News on “Austen Season” films
Alert Janeite Sylvia M. wrote to tell us that Company Pictures has a page on their Web site for the upcoming television adaptation of MANSFIELD PARK. The site says that the film will be 90 minutes long and lists the producers: Suzan Harrison, George Faber (who was one of the producers of P2), and Charles Pattinson.
Following Sylvia’s example, we checked the Clerkenwell Films site looking for some info on the upcoming production of PERSUASION, but found nothing more than a news announcement. The item did confirm that the film will be a two-hour television adaptation.
Octagon Films, which is working on both BECOMING JANE and the new NORTHANGER ABBEY film, does not seem to have a Web site. Hmph.
We also heard from Laura Diann, who created the Northanger Abbey Film Page and also maintains the online magazine at the JA Centre at Bath. She heard from a young actress named Emma McMorrow who tried out for the role of Catherine Morland but did not get it; undaunted, Miss McMorrow is trying out for Marianne Dashwood in S&S3. If Miss McMorrow is reading this and would like to contact us directly with news and gossip about the casting of the various films, she may click Contact over to the right!
The news comes to us slowly….
July 18th, 2006 at 10:50 am
Here’s a link to Emma McMorrow’s page. I hope she gets a part in one of these films. She would have been a good Catherine going strictly on looks; but lets hope she can get Marianne or somebody else.
http://uk.castingcallpro.com/u/81785
July 18th, 2006 at 11:54 am
It’s hard to imagine Mansfield Park condensed to 90 minutes.
July 18th, 2006 at 12:01 pm
Mags here is a question for you: Do you know how on earth we here on the West side of the Atlantic will be able to see the new adaptions? I am getting all excited about the new films and then I just realized that they are being filmed for British television only. Would love some advice on how to procure myself a copy of these long awaited new adaptions. How do you plan on seeing them???
July 18th, 2006 at 1:01 pm
I’ve also been wondering about that, Jessica. I live in The Netherlands and, although I have BBC 1 and 2, I don’t have ITV… I suppose we just have to wait for the DVDs to come out! (Not sure if I can wait that long…) Perhaps they will also show it on Masterpiece Theatre in the US?
July 18th, 2006 at 1:15 pm
I know that the new S&S will be picked up by Masterpiece Theatre in the U.S. I dare say the other new films will be as well, but you might have to wait a while. That’s probably true for other parts of the world as well.
I have an all-region DVD player so I can buy the DVDs if I have to.
July 18th, 2006 at 8:14 pm
[...] And is it our admittedly overactive imagination or has the news blurb about PERSUASION on the Clerkenwell Films site changed since we posted about it less than 24 hours ago??? Clerkenwell Films’ TV Movie adaptation of Jane Austen’s PERSUASION for ITV1 is set to start shooting in September 2006. Simon Burke (Sons and Lovers, White Teeth) has written the screenplay and Adrian Shergold (Dirty Filthy Love, Ahead Of The Class) is directing. PERSUASION is set to broadcast in 2007 as part of ITV1’s Jane Austen season. [...]
July 18th, 2006 at 9:23 pm
90 minutes!!! That’s outrageous. I hope this news is wrong. They simply can’t do that! Isn’t this BBC? Aren’t they spending a very large amount on MP? Wouldn’t that mean it would be the usual 2-4 hours?
(Please? Or you don’t know what’s going to happen to you. Janeites can get vicious. Um hm. You might not think so because they behave so nicely -hey, was that the right way of using the word “nice”, Henry Tilney?- all the time. But sometimes, if they’re provoked…)
July 18th, 2006 at 10:10 pm
I should add that I’d rather wait for the films to come out over here…
July 19th, 2006 at 10:16 am
OK, I know I will be once again classified as grumpy, but I am apalled at the news that MP3 will be 90 minutes long. We knew it was going to be a tv film not a miniseries, as it will not be done by BBC, but I still cannot figure it out how could the story be condensed to that duration. NA and P are shorter novels, so though I would like to see long adaptations, miniseries preferably, I would not be surprised they can be done in less than 2 hours, but that is not the same with MP, wich is a long and complex novel. IMNSHO, it requires at least 2 hours and a half. I must lower my expectations about it. *sniff*
July 20th, 2006 at 10:01 pm
My poor dear fellow-Janites! Ninety minutes is indeed too short for MP. Personally I alternate between joyful expectation and dread. Let us hope they manage to keep somewhat to the book, and don’t cut out any of the seriously important things.
Being in America, and not having cable, I shall wait for DVDs.