Alert Janeite Amo got to see the BECOMING JANE trailer and was kind enough to take notes and send us a very complete description.

Laurence Fox’s character is called Mr Wisley? Mr Fisley? Lefroy (who speaks with an English accent), tells Jane she needs him to “broaden her horizons”(or some arrangement of that phrase). At one point Jane , who is in a wood with a female friend (pretty sure not Cassandra) sees (from behind a bush) two young men from behind, naked, running into a lake. Presumably this is the nudity the film got a PG rating for.

Very possibly, and we do hope that is all of it!

She says something about novels needing “showing intent” and showing us “as we really are” or similar. This appears to be done to separate her from Lefroy’s flashy, gritty(not sure that’s exactly what i mean) worldiness (ie boxing, tousled hair, telling young ladies you hardly know you want to broaden thier horizons…)

Some thoughts (although the following might a) turn out to be of no consequence in the film as a whole b) not be of interest to anyone c) both) :

*Hathaway’s accent appeared to be perfect. And I’m not usually so generous, but for goodness sake it was less annoying than Knightley(!) She seems to have improved since “Nicholas Nickleby” (incidentally, might be worth checking out for anyone who wants to see her in a bonnet as a sort of dry-run), possibly because of McAvoy’s support. He’s always been great at accents - her costar in “NN”, Charlie Hunnam doesn’t seem able to shake off his Geordie lilt. Ever.

*The film could easily be retitled “Jane vs the Blondes”. Her mother, Mr Wisley(?), Maggie Smith’s character all have blonde/ blonde-grey hair. It’s probably a bit early to say this is some lame nod to the brunettes are clever/ sensible/ less attractive cliche - the same sort of thing that makes people insist Jane must be played by Quasimodo’s sister - but i’ll say it anyway, cos it certainly struck me.

*The costumes look really clean. I know people say that P&P2005 laid it on a but think with the dirt and the “oh look aren’t the Bennets poor” thing, but i quite liked it. I’m all for pretty costumes, but i think that level of fussiness belongs best in something a little hightened and silly like Sophia Coppola’s “Marie Antoinette” or the BBC adaptation of “The Young Visitors”. Not that i’m an expert in period fasions - and i could aways be influenced by their obvious newness - but some of the costumes looked a bit modern, but it’s only the sort of stuff that you can find already in pictures on Anne Hathaway fansites, so i’m sure if it were grossly unrealistic, someone would have kicked up a fuss by now.

Um…haven’t we? We seem to recall some complaints from the papp shots of the ballroom filming that there was an odd combination of 1780 and 1810 in the costuming. Not major complaints, just some oddness. And we definitely complained about Anne Hathaway’s bangs.

*This film seems quite flaky. Never mind doing scene for scene comparisons for the BBC/ Working Title P&Ps, numerous shots from the trailer are highly reminiscent of P&P2005. More than anything this makes me feel sorry for the writer/cast/ crew. I just don’t think this film should have been made now. After P&P05 and “Miss Potter”, it feels like a bit of a joke. It’s didn’t just feel like a cliched Austen trailer. It felt like a cliched romance, a cliched period film, a lazy, cliched, easy film.

Urg.

I’m not at all surprised that the guy who directed it also directed “Kinky Boots” which takes all the elements of the britflick (aspiration, opposition, a hint of sauciness, lots of cameos etc) and slowly baked them in in thick sauce of lame, before garnishing the dish with a sprinkle of “well, maybe it’ll sell well overseas”. That said, those types of films often feature actors giving undeservedly charming performances considering the state of film, right…? And Chiwetel Ejiofor did just get nominated for a Golden Globe for that, so maybe there is hope for Jane herself! Ok, rant over. I’m a little surprised i just wrote all that acutally. I mean, this is still a film I’m looking forward to, plan to go see, and expect to like, so…

*Despite the superficial similarities to P&P 2005, they seem to be labouring the Elizabeth/ Darcy overtones a bit. After a few shots of their meeting and early encounters, I didn’t really realise that she was meant to dislike Lefroy, until she sits down and writes (in a journal? letter?) how much she hates him. But them again, the person on IMDb seemed to like this strand of the story (from what they saw of the trailer) so i may be alone on that one.

Now, that part is probably completely Made Up, as Jane and Tom were together only a few weeks and seemed to like each other from the beginning. Their story was NOT Elizabeth and Darcy’s, not by a long shot.

Considering how thick the film lays it on about Jane’s writing being *scandalous*, i did rather enjoy the frostiness in the cinema that greeted the (slight!) rustling as i scrambled for my notepad, and opened a new packet of pens i had in my bag to take down notes.

Hee.

Also, Alert Janeites Franka and another correspondent who did not give a name sent a link to four BECOMING JANE stills at annie-hathaway.com. that were gacked by some fansite or other from somewhere but this is the link we received and we honestly don’t give a crap so deal with it.

Thanks to Alert Janeite Heather L for finding this, and also to Alert Janeite Franka for reporting it in comments, since we were too lazy (and busy) to blog all weekend.

ITV has put up a new trailer for its Winter Season, featuring scenes from Northanger Abbey 2007 definitely, and possibly some of the other films. Unfortunately we have no time to parse it this morning, so discuss away.

The Editrix is particularly delighted to report that her hometown newspaper, The Philadelphia Inquirer, reported in its year-end roundup of its weekly Influential People features that the overall favorite author of those profiled in 2006 was Jane Austen, narrowly edging out Ernest Hemingway.

Most often named? It was a neck-and-neck fight among the glittering bantams of insight and language, but when the feathers settled, Jane Austen had just edged Ernest Hemingway. (Oddly enough, both authors were named in response to “Book or author other people praise but I never liked”!) William Faulkner was also way up there.

Pretty good company…and we’re really happy that Jane is so influential round these parts. Must be something in the water, which in Philly comes in creamy or chunky style.

Canadian tour company Uniglobe Plus is offering two Mysteries and Dramas escorted tours this year, one in spring and one in autumn.

Its Mysteries & Dramas escorted tours to Britain include a May 7 trip, which explores Southern England, from Kent to Cornwall, with stopovers in Royal Tunbridge Wells, Salisbury, Torquay and London.

Tour participants will recognize locations featured on TV series from Britain such as Foyle’s War, Midsomer Murders, The Vicar of Dibley and Doc. Martin, as well as period dramas Pride & Prejudice, Moll Flanders, Persuasion, Emma and Tom Jones.

Movie locations featured include Ann of the Thousand Days, Elizabeth, The Golden Age, The Da Vinci Code and The French Lieutenant’s Woman.

A second tour, departing Sept. 8, begins in Scotland and travels south through England’s North Country and Lake District.

TV settings include Heartbeat, The Royal, All Creatures Great and Small, Rebus and Born and Bred. Period drama locations include Jane Eyre, Pride and Prejudice and several Catherine Cookson dramas.

They also are not cheap but we think some of our readers might be interested in such a tour. We think, however, that they are not as totally cool as the one we posted previously.