TOTO & COCO

IN DEVELOPMENT

The remarkable true story of spies, fashion, and Coco Chanel during World War II.

Synopsis

Sea Point Films and Media has acquired the documentary and narrative feature/streaming rights to the bestselling book Toto & Coco, by award-winning veteran British journalist Alan, Frame.

Set against the backdrop of World War II, the story follows high fashion Vogue model and World War II spy Toto Koopman, a favorite of French fashion icon Coco Chanel.  While Chanel collaborated with the Nazis, Koopman spied for the British, joined the French and Italian  resistance, ending up in a German concentration camp until she was rescued.

This untold story touches on the complicated relationship between Chanel and Koopman, friends who became enemies, each taking a radically different path in their lives. At the war’s end, while Coco Chanel’s reputation was sanitized and she became an international celebrity wielding immense wealth and power, Koopman became a forgotten figure. 

The biracial and queer Koopman had love affairs with powerful men and women spanning from the highest levels of government, to the world of high fashion and art, to Hollywood luminaries, including actress Tallulah Bankhead and both Lord Beaverbrook, 30 years her senior, as well as his son, Max. 

John Kidd, grandson of Lord Beaverbrook, the legendary British press baron, who was a confidant and member of Prime Minister Winston Churchill’s inner circle, is a consulting producer alongside veteran British producer Liz Thorburn, known for the series Above Suspicion, amongst many others.   

The project has full, exclusive access to the Beaverbrook archives, including never-before-seen letters, documents, photographs, and other personal affects.