Let me just pause and say: I’m not covering Mr. Collins here, because I can’t think of any choices I like. (My only guiding principle would be: “as much unlike David Bamber as possible.”) I’m not covering the other four Bennet sisters because it seems like pretty much every version manages to come up with acceptable if not necessarily great versions of Jane, Lydia and whichever of Kitty and Mary are included. Ditto the Lucases, the Hursts, Anne De Bourgh and Georgiana Darcy. Where these characters are concerned, I’m open to anyone who could be a plausible relative (if relevant) to the characters I’ve mentally cast.

For accompanying pictures, and accompanying disclaimers of disinterest in making actor demographics perfectly match the book character demographics, see Monday’s post. Please note that I namecheck some pretty obscure actors from older versions below, feel free to search-fu their names.

Continue reading “Weird Wednesday: Explaining the Fan Casting for P&P” →

About ten years late to the party, I watched the Keri Russell film Austenland (2013) about an American woman who goes to England to participate in a Jane Austen LARP at an English manor, only to discover that she bought the basic package, which is a lot less fun than the top end package which her two co-LARPers bought. I’d avoided the film for years due to bad reviews, and then on watching it decided I rather liked it. (This, too, is the story of Pride and Prejudice 1980).

I’m not sure if I can recommend it to other people. The slapsticky, PG-13 comedy at the surface is rather dull – lame gags about women talking/acting bawdy and men being either uncomfortable with it or encouraging – but the core romance track is sound and there are some interesting in-jokes and subtexts that the reviews seemed to overlook (or not talk about). I thought I would summarize them here. Warning: spoilers below, including for a core plot twist from late in the film…

Continue reading “Weird Wednesday: The Austenland Decoder Ring” →