There are some pairings that just work, cinematically. Arnold Schwarzenegger in a kindergarten full of children, for example – genius. Sofia Coppola and Kirsten Dunst – well, that’s the stuff cult classics are made of.

The Virgin Suicides fans will be pleased to hear Coppola will be directing Kirsten Dunst once more in upcoming film The Beguiled. Also on board is Elle Fanning, who worked with the director in 2010’s Somewhere. The film is a remake of a 1971 romance starring Clint Eastwood, and it's not clear at present how closely the new film will stick to the original. 

Coppola will be directing, producing and writing the new film, which is set during the American Civil War and tells the story of an injured solider who arrives at an all-girls boarding school. The setting will be familiar to fans of Coppola’s work, and bears all her hallmarks: conflicted and complicated young female characters struggling to make sense of their place in the world. Fanning will play a girl residing at the school, and Dunst her teacher, with reports that Nicole Kidman will play the role of headmistress.

While it’s too soon to tell whether the film will emulate the success of The Virgin Suicides, for Coppola fans this is good news – especially given that the director and bona-fide Hollywood royalty (she’s a scion of the Coppola dynasty) hasn’t directed a film since 2013’s The Bling Ring.

h/t Tracking Board