Brontë: release date and background

The news about Brontë is coming on slowly. Today the Yorkshire Post publishes a little more info on the background of this production:

The script was originally written for Dreamworks film company nine years ago but then shelved until Mr MacLean Clark picked it up five years ago.
"It was a story that needed to be told. There have been variations of Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights but there has never been an English language variation of their lives, which is really close to the truth," he said.
"They are still some of the best-selling authors in the world who are also quite contemporary."
He added: "It's important to be shooting the movie as close as possible to Haworth because that's where it all took place and it needs to be accurate. A lot of the extras will be locally cast and where possible the crew will also be employed locally." Alan Bentley, director of the Bronte Parsonage Museum, in Haworth, said: "This will tell the lives of the Bronte's to a wider audience.
"I am sure it will boost the economy, what's good for the parsonage is also good for the local area."
He said members of the cast would be welcome to visit the parsonage to help them with preparations for the film.

This is interesting. We remember first hearing about this film years ago. And Angela Workman used to give updates on it on the IMDb message boards. She always said she was moving along with it - turns out she did! :)

We also learn more about the take on the Brontës lives:

"The story begins with them as children and moves on to them at the age of 17/18 and continues for the rest of their lives. It focuses on what drove, Charlotte, Emily and Anne to write.
"The challenge with a film like this is do you cover their whole lives or just one section. We're doing the whole lot. I felt it was important to show their entire lives as they were so short.
"We go into what they were like growing up and where their imagination and passion came from to write books because they led austere lives."

The Brontës lifespans might have been short in time but they were so intense that we are finding it quite hard to imagine it all crammed into two or three hours, though. Sounds like quite a feat if they achieve it successfully.

And finally a release date already!

They will spend eight weeks filming and hope to launch the film at the Toronto Film Festival in September 2007. It is hoped it will be in cinemas by January 2008.

We are looking forward to it :)

Categories: In_the_News, Movies-DVD-TV