Posted on 01/04/2016 5:41:56 AM PST by goldstategop
The first episode of the BBC's new costume drama War and Peace was watched by more than six million viewers.
The drama, which stars Paul Dano, Lily James and James Norton, has also won rave reviews.
The adaptation of Leo Tolstoy's novel averaged 6.3 million viewers, peaking at 6.7 million.
It was up against ITV's Endeavour and spy drama Deutschland 83 on Channel 4, which averaged 4.4 million and 1.2 million viewers respectively. snip -
Downton Abbey star James plays Natasha Rostov in the drama, with Dano - who starred in 12 Years a Slave - as Pierre Bezukhov and Grantchester star James Norton as Prince Andrei.
The classic novel follows the three as they experience love and loss against the backdrop of Russia's wars with Napoleon.
It also stars Gillian Anderson, Rebecca Front and Stephen Rea, who were also praised for their performances.
The show has been made by the BBC in collaboration with The Weinstein company and will premiere on Lifetime, A&E and History channel in the US on 18 January.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...
The 1968 Soviet mini-series in four parts, is the gold standard by which film adaptations of the novel are justly measured.
You have to capture the philosophy of Tolstoy as well as the period mood and the lives of the characters and its not easy to do.
As one of the world's greatest writers, Tolstoy is almost impossible to bring to the screen. It looks like the BBC has done it.
Looking forward to this when it makes its way to American TV.
BBC production will air simultaneously January 18 on several American cable channels:
A&E
Lifetime
History Channel
Its the premiere television event of the 2016 winter season.
It's going to be hard to beat the Anthony Hopkins TV serialized version, but Davies hit a home run with the bases loaded with his Jennifer Ehle-Colin Firth Pride and Prejudice.
I can’t think of any one more qualified than Andrew Davies to write the screenplay.
Sergei Bondarchuk said Tolstoy was the most difficult film he did as a director. I don’t know how he pulled it off.
The Soviet mini-series is faithful to Tolstoy’s philosophy and is impressive for its interpretation of the Battle Of Borodino.
For its time, the hand-held camera work was revolutionary but it would have all have been in vain where it not for the great acting.
BBC set itself to try to surpass a tough act to follow and I didn’t think any one could do Bondarchuk’s masterpiece on the screen better - until now.
“You have to capture the philosophy of Tolstoy as well as the period mood and the lives of the characters and its not easy to do.”
Evidently, Tolstoy was a genius at observing and describing people, along with many other talents.
He wrote War and Peace by the light of one candle. His wife would edit his rough copy and had to use a magnifying glass to read his writing. She ended up writing War and Peace five times by hand.
It will be criticized in the USA because Tolstoy was a white European heterosexual male.
Originally known as “War, what is it good for?”
Needs more apostrophes.
Absolutely nothin’ huh!
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