FORMER Corrie actress Michelle Keegan is being courted for her first Hollywood film role.
US screen star Reese Witherspoon is keen for the 38-year-old to play the lead in a big-budget movie adaptation of her new novel.
Oscar-winner Reese, 49, wrote crime thriller Gone Before Goodbye with American author Harlan Coben, who was behind Michelle’s Netflix hit show Fool Me Once.
Harlan introduced the women to each other at the launch of the book at the London Literature Festival, held at the capital’s Festival Hall last weekend.
A source said: “Harlan has been singing Michelle’s praises to Reese and she was keen to meet her. They got on really well and it was clear Reese was really taken with Michelle.
“The plan is to turn the book into a film and Michelle is their first choice to take on the role of the lead character, Maggie McCabe.
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“She is a combat surgeon and Michelle previously played an Army medic in Our Girl on the BBC, so it’s a role they know she could take on with style.
“It’s early days but Harlan and Reese think Michelle is tailor-made for this role and would love her to come on board when the time is right.”
Ex-soap star Michelle became a global success after the mystery drama Fool Me Once was released last year.
The series became one of Netflix’s most watched TV shows of 2024 — with more than 107 million people streaming it worldwide in the first 90 days.
Best-selling author Harlan said of his leading lady: “I think what Michelle has, besides tremendous talent and all the other stuff, is a genuine authenticity.
“I think the audience, loves her, people want to follow her life, because they sense that there’s a kindness and a gentleness.
“And that’s really her, she’s truly authentic.”
Speaking last year, 63-year-old Harlan insisted he would be keen to work with her again and reckoned: “If we could get Michelle, we’d love to get Michelle.”
Fans of Michelle, from Stockport — who has a daughter with Heart FM DJ husband Mark Wright — will next see her on screen in ITV crime drama The Blame.
She plays Detective Inspector Emma Crane in the six-parter, which is an adaptation of Charlotte Langley’s 2023 debut novel of the same name.
Michelle is also known for her roles in the Sky One comedy drama Brassic and BBC drama Ten Pound Poms, about Brits who migrated to Australia in the 1950s.