The new major motion picture The Young Victoria premiered to much Royal fanfare in London on March 6th. The lavish production starring British ingénue Emily Blunt as Queen Victoria, that’s Her Royal Majesty Queen Alexandrina Victoria to us commoners, chronicles the early rule of England's longest-reigning queen and her romance with her husband Prince Albert played by Rupert Friend. Even though Victoria was born n 1819, two years after Jane Austen’s death, many unenlightened journalists want to perpetuate the myth that Austen was a Victorian author. She wasn’t. So please make a note of it, because Lady Catherine will sallie forth and get you if you continue to miscatagorize her.
The one thing that this new production of The Young Victoria does have in common with Jane Austen is the plethora of actors who previously stared in Austen adaptations and inspirations. Here’s the run down.Queen Victoria – Emily Blunt (Prudie Drummond in The Jane Austen Book Club 2007)
King William – Jim Broadbent (Dad Jones in Bridget Jones’ Diary 2001 & Bridget Jones Edge of Reason 2004)
Queen Adelade - Harriet Walter (Fanny Dashwood in Sense and Sensibility 1995)
Sir John Conroy – Mark Strong (George Knightley in Emma 1996)
Prince Albert – Rupert Friend (George Wickham in Pride and Prejudice 2005)
Watson – Morven Christie (Jane Bennet in Lost in Austen 2008)
No word yet on a US release date, but this production has received mixed reviews, and will be highly anticipated by period drama lovers – and journalist who think Jane Austen wrote the original novel that it was based on, or should have! ;-)
The Young Victoria at IMDb
The Young Victoria reviews in The Independent , in TimesOnLine, and The Guardian
Cheers, Laurel Ann, Austenprose
I love period pieces and can't wait to see this.
ReplyDeleteYou can't go wrong with Emily Blunt, and those costumes alone should make it worth watching.
ReplyDeleteYikes. It's the Pride and Prejudice trailer music again!
ReplyDeleteEmily Blunt looks like she plays this role well. I'm looking forward to this!
Enthusiasts of the films of Polish director Krzysztof Kieslowski (Blind Chance, Dekalog, The Double Life of Véronique, Three Colours Trilogy, etc) are invited to drop by my chatroom at the Brasserie Alizé on the anniversary of the director’s death, this coming Friday evening, 13 March 2009, from around 1800 GMT. Please pass on the invitation to others and hopefully see you there!
ReplyDeleteI love the interesting love story of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, all the challenges they faced, the impact of the Queen's reign on British life and society and the spillover into the rest of Europe and America.
ReplyDeleteI look forward to seeing this too !
No US release date yet? Gah, I knew I should have gone to see it this weekend. I hate that I may have missed my chance!
ReplyDeleteDid Queen Victoria read Austen?
ReplyDeleteI can't wait to see this, I love Emily Blunt. However, I'm getting a very strong "The other boleyn girl" vibe from it - which isn't great historically, but at least it's an assurance (that and the trailer) that the costumes will be fabulous! :)
ReplyDeleteIs there already a Canadian date, by any chance?