The Telegraph has a tidbit about BECOMING JANE, the young-Jane Austen biopic (scroll down, it’s at the end of the piece):

Her novels have frequently been adapted for television and the big screen, but the author’s own story has been shrouded in mystery. Until now. Jane Austen is going to take centre stage in a new film that charts the novelist’s early life, entitled Becoming Jane.

“We’re starting shooting this summer,” says producer Douglas Rae. “It’s about the young Jane Austen and her one love affair with an Irish barrister called Tom Lefroy.” The young American actress Anne Hathaway (The Princess Diaries, Brokeback Mountain) will play Austen.

Oh goodie, something to obsess over once the P&P3 mania dies down.

Harry Reid of The Herald can’t figure out why people like Pride and Prejudice so much.

I find this extraordinary, for it seems to me that it is a novel crammed with malice and spite. I am told that it is satirical but I can find precious little genuine satire in it. . . .Austen has a serious capacity for dislike. She seems to dislike most of her characters and the dislike is not lighthearted. It is intense and cruel. Over the past few days I have been re-reading the novel carefully. My view is confirmed, and I simply cannot understand why so many people seem to find it a happy and comforting book. . . .In its presentation of women it is a sustained exercise in misogyny.

The poor man. It must be so difficult to go through life without a sense of humor. Shall we take up a collection and purchase one for him?

Paul, the editor of KeiraWeb.com, sent us some information about the documentary on the 1995 PRIDE AND PREJUDICE television miniseries, about which we posted yesterday. He spoke with the producer, Toby Stevens, who also produced the Comedy Connections documentary. The P&P documentary will follow a similar format, showing “the early careers of the cast and major crew (director/producer etc.) and how they came together for the production, what they’ve been up to since and lots of interviews and on-the-set footage,” Paul wrote. We can hear the fangirls swooning already.

Mr. Stevens did not mention a broadcast date, but Paul speculates that it will be shown in mid-September to correspond with the premiere of P&P3. We hope that the documentary will make it to AustenBlog World Headquarters’ side of the pond eventually. Of course, one never knows what rogue satellite transmissions might make their way across the Atlantic, does one?

Paul also mentioned that there is a rumor about that the world/European premiere of P&P3 “may take place at the Venice Film Festival which runs August 31st to September 10th. Working Title have a habit of placing world premieres for their movies at film festivals. Love Actually debuted at Toronto, for example.”

Thanks so much for the information, Paul! (And you Keira fans should definitely check out KeiraWeb.com.)

We will be upgrading the weblog software sometime on Tuesday evening, so please don’t panic if you come here and see a plain page with a “back soon” message on it. It shouldn’t take more than two hours, perhaps not even that long.