Dancing Jane Austen

Emma and Mr Knightley. Romola Garai looks ravishing. Even the usually bland Jonny Lee Miller is not so bad in this scene.

Elinor and Robert Ferrars. This dance looks fun! But not for Elinor, since she’s dancing with the wrong brother.

Elizabeth Bennet and Mr Darcy, the brilliant version.

Elizabeth Bennet and Mr Darcy, the crappy version. Could these two sound MORE bored and uninterested? I don’t think so. Where’s the passion, the anger, the biting sarcasm? There’s more to showing anger than flaring your nostrils and opening your eyes very, very wide, guys.

New BBC Drama – Ripper Street

This looks promising (Mr Darcy as a detective investigating the Jack the Ripper murders). Synopsis from Radio Times:

Set during the aftermath of the Jack the Ripper murders in London’s East End, and currently filming in Dublin, the eight-part series from BBC America follows the Metropolitan Police H Division as they investigate the deaths.

A longer synopsis from Irish Film and Television News (the series is currently being shot in Ireland):

‘Ripper Street’ is set in and around Whitechapel in London’s East End in 1889, during the aftermath of the Jack The Ripper murders. The action centres on the notorious H Division, which is charged with keeping order in the chaotic streets of East London.

Jerome Flynn has been cast as detective sergeant Bennet Drake, Macfadyen as detective inspector Edmund Reid, and Adam Rothenberg as Captain Homer Jackson.

Anna Karenina (2012)

I’m looking forward to this, notwithstanding the Keira Knightley factor. There’s Matthew Macfadyen as Anna’s philandering brother, Kelly MacDonald as Dolly his long-suffering wife, Olivia Williams as Vronsky’s mother, even Michelle Dockery in a small part. Not very sold on Jude Law as the older husband (is he that much older than Keira Knightley??) or Aaron Johnson as Vronsky (he looks too young, innocent and wholesome for the part. I can’t remember this, but how old is Vronsky supposed to be? Is he younger than Anna? I don’t think so, right?). I have never heard of the actor and actress playing Kitty and Levin. A bit of  a gamble on Joe Wright’s part. Kitty and Levin’s story is almost as important as Anna’s.  Of course I will always remember the book fondly as the novel my father tricked me into reading at 17 by describing it as “about a woman who threw herself under a train because her boyfriend didn’t love her anymore”. Oh daddy, how well you know the teenage mind! He just forgot to mention all the pages and pages about Russian agriculture. Gee, thanks a lot, dad!

In other news, I don’t understand a world where Keira Knightley is a major movie star who gets all the choice parts like Elizabeth Bennet and Anna Karenina, and Romola Garai mostly just does TV.  Even discounting acting talent where Garai has the upper hand (yeah, who cares about that, right?), Garai is just as lovely and beautiful as Knightley (even more  so, IMO). Where’s her Anna Karenina? Hmm, suddenly I’m fantasizing about an “Angel” reunion, minus the crappy storyline and weird, OTT design and directing choices. Michael Fassbender as Count Vronsky! What could be more perfect? Shoot, I would even take him as Levin’s dying brother.

Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1781769/fullcredits#cast