Potential casting news for new MANSFIELD PARK
The Stage has reported that ITV, whose planned Austen-centric season we blogged about back in November, is attempting to get Billie Piper (currently appearing in the new series of Doctor Who) to play Fanny Price in their adaptation of MANSFIELD PARK.
The article emphasizes, however, that nothing has been confirmed as of yet:
The Doctor Who star is understood to be in talks to take on the role of Fanny Price in the production, which is penned by Maggie Wadey and is being made by Shameless producer Company Pictures. A source told The Stage: “She is very, very busy but it would be a real coup.”
No other casting for MANSFIELD PARK or NORTHANGER ABBEY, ITV’s other new production, has been announced.
April 26th, 2006 at 8:14 pm
Hmm…interesting idea for Fanny, a bit wild and pretty isn’t she? I wonder if they want a blound or brunette Miss Price this time? I almost hope blound because it would set her apart from Frances O’Conner who she looks rather like than not!
But she is the right height and looks younger than her 24 years, so as long as she can play meek and shy and dull her beauty a bit I wouldn’t have too much of a problem with her.
April 26th, 2006 at 11:19 pm
She has a piquant little face in that photo that would work well for Fanny, though I am not familiar with her work.
I’m a little concerned about this bit, however:
If you want a “contemporary feel” don’t adapt books from the nineteenth century and screw them up! Does the Editrix need to Cluebat a b!tch?
April 26th, 2006 at 11:24 pm
the network’s plans to bring a wider audience and a more contemporary feel to its drama productions
Oh no… no, no. This is what I had feared. I had noticed that the most recent ‘period’ dramas looked too hard edged, clean, ‘contemporary’- in short.
April 27th, 2006 at 5:02 am
No way of knowing yet what it will be like, but I have a feeling the article meant that the actors would be contemporary, rather than the adaptation. This is how the quote goes on:
“Poaching Piper, who so far has only worked on BBC projects, would boost the network’s plans to bring a wider audience and a more contemporary feel to its drama productions, currently dominated by stars such as Martin Clunes, Robson Green and Caroline Quentin. ”
which, to a Brit, looks like a polite way of saying that Clunes, Green and Quentin - although very popular actors in the UK - are all in their 40s and have been on our screens forever, whereas Piper, who is a relative newcomer to TV, is a fresh new face. She’s also quite hip over here and would be likely to attract a young audience to the drama.
April 27th, 2006 at 7:49 am
Yes - and it’s a contemporary feel rather than a look or approach, so maybe we should keep our hopes up! But Billie Piper doesn’t strike me as Fanny Price … too feisty perhaps. I can see her in a JA adaptation however; Louisa Musgrove or Marianne Dashwood are more in keeping with Billie to me.
April 27th, 2006 at 7:50 am
I really hope they’re not modernizing MP, like BBC did with the “Shakespeare Re-Told” series, which, by the way, was just a bit awful. Piper is a talented actress, and I’m sure she’d do well as Fanny, but I really don’t want to see them contemporize this!
April 27th, 2006 at 8:13 am
Apparently, Ms. Piper did a really good job in the Canterbury Tales - anyone see that mini-series?
April 27th, 2006 at 8:33 am
Of course, who would have thought that Janey Harper would be a good period heroine? Yet Daniela Denby-Ashe was fantastic in NORTH AND SOUTH. I was sitting there going “I know her from somewhere” and then when I realized who she was I just about fell off my chair!
April 27th, 2006 at 1:49 pm
I think it could be interesting since the last Mansfield Park was pretty horrible. I was wondering why ITV hadn’t yet annouced anybody for their JA productions since their annoucement last November. Aren’t they supposed to show MA and NA in the fall?
April 27th, 2006 at 2:38 pm
I’m not familiar with Billie Piper at all. She looks quite a bit too sleek and sultry for my idea of Fanny Price but, like the example Mags gives, if she’s a truly GOOD actress, she may well be able to surprise us.
April 27th, 2006 at 3:21 pm
*hems* Dear Editrix, you should probably take a look at the latest google news. There are a few articles there about the debut of Emma the Musical.
April 27th, 2006 at 4:31 pm
Well, I hope this will be good. As far as I know the same script writer for NA (1987) is doing the script for this one. I hope we won’t have cartwheels, Michael Jackson look-alikes and a basic runaway with the plot.
April 27th, 2006 at 7:52 pm
“bring … a more contemporary feel.”
Hello?! Wasn’t that what MP2 tried to do?? It didn’t work every well (in my opinion).
April 27th, 2006 at 11:16 pm
Ali–I was wondering that myself. They should be shooting now to show them in the autumn. But I dare say if they’re in talks for the MP cast, the others are as well. Soon we’ll have lots of news, I think.
April 27th, 2006 at 11:34 pm
Dear Editrix (continued)
There are also some pictures of the Emma cast at the JE forum.
April 28th, 2006 at 4:03 am
Re: Billie Piper
I thought she was fine in Dr Who, never having seen her before (I am in Australia). Then I saw her in the Canterbury Tales and thought her excellent. So she could probably do Fanny quite well, as long as she can do demure and shy.