Anne Hathaway defends her casting in BECOMING JANE to Baz Bamigboye of the Daily Mail.

“I know there are a lot of people out there that are horrified that the girl from the Princess Diaries is playing Jane Austen,” Anne told me when we met for a cup of tea in Greenwich Village.

She added matter-of-factly: “I don’t blame them.”

Well, that’s awfully generous.

But Anne is passionate about portraying the writer who gave us some of the nation’s best-loved novels, Pride And Prejudice being one of them.

“I love her as much as any of the biggest fans so I don’t want to go in there and mess it up,” she added.

Sounds good so far…

The actress, who studied English literature at Vassar, can already do a pretty good English accent, but has been studying with a dialect coach to improve upon it.

“And I’m learning to play the piano,” she added.

Lovely!

But then…but then…oh, dear.

“We always think of Jane Austen as this woman who was a spinster, but she had this love affair which was one of the key relationships in her life.

“It awakened her sexuality and inspired a lot of the relationships she later wrote about in her novels,” Anne told me.

D’OH!

Okay, okay, on the surface that’s not so terrible, really. Jane did have the affair flirtation with Tom Lefroy. She did continue to think about him, apparently, as she mentions him in a letter a few years later. But it could so easily go wrong and turn into the kind of overly sentimental romantic claptrap that Jane mocked in Northanger Abbey.

“I’ve been reading her since I was 14 and in reading her, I know who she is. I have a handle on her spirit.”

We certainly hope so.

According to Yahoo, rehearsals for the film start next week.

This part, however, made us laugh.

There have been mumblings on Jane Austen internet blogs suggesting that Brooklyn-born Anne might not have the right sensibilities to play a Regency lady.

Us? Mumbling? Um, yeah, sure. *falls over laughing*

(And are there any non-internet blogs? Just asking.)

The media is trying to create a bigger controversy out of this than there really is, by the bye. We (and many other Janeites) have stated our objections to the description of the plot of the film that is being put about by the studio. Perhaps, as has been pointed out by commenters, the studio is purposely putting out disinformation to start a controversy that will get articles in the papers, and we are sufficiently paranoid *adjusts tinfoil hat* to think there might just be something to that. However, that would assume a level of Machiavellian manipulation of which we really do not think your average film studio suit capable. So, until we know different–in other words, when we actually see the bally movie–we will continue to remark upon the press reports as we see fit, and in our usual style.

Trust us, if the movie’s any good, we’ll be the first to let you know.

Also, for the record, for all those reporters out there reading us breathlessly waiting for the controversy, we (meaning the Editrix, who uses the editorial “we” because it amuses her) are not completely on board with the casting of Miss Hathaway but we are not completely against it, either, especially after seeing BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN. (The scene with the phone call? Blew us away. Totally. And we submit that it was one of the most important scenes in the film.) Just like any film, it might work, it might not; and we dare say there will be those Janeites who will like her and those who will not. We’re interesting that way, we Janeites; we’re not as homogeneous a group as some would portray us.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day, from the half-arsed Irishman (as our Da used to call us) who runs this internet blog, and in honour of Jane’s Irish friend.