Gee, he doesn’t LOOK that much like the Lord High Mayor of Wankerville
(Have we mentioned that we have Issues with Edmund Bertram? Lately?)
Alert Janeites Sylvia M. and Chantel let us know that there are two new photos from MANSFIELD PARK 2007 on the Company Pictures site, though still no real cast information. Blake Ritson is on the right, looking all Regency and stuff. On the left is Billie Piper, of course, (or even Billi Pipper!) and in the background a rather tousled, Byronic-looking Mystery Gentleman. We don’t know who he is; he’s not anyone on the cast list that we’ve managed to pick up in crumbs and bits because JANE FORBID ANYONE SHOULD MAKE A FORMAL ANNOUNCEMENT ALREADY FOR CRYING OUT LOUD. *ahem* Sylvia is of the opinion that he is Henry Crawford, and Chantel opined that she HOPES he’s Tom Bertram because Henry Crawford “should have a nicer hairstyle than THAT.”
We do think the tousled Byronic etc. etc. gent is playing Henry and Blake is playing The Lord High Mayor of Wankerville Edmund, but Jane knows we’ve been wrong before.
ETA: Alert Janeite Cinthia found an interview with Blake Ritson where he says he is playing Edmund. (And now we know why Googling “Blake Ritson Edmund Bertram” didn’t turn up anything. How silly of us to spell it correctly.) But who is Lord Byron back there, hmmm? Angie suggests in comments that he looks like Joe Beattie. Well, HELLO, Mr. Crawford. Can we get you anything? Coffee? Tea? A gentle tap with the Cluebat of Janeite Righteousness? (Another photo, and another, and one more…the resemblance is there, certainly.) The mystery continues…
November 18th, 2006 at 2:26 pm
The man in back looks awfully like Joseph Beattie…
November 18th, 2006 at 4:23 pm
Our mystery gentleman is Douglas Hodge. I remember him well as Roger Carbury in The Way We Live Now. He does not look like Henry Crawford to me… more like Mr. Rushworth, or Tom. If I were to take a guess as to which actor will be playing Henry, I would pick Joseph Morgan. And Blake Ritson, definitely, as the Lord High Mayor.
Our dear Jane certainly placed Fanny between a rock and a hard place, didn’t she?
November 18th, 2006 at 5:15 pm
Tony A, I don’t think it could be Douglas Hodge, as he is 46 years old (oh my - and I remember have an uber-crush on him back in 1990 as the delectable Declan in Capital City). More likely that Douglas has been cast as Sir Thomas. I think it is Henry, judging by the way he’s eyeing off a rather shocked Billie-as-Fanny.
And The Lord High Mayor of Wankerville - you must trade mark that one Mags!
November 18th, 2006 at 6:18 pm
Definitely, Ritson doesn’t look for the part of Edmund NASUTH Betram. I’m in complete agreement with your opinion of the character, Mags, and the ‘title’ you have given him is extremely well deserved.
And it is no longer a speculation, Blake Ritson is playing His Lordship, he has conffirmed it himself in an interview we completely missed since I do not know when, but it was posted at the IMDB forum for MP3. Here is the link:
http://www.itv.com/page.asp?partid=6766
IMHO, in the photo at Company Pictures, he looks more like Henry Crawford:
“when they first saw him he was absolutely plain, black and plain” - MP chapter 5.
I had always imagined Edmund as a blond, making the contrast with Henry Crawford. Apparently in these new adaptations they are going against my imagination, we have a Capt. Wentworth blond (when I have always imagined him with dark hair), Da Man we are specifically told he is dark-haired but in NA2 he will not be, and now this :(.
November 18th, 2006 at 6:19 pm
PS - Dreadful spelling in the interview, “Bertrum” and “Austin”. I need my salts.
November 19th, 2006 at 4:33 am
Oh, I got in SO much trouble in my JASNA reading group for calling Edmund LHMoW. It actually stemmed from my contribution to our set of reading questions, to wit:
How much of a wanker is Edmund Bertram?
a. Not that much of a wanker
b. Pretty much a wanker
c. Exceedingly wankerrific
d. Lord High Mayor of Wankerville
No one picked d. except for me. I got into a bit of a knock-down drag-out with my pal Diane Wilkes, who loves MP and defended Edmund quite spiritedly. She said he doesn’t MEAN to hurt Fanny, and if he knew that Fanny loved him he would never have said and done the things that he did. She is correct, of course, but he’s still a blockhead and he just infuriates me. At the AGM there were several Janeites who declared themselves members of SLEUTH–SLap Edmund Upside The Head. I think I’m a charter member.
Though of course Henry Crawford sets out purposely to hurt Fanny and that is much, much worse. He’s way past wankerdom.
Blake looks quite nice there, though, doesn’t he? (But Edmund’s still a wanker!)
Agree that Douglas Hodge is most likely playing Sir Thomas, or possibly Dr. Grant.
November 19th, 2006 at 9:56 am
According to PFD Douglas Hodge is playing Sir Thomas.
http://www.pfd.co.uk/clients/hodged/a-act.html
November 20th, 2006 at 12:17 pm
Henry is no wanker. Henry is even beyond being a prat.
The man is a cad, plain and simple. And that’s the same word on both sides of the pond.
November 20th, 2006 at 8:01 pm
indeed, i wouldn’t label henry as a wanker. or even a prat.
the guy is just one of those ridiculous people who has some sick, twisted sort of appeal to women. it is unfortunate that there is that tendency for people to be inexplicably attracted to the crawford’s of the world….
i like the looks of edmund. i think he’s a decent guy, i just sometimes wonder if he’s got a brain up there. the guy has got to be utterly clueless to not see that fanny is head over heels for him.
mags, i must agree with your friend, though. i don’t think he would hurt our beloved fanny purposefully!
he’s just infuriatingly oblivious.
November 20th, 2006 at 11:19 pm
Re-reading MP, the way Edmund lectures Fanny in the first chapter that doing things she does not like is good for her is really pissing me off. He is sooooo condescending.
November 20th, 2006 at 11:51 pm
Re-reading MP, the way Edmund lectures Fanny in the first chapter that doing things she does not like is good for her is really pissing me off. He is sooooo condescending.
Hmmm…..I think Edmund says this because he knows that’s the only way Fanny is going to survive in this new family. Self-discipline is the only way Edmund has managed to come out the good guy in the end, imo. Look at the people around him. His mom, brother, sisters, etc., don’t have one ounce of discipline. Aunt Norris is certainly not a good example to him. I think his father is self-disciplined to be able to run his estates, but he spent all his time running the estates. The children were basically left to themselves except for the governess.
November 21st, 2006 at 12:34 am
I’m glad to hear it confirmed that Doug Hodge is playing Sir Thomas. I used to have a crush on him in “Middlemarch” and he is such a talented actor. He played a somewhat older, straitlaced man in “The Way We Live Now” so I really can picture him as Sir Thomas from that performance.
Re-reading MP as well. I’m still flying on air from just finishing “Persuasion” so will pass judgement on Edmund the wanker when I’ve refreshed my memory. I must say Blake Ritson looks much better than I expected him to look. Some of his earlier pictures did not do him much credit in my book.
Mystery man must be Henry Crawford. “Black and plain” and this man in the pic is both (and yet with a rather sly, saucy smile that befits the cad Henry). I think Joseph Morgan would’ve also been a perfect Henry but I think one of the earlier set pics already established him as William Price and he does have blonde hair that matches Billie’s (Fanny).
November 21st, 2006 at 10:27 am
If that’s not Joseph Beattie, I’ll eat my hat - I’d know that face anywhere!