Monday, May 29, 2006

Shakespeare in the Park tips

Some advice about getting seats and autographs at Macbeth from the Liev Schreiber forum:

...From my expeience in past years, the wait all day in line can be pretty tough (those people in line can get pretty onry - don't even try to let friends cut in or more than a freind or two join you later - they will call you out, or even report you to the Theater volunteers who keep the line in line). I usually try to get tix at the Delacorte in the Park, since at least I have the trees to keep me company. Bring a blanket to sit on, an umbrella & a book to pass the time. Be prepared to either enjoy or be annoyed by the musicians who busker the line.

...

If you can't wait all day in line for tickets, then you wait in the "standby" line at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park just before the show starts. It's in the same place as where the regualr ticket line all day is, but much much shorter. Usually the all-day line has all the tickets handed out in the afternoon. Then people start getting in the stand-by line about an hour or two before the show starts (so about 5 or 6pm if the show is at 7pm).

The stand-by people get the tickets for no-shows or people who turn in un-used tickets. I have lucked out a couple times and got front row & third row seats this way for Liev's show last year. It was fantastic being so close.

What they do at the start of the standby line is have the sets of no-show tickets - then they ask how many are in your party (1,2,3 people...) and then they start handing them out based on that & what tix are available (1 seat, 2 seats together, 3 seats together). You can get even better if you're willing to split up and not try to get seats together. Don't be daunted if there are 100 or so people in line already, this line can go pretty fast right up until the minute the play starts. Then again, there is always the chance you might not get in, so it's always iffy.

Also, either almost right as the play starts or during the first admission, if there are still empty seats in the theater, they let stand-by people rush in and try to find the best ones (basically a free for all) but by that time, it's usually only the seats at the very top far away, or the extreme sides left.

And, if there are sprinkles of rain and few people chicken out & leave early, you may score their seat. whimps. The best show I saw last year was when Liev & the gang toughed it out through the drizzle - real troopers. The show will be cancelled, however, if it is raining (for safety, the actors mikes & elect. equipment).

And, finally... for those of you wishing to get autographs & pics afterwards with Liev, wait on the right side of the Delacorte (near the public bathrooms) by the stage door. If Liev isn't in a hurry to get away on his bike, he usually happily signs & chats away.

PS- For sold out shows I couldn't get into, I'd just go hang out at Belvedere Castle across the pond from the Delacorte. The view isn't great, but you can still hear the show. It's just something fun to do.

Another poster answers Tess' question over there in the tagboard about when to start queuing:

The public theater is the best place to wait. how long you have to wait depends on how great the production is. i think this one will be in pretty high demand given that liev and others in it are well resognized and respected by the public theater going public. to be assured decent seats, i would recommend waiting from 9am-ish. you will probably get tickets if you wait until 10 or 10:30, after that point it's questionable and all a matter of your luck that day. i HAVE gotten tickets lining up as late as 12:30 (last year) but there was a high likelyhood of rain that scared people off, and i don't think it was a very popular play. weekends are slightly worse than weekdays but the tickets are gone every day. the tickets are given out at 1pm.

of note, the rain policy is, that unless there's a deluge, the show WILL go on. they might take rain breaks or suggest slickers, but if it's a little drizzley or there is a possiblity of rain, don't let that deter you.
i'm going to have to go on a sunday; i'll post when i figure out which one for sure. mabe we can coordinate this year.

ps, i have heard of certain VERY high demand performances in the past when you really did have to camp out for tickets. i haven't seen that in the years i've been going though and don't think that will be the case this year.

Chronological CV

Just for reference. This is everything from age 2 onwards that we know of. No joke. And what a varied career it's been, from inanimate objects to empresses.

Sources: fansite filmography (this has work from 1991 to 2005 categorised by medium), The Interview, Interlochen credits, and some Googling.

Note that dates are approximations - some are dates of filming, some of release, and some are just sort of guessed from her age or grade. Let us know of omissions or mistakes. Anyone have the year for Cause Celeb?

2010
  • Mr & Mrs Fitch (play) - Mrs Fitch
  • Game of Thrones (TV series) - Catelyn Stark
  • The King's Speech (film) - Myrtle Logue

    2008
  • The Greatest (film) - Joan

  • 2007
  • Washington Square (audiobook) - Narrator
  • The Russell Girl (TV) – Lorraine Morrissey

    2006
  • The Coast of Utopia (play)
    • Voyage - Liubov Bakunin
    • Shipwreck - Natalie Herzen
    • Salvage - Malwida von Meysenbug
  • Pride and Glory (film) - Abby Tierney
  • Macbeth (play) - Lady Macbeth
  • Michael Clayton (film) - Brini Glass (cut)
  • Before the Rains (aka Road to the Sky) (film) - Laura Moores

    2005
  • The Philadelphia Story (play) – Tracy Lord
  • The River King (film) – Betsy Chase

    2004
  • Alpha Male (film) – Alice Ferris
  • Peter Pan at the Players (radio) – Mrs Darling

    2003

    2002
  • Possession (film) - Cristabel Lamotte

    2001
  • Design for Living (play) - Gilda
  • Witch Child (audiobook) – Narrator
  • The Tempest (audiobook) - Miranda

    2000
  • Sunshine (film) – Young Valerie Sonnenschein
  • The Real Thing at the Barrymore & Albery (play) – Annie

    1999
  • Aladdin (radio) – Princess Mahjong
  • Summerfolk (play) – Varvara Mikhailovna
  • The Real Thing at the Donmar (play) - Annie
  • This Year’s Love (film) - Sophie
  • Millennium: A Thousand Years of History (TV documentary) - Narrator

    1998
  • Bedrooms and Hallways (film) - Sally

    1997
  • Wilde (film) – Constance Lloyd Wilde
  • Paradise Road (film) – Rosemary Leighton-Jones
  • Melissa (TV mini) – Melissa
  • Playing the Wife (radio) - Harriet

    1996-5
  • Painter of Dishonour (play) – Serafina
  • Richard III (play) – Lady Anne
  • The Relapse, or Virtue in Danger (play) – Amanda
  • Pride and Prejudice (TV mini) – Elizabeth Bennet

    1994
  • Beyond Reason, or A Casual Affair (TV) – Penny McAllister
  • Pleasure (TV) – Emma Desneuves
  • Self-Catering (TV) – Meryl

    1993
  • Micky Love (TV) – Tasmin
  • The Maitlands (TV) – Phyllis Maitland
  • Backbeat (film) – Cynthia Lennon
  • An Anthology of Spritual Verse (radio) – Narrator

    1992
  • The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles: Austria, March 1917 (TV) – Empress Zita
  • The Camomile Lawn (TV mini) – Calypso
  • Breaking the Code (play) – Pat Green
  • Keystone (radio) – Debra
  • Anniversary (radio) – Amber

    1991
  • Tartuffe (play) – Elmire

    1990

    1989-8
  • Laundry and Bourbon (play) – Hattie Dealing
  • 1959 Pink Thunderbird (play) – ?

    1987-6
  • Fools (play) – Sophia Zubritsky
  • Harvey (play) – Betty Chumley
  • The Glass Menagerie (play) – The Mother
  • Oklahoma (play) – Gertie Cummings

    1986-5
  • The Royal Family (play) – Nurse Peakes?
  • The Good Doctor (play) – Member of the company
  • L’Avare (play) – Mariane Brie
  • Agnes of God (play) – Agnes
  • The American Dream (play) – Mommy

    1984-0

    1979-8
  • Legend about seal goddess (play) – Eskimo woman

    1975
  • Where the Wild Things Are (play) – Tree

    1973-2
  • A Streetcar Named Desire (play) – Baby in passing birthday party

    Unknown dates
  • Cause Celeb (radio) – Narrator
  • Pemberley in verse and worse

    This really speaks for itself - the first proposal from Pemberley in verse.

    You have ruined the happiness of Jane,
    Who may never find love again!
    You cannot deny it!
    Do you seek to decry it?
    You have caused them unpardonable pain!"

    "No, of course not," he replied with a smirk.
    "So what if I acted the jerk?
    Charles should wed a duchy,
    And I'll have no stench touch me---
    After all, I am Colin Firth!"

    Elizabeth decided to disperse
    With the formalities of this verse.
    Saucily: "Really?
    Well I'm Jennifer Ehle,
    And you've three hours left, buster---it gets worse!

    And this too requires no comment. Those crazy Pemberleans.

    Time to start queuing

    More Macbeth pot-banging from Newsday.

    Macbeth. (Previews begin June 13, runs through July 9 at Delacorte Theatre, Central Park; free.) Clearly the place to camp this summer, the Public Theater continues its 50th anniversary with one of the most intriguing recent Shakespeare enticements. Liev Schreiber, who won a Tony Award in the revival of "Glengarry Glen Ross" last year, returns to his classic roots as the Thane of Cawdor, arguably the most wife-whipped man in world literature. Jennifer Ehle, unforgettable in her 2000 Tony-winning performance in "The Real Thing," makes her park debut as the little woman. Moisés Kaufman ("I Am My Own Wife," "The Laramie Project") directs.

    Can anyone spare a ride to NYC?

    Friday, May 26, 2006

    Dishiness

    Village Voice's summer guide adds to the buzz around Macbeth.

    'SHAKESPEARE IN THE PARK'
    Delacorte Theater,
    Central Park, near West 81st Street entrance,
    212-539-8750,
    publictheater.org

    June 13–September 3: As the new artistic director of the Public Theater, Oskar Eustis has acquitted himself quite well, but nothing will test his mettle like his oversight of the Public's most famous phenomenon, its summer season of Shakespeare plays in Central Park. For his inaugural effort, Eustis has programmed one Shakespeare play, Macbeth (June 13–July 9), and one by Brecht, Mother Courage and Her Children (August 8–September 3). He's secured some excellent actors: The dishy Liev Schreiber and the possibly dishier Jennifer Ehle will play Shakespeare's Lord and Lady M., while Meryl Streep will hitch her star to Mother Courage's wagon. SOLOSKI

    Oh yeah, check out the poll on the side bar. Paradise Road is ahead by a nose at the moment.

    Download Charlie Rose interview for $0.99

    Hoorah for the internet! Instead of having to buy the expensive hard copy, Google Video now allows you to download the Charlie Rose program from May 4th, 2000 for USD $0.99. This show features interviews with Jennifer Ehle and Stephen Dillane about The Real Thing and a clip from the play. Have a look at the transcript at the fansite.

    It's not an entirely smooth process. Firstly you need to set up a Google account. Then go to the video and click "buy" once you've logged in. To pay you need a credit card and American address (but only the state and post code need to match up eg. NC 28779). You may or may not have to download the Google Video Player which is only available for Windows 2000 or XP. You can download the file in three formats - Windows .avi, iPod Video or PSP. I've found that using VLC allows me to watch it on Mac OSX. If you're having trouble go to the help center.

    Once you've paid, you should be able to download the file any number of times, so it's not a problem if you want to watch it on different computers or your connection cuts out. The file is a whopping 219mb so be prepared for a long haul even on broadband. The Real Thing segment starts at 30 minutes in and lasts about 11 minutes.

    Pst, you can get a taste of the show at EhleNews.

    New Rosemary Harris pics

    She herself has sent in two photos for the Presenting Rosemary Harris site, from Notorious Woman (1975) and Peter Pan (1959). Luther's also found a new photo from The Chisholms (1979-80)

    Here's the update on the What's New page.

    Once again received a package from Rosemary! It contained 2 new photos. One for Peter Pan and one for Notorious Woman. I also found a photo from Chisholms. Rosemary was no stranger to flying by wire for Spiderman2 since she did Peter Pan and enjoyed flying by wire in 1959. I also updated the Jennifer Ehle link having just found out that the site was moved. Nobody told me!! This site is now going on six years.

    1995 Sven Arnstein photo

    From Photoshot.

    Tuesday, May 23, 2006

    Ahead of time

    The days we post - Mon/Wed/Fri/Sun - are by Australian Eastern time. So if you're in the US or Europe, it might actually be Sun/Tue/Thu/Sat for you.


    Monday, May 22, 2006

    Lip-locking laurels

    The Calgary Sun on the best on-screen smooches ever.

    A lot of people here in the news room insist we mention Colin Firth kissing Jennifer Ehle in the TV movie version of Pride & Prejudice.

    PS. The design should be fixed now, thanks to the CSS chops of Richard. If it still doesn't work for you...bully! No, seriously, please let us know.

    Macbeth casting press release

    Here are the interesting bits from the casting press release we got sent the other day (we count as media?!). The names of cast members are the same as posted earlier.

    Directed by Moisés Kaufman, Macbeth will begin previews at the Delacorte Theater on Tuesday, June 13th. Performances will continue through Sunday, July 9th. The press opening will be Wednesday, June 28. Shakespeare in the Park will mark the culmination of The Public's year-long 50th Anniversary Celebration.

    This seems to confirm the July 9th closing as opposed to what's being reported by Playbill and BroadwayWorld.

    Oskar Eustis stated "This summer's shows in the park will be a perfect manifestation of what The Public Theater stands for: our nation's greatest actors performing the world's greatest plays under the direction of thrilling and boundary-breaking directors free for the people. The fact that both of these magnificent classics speak to a world at war is a powerful reminder of how, in the hands of remarkable artists, great plays of the past can speak to the state of the nation better than any politician."

    A clue to how the play will be interpreted, perhaps?

    And a reminder of how to get tickets, in case you missed it:

    Performances of Shakespeare in the Park will be Tuesday Through Sunday at 8:00 p.m. Tickets are FREE and will be available on the day of the performance (two per person) at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park beginning at 1:00 p.m. and at The Public Theater, 425 Lafayette Street (near Astor Place), from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. The closest entrances to the Delacorte are at 81st Street and Central Park West or 70th Street and Fifth Avenue.

    Jennifer Ehle's BBC catalogue

    Wow, this is handy- the BBC's open catalogue lists Ms Ehle's involvement with the BBC (though it's not necessarily comprehensive). Here are some of the interesting findings:

  • She was a guest on Talking Movies, a discussion program in 2002.
  • A Pride and Prejudice blooper, something about a shattered lightbulb on Auntie's Brand New Bloomers (I recall reading somewhere that there was swearing action)
  • An on-location interview about Wilde in 1997
  • Another interview from the Olivier Awards in 2000
  • Some kind of involvement in Alan Cumming, Uncovered, a video diary by this Design for Living co-star
  • Strangest of all, she was a reader for Something Understood: An Anthology of Spiritual Verse in 1993. It's a 6-part program on Radio 4, with themes like animals, despair, childhood, ordinary lives, personal faith and the nature of God (!).

    There are also brief synopses of radio plays Keystone and Playing the Wife, as well as the TV play The Maitlands.

    Keystone: Peter LOVESEY's thriller is set among the real stars of silver screen in the heyday of silent movies. Starring Mark STRAKER, Jennifer EHLE & Roger GARTLAND.

    Playing the Wife: Written by Ronald HAYMAN. Derek Jacobi makes a rare radio appearance when he reprises his performance as the Swedish playwright August STINDBERG, seen at the Chichester Festival Theatre.

    The Maitlands: Performance presents the first production of the witty & tragic family drama by Ronald Mckenzie. With Eileen ATKINS,Jennifer EHLE & Edward FOX.

    The pages are particularly useful because they contain dates and BBC broadcast numbers, which probably means you can request them at the British Library's National Sound Archive. Keystone and Playing the Wife can be found by searching "Jennifer Ehle" in the catalogue. You have to be a registered member and book in advance.

    The BBC open catalogue also has a page for Rosemary Harris. It seems we missed her in Hotel Cristobel, a play on Radio 3 in March 2005.

    Hotel Cristobel. By Caryl Phillips. A Caribbean island provides the setting for an intense and personal three-way struggle for control of a fading hotel.
  • Friday, May 19, 2006

    Full Macbeth cast

    This is reported in both Playbill and BroadwayWorld; quotage is from the latter. Note the multiculturalness of the names.

    Joining previously-announced Tony Award-winners Liev Schreiber in the title role and Jennifer Ehle as Lady Macbeth will be Joan MacIntosh, Ching Valdes-Aran, and Lynn Cohen as the Weird Sisters, Herb Foster as Duncan, Jacob Fishel as Malcolm, Pedro Pascal as Bloody Sergant/Murderer 2; Mark L. Montgomery as Lennox, Philip Goodwin as Ross, Teagle F. Bouegere as Banquo, Andrew McGinn as Angus/Murderer 1, Sterling K. Brown as Macduff, Sanjit De Silva as Donalbain, Graeme Malcolm as Seyton, Florencia Lozano as Lady Macduff, Tolan Aman as Boy. Seth Duerr, Amefika El-Amin, Stephanie Fieger, Hollie Hunt, Michael Markham, Lucas Near-Verbrugghe, and Clancy O'Connor will be featured in the ensemble.
    ...
    Ehle, who recently starred in the Old Vic production of The Philadelphia Story, Ehle is an acclaimed stage and screen actress. She won the 2000 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for the revival of Tom Stoppard's The Real Thing, and most recently appeared on Broadway in Design for Living. Her film credits include Possession, Sunshine and Wilde, but she is perhaps best known for playing Elizabeth Bennet in the wildly popular 1996 A&E/BBC miniseries of "Pride and Prejudice." She also won a BAFTA for her portrayal of the willful Austen heroine.

    The dates are being reported as June 13 to July 7 in the articles, whereas the Public Theatre site still says July 9.

    Romancing Rosemary

    The Retropolitan, on hotness transcending age:

    Apparently, one of the side-effects of Wellbutrin is that it makes you start thinking that Aunt May from the Spider-Man movies is actually pretty hot for an old woman. I’m gonna have to write a letter to make sure that this gets listed on the side of the bottle, because it’s a pretty shocking thing to have suddenly happen.

    Even though she’s almost eighty, I’d still slow dance with her. Buy her some flowers. Then we can have conversations about old time radio. I think I may have just found my dream girl.

    Or, should my May-December romance fail, it turns out that Rosemary Harris has an incredibly attractive daughter.

    She’s only ten years older than me, but I think we can make it work.

    Melissa DVD cover

    Play.com has the cover of the Melissa DVD due on June 12th. They also say that there will be an interview with Alan Bleasdale.



    ZetaMinor has a whole list of other vendors.

    Billed 4th? Bah.

    Pride and Prejudice DVD in French

    In March, a French-language dubbed version of Pride and Prejudice was released.


    Nice to see the enthusiasm and the war of adaptations aren't limited to the Anglophone world. (Rough trans only)

    Ayant vu la version télévisulle avant le film, je trouve au contraire que Jennifer Ehle correspond beaucoup mieux au personnage du roman de Jane Austen que l'actrice du film qui ressemble à une gamine mal dégrossie. Dans le roman le personnage d'Elisabeth n'est absolument pas une rebelle. Et la retenue des sentiments ressentis dans le livre est beaucoup mieux retranscrite dans le téléfilm. Le film au cinéma est beaucoup trop romantique par rapport au livre.

    Having seen the TV version before the film, I find on the contrary that Jennifer Ehle corresponds with the character in Austen's book much better than the actress in the film who resembles a scruffy kid. In the book, the character of Elizabeth is absolutely not a rebel. And the emotional restraint felt in the book is transcribed much better in the miniseries. The cinema version is much too romantic compared to the book.

    Je suis d'accord avec l'internaute précédent, Jennifer ehle s'inscrit parfaitement dans le personnage du roman, elle s'exprime de façon authentique et juste. Quant à Keira Knightley, elle est énervante et insuportable dans son rôle qui correspond davantage à celui de lydia . Le téléfilm est de toute façon brillant et ne supporte pas la comparaison avec ce film ridicule sans consistance, sorti dernièrement.

    I agree with the preceding commenter, Jennifer Ehle fits perfectly in the character of the book, she expresses herself in an authentic and accurate way...

    Comme les 2 internautes précédents, je trouve que le jeu de Jennifer Ehle reflete parfaitement l'esprit de l'oeuvre originale.

    Like the two preceding commenters, I find that Jennifer Ehle's performance perfectly reflects the spirit of the original work.

    Ravie de retrouver Colin Firth mais surtout la belle et lumineuse Jennifer Ehle, si rare à l'écran dans l'adaptation la plus juste des romans de Jane Austen ! Esperons que d'autres adaptations de la littérature anglaise suivront!!!

    Delighted to rediscover Colin Firth but especially the beautiful and luminous Jennifer Ehle, so rarely onscreen, in this most accurate adaptation of Jane Austen's novels! Let's hope that other adaptations of English literature will follow!


    There are however some complaints about the lack of subtitles, either in French or English. Though if you're reading this it's probably not a problem, right.

    Tuesday, May 16, 2006

    Facelift

    Love it? Hate it? Looks weird in your browser? Have some suggestions? Any feedback via comments, tagboard, e-mail or pigeon would be much appreciated!

    Edit #1: apparently the redesign goes haywire when viewed in Internet Explorer. Please bear with us as we try to figure this out (any advice from people with CSS skills would be very helpful!).

    Meanwhile...tabbed browsing. You know you want it.

    Edit #2: alright, back to the old template while the new one is fixed. Here it is at our test blog if you want a look.
    Lesson: test before launch.

    Monday, May 15, 2006

    Pride and Prejudice anniversary DVD features

    Thanks to Meng from EhleNews for this. Amazon is allowing pre-orders for the 10th anniversary limited edition collector's set of Pride and Prejudice, due on September 26th. Unlike the UK anniversary DVD, it looks like this will actually feature different content from the old special edition version (the one with a making of feature sans Colin Firth or Jennifer Ehle). And yay, remastering!

    DVD Features:

    * Available Audio Tracks: English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo)
    * 10th Anniversary Limited Edition Collector's Set
    * Gold embossed green fabric slipcase
    * Newly remastered widescreen print
    * Bonus Disc Features:
    * Jane Austen BIOGRAPHY episode
    * An exclusive new retrospective documentary about the making of the classic series
    * A 120 page deluxe companion book The Making Of Pride and Prejudice
    * Interviews with cast and crew

    Wouldn't get my hopes up about new content with Ms Ehle, cos the "new retrospective documentary" might be the same as the Drama Connections one which you can view online. Hopefully, they might include the extended cast interviews that were cut out on the old DVD. We've posted before a video of her being interviewed about Lizzy. If you have access to the Perspectives on Pride and Prejudice educational set (try your uni/state/school library), that has the full footage with her.

    Oh look, turns out AustenBlog picked this up two months ago. Oopsies. Check out the first comment.

    Latest on Road to the Sky

    This is from someone who worked on the film.

    As far as I know, they haven't settled on a title yet. Jennifer plays the wife of Linus Roache's character, Henry Moores, who runs a tea plantation.

    I believe her character's name was changed to Laura (in previous drafts which were used during the casting process, the name was Fanny).

    As for the release dates, I doubt there is one. Last I heard, Santosh finished a rough cut and the producers (who have "Water" currently in theaters) seem very happy.

    Santosh is a talented cinematographer and the state of Kerala is lush. The film promises to be easy on the eyes.

    Cannot. Wait.
    Why yes, I am cheating. It's Monday in Russia ok.

    Friday, May 12, 2006

    Pick of the blogs

    Chez Chintz Cottage, a River King review.

    I spent the evening watching The River King, a slow-paced mystery starring Edward Burns and Jennifer Ehle. I liked it so much I may watch it again before I send it back to Netflix. Both Edward Burns and Jennifer Ehle are compelling actors. Based on a novel by Alice Hoffman, the writing is v. good, and there’s a lovely series of epiphanies at the end.

    And a non-partisan review of both versions of Pride and Prejudice from barbiedoll73's LJ.

    It was with much trepidation that I set about watching the film adaptations of Pride and Prejudice. I absolutely love the novel and feared a dry and long retelling with the 1997 Mini-series, and was even more suspicious of the most recent film. Hollywood has a such a penchant for ruining good stories, but after my father informed me that Pride and Prejudice was the best film he had seen this year, I added them both to my Netflix queue.

    Pride and Prejudice Mini-Series 1997
    This is not something that can be watched in an evening, unless you are capable of not moving for long periods of time, but it is definitely worth devoting a couple of nights to it.
    The story follows the book almost perfectly, but it is not a dry, page by page retelling. The actors are cast perfectly, and they all bring such life and believability to their characters. Jane Austen's wonderful and clever dialog is so fresh and delivered so well that it is hard to believe the book was first published in 1813 (almost 200 years ago!). From his safe, Austen-free study, B kept asking me what was going on, because I literally kept laughing out loud. Some of the best lines are Mr. Bennet's:

    "You mistake me, my dear. I have a high respect for your nerves. They are my old friends. I have heard you mention them with consideration these twenty years at least."

    "You and the girls may go, or you may send them by themselves, which perhaps will be still better, for as you are as handsome as any of them, Mr. Bingley might like you the best of the party."

    "You forced me into visiting him last year, and promised if I went to see him, he should marry one of my daughters. But it ended in nothing, and I will not be sent on a fool's errand again."

    My only complaint was with the casting of Mr. Wickham and Mr. Collins. The actors played the parts well, but I really pictured Mr. Wickham as being much more handsome. Especially for Elizabeth Bennet to favor him over Mr. Darcy (his personality isn't that great, all he has is some sob story about how Mr. Darcy slighted him, I suppose I just pictured him being at least as good looking as Mr. Darcy, otherwise, what else does he have to offer?). I just kept telling myself that, at that time, in England maybe he was considered better looking... Mr. Collins was just over the top horrible. His long speeches and endless talk of Rosings and Lady Catherine were spot on, and certainly enough to make him completely disagreeable. He was just so greasy and unattractive - who wouldn't turn down his marriage proposal? All though I was amused by the giggles and exasperation he produced in the Bennet girls:
    "Lord yes, he's threatened to dance with us all."

    Jennifer Ehle is perfectly cast as Elizabeth Bennet. Her face is so expressive - you know exactly what she is thinking without her saying a word. And Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy... I suppose I need not say anything, except that I have developed quite a crush...

    Best for last...Zoomeister. Too bad she's already spoken for.

    Coming soon, my hilarious campaign to get Jennifer Ehle to marry me. Put more simply, a load of letters i'm going to make up for a big laugh. I shall be putting on my best writing hat, so jimmy me lord!

    Abby Tierney wrapped?

    This is from molassey the Pride and Glory insider:

    I think her part is mostly, if not completely, done filming. I know Jon Voight is finished filming as well. If she comes up again, I'll be sure to post it.

    R1 Pride and Prejudice anniversary DVD

    The North American edition of the Pride and Prejudice 10th anniversary DVD is due in September 2006, according to Deep Discount DVD. Thanks to Pinky from EhleNews for the tip.

    Thursday, May 11, 2006

    Sunshine on Buffalo telly

    This falls into the time-critical category.

    Thursday
    11:30 PM [5] "Sunshine" ('99) Ralph Fiennes, Rosemary Harris. Three generations of a Jewish family are caught up in the successive political upheavals affecting their native Hungary. (CC) (2:00) 98879

    I'm guessing this means Sunshine is on Channel 5 today in Buffalo and environs.

    Wednesday, May 10, 2006

    And looky again!!

    How cool are these! Click to embiggen as always.







    Best Look Ever methinks.

    Tuesday, May 09, 2006

    Looky!!

    It's a Tuesday, but just had to show off this new absolutely loverly picture! Click to see it bigger.



    Thanks a million to the sender!

    Monday, May 08, 2006

    Rest for the wicked

    Alrighty. Starting today, Monday 8th, we're going to post every second day, not every day. That is: every Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Sunday. If there's time-critical news on the days in between, we'll still post it up. Or if there's lots of blog fodder, or if we feel like it. But only the aforementioned days are guaranteed.

    Why the change? There just isn't new news every day (at least now - we expect June to be busy), and there's a finite, diminishing store of old news, and we have degrees to pass. This doesn't mean our loyalty's waning! We'll still be keeping an eye on the mass media for any signs of big news.

    However, just a single additional editor would allow the daily blogging to continue. So if you're interested, please, pretty please, email us at jenniferehle@gmail.com.

    Land Breakers progress

    Those of you that are fans of John Ehle's work might be interested in keeping track of the Press 53 blog. It seems like they're providing regualrish updates on publishing The Land Breakers.

    Harper Lee called Sheryl last Saturday to tell her she just received her copy of The Land Breakers and was looking forward to reading it again. Ms. Lee wanted to make sure she still had time to write her blurb for Mr. Ehle. Sheryl assured her that she had plenty of time and we will wait patiently for her response.
    ...
    Sheryl and I spent yesterday at her house proofreading the first three chapters of The Land Breakers. Twenty-four to go.

    PEERS reviews Pride and Prejudice

    What's a Jennifer Ehle blog without any Pride and Prejudice references? This review brought to you by the Period Events & Entertainments Re-creation Society.

    The greatest problem with screen adaptations of Austen’s novels is that the screenplay tends to concentrate on the romance and to ignore the irony and wit. But in Langton’s Pride and Prejudice much of the ironic wit of Jane Austen’s dialogue and narration survives intact - along with the most romantic "realistic" love story ever written.

    Elizabeth Bennett (Jennifer Ehle ) has a wonderfully expressive face and a deliciously wicked wit; in this production she’s very much her father’s daughter, ironically leading fools and rogues on with a straight face - and watching with relish as they make fools of themselves. Her later conversations with Wickham and Mr. Collins are worthy of Mr. Bennett himself.

    Colin Firth is a reserved but dangerous and sexually magnetic Darcy - quite a Byronic characterization. We see him fencing like Basil Rathbone ("I will conquer this" he murmurs to himself), intimidating Wickham with a glance, and forcing a door open that the infamous governess Mrs. Young tries to shut in his face. This is not a man to cross. And his verbal duels with Elizabeth are electric.

    And, for once, almost everyone seems well-cast. Mr. Bingley (Crispin Bonham-Carter) has more charm and more backbone than one usually sees (He’s furious with Darcy when he learns of the intrigue to separate him from Jane). Jane herself (Susannah Harker) looks like a touchingly vulnerable Helen of Troy. Not inappropriately, Mr. Collins resembles Rowan Atkinson’s Blackadder in both appearance and manner. The Gardiners are very convincing as a genteel middle class couple with far more refinement than most of the gentry in the story. Masterpiece Theatre viewers will recognize former ingenue Joanna David playing a youthful Mrs. Gardener with real rapport with her favorite niece Elizabeth. The really pleasant surprise is Lydia (Julia Sawalha, better known as Saffie from Absolutely Fabulous) who, for once, is played exactly as Jane Austen wrote her - as a voluptuous teenager keenly enjoying her own seduction.

    And a few interesting historical inaccuracies:
    Elizabeth and Darcy look so graceful executing their pas de boureé step while verbally sparring in "Easter Thursday" that one can almost forgive the inaccuracy of the choreography (In reality, in Jane Austen’s time only the first couple is active at the beginning of the dance!).

    ...Elizabeth and Mr. Collins should not have been first couple in the opening dance of Mr. Bingley’s ball. That honor of opening the ball belongs to the lady of highest precedence in the room who chooses to dance (In this case, probably Charlotte Lucas, the eldest daughter of a knight), and Elizabeth would never stand above her beloved elder sister Jane in an opening dance. The lovely country dance music and "incidental" party music is all period, but the bluestocking Mary would not have needed to bring her sheet music nor would the Italian songs have been sung in translation.

    Friday, May 05, 2006

    Bridget Jones quote

    I'd heard that there was some reference to Jennifer Ehle in Bridget Jones' Diary but never saw it quoted until now, in this analysis by Cecilia Salber.

    The difficulty in separating the real, that is, the Austenian prototype, from the imagined appears again when Bridget confronts the real life affair between the Pride and Prejudice costars Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle:

    "I stumbled upon a photograph in the Standard of Darcy and Elizabeth, hideous, dressed as modern-day luvvies, draped all over each other in a meadow: she with blond Sloane hair, and linen trouser suit, he in striped polo neck and leather jacket with a rather unconvincing moustache. Apparently they are already sleeping together. That is absolutely disgusting. Feel disoriented and worried, for surely Mr. Darcy would never do anything so vain and frivolous as to be an actor and yet Mr. Darcy is an actor. Hmmm. All v. confusing."

    The photo at the bottom of this page sort of fits the description.

    Saving the Alpha Male clip

    Someone on IMDB has just posted instructions about how to save the Alpha Male clip to your computer, instead of having to watch it embedded in your browser.

    The solution is to open this link in Netscape:

    http://www.beam.tv/beamreels/play_clip.php?reel_file=SkqDwjdrcX&action=open

    This is the link to the embedded "object".

    You may have to wait for the whole clip to load before you can download it. Once the clip has loaded, click on the down arrow button on the lower right corner of the movie window. Then select "Save as Quicktime Movie". The filename will be something that doesn't look like a movie filename. You can change it to "AlphaMaleClip.mov" so it can play with Quicktime.

    In future, you can get these embedded links yourself by using netscape's "Page Info" feature from the "View" drop-down menu. When the page info window opens, go to the "media" tab and look for the line that has the URL for the embedded object. Go to that URL and you can either download the result after it loads, or if it's even further embedded, repeat the page info process until you get to the root.

    I've found that in Firefox you can save by clicking on the link above and waiting until the file loads (warning, it's 16mb). Then go to "File > Save page as" and save the page with a .mov name.

    Wednesday, May 03, 2006

    525 600

    Forget sunsets and cups of coffee, this is how you measure a year in a life: 365 days of daily posting, 800-odd posts, about 61 000 visits and 147 000 page views, far too many Google/eBay/Factiva/blog searches and reviews, countless emails and PM's and forum posts, thousands of pointy brackets, much shameless publicity, one spectacular interview, equal parts stress and squeeing, much goodwill received from many quarters, new skills learned, new friends made across the country and the world.

    Yes, dear readers, it has been exactly one year since this blog was born. And what an amazing ride it's been! Permit me to get a bit Oscars-acceptance-speechy on you and thank some of those who have helped keep this thing afloat:

  • Chelsea, fabulous co-conspirator, without whom this blog and probably my sanity would've collapsed long ago.
  • Mary, Sands and Evelyn, for their friendship and support.
  • Everyone who has sent in tips and photos, or shared their reviews and stories. Notably Josie, who has sent a whopping number of photos. Thanks also to those who have answered our questions.
  • The folk of other fandoms who have put up with our pot-banging, such as Pemberley and various Kevin Spacey and Colin Firth sites.
  • People who have helped backstage, particularly the crew of Colin Firth 24-7.
  • All our readers, especially those who have written to encourage us. We really appreciate it!
  • Last but certainly not least, the blog's raison d'être. For her unprecedented generosity, for being the inspiration for all this, and for her work which continues to move and entertain after countless reviewings.

  • Now to the future. When the blog was first created, the goal was to keep up daily posts for a whole year. Not exactly an easy task. So with this anniversary past, we'll be reviewing our posting frequency. Nothing has been decided yet but most likely we'll still guarantee regular posting, just not every single day. Many hands make light work however, so we're renewing our appeal for anyone interested in being a co-editor. You only need to be enthusiastic and committed to a couple of days a week; the technical side is fairly easy. Drop a line to jenniferehle@gmail.com if you're up for it or have any questions. It's good fun, promise.

    Here's to another year of sharing Jennifer Ehle news then!

    Camomile Lawn DVD review

    This is the first review for the Region 1 Camomile Lawn DVD, from Metronews.

    The Camomile Lawn
    Acorn/Paradox DVD box set
    *** 1 / 2 (out of five)

    This 1992 miniseries adaptation of Mary Wesley's novel is set mostly in wartime Britain, a world recognizable from movies and TV — ration books and bomb shelters, cardboard gas mask cases, air raid wardens, blackout curtains, black markets and last, desperate leaves before heading into battle.

    The overdue innovation was to show how war and death changed society, and young people, irrevocably. There's a case to be made that the sexual revolution didn't begin in the '60s with a demographic bulge of restless young people, but 20 years earlier with their parents, eagerly seeking out love, sex and comfort with the reasonable certainty that they might not be alive to deal with the consequences.

    Jennifer Ehle and Tara Fitzgerald play cousins who watch the complacent moral certainties of the upper middle classes, in which they've been confidently raised, get shredded under the pressures of war. Ehle's Calypso, the beauty of their circle, admits that she loves the war — the thrill and adventure, the abundance of young men in uniform, the sense of life being lived to its fullest. Her quieter cousin Polly (Fitzgerald) also "liberates" herself in the new wartime society, discovering that she's in love with twin brothers, who seem content to share her.

    Almost everyone, in fact, ends up breaking away from social convention by the time the first bombs of the Blitz start dropping, including the girls' aunt Helena and her stuffy husband Richard, whose marriage becomes a very open one after they swap partners with a Jewish refugee couple. Almost all of the characters inhabit a world where breeding and manners are supposed to compensate for pathological rudeness and self-centredness, a tone that Kenneth Taylor captures very nicely from Wesley's novel. While it might be hard to sympathize with Wesley's characters — Calypso is particularly heartless — the truth of her depiction of life during wartime is hard to deny.

    Rick McGinnis/Metro Toronto

    Harper Lee to blurb Land Breakers?

    This is from Press 53, an independent publisher which is going to reprint John Ehle's book The Land Breakers. It's due sometime in June/July.

    I think this is the same event as the one reported below - the "really beautiful, and funny passage" must be from Last One Home. Here's a little photo of Mr Ehle doing the reading.

    Sheryl and I attended a fundraiser last night for the North Carolina Writers' Network, where John Ehle and his wife, actress Rosemary Harris, we[re] the guests of honor. Mr. Ehle treated everyone by reading a passage from Last One Home. This event took place the day after Mr. Ehle's book, The Land Breakers, was selected by the Forsyth County Public Library for their community reading program, On the Same Page, which will take place this fall. Sheryl and I are very excited about all the readings, discussions and other programs during this five-week celebration.

    After Mr. Ehle read last night, I followed by honoring him by reading three of the blurbs we've collected from other well-known writers: Ron Rash (Appalachian Writers Association’s Book of the Year Award for his novel One Foot in Eden), Pinckney Benedict (Dogs of God), and Robert Morgan (Oprah pick, Gap Creek). What I couldn't read, and what I am only going to mention here until we actually receive the blurb, is that Harper Lee ("To Kill a Mockingbird") has promised to also write a blurb for our reissue of The Land Breakers. Sheryl has spoken to Ms. Lee by phone three times; she and Mr. Ehle are old friends. Now it seems that she and Sheryl are becoming good friends. I have not had the honor of speaking to Ms. Lee, which will teach me to be the one taking notes next time Mr. Ehle pulls out his address book.

    Monday, May 01, 2006

    Source of pride

    Tatiana Siegel's article for Reuters/Hollywood Reporter is probably the source of the gazillions of reports about Ms Ehle replacing Samantha Morton a couple of days ago. The text is excerpted in Chelsea's post below. These gazillions are all essentially the same so we're not posting them, but it's heartening to see how widely reported this news is.

    Witch Child clips

    Posted this ages ago but the link has moved. This Realplayer clip of Witch Child from BooksOnTape also extracts a different part of the audiobook, I believe, starting from the beginning.