Bits n’ Pieces: March 1
Don’t forget to watch David Copperfield on Masterpiece Classic tonight as The Tales of Charles Dickens continues; tonight’s episode will be 90 minutes long, with next Sunday’s being 120 minutes. This adaptation is nearly ten years old ans stars Daniel Radcliffe in his first major role, and he is as cute as a button. The minisite is up on the Masterpiece website, and it features an interview with Radcliffe and Ian McKellan as they look back on making the film. It is interesting that these two parted ways and each became stars of the (nearly) rival fantasy series, Harry Potter and The Lord of the Rings.
The Times has an article out about Rupert Friend’s role as Prince Albert in the soon-to-be-released The Young Victoria,
I was especially touched by Sophie Okonedo’s role as the first black Nancy 
in Oliver Twist, so I have been doing some reading: the BBC had an interview with Sophie on her role, and the Times had an article about the same. I thought casting her was a bold and interesting move that certainly paid off. I am not familiar with all the socio-racial norms of the Victorian Era, so I couldn’t say if interracial relationships would be plausible in a Dickens’s work or not, but I greatly enjoyed Sophie’s performance. She is one of my favorite rising stars (her character in The Secret Life of Bees is also phenomenal). I did find this quote from the BBC interiew a bit odd:
She’s also completely and utterly in love with Bill Sikes, played by Tom Hardy; it’s quite a dysfunctional relationship but it works. He looks after her and she looks after him; he slaps her around a bit but that was all part of the times.
“He slaps her around a bit?” That actually made me laugh because it has to be one of the biggest understatements of the year. Lol. I didn’t get the feeling that she was utterly in love with Bill—the fear she communicated on 
screen made a deeper impression. I sensed a sort of helplessly devoted love—she did stick around after all, even when she could have safely escaped—but perhaps there was something deeper that I missed. All the more reason to watch it again!
Oliver Twist is now available on DVD at ShopPBS, but it is cheaper at Barnes & Noble ($16.99 compared to $19.99; if you are a B&N member, it’s even cheaper).
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