I wanted to say 'Hi, I’m Ruth Wilson', and set them all Brontëbloggers straight

The Times publishes today an article that comments the new Jane Eyre from the BBC and interviews Ruth Wilson.

The author, Carola Long, comments on the "plainness" of Jane Eyre,

On meeting Wilson, I am struck by how much prettier she is off screen than as Jane. Instead of a gothic pallor, she has a light honey glow, while the thick eyebrows that give her character a fierce aspect have been plucked into fine, architectural arches. She’s also sporting rather bling, long French manicured nails, the vanity of which would have the pious Jane screwing up those unplucked eyebrows in disapproval. “Lots of people have said to me, ‘You aren’t plain, so why are you playing plain Jane?’,” she says in an animated South London accent. “But I do look pretty drab in the film. I wear hardly any make-up, I have these horrible matted extensions and I had to grow my eyebrows out so they look wild.” (...)

A hard filming for Ruth,

I’ve never worked quite so hard. I was in every scene — even if I was in the background there would be a close-up of my expression at some point.” The physical challenge of 12-hour days was hardly eased by cumbersome costumes and tight corsets, but as Wilson explains, “they put you straight into character and they give you instant posture.” Raising the question of how romance ever flourished in the 19th century before daily showering, she adds: “

I did wonder how the hell they used to function in those clothes. Everyone must have really stunk, because they were doing stuff every day on horses, in hot weather. Yuck.”

And well... it seems that Ruth was not so happy reading something on this blog:

Despite the pressure to conform to the existing image of Eyre that lives in the minds of critics and viewers, Wilson seems undaunted: “If you try and fit into someone’s mould of what a character should be then you will never get it right.” She declares that she isn’t going to read any reviews of the series, but one form of preview she has read is the BrontëBlog (bronteblog.blogspot.com), “where all these obsessed people post their every thought about the Brontës. They were saying all this stuff like ‘She’s 5ft 7in: she’s too tall to play Jane, she should be 4ft nothing.’ I wanted to log on and say, ‘Hi, I’m Ruth Wilson’, and set them all straight.” While the Brontë bloggers might balk at a rogue ouija board scene, it is one of only a few minor changes to the novel.

Yes, this Brontëblogger thinks that sometimes brontëites can be a little bit integrists. But, in our defense, later we have praised her interpretation a lot.

And, finally, ideas for new posts on BrontëBlog:

“When I wasn’t working I had to develop other skills. I’m quite good at baking. I was seriously thinking of opening an organic cake stall in Waterloo, near where I live.” This leads to a literary digression worthy of the BrontëBlog. “If Jane Eyre made cakes,” she muses, “they would be organic, and definitely sugar, wheat, and dairy free. They’d probably look revolting but taste good.” When Wilson gets this deep under the skin of her characters, it’s a safe bet that Waterloo won’t be getting that cake stall.

Categories: In_the_News, Jane_Eyre, Movies-DVD-TV