It’s ALIIIIIIIIVE!
You know how many of you have been up in arms about the new adaptations of Persuasion and MP? Well, they’re gonna seem like high class entertainment in a few months.
Alert Janeite Carmen found an article that reports Lost in Austen will be broadcast on ITV in April. Be afraid, Gentle Readers. Be very afraid.
Indeed, 2008 is a strong year for imagination on the channel, with April?s Lost in Austen seeing Jemima Rooper as a big Pride and Prejudice fan who steps into the pages of her favourite book and finds she has replaced her favourite heroine.
Gentle Readers, this may sound innocuous and maybe even a little fun, but it’s really just a mess. You will have to trust your Editrix on this one. She has some very good sources. One disclaimer: the sources were pre-production and certain things might have changed. If they did, we’re still talking mediocre fan fiction at best, but at least perhaps not offensive. Life on Mars was one of the best shows we’ve ever seen. Don’t be fooled by this article into thinking that Lost in Austen will compare.
February 5th, 2008 at 1:57 pm
Okay, I’m afraid. I could see it working if the heroine became one of the peripheral characters, but not Lizzie!
And an American remake of LOM?? To borrow a phrase :), “I may vomit.”
February 5th, 2008 at 3:30 pm
I want to like this because I love so many of the actresses in it. But… well, things don’t look good for it.
February 5th, 2008 at 4:16 pm
I think it will work if the Mr. Darcy is also a modern day character who has been dumped into Austen times. When this Amanda goes back to reality the Darcy guy will too and they will get together in real life.
February 5th, 2008 at 4:42 pm
http://www.itv.com/Drama/perioddrama/LostInAusten/default.html
hmmm not sure about this!
what was the name of the novel this is based on?
February 5th, 2008 at 5:01 pm
Did the author of the novel get the idea from reading The Eyre Affair???
February 5th, 2008 at 6:40 pm
Nooooooooooooooooooooooooo.
(Also: I wish someone would care about her other novels for once. I am sick of Elizabeth Bennet. Sorry!)
February 5th, 2008 at 7:48 pm
“Jemima Rooper stars as the beautiful modern day heroine who enters the world of Lizzie Bennet and her family, the famous characters from Pride and Prejudice.”
I bet she has violet eyes. And she’s fascinating. But tragic. Tragically fascinating. And Darcy falls instantly in love with her. She’ll call him “William.”
Sweet Mary Sue.
February 5th, 2008 at 9:16 pm
No violet: irisdescent. And she will be better and prettier than Elizabeth Bennet, ’cause it’s the power of TEH MARY SUE, MWAHAHA.
“Lost in Austen has the high production values of period drama.” Wait… ITV? High production values? Ok, now I’m lost.
February 5th, 2008 at 9:17 pm
Iridescent, sorry.
February 5th, 2008 at 10:32 pm
Oh, Julie. You’re sooooooo close. Hee hee.
Kaz, no novel, unless you count P&P; there’s a book called Lost in Austen (Being Elizabeth Bennet in the UK) that has nothing to do with it. I believe this is an original screenplay.
February 5th, 2008 at 11:06 pm
This story practically writes itself: the heroine will simultaneously shock and delight Mr. Darcy with her modern sensibilities and thong underwear.
February 6th, 2008 at 4:11 am
Oh no! Miss Macdonald…I think it will be in that way.
Is Life in Mars good? Great. It premieres in my country next Sunday
February 6th, 2008 at 4:46 am
Wasn’t this story played out already with Bridget Jones’ Diary? I was wondering if anyone liked Jane Austen Book Club? No mention of it on the site :X
February 6th, 2008 at 9:45 am
Darcy will only have eyes for her, not Elizabeth, as long as Mary Sue’s around. He’ll confess all his inner pain to her — after all, he’s not a stuck-up prig, only shy — and afterwards they’ll share another sort of intimate moment. Darcy will be, uh, quite generously proportioned, and she’ll teach him modern lovemaking secrets. Then she’ll be shockingly transported back to her own time, leaving Darcy pining for her, but inexorably attracted to Elizabeth, because her forthrightness and arch manner reminds him of his violet-eyed and bewitching Mary Sue.
Mary Sue, upon arriving back to her own time, finds she is pregnant with Darcy’s baby. Oh, WHAT a surprise. The baby is born, and he looks JUST LIKE Darcy, except for his eyes, which are violet and mesmerizing like his mother’s. Mary Sue names him William, and her friends and family are forever puzzled as to who the handsome father is. She smiles knowingly and wistfully when pressed about the father’s identity.
February 6th, 2008 at 10:30 am
Julie, I love it!
Except that you forgot the scene where Mr. Darcy and his new bride Elizabeth are in bed, hair tousled from hours of exertion. Elizabeth rolls over, stares incredulously at her husband, and asks, “William dear, where on Earth did you learn how to do that?” Of course, Darcy just grins and pounces on her for another go, chest hair irresistibly cascading from his night shirt.
February 6th, 2008 at 10:44 am
Make it stop. Please. I’m starting to develop a twitch like Captain Darling in Blackadder.
February 6th, 2008 at 11:38 am
Hilarious!!
Dear Jane, I hope not!
February 6th, 2008 at 5:01 pm
I was wondering if anyone liked Jane Austen Book Club? No mention of it on the site
Plenty of mentions back when it came out.
I liked it very much! My favorite of all the most recent Austen-related films, mainly because it was FUNNY! There’s a review in the category at the link somewhere.
February 7th, 2008 at 3:28 am
I now have horrific images of cascading chest hair on a loop in my head.
February 7th, 2008 at 12:11 pm
I really like Jemima Rooper, but… er.