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame, was enough to get me excited. Lau will portray the titular detective, who is based on the real life 7th century Tang statesman and magistrate Di Renjie.

'When the mysterious deaths of a series of loyal subjects threaten to delay the 690 A.D. inauguration of Empress Wu, China's only female leader, she calls the infamous Detective Dee (Lau) back from an exile into which she cast him eight years earlier.

'"They had such an interesting relationship of hatred, love and passion," said Tsui, who is focused on finding the perfect empress to play opposite Lau. "She was the sole one, the first and last empress in China, who claimed to be very iron-fisted, using all these cruel methods in handling her politics. At the same time she was very smart, using all the intelligent people she selected for her cabinet."'

The role of Wu Zetian has not yet been cast, but I'm guessing that they'll go younger: the real Empress Wu was 65 years old in 690. (THR)

ER executive producer John Wells will team up with HBO and Paul Abbott for a remake of Abbott's UK comedy series Shameless. Based on Abbott's childhood, the original Shameless (featuring James McAvoy, David Threlfall, Anne-Marie Duff, and Maxine Peake) chronicles a dysfunctional working-class clan led by an alcoholic patriarch. (THR)

John Curran (A Painted Veil) has replaced Nick Cassavetes as the director of The Beautiful and the Damned, a film about writer F. Scott Fitzgerald and his relationship with his wife, an alleged schizophrenic, Zelda Sayre, who is to be played by Keira Knightley. (JoBlo) [imdb]

Clip from the Battlestar Galactica prequel Caprica available on Hulu, plus a rundown of the pilot script. SPOILERS. (io9)