OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG!!!
I knew they were making a new Jane Eyre adaptation, and it’s been known for some time that Ellen Page (Juno) had been cast as Jane. No word on Rochester. Also, there was no info on IMDb, unless you had a pro account, as it was in pre-production. Apparently, there are developments!
Ellen Page is gone. The replacement is Mia Wasikowska, an Aussie who is starring in Tim Burton’s upcoming Alice in Wonderland. She’s not very little, though, considering she’s 168 cm (5’6″), so there I think Page would’ve fit the “little” category better. Plain? Not really, but makeup will sort that out.
Director is Cary Fukunaga, screenplay by Moira Buffini – none have done a lot before, and what they have done, I haven’t heard of. I just hope they’ll do a good job.
The thing that made me go “OMG” repeatedly is that Rochester has been cast. Sadly, it’s not Richard Armitage. I say sadly, although I’m pretty gutted it’s not him – but I didn’t really expect it to be him anyway, so am I really that disappointed? He would’ve made a fantastically brooding Rochester, I’m certain, and he would have us all swoon. But no, it’s Michael Fassbender (Inglorious Basterds). Huh. He’s 32, Mia’s 20. At least she looks quite young. Problem is, so does he. It’s twelve years between them, they’re still lacking eight.
The whole “he’s too ginger to be Rochester” doesn’t really work, considering Toby Stephens. A bit of dye and hair extensions and he didn’t play Rochester, he was Rochester. I for one will be comparing anyone to the standard he set, so my expectations on Herr Fassbender are pretty huge, and they’re not exactly small when it comes to Jane either. We’ll have to wait and see, I suppose. Oh, sorry, both actors are “in negotiations” to become the leads. So it’s not been finalised yet?
Now, other questions arise: a) Where’s Thornfield? I do hope they go for Haddon Hall again, squee! b) If they are, or somewhere else in the vicinity of said building, it’s not too far from here, so what can I do to become an extra? I don’t care what it is, just, in the words of Cathy Earnshaw, LET ME IN!! I don’t have to be an extra, I can help out with other bits, behind the camera. I can fetch coffee, work with sound (I got training), walk dog-playing-Pilot or tie Rochester’s cravat. (I don’t know how it’s done but I’m willing to learn!) Anything! It’s Jane Eyre and I’m unemployed! Maybe that should be my new year’s resolution for 2010: get a job on the new Jane Eyre adaptation. Sounds good to me! ;D
The IMDb entry is here: Jane Eyre (2011).
I’m not so enthusiastic about a new JAne Eyre. I loved the BBC 2006 version. why do they need to make a new one? So soon? What about the many classics which haven’t been adapted for the screen yet? As for Richard Armitage as Rochester… I think he could be a good brooding master, why not? Only he is to engaged doing different things these days. Not that I complain about it … Never seen these actor and actress before, let’s see what will come. Thanks for sharing!
The 2006 version is my favourite as well, and I agree with the “it’s a bit soon, isn’t it?” but still, my Rochester-craving is on-going and therefore I quite like the idea of a new adaptation. Doubt it’ll live up to the standard set by 2006 but still. 🙂
Never seen the actress before, but I’ve seen Fassbender in a few things. I think/hope he could be a good Rochester. RA would’ve been close to perfection, but that might be mainly down to me wanting to see RA as Rochester rather than anything else… teehee. Toby Stephens is still The One! 🙂
They should go make adaptations of the other, less famous, Brontë novels like “Shirley”, “Agnes Grey” and “Villette”. Jane Austen has all her books in some filmed version or another, and there are a truckload of “Wuthering Heights” and of course “Jane Eyre”.
Oops! Hi Maria! I think I stole your thunder in my comments on the next blog entry. Please excuse me getting so carried away!
Interesting post Traxy. I wonder what happened with Ellen Page? I can’t say I like the looks of the actor they want to play Rochester.
And why do they make so many versions of this story? I agree they should pick another one of her stories!
I really loved the 1997 version (Ciaran Hinds again!) He played a fabulous Rochester! And I thought Samantha Morton was a perfect Jane!
Sorry, but I missed the later version, it sounds great too. I even like the old one with George C. Scott and Susannah York.
But enough is enough! I could see if there were bad versions out there that somebody would want to make a better one, but really it can’t really get much better, can it?
Oh wait, it could…but only if RA was Rochester!
I tried looking at the news for the project on IMDb, but it just said Ellen Page was no longer on board, no reason given. I think she’s spirited in the same way as Jane, so if she could do a good English accent, I’d say she’d be a fab Jane. Now we’ll never know.
There’s always going to be disagreements on which versions people prefer and which ones they don’t. *giggle* I thought Scott/York was a dreadful version. It just looked wrong and I never knew Scrooge had a mad wife. 😉 I do rather like Hinds/Morton, though. It has some great lines. Don’t care for the facial fuzz or the baggy trousers, but Hinds… mreow. His Rochester was a bit too… umm, barky. He kept shouting a lot of the time and seemed a bit overly aggressive. Still… it’s Hinds. *swoon*
I do think that it’s a bit soon for a new Jane Eyre adaptation, but this is a big screen film, right? So the dynamic of everything will have to change from the miniseries format, so I’d imagine anyway. I do think Michael Fassbender has great potential as Rochester…he should be able to look quite tortured. 🙂