The Full Bronte

Emerging details of the upcoming biopic, Bronte, promise a gritty, realistic portrait of the lives of our favorite literary sisters -- Charlotte, Emily and Anne -- who are played in the film by Michelle Williams, Nathalie Press (as seen in "Bleak House") and Kiwi Emily Barclay, respectively. Jonathan Rhys Meyers plays troubled genius brother Branwell. Shooting is slated for October in an as yet-undisclosed Yorkshire setting. (The actual Bronte Parsonage was too small to be used as a location for the film.) Based on their family history, it sounds like we're going to need a stash of Kleenex at the viewing next year. -- Amy

Update: My review of Branwell is here and the book--highly recommended!--is available from Soft Skull Press. (I think Jonathan Rhys Meyers--Gormenghast, Match Point, Elvis--is an excellent casting choice for Branwell. According to IMDB, he'll also be playing Henry VIII in Showtime's The Tudors miniseries, alongside Jeremy Northam and Sam Neill.) --Kim

"Masterpiece" in the News

Still looking for a sugar daddy to fund Masterpiece Theater, the series' executive producer, Rebecca Eaton, remains optimistic, according to this blurb in the L.A. Times from the TCA press tour. -- Amy

PBS' Rebecca Eaton, executive producer of "Masterpiece Theater," told reporters the venerable institution would not skimp on quality despite the fact that public broadcasters are still searching for a sponsor.

"We do not have a funder but we have a team in place looking for a funder in a new way," she said on Wednesday, the penultimate day of the press tour. "Masterpiece Theater" will be "rebranding" and presenting itself to potential corporate sponsors as a multi-platform vehicle for their messages, she said. (Does that mean product placement for Coke and Nike in the next Charles Dickens adaptation, I wonder? -- Amy)

Viewers may notice fewer new dramas, but Eaton promised that the artistic quality would remain high. This year, the program produced "Bleak House," which received 10 Emmy nominations, she noted. The final season of "Prime Suspect," starring Helen Mirren, airs in November.

"We are thrilled with the new leadership at PBS," Eaton said, referring to Paula Kergere, who recently replaced Pat Mitchell as PBS president. "She is someone who has gone on record as supporting the arts, and we take that definition to include drama." -- Lynn Smith, L.A. Times

More Bogart and Bacall: The Big Sleep

I was watching La Haine the other night, when one of the characters used the slang expression, "Don't Bogart it." It reminded me that neither Amy nor I had blogged about our recent viewing, at the Hollywood Forever cemetery screening, of Raymond Chandler's The Big Sleep.

Howard Hawks directed the movie and William Faulkner wrote the screenplay. Prior to the screening, we were told that Hawks and Faulkner had to call Chandler because, after re-reading the novel several times, they still couldn't figure out who'd shot one of the characters. Chandler said he didn't know. But really, it doesn't matter. The movie is all about the chemistry between the two leads. As with the couple's first film To Have and Have Not, it's steamy. Witness the following exchange, snagged from IMDB:

Vivian: Speaking of horses, I like to play them myself. But I like to see them workout a little first, see if they're front runners or come from behind, find out what their whole card is, what makes them run.
Marlowe: Find out mine?
Vivian: I think so.
Marlowe: Go ahead.
Vivian: I'd say you don't like to be rated. You like to get out in front, open up a little lead, take a little breather in the backstretch, and then come home free.
Marlowe: You don't like to be rated yourself.
Vivian: I haven't met anyone yet that can do it. Any suggestions?
Marlowe: Well, I can't tell till I've seen you over a distance of ground. You've got a touch of class, but I don't know how, how far you can go.
Vivian: A lot depends on who's in the saddle.

Hot stuff. --Kim

Whereabouts: James McAvoy (Is On Fire)

In doing some research for the previous post, I noticed that our Mr. Tumnus the Faun has been very busy of late, and deservedly so--His performance in Chronicles of Narnia was spot on. The Scottish actor was previously in an adaptation of Children of Dune and I recently caught him in Bright Young Things, a clever retelling of Evelyn Waugh's Vile Bodies.

But here are the new projects to which he is currently attached: Macbeth (see below), The Last King of Scotland with Gillian Anderson and the Forest Whitaker, the "modern day offbeat fable" Penelope, the Jane Austen biopic Becoming Jane, and Atonement, an adaptation of one of my favorite novels. --Kim

Image: According to IMDB, McAvoy is "Is a highly skilled boxer, fencer and rugby player and is also a fire eater." Hot.

More Bard for Your Buck: ShakespeaRe-Told

The latest issue of Vogue reviews the four modern Shakespeare adaptations premiering stateside on BBC America in August. They give Much Ado About Nothing and Macbeth the thumbs up but say to skip A Midsummer Night's Dream and The Taming of the Shrew. --Kim

Image: Macbeth is set in a restaurant and stars James McAvoy (the excellent Mr. Tumnus the Faun in Chronicles of Narnia).

Saved by the Bard?

Poor, spooky-faced Bryce Dallas Howard! As the dewey-eyed narf in M. Night Shyamalan's Lady in the Water, she's been swept up in the tidal wave of critical consensus labelling this film a giant belly flop. (Now frankly, I saw it this weekend to quit from melting in my non-a.c.'d apartment and I rather liked the movie. I thought it was quirky and unique, if perhaps a bit self-indulgent at times. But maybe I was just thrilled to be anywhere that didn't feel sub-Saharan.) In anycase BDH has a chance to redeem herself in the eyes of those big, bad, movie reviewers by tackling Shakespeare — Kenneth Branagh-style, as Rosalind in As You Like It. The film, set for release sometime this fall, is set amidst the cherry blossoms of 19th century Japan -- Kyoto, to be precise. Romola Garai, Kevin Kline, Adrian Lester and Alfred Molina also star. (Branagh doesn't -- he's just directing this time.) Lots more pics and movie info here. -- Amy

The May Queens Live on Wed in SF

This Wednesday night at 7pm I will be reading at Cody's along with May Queen contributors Michelle Richmond (Dream of the Blue Room), Nicki Richesin (The MQ's faithful editor and mastermind), Erin Cressida Wilson (Secretary and the upcoming Fur), and Dao Strom (who this week performed some of her lovely folk songs as well as Bonnie "Prince" Billy's "I Am a Cinematographer" at her Green Apple-sponsored reading at Bazaar cafe). Drinks to follow at The Owl Tree. Please join us! --Kim