Young Muskies Unite!

Millenium Films is planning a prequel for Alexandre Dumas' The Three Musketeers, which will tell the story of how Athos, Porthos, Aramis (and maybe) D'Artagnan first came to be all for one. Swashbuckling hotties with plumed hats and swords? I'll take it. Who should be cast?

Source: Variety

Asia Argento Does Adultery...

Proclaimed one of the most sexually explicit costume dramas ever made, The Last Mistress hits theaters in New York and L.A. at the end of the month. It's an adaptation of Jules-Amedee Barbey d'Aurevilly's scintillating and shocking 19th century novel. The premise is as old as the ages: French libertine marries good-girl virgin but can't get his insatiable lover of the last ten years, La Vellini (played by Asia Argento), out of his head (or bed).

Here's the trailer.

Is Keira "My Fair Lady?"

The Guardian reports that Keira Knightley is eyeing the role of Eliza Doolittle -- yes, that's Audrey's role -- in a remake of My Fair Lady. Hepburn, you'll recall, didn't sing her songs in the film, and it turned out, well... okay. Would Keira lip-sync, too, or would her singing voice be loverly?

Watch this clip to see the chanteuse test her pipes in the forthcoming Dylan Thomas biopic, The Edge of Love.

An Austenesque Analogy of Corporate Sponsorship

Exxon Mobil is to PBS's Masterpiece Theater as Willoughby is to Marianne Dashwood: The oil company proclaimed its love, support (and funding) for a while, but then unceremoniously dumped MT on its ass in 2004.

Now it's back, courting the boring "Miss Sophia Grey," a.k.a., Nightly Business News and NOVA.

I guess their giving money to PBS in some capacity is preferable to callously seducing Colonel Brandon's helpless underage ward (which seems like the thing big oil companies do these days). But whatever.

Source: MediaWeek

Madge's Man Goes Sleuthing

Guy Ritchie will write and direct a new take on Sherlock Holmes for Warner Bros., basing his depiction of the Conan Doyle detective on Lionel Wigram's action-packed comic. In other words, look for the sleuth to be something of a Victorian action figure, complete with sword-wielding and Bond-worthy fisticuffs. Sherlock Holmes has been adapted to film more than any other fictional character, being portrayed by 75 different actors in 200 films.

Sugar is Sweet and so is "Miss Pettigrew"

Exhausted (and book-less) Saturday night after working on set all-day at a photoshoot in L.A., I ordered room service, slipped into my PJs, and settled in to watch the adaptation of Winifred Watson's Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day. The sets, the dialogue, the costumes, and the acting (particularly Amy Adams) were dizzyingly charming--just like the bright young things being portrayed in the film. If you're in the mood for a vintage love story (and I almost always am), Miss Pettigrew is as sweet and satisfying as that old-fashioned sugar-rimmed cocktail, the Sidecar. I can't wait to see what Amy Adams will do next and Frances McDormand and Ciaran Hinds (Amazing Grace, Persuasion, Excalibur, Prime Suspect, etc.) were reliably brilliant as always. --Kim

Austen Auction

A kind of cool-looking locket made with what's purported to be a lock of Jane Austen's hair is expected to fetch a pretty penny in the UK.

Place your bids on June 18th, if you've got approximately $10K burning a hole in your pocket.

From The Guardian