According to ComingSoon.net:

Mia Wasikowska (Alice in Wonderland) and Michael Fassbender (Inglorious Basterds) are in talks to star in helmer Cary Fukunaga’s feature adaptation of Charlotte Bronte’s classic novel, Jane Eyre.

Variety says the project is a period piece but will play up the gothic elements of the story about Jane (Wasikowska), a demure governess who discovers her surly employer Rochester (Fassbender) is harboring a dark secret.

British company Ruby Films’ Alison Owen and Paul Trijbits are producing with BBC Films and Focus Features from a script by Moira Buffini.

While I am very excited by this news, umm, good luck making this pretty lady “plain.”

Wuthering Heights, the family home of the Earnshaw’s in Emily Bronte’s haunting novel of the same name, is as much a character in the story as Heathcliff or Catherine. Unfortunately, for the production team on the 2009 adaptation of Wuthering Heights, simply finding a house that sat upon the moors proved impossible, much less finding one with some Gothic characteristics worthy of the imposing manor. Grenville Horner, the Production Designer, says in a behind-the-scenes video on Masterpiece Classic’s website, “You can’t find a house like that on the moors. They don’t exist; they just don’t. Nobody builds a house in the wilderness on the moors, you know?” So Wuthering Heights became a compilation of many different locations. The house chosen for Wuthering Height’s exterior shots, East Riddlesden Hall, was placed onto the moors using CGI, and the team built a physical gate to the house used for shots of people riding in from the barren wilderness and for blending in the CGI hous into the landscape of the physcial moors. The end result is stunning—I was under the impression that such a characteristically Brontean house could be visited!

Oh, this is big news!

Peter Webber has signed to direct the long-gestating big screen version of Wuthering Heights  with Gemma Arterton and Ed Westwick taking on the roles of young lovers Cathy and Heathcliff, says The Hollywood Reporter.

This time last year John Maybury was to direct the project with Michael Fassbender attached for the lead role of Heathcliff. Arterton steps in after Natalie Portman pulled out of the headline role of Cathy.

British production and finance label Ecosse Films principals Robert Bernstein and Douglas Rae will produce the tragic love story. Olivia Hetreed, who teamed with Webber on Girl With a Pearl Earring, wrote the script. (Comingsoon.net)

How exciting! I had begun to think this adaptation had been completely flushed down the toilet—but it lives (I hope this time, for good)!

After going from Natalie Portman, to Lindsey Lohan (ummm…?), to Abbie Cornish, we’ve finally got our Cathy. We’ve already seen Gemma Arterton in two costume dramas, the comical Lost in Austen and the depressing Tess of the d’Urbervilles. Seeing Gemma go from innocent, hapless Tess to passionate, unbridled, unruly Catherine Earnshaw will require some getting used to, but I am excited to see how she handles the new dimension.

Michael Fassbender was originally rumored to be playing Heathcliff, but now we have a relative newcomer. Ed Westwick’s filmography is about as brief as Arterton’s, and he is best known for his role in Gossip Girl. In my humble opinion, he looks a little boyish to be playing the menacing Heathcliff, but then again, I am partial to Tom Hardy’s impressive, almost frightening character. No matter—I am just wildly excited that this is being made at all!

No word yet on approximately when in 2010 we can expect this film.

A few weeks ago I watched the BBC’s 2006 adaptation of Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre, starring Ruth Wilson and Toby Stephens. I read the book last May for my term paper (which was nearly 20 pages—I got somewhat carried away ), so the details weren’t fresh in my memory. Having not recently re-read the novel, I don’t feel comfortable giving a lengthy review of the film. In a nutshell, I give it 4 out of 5 stars.  To be quite honest, it was pretty long, but Jane Eyre is not a short read, and the film was for the most part a true adaptation. So I certainly should not complain, and I highly recommend it if you have the attention span necessary to survive four hours of muted, but appropriate, action.

While doing some research on Ruth Wilson, who plays Jane Eyre, I stumbled across a lengthy exposition on the novel’s mistreatment by Hollywood and its significance for the genre of “feminist” literature. The author throws in a number of her own personal opinions, but she makes many wonderful points in her discourse and gives great insight into Jane Eyre’s message for women everywhere. “Why Jane Eyre Is More Important Than Iran’s Nukes” is definitely worth the read.

I also found a Daily Mail article that I remembered seeing around the time of the movie’s premier. “‘Jane Eyre’s’ agony over 15-inch corset” nearly made me cringe while reading it. Ruth Wilson’s dedication to the film’s accuracy is absolutely laudable, and it adds a whole new dimension to the film (and history) when one considers the persistent physical pain the actress (Victorian women) is enduring in every scene (every day).

I also found out that BBC 4 produced a prequel to Jane Eyre called Wide Sargasso Sea, based on the acclaimed novel by Jean Rhys.

Set in lush 19th-century Jamaica, Wide Sargasso Sea tells the story of the relationship between a passionate Creole heiress, Antoinette (Rebecca Hall), and a brooding Englishman, Edward Rochester (Rafe Spall).

Adapted from Jean Rhys’ award-winning novel, Wide Sargasso Sea is a prequel to Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre and paints a rather different story of Mr Rochester’s first wife.

Born to a Creole mother, Rhys felt Bronte had misrepresented Creole women in her work. She wanted to show an alternative to the story of Bertha Mason, Mr Rochester’s first spouse, and dispel the ‘mad wife’ image created by Brontë.

Written by Stephen Greenhorn (Derailed, BBC TV) and directed by Brendan Maher (Kidnapped), this is a period drama with a very contemporary feel, conjuring up all of the passion, paranoia and racial tensions of the original novel. Previous productions by the makers, Kudos, include Life on Mars and Spooks.

*Puts Wide Sargasso Sea at the top of movies-to-watch list*

Last night I watched the 1992 adaptation of Wuthering Heights for the first time. Directed by Peter Kosminsky, it stars Ralph Fiennes (Heathcliff), Juliette Binoche (Catherine Earnshaw & Cathy Linton), Janet McTeer (Nelly Dean), Simon Shepherd (Edgar Linton), Sophie Ward (Isabella Linton), Jeremy Northam (Hindley Earnshaw), and Jason Riddington (Hareton Earnshaw).

On the whole, the film was good. The writers did a terrific job of incorporating the novel’s lines into a majority of the script; having just finished the novel for a second time yesterday afternoon, I easily recognized many of the lines that I had underlined in my book. Many of the scenes in general also came straight from the novel; for overall accuracy, the team that created this Wuthering Heights receives two thumbs up.

Unlike the adaptation that aired on Masterpiece earlier this year, Mr. Lockwood, the novel’s neutral observer to the conclusion of the tumultuous Earnshaw/Heathcliff/Linton story, does make an appearance. In my opinion, the 2009 version was right to leave him out of the picture altogether. His presence was superfluous—the only purposes he could serve would be to juxtapose normal dress and behavior of the day with the madness that is Wuthering Heights (which the Linton’s do tolerably enough) and to faithfully reproduce the scene where Catherine’s ghost appears to him outside his window, emphasizing the gothic aspect of the story. The latter scene, however, would have been best cut out of the film. It occurs within the first fifteen minutes of the movie, and it was so poorly—or should I say comically—done that I contemplated stopping right there and forgoing the rest of the film. As the movie is as old as I am, the special effects would not have been impressive anyway, but Catherine’s ghost looked absolutely ridiculous. It nearly ruined the entire feel of the movie. “Take care not to smile at any part of it [my story],” Emily Bronte (the film’s narrator) states during the introduction—well, that failed.

(And I thought the use of Emily Bronte in the film was an interesting touch, albeit another somewhat unnecessary feature.)

Juliette Binoche is a wonderful Cathy; compared to Charlotte Riley, her face is more soft and sweet, but her attitude is spot on. She is an absolute b**** and as spirited and unruly as the wind that whips over the moors. Strangely, Binoche was also used as Catherine Linton, the daughter of Catherine and Edgar Linton. Catherine is said not to resemble her mother, save for her “handsome dark eyes”; actually, it is Hareton who is supposed to drive Heathcliff mad with his resemblance to his aunt. The film seems to wrongly contend that Catherine is a replica of her mother, and while this may rationalize some of Heathcliff’s strange preoccupation with his lost love in the minds of those unfamiliar with the story, it is not really correct. And there is no question this film was made in the early 1990’s—the big hair craze found its way even into costume dramas! I found that very distracting.

In some respects, Ralph Fiennes pulls off the look of Heathcliff well (his dark brows, black hair, and dark-skinned gypsy look), but, in my opinion, he doesn’t have the proper Heathcliff eyes: the ”half-civilized ferocity” lurking in black fire. Rather trivial points to be sure, but on the whole, Heathcliff doesn’t feel especially dangerous or demonic in this film (though Fiennes does deliver a very passionate performance, worthy of the original Heathcliff). Tom Hardy’s Heathcliff was certainly bigger and stronger, but he too wasn’t the epitome of Heathcliff, for he lacked the dark skin and ferocious eyes. Of course, I enjoyed and commend both of these portrayals, for Heathcliff is anything but an easy, cookie-cutter character.

It was difficult to see handsome Mr. Knightley as the wretched Hindley ( ), but he did well enough. Edgar Linton is not particularly handsome, and doesn’t hold a candle to Andrew Lincoln’s 2009 Edgar or either of the Heathcliff’s, in my opinion. Of course, Edgar is supposed to be somewhat forgettable (and is also supposed to have light hair). Isabella is very pretty and certainly has the proper Georgian lady look.

106 minutes certainly does not do justice to Wuthering Heights, and consequently the entire story felt rushed (why spend so much time on such a trivial character as Mr. Lockwood?). That might be my greatest criticism. Like I said earlier, a remarkable majority of the script comes straight out of the novel, but unfortunately some of the greatest lines are completely downplayed; for example, Cathy practically whispers a majority of the “I am Heathcliff” speech (recall the emphatic, passionate “Nelly, I am Heathcliff!” by Charlotte Riley’s Cathy that seems to perfectly mirror the language and emotion of that scene in the novel).

For any Wuthering Heights fan, this is a good film. Such pure adaptations are rarely found; however, the pace is very quick and sure to leave many who relished the deep novel unsatisfied. One also must ignore the big hair and laughable special effects. The narration is helpful to anyone unfamiliar with the story, but it doesn’t feel out of place or tiresome to anyone who is. I give it 3 out 5 stars.

Keira Knightley will not be returning for Pirates 4. “It was a completely fantastic experience and it was an amazingly large portion of my life, but I don’t think I need to go there again,” she says. I don’t blame her, although one wonders how the Pirates saga could get much worse—from At World’s End, the only conceivable direction is up. And as much as I would love to see Orlando Bloom in suave buccaneer garb again, he should probably stay away from the fourth one, too.

Marvel’s Pride & Prejudice comic book series comes out on April Fool’s Day, and the writer Nancy Butler shares some of her thoughts:

“I thought, ‘Oh, my God, every Jane Austen fan is going to be looking at this and saying, ‘How dare she!’”

Her fears seem to be mostly in vain. From what I’ve read, many Janites are really excited to see how the comic-book medium will do justice to Austen’s most popular story.

Twilight is giving back. One of the inspirations in Stephenie Meyer’s vampire saga was Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights, and now it seems the wild popularity of the Twilight series is spurning a new interest in Bronte’s classic tale of unbridled passions amongst the Yorkshire moors. Nowhere has the connection between the two books (especially Eclipse) done more than in France, leaving booksellers amazed and eager to capitalize on the enthusiasm:

“We are on course to sell several tens of thousands of copies this year, which is exceptional. The enthusiasm has prompted a lot of bookshops to put Brontë on display next to Stephenie Meyer, and that has obviously encouraged people to buy both of them.” . . .

Judging by French teenage chat forums, Brontë has made a profound impact on her new readers, who almost all appear to be adolescent girls. “The atmosphere is so dense that you are left breathless. It’s strange,” one said.

“Emily Brontë’s writing is astonishing,” said another. “Heathcliff and Catherine are figures of a really surprising blackness.”

“I dream of going to the place where the novel is set, in Le Yorkshire beaten by the wind,” said a third.

Don’t we all. *sighs*

Not all appreciated the writer, however. “I have to admit that I couldn’t get into the novel,” said a detractor. “Someone gave me the DVD, but I can’t be bothered to watch it.”

What a shame—watch the darn movie!

Hachette, Meyer’s publisher, even suggested that Twilight was the greatest novel in its genre since Wuthering Heights, a notion that enhanced Meyer’s status among her adolescent readers but won little support from critics.

Umm, yea, that might be a stretch.

The first episode of David Copperfield (1999) can now be viewed online here, at Masterpiece’s website. Episode 2 will not be available till March 23, and both will be up through March 29.

One Scottish woman lived her very own costume drama for a year. Some of the trials? A guest caught on fire, truckers had no idea what to make of the roaming anachronism, candles put a real strain on the eyes, and chocolate was not allowed (!), among other things.

The book has not even been published yet and studios are already bidding for rights to a film version of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, a strange twist on the classic novel by Seth Grahame-Smith.

Austen fans are in for a shock, with heroine Elizabeth Bennet and her four sisters becoming zombie slayers and taught how to fight like Japanese ninjas by Mr Darcy.

“It quickly became obvious that Jane (Austen) had laid down the blueprint for a zombie novel,” The Sunday Times quoted Grahame-Smith as saying.

“Why else in the original should a regiment arrive on Lizzie Bennet’s doorstep when they should have been off fighting Napoleon?

“It was to protect the family from an invasion of brain-eaters, obviously.” (The Australian)

Umm, okay. I probably wont be elbowing my way to get a copy of this, at least until I hear what those at Austenblog and the Big 3 Austen blogs have to say.

A musical adaptation of Wuthering Heights is now available on iTunes. Mark Ryan, a singer, songwriter, and actor, wrote 18 original songs based on the novel, and he is currently working on a screenplay for theatrical release.

Growing up amongst the hauntingly romantic landscapes of Yorkshire, Ryan developed an emotional connection to the story of Wuthering Heights, inspiring him to write eighteen original songs. The project was put on hold for Ryan’s burgeoning film and television career, and with the success of Transformers (Ryan voices Bumblebee), he decided it was finally the right time to record the music. Fans of Ryan, from his early days on Robin of Sherwood to his young Transformers fans, have embraced the new project and helped to support it online.

Visit the Wuthering Heights Music website for a preview of some of the songs. I thought the video for “Women” was creepy, and I am not so sure I like the song. This might be some good background music for the novel, but I would have to preview all the songs before I purchased it.

Bronteblog announced that the music from the lastest adaptation of Wuthering Heights could possibly be released on iTunes! Meanwhile, the composer, Ruth Barrett, stated that some of the tracks would be available on her website.

No WH music is currently up, but some other tracks available for a listen on her site include “True Romantic” from the 2008 Sense & Sensibility, “Essex” from BBC’s The Virgin Queen, “Bunny” from the upcoming Oliver Twist. I certainly hope the iTunes release works out, because, like many apparently, I found the music especially stirring.

Also now available at Barnes & Noble is the DVD of the recently aired Wuthering Heights. It will not be released until March 17, but it is available for pre-order at only $17.99 for B&N members (regular price $19.99).

Unfortunately, it is not included in the Buy-2-Get-the-3rd-Free DVD Sale B&N is having right now, but other great costume dramas like Jane Eyre, The Duchess, and Sense & Sensibility are. And don’t forget the 2003 version of WH starring Ralph Fiennes and Juliette Binoche, which is currently priced at only $12.14 for members.

The After-Holiday sale at B&N is ending on Sunday (the DVD deal ends Monday). But at the moment, they have hundreds and hundreds of books, DVD sets, and movies at unbelievable prices (I recently purchased The Complete History of Britain, an 8-hour BBC production, for just $20). All the paperback Barnes & Noble Classics are also Buy-2-Get-the-3rd-Free; the hardcover BN classics are also on sale for the same prices as the paperbacks (around $4 and $5). This is a sale too good to pass up, so go to B&N.com right now and start shopping!! And you qualify for Fast-&-Free shipping if you spend over $25, which, with these sales, will get you a boxful.

Another Masterpiece masterpiece has come and gone. Wuthering Heights concluded last. *tear tear.* It was slightly anticlimactic, but still beautiful. For those who missed it, you can view both episodes online here until February 1.

Not surprisingly, the length of the entire production was disappointing. I kept glancing at the clock in fear, wondering just how little time remained. One hour was simply not enough time to conclude this wonderful tale, but overall it was nicely done. Two-and-a-half hours might seem like a while, but it’s really not when dealing with something of WH’s complexity; or any classic novel’s complexity for that matter. 4 hours would have been nice; oh well.

We saw more of Isabella Linton in this episode, and I wanted to slap her silly. Irrational, yes, but she’s not an easy character to like — or pity. I empathized with Heathcliffwhen he said, ”I have no pity. . . . No pity,” a line which was delivered perfectly and captured the very essence of his character. I suppose Heathcliff deserves some reproach, but the writers and directors did a fine job of making him especially pitiful. While he made victims out of nearly every character in the story —- well, actually, every character — he appeared to be the biggest victim. I know “Team Edward” and “Team Jacob” paraphernalia are popular with Twilight fans, and I kept wanting to wave my “Team Heathcliff” flag throughout the film, especially last night. However, his treatment of Catherine was most abominable, and I nearly covered my eyes as he cruelly and viciously murdered Hindley. My flag did stop waving during those episodes.

The integral link between Cathy and Heathcliff — their primal attachment to one another — became clear when Cathy learned he had married Isabella. Cathy ruined her own life and the lives of others around her thoroughly, so I rarely felt sorry for her, but when she fell into those fits and hysterics, her pain hit home. Tears were plentiful when she died, and especially when Heathcliff spoke to her corpse in the casket. “I cannot live without my life. I cannot live without my soul.” OMG, my heart broke into a million little pieces. And Heathcliff’s dying animal scream after learning of her death from Nelly was very painful. Tom Hardy really did a terrific job in this film.

The second generation’s story was sad, but heartwarming in the end. Hareton was a very likable (and attractive ) character, and though they might have cancelled each other out at times, I waved a “Team Hareton” flag along with my “Team Heathcliff” one. It became difficult to keep the children all straight at times. Cathy + Edgar Linton = Catherine Isabella + Heathcliff = Linton. Hindley + Mrs. Earnshaw = Hareton. So Catherine and Hareton were cousins, as were Catherine and Linton. WH’s website features a nifty character chart.

As the ending approached, I was hoping they would not end with a shot of the house alone, or of Young Cathy and Hareton. As pleasing as their union was, to end with them would lighten the story too much. The final screen shot of Heathcliff and Cathy, or their ghosts, looking out the window together at the Heights gave a sense of grief at what might have been, but it also gave a sense of closure.

Overall, I give this film a 9 out of 10. I will definitely be buying the DVD.

What did you think?