Wanted: one hairstylist, must bring own hairpins
What is it with hairstylists on Jane Austen adaptations these days? Are they incapable of a simple updo, for Jane’s sake? A bun! That’s all it is! A bun! It’s not that hard! You can even use fake hair! And we have electric curling irons! They were capable of the danged hairstyle in 1812 without benefit of bobby pins or Extra Hold Hairspray, surely you can manage it! Billie Piper has more hair than Emma Thompson did when she made S&S and THEY managed it!
(The Editrix speaks from experience as she used to be the Goddess of Big Prom Hair in another life.)
Since we see Lord Byron hanging around in the background again looking disheveled and dissipated, we feel more certain that he is indeed Henry Crawford. The Lord High Mayor of You-Know-Where looks all right, we guess. *grumble*
Thanks to Alert Janeite Amo for sending the link.
November 25th, 2006 at 9:30 am
Well of course you must know that untidy hair in subliminal filmspeak, means a time of severe emotional crisis.
I’m seeing resemblances everywhere. This fresh image (and the prior Company one) of the mystery Henry Crawford looks like Richard McCabe playing Captain Benwick in the 1995 Persuasion. Or is it just the untidy hair?
November 25th, 2006 at 1:13 pm
I think Richard McCabe’s disheveled Byronic-ness was not unintentional, either. Let’s put it that way.
November 26th, 2006 at 12:57 am
The Lord High Mayor of You-Know-Where looks all right, we guess.
Hmm. I think he looks like that guy in The Killers.
Did they have hair sticks back then? Sticks are even easier to use than bobby pins.
November 26th, 2006 at 3:16 pm
I have the sneaking suspicion that the MP ‘07 production team are trying to channel Byron as much as they can. Note Henry Crawford’s shaggy black hair (honestly, I expected HC to bit a bit more dashing and well-groomed). Then there also is Edmund with his black, slick-straight hair (too much gel, methinks) and quite a bit of eyeliner to make him look dark and broody. It looks a bit overdone, in my opinion.
November 26th, 2006 at 7:57 pm
Too right. If we carry the argument of what the state of the hair implies, Edmund is clearly Master Propriety (note the conservative sleek-down!). He looks quite the part come to think of it. And at the other end of the spectrum is Henry Crawford, sporting a more devil-may-care look, and standing very significantly in the middle, representing the Crawford wedge threatening to separate the 2 cousins! I wouldn’t have preferred HC so dishevelled, I’d have guessed him to be Yates 1st!
November 27th, 2006 at 12:09 am
Is anyone else having a hard time picturing Billie Piper as Fanny? I’ve always imagined Fanny as a plain girl. A pretty girl, but plain nevertheless. Ms. Piper looks more like one of the Bertram girls to me from the pics we’ve seen. Any thoughts?
November 27th, 2006 at 11:07 am
I can’t imagine her as Fanny. She needs darker hair.
I suppose they’re taking their cue from the *coughpitifulcough* version of P&P where they did next to nothing with Elizabeth’s hair. But she wasn’t in an “emotional crisis”. In my opinion.
If I can do a sufficiently accurate regency up-do on MYSELF, I should think people who have gone to SCHOOL to learn how to style hair should be able to do the same.
Oh and, Men+Eyeliner= Jack sparrow copy cats. Not good for regency england there.
>_
November 27th, 2006 at 4:21 pm
I am not sure it is emotional crisis as much as plain old cheap trick sexiness. Somehow they feel they need to spice up Jane with sexy hair and broodiness. What they don’t get is that Jane is fine as she is and the subtle undercurrent of passion and romance does not need to be gaudy, showy or obvious. Long dishveled hair says Coyote Ugly to me, not MP. I agree that Fanny would not be a yellow tinny dyed blond either! (No offence to those who use color nor to Ex Goddesses of Huge Prom Hair).
November 28th, 2006 at 2:50 pm
“honestly, I expected H[enry]C[rawford] to bit a bit more dashing and well-groomed” -Marcy
E-zactly!! That is what I thought too.
November 29th, 2006 at 12:31 am
Persuasion 2007 and Northanger Abbey 2007 so far look great to me. No complaints on these new upcoming versions. I have a bit more of a gripe on MP 2007. Not too crazy about the casting so far and though I like Billie Piper in Dr. Who (which is modern), I admit that I never did picture Fanny as a blonde while reading the book. I’m not quite sold on Blake Ritson as Edmund or mystery guy playing HC yet, either.
I have yet to find an MP adaptation that was, as Goldilocks would say, “just right.” 80’s MP had poor acting and casting was off (sorry, Sylvestra le Touzel). ‘99 MP was laughably off in every way possible that I could not even consider it an ‘adaptation.’ If not for Jonny Lee Miller, I would not have added that dvd to my JA collection.
Why can’t these costume designers, and hair and make-up folks take a cue from more recent adaptations like “North & South” and “Jane Eyre?” That is….simplicity is key. These two adaptations had a realism and grittiness to them that made them more accessible to viewers. The ladies were attractive yet not overdone. The men were somewhat coarse and rough-around-the-edges yet were still pleasing to look at. The costumes are supposed to lend to the realism of the story and help transport the viewers to that day and age; not distract them from it. Let’s hope for the best, however, and that the final product will be a vast improvement from what we’ve seen done to MP so far.