Meet Colonel Brandon
Alert Janeite Lisa found an article in The Telegraph about David Morrissey, who is playing Colonel Brandon in the upcoming BBC production of Sense and Sensibility.
Morrissey, who plays the other male lead, Colonel Brandon, laughs. “Oh, there’s lots of talk about butching and sexing us up, but it’s only because the characters are given more screen time than in Ang Lee’s 1995 version. I don’t know how butch or sexy it will be to see me riding, but that’s what I seemed to spend a lot of time doing. I certainly bonded very well with my horse.”
Hmm…we thought the male characters WERE given more screen time in Ang Lee’s version. It remains to be seen how much more they will have in the miniseries. They do remember that Elinor and Marianne are the protagonists, correct? And are often NOT with the gentlemen?
June 18th, 2007 at 3:04 am
You mean to tell me that Jane Austen has been popular for roughly two hundred years for reasons OTHER than teenage girls and middle-ages housewives and the occasional prune-eating spinister wanting to see men prancing about in wet shirts? Surely, madam, you jest! Next, someone will suggest that S&S is actually more about the relationships between two sisters and how each growns than it is about romanace.
June 18th, 2007 at 3:05 am
Oh, I am a clever one. I meant “romance.” Sorry.
June 18th, 2007 at 1:11 pm
“Butching”? Is Andrew Davies sharing the screenplay with Sara Waters?
June 18th, 2007 at 2:23 pm
I’m really getting a bit annoyed by the fact that in every single article in which Andrew Davies is mentioned, they start to talk about how Colin Firth emerged from the lake in a wet shirt….. We KNOW that already!
Anyway, I’m really looking forward to this adaptation and to be honest, I have no objection to another wet shirt scene, or a horse-riding scene, or a duelling-scene, etc. etc.
But I agree, the relationship between Elinor and Marianne is more important than their relationships to the men. But I’m sure Andrew Davies knows that as well. He is some sort of Janeite, after all, adapting almost all her works…
June 18th, 2007 at 8:56 pm
I got the impression that David Morrissey meant he would have more screen time due to the fact that the miniseries would be longer than the film version.
June 18th, 2007 at 11:21 pm
Actually more disturbed by the idea of Scarlett Johansson and Natalie Portman in The Other Boleyn Girl. And a quick check of imdb… Ack! Eric Bana as Henry VIII. I must go somewhere and have a bit of a lie down.
June 20th, 2007 at 12:29 pm
Teresa, you are hilarious! And my sentiments exactly.