Saturday, October 25, 2008

Wouldn't it be loverly. . .

Some of you may already be aware of this; but for those who weren't, Kevin Sullivan has written-directed-produced a fourth Anne of Green Gables movie. It's meant to be a prequel to the 1985 miniseries. Anne will be middle-aged (gasps! Anne - old? Hard to imagine!), looking back to her childhood, and reminiscing on the troubled years she endured before moving to Green Gables. Fans of the books, brace yourselves - from what I've heard, the plot takes it's own route without making any attempt to follow L.M. Montgomery's classic series. . .

There'll be no Megan Follows, sadly enough. Barbara Hershey will be the 'old' Anne, newcomer Hannah Endicott-Douglas will play the young Anne, and Shirley MacLaine will star as Amelia Thomas.

The miniseries is set to be aired in the U.S. in "fall 2008" - so presumably sometime within the next few weeks. 

Click here to see the official website - have a look at the photo gallery, if nothing else. I was practically drooling over the costumes. . . so beautiful! It might be worth watching for the costumes alone! 

In other news, a new film version of My Fair Lady is in the works. The release date is set to be sometime in 2010. Guess who's lined up to play Eliza Doolittle? Keira Knightley! I was a little shocked when I first heard - but after the news had sunk in, Keira seemed the most logical choice in the world to play the part. Audrey Hepburn was wonderful in the 1964 version, but Keira Knightley has, in some ways, become today's Audrey Hepburn. She's stunningly beautiful, she's a tremendously talented actress, and she is fast becoming a style icon in her own right. A worthy successor to Hepburn and Julie Andrews in playing Eliza Doolittle. She even looks a bit like Audrey Hepburn, when you think about it!


It will be interesting to see whether she sings or simply mouths someone else's vocals.  At first I thought  Keira Knightley - in a musical? They'll have to dub her voice, like they did with Audrey Hepburn. . . imagine my surprise when I learnt that in fact Keira has a rather good singing voice! It's true! Have a listen to this Youtube clip of her singing whilst on the set of one of her recent films,  The Edge of Love. Who'd have thought that she would have such a sweet singing voice? True, she's not going to be the next Mariah Carey or CeCe Winans, but she can more than carry a tune. I really hope she does sing in My Fair Lady.

Daniel Day-Lewis will be Keira's co-star, playing the eccentric Professor Henry Higgins.

You might be thinking "But with such a brilliant film version of this play already in existence, what would be the point of doing a remake?" Well, apparently they're hoping to flesh out Eliza Doolittle's character a bit more. They are also going to shoot most of the film in London itself (rather than some studio in California) to create a more authentic, believable Edwardian London for the movie. Emma Thompson is writing the screenplay (whoopee! It should be good, then. She did such a good job on Sense and Sensibility), and from what I understand the screenplay will be closer to George Bernard Shaw's play Pygmalion than the 1964 film. (The musical My Fair Lady was based on Pygmalion, so they're actually just going back to where it all started in the first place. . .)


Speaking of Keira Knightley - there were rumours that she would play the heroine, Catherine Earnshaw, in an upcoming film version of  Emily Bronte's classic Wuthering Heights. Actually, back in 2006 it was said that Angelina Jolie would play the part. Then it was Keira Knightley then - wait for it - Lindsay Lohan, then Natalie Portman, then Sienna Miller. . . Finally it has been confirmed that Australian actress Abbie Cornish will play the part.  Of course I'm pleased to see a fellow Aussie got the part *grins*, but aside from that, I'm rather glad that they picked a relative unknown - otherwise it would have been like "Oh, there's Angelina Jolie/Natalie Portman/whoever," everytime Catherine came onscreen.  Yes, I am glad that it will be an  (comparatively) unknown face playing Cathy. At least it won't be Lindsay Lohan! Not that I have  anything personal against Lindsay Lohan, but, well, I'm sure anyone who's remotely familiar with the character of Catherine Earnshaw will agree with me on this one. . .

Another lesser-known actor is slated in to play Heathcliff - German-Irish actor Michael Fassbender, despite early rumours that Johnny Depp would take the part. 

I'm not a massive fan of Wuthering Heights myself. It's mostly Heathcliff that I don't like. I get so frustrated with him, I just want to shake him, strangle him - "Heathcliff you doof, can't you see you're destroying Cathy's life?! If you really loved her you'd go away and leave her alone, rather than persist in tormenting the life out of her. . . GNGRRNG!" I do apologise to all Heathcliff fans - but I honestly just can't stand the man.

Wuthering Heights will be released sometime in 2010. What is it with all these 2010 films?! *Sighs* it's such a long time to wait! It will certainly be a year of (hopefully) good movies - Wuthering Heights, My Fair Lady, and, most importantly, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader!


Photo by Pete Barnes, from his blogspot

Oh, and while you're in a cinematical mood, have a look at RottenTomatoes.com's list of the best animated films of all time. You might be surprised to see which one comes in first!

21 comments:

Andy said...

Daniel Day-Lewis and Keira Knightley are great choices for My Fair Lady! It should be good. Yep, it looks like there are a number of good movies on the way...

I'm looking forward to the new version of Little Dorrit which will be coming out on DVD eventually...

The Editrix said...

Oooooh yes, I can't wait to see Little Dorrit - in the UK they're watching it now, lucky them! I'll have to wait til the dvd is available - I think the series has 14 weekly episodes, so it might be a few months before the dvd set is released, even in the UK. . .

Bethany Hudson said...

Thanks for the movie heads-up. I'm always so behind on these things. I have to say I'm itching to see Day-Lewis as Higgins, though I will of course miss Rex Harrison's distinctive voice.
~Bethany

The Editrix said...

Yes, it seems strange at first to think of anyone other than Rex Harrison as Prof. Higgins - but no doubt Day-Lewis will put his own distinctive spin on the character. I'm itching to see what he'll be like, too!!

Theresa said...

Hmm... I'm not in favour of Keira as Eliza. What's with all her Elizabeth characters!?
I love the musical but seriously don't like the 'get me to the church on time' song. eeek! I hope they change it in the new film!

The Editrix said...

Haha yeah, I hadn't thought of that - Elizabeth in three movies, Pirates of the Caribbean, P&P, and now My Fair Lady! (Or technically 5 movies because there are 3 Pirates movies.) Maybe she should change her name to Elizabeth Knightley. . .

I agree, both that song and "With a Bit of Luck" were rather irritating. I know Eliza's father is supposed to be irritating, but still. . .

Clare said...

No Megan Follows? I loved her so much as Anne. The movie will be fun to see, though Kevin Sullivan's departures from Montgomery can be rather disastrous at times.

I'm so very much looking forward to the new My Fair Lady. As someone very much attached to the original play, I'm excited to hear that they'll be drawing a bit more from that source.

I raised my eyebrows a little when I heard about Keira Knightley, but after actually pausing long enough to think about it, I think she's a good choice and will do well.

My chief concern is about Higgins. If they were just doing the straight play, I'd have no worries, but as Rex Harrison invented that unique Higgins 'singing' style, I'm worried that anyone who attempts to follow him up will either look like an imitator or like he's trying too hard to be someone different.

There have been Higgins beside Rex Harrison on stage, before, but my memories of seeing My Fair Lady on stage several years ago aren't encouraging... Higgins wasn't very good.

Nevertheless, I'm excited!! I don't know the chap's name, but said chap who played Prince Edward in Enchanted would be a hysterical Freddy Eynsford-Hill.

I hadn't heard about the upcoming, Wuthering Heights, so thanks for bringing that to my attention!

Last paragraph of an already rather long comment ;)... thanks for stopping by AMW. I don't know if I would have discovered your blog, otherwise, and it looks so delightful, and such fun. I'm going to read a little through your archives now.

God bless!

Theresa said...

"chap who played Prince Edward in Enchanted would be a hysterical Freddy Eynsford-Hill."

Haha! You are so right! He was also in Hairspray, ah, it was good. I love Freddy so I hope they choose someone good!

The Editrix said...

Lol! Yes he'd be perfect as Freddy!!

Clare, thank you so much for your encouraging words - I'm so glad I found your blog, I think it's gorgeous!

Don't worry - I myself have been known to post profanely long comments, so think nothing of it :)

Anna-Ruth said...

You don't like Heathclift either! What a relief! He drove me insane! (well not really, but still!)

The Editrix said...

Whew! Well that's a relief - I'm not the only one who doesn't like him! I can rest easy knowing I'm not weird for not having a big crush on Heathcliff. :-)

Anna-Ruth said...

Hehe, lol!

Livi said...

I think the new "Little Dorrit" is on youtube! I started watching it today, not much of it though, but it looks cool. Oh and Heathcliff gets on my nerves too! : )

The Editrix said...

Oh wow, thankyou so much!! I've been checking Youtube periodically to see if anyone would post it, but the last few days I gave up and didn't check.

Thanks again! :D

Livi said...

I went to watch some more of "Little Dorrit" just now and found out that it has been taken off youtube! Very disappointing. : (

The Editrix said...

:o Oh no! Lucky that I was able to catch it the other day. . . I watched the first couple of episodes. It's good, but from what I've seen so far I don't think it's the best miniseries the BBC have done - it's certainly not as good as Cranford or North and South for instance, although Matthew MacFadyen is lovely as the hero.

NotMyOwn said...

I must say that I think Kiera Knightley is a rather brilliant choice to play Eliza in the new "My Fair Lady." I may not be a big fan of hers necessarily, but I think she just seems to fit right into the role of Eliza! I didn't know they were making another version of that musical, so thanks for the info. ;)

The Editrix said...

No problem! :D I couldn't agree more regarding what you said about Keira as Eliza Doolittle. :)

NotMyOwn said...

I hope that they make the ending of the new "My Fair Lady" more satisfactory than the old one, however...My mom and sister say they probably won't even watch the new version if the ending isn't improved. :P

The Editrix said...

Hm, yes "Where the ***** are my slippers" indeed! Hopefully they will change the ending!

Anonymous said...

OOOOH! Daniel Day-Lewis!!! You know he plays almost the exact same role in A Room with a View, when he plays Cecil Vyse. Kinda snobbish and stuck-up, kinda distant from the rest of the world...fuuun. If nothing else, I may watch it for that!

Although My Fair Lady is one of my fave if not my fave musicals...it'll be difficult not having Audrey and Rex together! Rex IS Henry, you know? So this'll be interesting. I was iffy about Kiera at first, but it was an interesting comparison you brought up about the Kiera/Audrey connection. So true! Sooo this will be really interesting...

You have a really neat blog! I love all your costume drama reviews...my mom and I are just beginning to delve into BBC dramas and we love 'em! Oh, and I ADORE Lorna Doone! Thanks!