Posted on 03/07/2006 7:19:54 PM PST by nickcarraway
British novelist Austen's real life love story is set to be retold in the upcoming film Becoming Jane.
Becoming Jane will tell the story of her doomed love for an Irish lawyer when she was 20. The role of Jane will be played by Anne Hathaway, one of the wives of the heroes in the highly acclaimed gay cowboy film Brokeback Mountain. Maggie Smith and Julie Walters are to co-star in the movie, reports Contactmusic.
The film will tell the story of how Austen met and fell in love with Tom Lefroy, a barrister who has been credited with inspiring her to become a novelist. The relationship foundered partly because Lefroy was not well off and his prospects of making a fortune did not look high, which meant opposition from Austen's family.
The theme of love between social classes was frequently revisited by Austen in books such as Pride and Prejudice.
Interesting news ... is it possible for any article about any film to go without mention of "Brokeback Mountain"?
Still one of my all time favorite books. I first read it when I was 11 or 12 ... and re-read it periodically.
I did not see the recent movie [starring Keira Knightley? .. of whom I had never heard] ... one of my daughters saw it and raved about it. She later watched the 1995 A&E production ... which we had raved about ... and said our characters were much better developed ... but she still liked the Hollywood version better [it's a generational thing, I guess]. The soundtrack music for the A&E production was written by Carl Davis ... played on a pianoforte with a 17 piece orchestra. It is absolutely delightful and I found a CD of it a few weeks ago.
The A&E production is right up there with the book as far as I am concerned. We watch it every time it comes on and have it on DVD.
I love the A&E version too. We have the videos and the coloring for some reason is not very good. But the story is very close to the book. It's funny, at first I didn't like Collin Firth when I first saw him on the screen in the film. By the end of the film I thought he was such a dreamy Mr.Darcy. He was perfect!
All of the casting was superb: The actors who played Canon Collins and Mrs. Bennett were born to play those roles. They define the role and the role defines them ... can one ever see either of them as anyone else?
He was in Nanny McPhee last month...a fun Mary Poppins kind of movie. He still had that look when he fell in love in the movie.
Colin Firth... You have to see "Valmont" (1989), another take on "Dangerous Liaisons". Hubba hubba!
Have you seen the recent version inspired by the book set in modern day India, the UK and the US called Bride and Prejudice? I thought it was an interesting take on the classic.
We do have a VHS library [now acquiring DVDs of favorites] ... but they are oldies like Galsworthy's The Forsyte Sage [1965 or 1967]; LeCarre's Tinker Tailor and Smiley's People [early 1980s]; Peter Wimsey [1970s or so]; Agatha Christie's Miss Marple and Poirot, Doyle's Sherlock Holmes; The First Churchills; and a few others.
About the only modern thing is Simon Schama's History of Britain and we often watch history things. Watching a history of World War I right now that is quite well done.
There are a few other goodies like BBC's Edge of Darkness and In the Red ... but I do not know of anyone else who has ever seen those ... the first is from the 1980s and has a cult following in England, the second is from the 1990s and is fascinating, amusing and has Stephen Fry in it. And we love the Francis Urquahart series ... House of Cards, To Play the King and The Final Cut; as well as several other interesting BBC series like Crossing the Floor; Defense of the Realm; The Politician's Wife [Ian Bannen was in it]; and more recently The Whistleblower and State of Play.
I guess I am just not a child of Popular Culture. Most of what passes for entertainment today is so dumbed down and so trashy/filthy that it has little appeal for us. And, as you can see, much of what we have enjoyed has come from the BBC. Needless to say, I am usually left out in the cold when conversations turn to TV or movies ... as hardly anyone has ever seen any of the things I have mentioned.
I did, over the summer, re-read all of Austen's books, almost all of Hardy's books, and the Galsworthy's 3 trilogies.
My tastes in English Lit run more towards Evelyn Waugh, Jonathan Swift, PG Wodehouse, and Tom Sharpe. Of course, there is also the Bard, aka the Earl of Oxford.
Jane Austen = Chick lit!
Spoken as a man who has never read Austen. Her insight into human nature is pretty remarkable and that allows her to develop fascinating characters and to reveal the incredible foibles wrought by human nature.
Your post was not directed at me ... however, I do not believe this was thread was meant as a commentary on English Literature ... only, perhaps, Eng.Lit. as entertainment ...
But, while we are at it ... I think it would be pretty difficult to dismiss Thomas Hardy as "chick lit" ... few "chicks" have the intestinal fortitude for a steady diet of Hardy ...
I have long had the huge Yale edition of the Bard's complete works on a dictionary stand in my library and read a page or two every time I pass by ...
And who could omit the likes of Wilkie Collins, George MacDonald, Sir Walter Scott, Charles Dickens, Robert Louis Stevenson, Christopher Marlowe ... and on and on and on ... from their list of favorites? [And we won't even mention all of the wonderful poets ...]
Just the ones mentioned are enough to cure you of your Zzzzzzzzz ... LOL
A-freakin-men. I love to read Paul Johnson, and you need not read much of him before it becomes very clear the man is in love with her (retroactively, as Johnson is still alive). I had to read her to see what it is all about - and yeah, it sure as hell is warranted.
Don't tell me that you actually believe that fey, poncy dilletante was Shakespeare? Give me a break. Shakespeare was a real man, not some bored trust-fund baby.
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