Gemtle Readers, We fell in love with Felicity Jones as Catherine Morland in 2007s Northanger Abbey. Only 23 when she made the film, we believed her performance as the very young, innocent Catherine. Now 27, look how beautiful and sophisticated she looks in modern garb:
Felicity in Proenza Schouler, Spring 2012 Collection
at the Motion Picture and Television Fund, Fall 2011
Felicity and Jessica Brown Findlay from Downton Abbey
in a fashion shoot
Modern Felicity vs. old-fashioned Felicity deserve a comparison: One is fetchingly innocent maid, while the other is a modern woman about town.
The London Evening Standard writes about Felicity Jones (Catherine Morland, Northanger Abbey) and Jessica Brown-Findlay (Lady Sybil, Downtown Abbey.) Isn't this image striking of the two pretty actresses?
The Daily Mail recently published an article that featured three Jane Austen character actors: Colin Firth, Jemima Rooper, and Felicity Jones. Click here to read it.
Colin Firth (Mr. Darcy) and Helena Bonham Carter in The King's Speech
Jemima Rooper, Amanda Price in Lost in Austen, now in Me and My Girl
Felicity Jones (Catherine Morland in Northanger Abbey) as Luise Miller, a woman in love with a prince.
Janeites will be happy to hear of several actors who have been previously featured in Jane Austen movie adaptations will be staring in the new movie based on Evelyn Waugh’s novel Brideshead Revisted (limited release on 25 July 2008). Further connections include the director Julian Jerrold whose interpretation of Jane Austen’s young adult life was beautifully, though creatively visualized in Becoming Jane(2007), and the writer Andrew Davies whose Austen association can be matched by no other screenwriter with his novel adaptations of Pride and Prejudice (1995), Emma (1996), Northanger Abbey (2007), Sense and Sensibility (2008) and spinoffs Bridget Jones’s Diary (2001), and Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (2004).
The Evelyn Waugh novel, Brideshead Revisited, The Sacred & Profane Memories of Captain Charles Ryder was published in 1945, and is the fascinating story of the reminiscences of Captain Charles Ryder while he is stationed at Brideshead Castle during WWII. His reflections on his involvement with the owners, the eccentric and aristocratic Flyte Family, is told through his friendship with their son Sebastian, daughter Julia, and their devotedly Catholic mother Lady Marchmain, whose manipulations by guilt and guile chisel away at the foundation of her family and at an English way of life that is quickly fading.
Enthusiasts of English period dramas will remember that this novel was brought to the screen in 1981 in an eleven part mini-series produced by Granada Television staring Anthony Andrews as Sebastian Flyte, Laurence Olivier as Lord Marchmain, and Jeremy Irons as Charles Ryder. When it aired in the US on PBS' Great Performances in 1982, it created such a brouhaha because of its mild nudity and profanity, that the series had to be re-edited for futures airings. The story line in the new movie has been pared down to 135 minuets, and will focus on the relationship of Charles Ryder and Julia Flyte. Here are the Austen actors that will be featured, and their connections.
Emma Thompson – Lady Marchmain & as
Elinor Dashwood - Sense and Sensibility (1995)
Hayley Atwell – Julia Flyte & as
Mary Crawford - Mansfield Park (2007)
Felicity Jones – Cordelia Flyte & as
Catherine Morland - Northanger Abbey (2007)
Anna Madeley – Celia Ryder & as
Lucy Steele - Sense and Sensibility (2008)
Joseph Beattie – Anthony Blanche & as
Henry Crawford - Mansfield Park(2007)
Greta Scacchi – Cara & as Mrs. Weston - Emma (1996)
& Cassandra Austen - Miss Austen Regrets(2008)
There is a fabulous official web site for Brideshead Revisited the movie which is well worth a visit, and here is a the movie trailer for your enjoyment.
Janeites in Australia will soon enjoy the delights of four of Jane Austen’s cannon adapted for the screen. According to this advance interview of Actress Sally Hawkins who portrayed Anne Elliot in the ITV production of Persuasion (2007), it looks like the month of June has been dedicated as a mini Austenpalooza down under. Starting with Emma (Kate Beckinsale version 1996), the weekly Sunday evening airings will also include the new (2007) versions of Persuasion on June 8, Northanger Abbey on June 15, and Mansfield Park on June 22.
Actress Sally Hawkins has some interesting comments to add about her take on Austen and her motives for writing.
"I think Jane is echoed in all her heroines, in all her novels," Hawkins says. "If you look at them as a set of complete works, you can see a real woman growing up. Her wit is there, apparent through all her heroines, and that is very much at the core."
Australian audiences have the double advantage of previous airing of these adaptations in the UK and North America, and many reviews are about. To prep yourself for each production (spoilers afoot), here are some reviews of the high and low points of each production.
Once upon a time a lovely young girl named Catherine Morland lived a quiet and sheltered life in an ivy covered house with her mother and father and nine brothers and sisters.
She loved to read novels of the Gothic Persuasion, placing herself as the heroine in the most lurid fantasies.
Then true excitement came Catherine's way. The kindly Allens took her along on a holiday to Bath, where she attended a crush in the Lower Assembly rooms. There she met no one ...
... until Mrs. Allen bumped into a handsome young man named Henry Tilney. They quickly learned they could trust him for he knew all about choosing muslins for his sister and such.
Our erstwhile young heroine spent a delightful evening dancing with Henry. (Part of the ITV scene below was cut out of the 90-minute PBS version of the movie.)
She then met a new girlfriend named Isabella in the middle of the street and the two girls immediately bonded.
Isabella was not only young and gay and sophisticated, but she was always busting out ...
with excitement over gothic novels and novel men.
Soon the two young misses were on a first-name basis and running around with each others’ brothers.
But Catherine thought John was icky. He lied to her and abducted her in an open gig,
leaving Henry and his sister in the lurch, and getting Catherine wet in the rain.
Catherine liked Henry ever so much better than John. She even dreamed about the handsome newly ordained young reverend, misplacing her clothes in the process.
Henry’s father, mistaking Catherine for an heiress (thanks to tattler John) ...
... invited her to visit his cozy house in the country.
Henry drove an unchaperoned Catherine to Northanger Abbey. (Tsk. Tsk. Tsk.)
There, comfortably ensconced in bed, Catherine could read to her heart's delight until the wee hours of the morning ...
and double check laundry lists. One night a gust of wind blew out Catherine's candles. Gasp! Will Catherine live to survive the horrors of Northanger Abbey?
Will Henry will wipe the smudges of mud off Catherine's face?
Will he forgive her for thinking that his father kept his mother locked up in her rooms and threw away the key, or worse murdered her? Will the eight years difference in their ages prevent him from proposing to her and living happily ever after?
Judy Silkoff interviews Andrew Davies in Jane Austen's Regency World about his adaptations of Jane's novels to film, including his take on Northanger Abbey. Click here to read the 5-page PDF document entitled "Jane Austen for the 21st Century".
Can't wait for Northanger Abbey icons? Enter this site to view 18 new icons, all of them splendid and created by olde_fashioned for Fans of Felicity Jones.
Kill two birds with one stone and enter this J.J. Feild fan site to read a Felicity Jones interview about Northanger Abbey and her steamy milk bath scene. (See image below.)
Then visitMasterpiece's Northanger Abbey, and you'll be all set to watch the film on PBS this Sunday at 9 p.m. EST. Well, not quite. We still have a few surprises in store for you.
So, our northern neighbors, how did it go? How did you like Northanger Abbey? Feel free to share. Here's a cute video I found of Felicity Jones as Catherine. She looks absolutely adorable.
