Felix writes to tell us of an episode of INSIDE THE ACTOR’S STUDIO featuring Hugh Grant. Mr. Grant praised Emma Thompson’s Academy Award-winning adaptation of SENSE AND SENSIBILITY:
I thought her screenplay was better than the book myself.
Seems like Miss Marianne was right about Edward L.F. Ferrars: “It is evident, in spite of his frequent attention to her while she draws, that in fact he knows nothing of the matter. He admires as a lover, not as a connoisseur.” A transcription of the interview is available here.
(We know someone will ask: “L.F.” is a joke between Your Gentle Editor and a Janeite friend, and the words that those letters stand for cannot be published in a genteel weblog such as this. We confess that L stands for “Lame.” We bid you, like Henry Tilney bid Catherine Morland during their curricle ride to Northanger Abbey, to “use your own fancy” in determining the second word. In the present instance, we find the full descriptive term fully warranted.)
We are also forcibly reminded of an interview of Alan Rickman on the Charlie Rose show, when Mr. Rose expressed great astonishment when Mr. Rickman mentioned that Emma Thompson had written the screenplay. We confess that we were driven to shout unladylike epithets at the television screen. She won an OSCAR for it! And well-deserved, though we dare say that even Miss Thompson would cavil at calling it “better than the book.”
(Thanks to Felix for sending the links! He may be regretting it now.)
