Could somebody please make up their mind?
December 28, 2006
BECOMING JANE is coming out in AUGUST now?
Aug. 3: “The Bourne Ultimatum” is third time Matt Damon has picked up his gun; “Underdog” will use special effects around Jason Lee, Amy Adams and Peter Dinklage to illustrate the title character; and “Becoming Jane” has Anne Hathaway as a 20-year-old Jane Austen meeting the man who would inspire Pride and Prejudice.
“The man who would inspire Pride and Prejudice.” Oh, please, dear Jane, tell us that is NOT how they are selling this film. Does the Editrix have to Cluebat a publicist?
Meanwhile, looks like March across the pond; and the language seems to confirm that they are trying to make our head explode.
Leave a Comment
Comments are closed.
They probably keep pushing it back because they fear the pain the Cluebat will inflict.
*Worriedly hands Mags soothing cup of tea, pats on shoulder*
I’m sorry my dear. But of course that’s how they’re going to be selling it. I fear those cigar-chompers in Hollywood think there are few enough of us out here who would know better. All we can do is groan and bare it (the cluebat, that is), telling as many people as we can about the Made.Up.Story. Hell, most of them probably don’t know better. They’re just coasting along on what whoever pitched the script told them. It’s highly likely you’re already familiar with this anecdote from Sue Britwistle when she was trying to drum up financing for the P&P miniseries, but it’s always worth repeating:
I was telephoned by one potential backer. The call went like this:
“We’re very interested in putting £1 million into Pride & Prejudice. Can you tell me who’s written it?”
Since they were prepared to invest so much money, I assumed that of course they knew the book and just wanted to know who had adapted it. I said “Andrew Davies”, and then added as an afterthought: “from the novel.”
“Novel? What novel?”
“Er…the novel. By Jane Austen”
“How are you spelling that?”
“A.U.S.T.E.N.”
“Is she selling well?”
“Er…yes, very well.”
“How many copies has she sold?”
“You mean altogether?”
“Yeah. Since publication.”
“Since…er…1813?”
There was a long pause. “You mean she’s dead?” (Another pause). “So she wouldn’t be available for book signings?”
The release date for UK is March 16 amd for USA is 3 August.
Hey Karim, if you’re gonna cuss me out you could at least have the stones to sign your name.
Now shoo on back to the hellish digital wasteland that is the IMDB and let the grownups talk, mmkay?
P.S. The movie? Will suck.
Is that Karim? I thought he was more polite than that. I thought he had better spelling too. But you’ll notice all the bad words are spelled correctly. That is a step in the right direction. Funny how some people never learn that others will give your words more credence if you can refrain from using profanity.
The High Priestess knows all, sees all. Especially IP numbers.
Still, it is naughty of me to poke the fanboys with a sharp stick, and I’m probably just buying myself trouble, but sometimes I can’t resist.
Naughty, naughty… But he does have stones… between his ears. So please don’t use that stick on the poor guy. Personally, I refuse to do a battle of wits with an unarmed fella.
Comes and asks High Priestess if she can borrow the Jane Cluebat.
BASH…BASH..BASH! Silly me to think that Jane actually wrote any other book other than P&P! Well, if it’s coming out in March in the UK, despite my misgivings (cough) I will watch it (possibly then remove hot nails from eyes) and then happily send a report across the pond to the Great and Wise Editrix.
~sigh~ It is usually not my place to find it necessary to respond to people such as Karim, but his rant above reminded me of this little quote from a wise person:
The worst thing in the world is for a person to be both ignorant and arrogant at the same time.
Change of heart… I take back my nasty remarks.
This morning I happened to hear Dance of the Hours playing on the radio and suddenly visions of hippos in tutus dancing the ballet swam in my head. I realized that without Hollywood, the arts would be dead by now!
So I apologize to mR. aNONYMOUS. No, he doesn’t have stones. Remember that it’s guys like him who grow up, if they grow up, to become Hollywood cigar-chompers. Keep this in mind the next time you are searching for financing for your screenplay from them cigar-chomping Hollywood producers.
As long as we’re in the spelling/grammar mode, isn’t it “could someone please make up her [not their] mind?”
Mags, all I am saying is that why do you blame the ppl who made becoming jane without even seeing it. from the people who have seen it they have said that its great and that anne is great and if you dont give it a chance i swear to god I am goona ruin this blog for you.. It isn’t fair saying negative stuff about that movie without even seeing it…GIVE IT A CHance please!!! NOT JUST because its a made up!!! so take care honey…. If you have seen this movie and didnt like it i wouldnt have said anything bad.. and please remove from the page: Thanks for Karim for posting the news in comments.. I dont want my name written in a blog that isnt fair!!!
Ah, but what if it’s a “he” rather than a “she?”
Personally I’m waiting for Hollywood to come to me. I’ll be waiting a long, long, long time.
Was it really Karim or just someone using the same computer? Will we ever know? Which came first, the chicken or the egg?
I take back the question now that Karim has posted again.
Karim if you don’t want to be associated with something that isn’t fair, I suggest you stay away from blogs altogether. Opinion does not have to be fair. And blogs are entirely based in opinion. Also no one forces you to participate. I’m not saying you’re wrong, but you need to remember that you don’t have to let these things upset you. How you REACT may not be up to you, but how you RESPOND is.
Again Karim, you missed the point. It’s not the movie itself that is being bashed: it’s the marketing campaign.
Yes…I was in too much of a hurry to make a fine point as to gender and number agreement in my title. Dorothy has been dispatched to fetch sackcloth and ashes.
Karim, when people see BECOMING JANE and come to the Internet to learn more about Jane Austen, I hope they will find AustenBlog and learn that the film they just saw, however charming, is indeed a Made Up Story. My loyalty is to Jane Austen and will remain there. Don’t worry, Miramax has way more power to convince the world to see the film than a little bitty blog has to prevent it.
Continued anonymous and/or abusive posting will result in banning. I find it amusing but our readers find it less so. I’ve really only banned one person before this, for sockpuppeting, but I’m sure you’ll join your little friends over at the IMDB who insist That Mean Old Unfair Snarky Mags Is Picking On Us And Our Movie And ZOMG It’s So UNFAIR If She Doesn’t Stop We’ll DIEEEEEEEEE. Meanwhile, I’ll be sitting over here laughing at you, because that’s what Jane would do.
What is “sockpuppeting?”
One person posting using two or more different names to have conversations with him or herself (or to abuse with one persona and praise with another). It’s immature and gets on my nerves.
Really Karim, if you can’t see, as Ina points out above, that it’s the marketing campaign Mags is taking issue with, I seriously doubt it’s worth the trouble of dicussing this with you. ‘The man who inspired Pride & Prejudice’? Puh-lease. That is getting about as close as you can to false advertising.
One thing I do want to comment on is your little bleat: “if you dont give it a chance i swear to god I am goona ruin this blog for you.” And you’re squealing about Mags being unfair? Kiddo, this is her blog and she can write whatever she damn well pleases in it. Yet here you are thinking you’re entitled and justified to try and ‘ruin’ it if you don’t agree with her opinions? The mind boggles.
In case you haven’t noticed, this blog is run and largely patronised by what you would call Jane Austen ‘purists’: People who are such huge admirers of the author and her work that they tend to be deeply suspicious when people start tweaking or changing anything about Austen to suit their own purpose. Not to say we are not capable (even Mags) of enjoying Becoming Jane as a Hollywood creation (if it’s well done), it’s just distressing because a lot of people are probably going to believe that it truly reflects what really happened in her life. In short, it’s going to be telling lies about Jane – and that can get our temperature up. That’s the kind of fans we are. That’s the way it is. And we’ve got every bloody right to be this way without having people threaten to ‘ruin’ the blog because they disagree with the standpoint! I don’t know when I’ve last come across such arrogance. If you don’t like it, don’t visit.
Karenlee: in my experience there is no point in trying to reason with fanboys. Laugh at them à la Lizzy Bennet or ignore them, but trying to reason with them is like trying to put lipstick on a pig; you just get all muddy and annoy the pig. I do appreciate your eloquent defense, though.
Imagine if this was going to be a film that the majority of Janeites could support wholeheartedly. Wouldn’t that be exciting and fun and really something to look forward to? It’s kind of sad that most of us will not like it.
I’m sure there will be some Janeites who think it’s just great and can “separate” a Made Up Story from the truth and appreciate it for a well-made film. Most likely I will not be among that group, but I’ve been wrong before. If a film was made that stuck to all the facts and tried to get it right, I dare say there would be some quibblers who would nitpick it to death, since there are several schools of thought on Jane Austen biography. There is no scenario in which everyone would be happy.
So, What Would Jane Do? We can’t change it. Best to laugh at it. Right? Anyway, that’s where I’m coming from.
Hmm… it wasn’t actually so much a defence as a knee-jerk reaction. That’s just the way I feel. On the other hand, I think I’d like to qualify your statement (from my side) that “It’s kind of sad that most of us will not like it”.
I still have no idea how much I will like the movie or not. This is, I believe, the very first attempt to put her life (or part of it) on screen. I liked the book it was based on, but a lot will depend on where they place the emphasis. Obviously a lot of it is on Tom Lefroy (romance, romance!), but if they balance that out and put it in context with other extremely good insights in the book as to how she seemed to judge the world around her and marriage in general (judging from her letters), it might be entertainingly palatable – even if it is not completely accurate.
Maybe it sounds like I’m backtracking here on my previous standpoint about ‘telling lies’ about Jane, but I think it’s more about how they present it. A story showing her turning heartbroken to her pen because they parted I may well walk out of. But if the romance is just part of the ‘fodder’ that fuels a fire that was already there, I may well be able to find it tolerable and – depending on the acting, scenery and costumes – even enjoyable. Because in that case – if they’ve done all that well – they will (despite the ‘made up story’) maybe have brought a bit of Jane’s essence to the screen for the first time.
But I shall reserve judgement until I see it.
I have a really hard time with the filmmakers deliberately changing facts — such as Cassandra’s marital status. What purpose does this really serve? I know the film is meant to be fun, but it concerns me for several reasons: many people will believe that this is a true biography of JA, and future adapters of JA’s works and future JA biopic-makers will follow this same trend. More importantly, though, if the film does well, I’m afraid that all future JA projects will follow this trend; if the film does poorly, I suppose we may expect a moratorium on JA projects for a long time. The prospect of either of these outcomes depresses me.
Maisy, I have a feeling that the site that had Cassandra married is wrong–it might not be, but I’m giving the filmmakers the benefit of the doubt that they haven’t gone that far. Cassandra WAS happily engaged at the time of Jane’s romance with Tom Lefroy, and Tom Fowle was still alive. So maybe that’s what they meant–that she was engaged, her future was settled, and Jane’s wasn’t.
But, as I said, I’ve been wrong before.
I just wish we could convince filmmakers that their desires and ours are not at cross-purposes. They CAN make a popular film that Janeites will mostly like and approve of. I do think it can be done. I sat through two plays this fall, adaptations of JA novels, that everyone I was with just loved. Certainly things were changed, but we enjoyed them nonetheless. It CAN be done!
I’m ready to become one of those Janeites who hate all the films on general principles. (And then I rewatch Clueless and think, oh, that’s not so bad.)
Karim calling Mags a “Dumb ass crying like a baby”? How comic. How pleasant to know there will always be someone to smell up the blog with amusing, inane rants. “How shall we punish him for such a speech?”
“Nothing so easy, if you have but the inclination,” said Elizabeth. “We can all plague and punish one another. Teaze him — laugh at him. — Intimate as you are, you must know how it is to be done.”
“But upon my honour I do not. I do assure you that my intimacy has not yet taught me that. Teaze calmness of temper and presence of mind! No, no — I feel he may defy us there. And as to laughter, we will not expose ourselves, if you please, by attempting to laugh without a subject. Mr. Darcy may hug himself.”
“Mr. Darcy is not to be laughed at!” cried Elizabeth. “That is an uncommon advantage, and uncommon I hope it will continue, for it would be a great loss to me to have many such acquaintance. I dearly love a laugh.”
May we all have few acquaintances as serious as Karim!
Careful there Jessica Irene. You know what happened with Lizzy and Darcy.
Love the comment by the writer of the “Austen in USA Today’s faces to watch” snippet in the ‘She’s Everywhere’ section.
“In early 2007, Anne Hathaway plays Austen in Becoming Jane, which is about Austen’s relationship with the Irishman said to inspire her. As if she needed him!”
*gigglesnark*
The trailer has been released here in UK, it was shown along with the preview of Miss Potter. Sadly it isn’t online yet.
I live in the UK and the movie will be released here on the 5th.. How come ppl have seen it?
Thanks for trying to cheer me up, Mags.
Crossing my fingers and hoping you’re right about Cassandra.
Mags. I swear that wasn’t be who was fighting that was someone using my name.. I really not know if there are ppl here who use each others name and please forgive me. I didnt do anything… Although I am a fan of imdb I dont know how that guy knew that maybe someone a friend or so.. and Man I am not that bad in spelling hehe… BTW the Trailer of Becoming Jane is released in the UK now. I hope a link comes to the internet soon!! Take Care
Ina I will be most careful. Heaven forbid….
Karenlee, I loved that comment too! Bravo!!!! The reporter gets it.
Personally I believe Karim when he says it wasn’t him. Didn’t seem like his style.
In the pantheon of Lame-ass Excuses for Immature Fanboy Behavior on the Internets, “Somebody else was using my computer” is right up there with “The lurkers support me on e-mail.”
Ah but those of us with younger siblings can tell you that such treachery is, in fact, sometimes perpetrated.
Of course my sisters never pulled that on me, but that’s only because they knew that I won’t hesitate to strike back. And we didn’t have a computer at that stage.
that should be “wouldn’t” hesitate
Well, Ina, we’ve now caught Karim copying postings whole from the IMDB forum and posting under a second identity. I do not put up with sockpuppeting, and he’s been banned. He was warned, publicly.
It’s nice to think well of people but look what happened when Lizzy and Jane Bennet gave Wickham the benefit of the doubt.
Ok. I bow to your greater knowledge. I’m no expert. Sorry.