Category: Movies
Knightley eyes Columbia’s ‘Fair Lady’
Eliza Doolittle is set for another bigscreen makeover.
Columbia Pictures is tuning up a “My Fair Lady” redo, with Keira Knightley in talks to star as the simple Cockney flower girl who is transformed into a lady.
The studio declined comment on casting of the project, being produced by Duncan Kenworthy (“Love Actually,” “Notting Hill”) and London legit maven Cameron Mackintosh.
CBS Films, which owns the film rights to the Lerner & Loewe musical, will co-develop.
While it’s being called an update, the film will use the tuner’s score and retain its 1912 setting. Where possible, Kenworthy and Mackintosh intend to shoot the film on location in the original London settings of Covent Garden, Drury Lane, Tottenham Court Road, Wimpole Street and the Ascot racecourse. (The 1964 Warner Bros. film was lensed entirely on Hollywood soundstages.)
The filmmakers plan to adapt Alan Jay Lerner’s book more fully for the screen by drawing additional material from George Bernard Shaw’s play “Pygmalion,” which served as the source material for the musical. The goal is to dramatize the emotional highs and lows of Doolittle as she undergoes the ultimate metamorphosis under the tutelage of Professor Henry Higgins.
“This update will preserve the magic of the musical while fleshing out the characters and bringing 1912 London to life in an authentic and exciting way,” said Col co-president Doug Belgrad.
Kenworthy, who worked with Knightley on “Love Actually,” said, “With 40 years of hindsight, we’re confident that by setting these wonderful characters and brilliant songs in a more realistic context, and by exploring Eliza’s emotional journey more fully, we will honor both Shaw and Lerner at the same time as engaging and entertaining contemporary audiences the world over.”
Mackintosh, who has produced many of the West End’s and Broadway’s most successful musicals, including “Cats,” “Les Miserables” and “The Phantom of the Opera,” said the story of Doolittle’s transformation “couldn’t be more timely in a contemporary world obsessed with overnight celebrity.”
Mackintosh has produced two stage revivals of “My Fair Lady”: the first in 1979, with Lerner directing; and a second incarnation, which opened in the West End in 2001 and is now touring the U.S.
“My Fair Lady,” with book and lyrics by Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe, was first staged in 1956 featuring Julie Andrews and Rex Harrison. Audrey Hepburn and Harrison starred in the Oscar-winning George Cukor-helmed film.
From: Variety, June 5, 2008
Entry filed under: Movies, Press Mentions | 1 Comment »“My Fair Lady” Remake In The Works
Columbia Pictures and CBS Films announced today that plans are in the works to remake a film of the classic Lerner and Loewe musical “My Fair Lady”.
The film is to be produced by British filmmaker Duncan Kenworthy and Broadway producer Sir Cameron Mackintosh.
The producers plan to use original songs from the Tony-award winning play, which first hit the stage in 1956 starring Julie Andrews.
“‘My Fair Lady’ is not just the quintessential stage musical and classic film, but a fantastic story,” Columbia Pictures President Doug Belgrad said in a statement. “This update will preserve the magic of the musical while bringing 1912 London to life in an authentic and exciting way for contemporary audiences.”
Filmmakers also hope to adapt more material from “Pygmalion,” the play by George Bernard Shaw on which “My Fair Lady” is based. They say this will give the audience stronger emotional attachment to Eliza Doolittle as she undergoes the transformation from girl to lady.
The play was first adapted for the screen in 1963. It was directed by George Cukor and starred Audrey Hepburn as Eliza and Rex Harrison as Higgins. It won eight Oscars including Best Picture.
Where possible, the film will be shot on location in the original London settings.
Kenworthy said in a statement, “With forty years of hindsight, we’re confident that by setting these wonderful characters and brilliant songs in a more realistic context, we will honor both Shaw and Lerner as well as entertain contemporary audiences the world over.
Kenworthy and Mackintosh are in critical search for the perfect person to play Eliza. Sources say they are in discussion with a major international star to play the role.
From: CBS News, June 6, 2008
Entry filed under: Movies, Press Mentions | Comments OffAnother Audrey is magic in ‘Tiffany’s’ homage
We can’t wait to see this French film, Priceless, starring Amelie
Tunisian-born French director Pierre Salvadori is a big fan of vintage Hollywood comedy and his new film, “Priceless,” is a “reimagining” (but not exactly a remake) of one of his all-time favorites: the 1961 Audrey Hepburn classic, “Breakfast at Tiffany’s.”
It sounds like a formula for disaster but the results halfway live up to that ambitious concept. There’s no “Moon River” on the soundtrack but Salvadori’s homage is a bittersweet, funny, sporadically charming and consistently entertaining love story between two “kept” people.
And if French superstar Audrey Tautou is not exactly up to filling Hepburn’s shoes, the camera is still very much in love with her, and her wistful charisma hasn’t seemed this potent since she became a European film phenomenon off 2001’s “Amelie.”
She plays Irene, a gorgeous, conniving woman who’s not exactly a prostitute but has moved from one sugar daddy to another in her young life and, as the movie opens, is playing house with a wealthy businessman (Vernon Dobtcheff) old enough to be her grandfather.
One night in a Biarritz resort, in a late-night moment of boredom and sexual frustration, she meets and seduces Jean (Gad Elmaleh), a nebbish of a waiter she mistakes for a tycoon. Naturally, she leaves him in a huff the minute she realizes her error.
But he falls in love with her. And to stay in her league, he becomes the gigolo of a wealthy older woman (Marie-Christine Adam). From here, the movie follows Jean’s romantic pursuit of Irene, while both try to keep it a secret from their respective meal tickets.
The comedy mostly works. Salvadori loves these characters like his own children and he has a gift for comic timing, a typical Gallic sense of the absurd and a flair for the wit, sophistication and high-gloss luxury backgrounds of Golden Age Hollywood.
Elmaleh is a rising French comedy star with a Buster Keaton face whose films (“The Valet,” “Train of Life”) have so far had little success in the U.S. market. He underplays this role with just the right deadpan touch, and it should help him finally gain an audience here.
But it’s Tautou’s showcase and if her endlessly calculating Irene displays little of the childlike innocence Hepburn gave the role, she brings her own magic to the table. Every move she makes is endearing and she’s never looked more stylishly beautiful.
From: Seattle P-I, article by William Arnold, April 17, 2008
Entry filed under: Movies, Reviews | Comments OffAudrey Hepburn 5-Pack DVD Collection (Holiday Gift Guide)
This fantastic collection contains Audrey’s most popular films: Roman Holiday, Sabrina, Paris When it Sizzles, Funny Face (the 50th Anniversary Edition!), and Breakfast at Tiffany’s (the Special Anniversary Collector’s Edition!)!
That’s 5 discs and over 550 minutes of Audrey Hepburn movie goodness. Pure heaven!
To learn more about the Funny Face 50th Anniversary Edition, view our review here or view our post here about the Breakfast at Tiffany’s Special Anniversary Collector’s Edition from the 2006 Holiday Gift Guide.
Order your copy of the Audrey Hepburn 5-Pack DVD Collection
Films of Faith Collection (Holiday Gift Guide)
What could be more perfect for the holiday season that the Films of Faith DVD Collection
This special DVD collection contains Audrey Hepburn in The Nun’s Story, along with two other films: The Shoes of the Fisherman and The Miracle of Our Lady of Fatima.
More about The Nun’s Story: “The Nun’s Story (1959) is an unforgettable revelation of the seldom-seen world behind convent walls. Audrey Hepburn portrays Sister Luke, a nun whose life journey leads her to a much desired position as a surgical nurse in a Belgian Congo missionary hospital. After she returns to her native Belgium, World War II breaks out and she finds her commitment seriously tested — torn between the pull of the Resistance and the church’s neutrality. Directed by four-time Academy Award winner Fred Zinnemann, The Nun’s Story earned eight Oscar nominations including Best Picture” and Best Actress for Audrey Hepburn.
Learn more about the Films of Faith DVD Collection by clicking here.
Stocking Stuffer: Breakfast at Tiffany’s Night Light (Holiday Gift Guide)
How cute is this night light?! Imagine a little bit of Holly Golightly magic it in your bathroom, home office, hallway, or bedroom outlet. The perfect way to dress up a drab outlet and add a decorative accent, Holly Golightly style.
We are totally into this Breakfast at Tiffany’s holiday gift.
Poll: Your favorite Audrey Hepburn movie?
Which Audrey Hepburn movie do you love best? Please let us know!
Did we miss your favorite film? Please let us know by leaving a comment below.
Funny Face 50th Anniversary Edition DVD
The 50th Anniversary Edition of Funny Face is now available on DVD!
Funny Face is a delightful Hollywood musical, featuring George and Ira Gershwin’s memorable music, and stands out as as one of the best films from the latter part of Fred Astaire’s career. Audrey Hepburn, playing a brainy bookstore salesclerk turned stylish model, is utterly delightful and so chicly dressed in costumes by legendary Paramount fashion designer Edith Head. Set in Paris, Funny Face
More about the movie:
In Funny Face
This special edition contains:
- Brand-new High Definition transfer of the movie.
- Eight-minute featurette, “The Fashion Designer & His Muse,” on the relationship between Audrey Hepburn and her favorite fashion designer Hubert de Givenchy.
- Featurette called “Parisian Dreams†about the city of Paris and its place in the movie. (“The extra also examines the film’s experimental use of color. On one photo shoot in the movie, Jo is carrying some balloons on a dreary and rainy day. Everything else is gray, except the balloons and Jo and Dick. The color was added in post-production to highlight the excitement that the ordinary person would have in Paris.” via link)
- Material from the previous DVD release, including the “Paramount in the ’50s” film featurette, a photo gallery with many pictures from the set and film of Funny Face, and the original movie trailer.
Rush to your local library, video store, or purchase it from Amazon
Isn’t It Romantic? Sabrina Set Photos
In Today’s Pictures, Slate Magazine and Magnum Photos present photos of Audrey Hepburn during the filming of Sabrina in 1954. Photos in the collection also feature director Billy Wilder and Audrey’s costars Humphrey Bogart and William Holden.
The movie Sabrina made its theatrical debut this week in 1954. Starring Audrey Hepburn, William Holden, and Humphrey Bogart, the romantic film soon became a classic. It went on to be nominated for six Academy Awards, including best actress for Hepburn and best director for Billy Wilder.
View the entire photo series at Slate’s website.
View other photos from the filming of Sabrina in our Sabrina movie gallery.
Breakfast at Tiffany’s Deconstructed
- Throughout his writing career critics have been both generous and praising to Capote but also disfavoring, harsh, and sometimes utterly stingy. Breakfast at Tiffany’s was no exception. Where one critic called it “an unbelievable melodrama” (Goyen 5) another said “although it is not free of Capote’s faults, seems to me the best thing he has done yet” (Hyman 148). But these same critics cannot deny the book of it’s integrity for in his same review Stanley Hyman says: “Holly is done in wonderful brush strokes…” For the most part, the book was given honorable and praising reviews: “A rare individual voice, cool even when exasperated, never more sure of itself then when amazed, sounds through every sentence,” said Paul Darcy Boles of the Saturday Review (20). Whatever the criticism, be it good or bad, Capote shows an undeniable flair for character, humor, and virtue. Some call him unrealistic, fanciful, and indifferent to moral issues (Garson 6-7) but no matter what they say, it is undeniable that Capote remains, and will remain an influential writer long after his death.
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