Well, I don’t think so … not in the wildest stretch of the imagination could Jane Austen’s most prim and proprietous heroine be considered a woman of loose morals, yet Billie Piper the actress who portrayed Fanny in the 2007 adaptation of Mansfield Park is being tagged a tart by her elderly country neighbors in Midhurst, West Sussex where she lives with her husband, actor Laurence Fox (Mr. Wisley in Becoming Jane) and their young son Winston.Mail Online is reporting that in an interview for the February issue of Marie Claire magazine, the 27-year old actress revealed that "A few of the older locals actually believe I'm a whore," because of her role in ITV’s and Showtime’s Secret Diary of a Call Girl based on the exploits of a real-life call girl Belle de Jour.
"They love Laurence because he's in Lewis (Inspector Lewis in the US), and his fan club are basically in their mid-sixties and upwards. (Ouch – that made his fans who are not senior citizens feel rather ancient). They love him. It's sickening. They follow him around, they want to mother him. I mean, there are places he can't go - like Mecca Bingo or the bowling green - but he loves it. Then they look at me and are like, "That slag! How could you dirty yourself with her? She's corrupted you.""
I guess Billie needs to send her neighbors the DVD of Mansfield Park to redeem her reputation. Fanny Price has been accused of being a prig, but never a tart!
Cheers, Laurel Ann, Austenprose
10 comments:
I myself had to make an effort to accept Billie Piper as Fanny Price and not because I am that prudish. I just had seen bits of her in The secret diary of a call girl and that distracted me ...Then I didn't find her convincingly shy or reserved as Fanny was in my mind, her look was too "modern". I prefer the 1999 Fanny, France O'Connor. Then I have seen Billie in The Sally Lockhart Mysteries and I found her more credible there, I liked her. Anyhow, from not liking her as Fanny to thinking her a tart there's a huge difference ... That's unbelievable. I'm very sorry for her.
Billie Piper's performance as Fanny Price does nothing to redeem her. I have never seen Ms. Piper in any other role, but she got Fanny all wrong.
I love Billie Piper! But I'm biased as I first saw her as Rose on Doctor Who :) My qualm with this article is the horrible photoshopping of Billie's waistline on the magazine cover! :(
I love Billie Piper, shes one of my favorite. I loved her in Doctor who and in Mansfield park.
I find it hilarious that these elderly people are familiar with Secret Diary but apparently haven't seen Mansfield Park!
I agree with Faith. I get sick of people trashing the character of Fanny Price, which would be so challenging and lovely if done properly. But in Piper's defense it was probably more a problem of writing and directing.
Just because you play a whore, doesn't mean you are one! ; ) I actually enjoyed her as Fanny Price, she was super sweet.
Fanny Price is NOT a tart and I don't care for Billie Piper in the part. She has been good in other things and I agree with Lynnae that the writing and directing had most to do with her unsuccessful turn as Fanny !
I find it hilarious that these elderly people are familiar with Secret Diary but apparently haven't seen Mansfield Park!
LOL Delelian! I had the same thought. Maybe these folks thought that Billie was not playing a character, and that it was reality TV! Oh my. I can just visualize Sergeant Hathaway being cornered by old ladies waving umbrella's and giving him a shake down about his wife! There is a bit of irony in that.
Billie Piper's hair was all wrong for Fannie/the Regency Period. Couldn't get past that.
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