The Jane Eyre invasion

Scrolling down the main page of BrontëBlog you will wonder about the time when we longed for more news on Jane Eyre. As we expected, days before its broadcast we are literally flooded by the constant flow of Jane Eyre news. They will crop up everywhere!

But the most important find today is the Monday edition of Night Waves - a BBC Radio 3 programme - where Hilary Fraser and Kathryn Hughes discuss this forthcoming adaptation. Best of all is the audio clip of the "Do you think me handsome?" conversation bewteen Jane and Rochester. Purists and/or integrists BE WARNED: the dialogue has been modified (though we still think it's good).

But the newspapers also talk about this new Jane Eyre. The Daily Record uses this production as an excuse to look at well-known novel adaptations.

Hotly anticipated costume drama Jane Eyre hits our screens this Sunday.
And Charlotte Bronte's classic love story looks set to be another bodice ripper of a
ratings winner.
Millions are expected to tune in to lose themselves in the dark tale set on the windswept moors of northern England and the changes are that comenext year's award ceremonies it may well be grabbing all the plaudits.

And - more interestingly - The Manchester Evening News lets us read Ruth Wilson's opinion on different matters: from her homesickness while shooting to kissing Toby Stephens to visiting Haworth (take notice of how that's spelt, dear journalists). A very insightful interview into the character of this new Jane:

[A]lthough many newcomers would find the prospect daunting, 24-year-old Ruth Wilson, from Shepperton, Surrey, wasn't a bit intimidated by her first major role
In recent years adaptations of classic books have been dead certs in the battle for viewing figures and their popularity seems to be growing every season.
Here we take a look at the new Jane Eyre costume drama and other classic stories which have found new audiences on the small screen to see if we can tell just why they are so successful.
"Things don't affect me," she says. "I've got a weird sense of reality. I kind of wander through life and take it in my stride. But that's probably me being too naive and innocent." [...]
"I knew they liked me, but they said they were looking for a bigger name with more experience," Ruth confesses. "I was blown away when they told me I'd got the part and immediately got on the phone to my parents. They were more excited than me!" [...]
"The whole experience was pretty amazing," Ruth says, of starring alongside acting luminaries Francesca Annis and Pam Ferris.
"Everyone was lovely and supportive with no egos. But it was really intense playing someone like Jane because all her emotions are happening inside. So, on the outside she seems incredibly calm resilient and wise. That's what I really liked about her."
[...]
"The producer and director warned me it was a very long, arduous shoot, but for me, there was nothing to compare it to," she says. "There were moments, especially in the penultimate two weeks of filming, where I was really tired - I've never been that shattered before."
She also missed her close-knit family back home. "I was on my own, living in a hotel in Derbyshire," Ruth says. "And there were moments when I was feeling very lonely, so I would phone my mum." If that wasn't enough, during filming Ruth had to go through her first on-screen love scenes when Jane gets together with Rochester.
Currently single, Ruth says: "The screen kisses were fine because Toby Stephens is such a legend. Because he was so professional, I never feared any of those scenes.
Hopefully, the chemistry will come across."
But could Ruth identify with Jane? "I didn't originally think so, but I changed my mind," she says. "Jane is incredibly independent and wilful. She can be quietly confident but also have moments of doubt and feel out of her depth. That's a little bit like me.
"What I found quite hard to relate to was not having a family," she continues. "I've got such a strong sense of home and family in my life. So, I had to find an emptiness I didn't actually have."
Ruth researched her role by re-reading Charlotte Bronte's novel and paying a visit to her hometown of Howarth [sic] in Yorkshire.
"I first read the book when I was about 12," Ruth says. "I love it. As a kid, you don't appreciate it as much but it's an amazing book. "I went up to Howarth with my mum because there's so much in the book which describes the landscape and I think it affects how people grow up. Living in such a brutal kind of atmosphere on these bleak moors must make you tougher."

I'm pretty sure you won't suffer from withdrawal symptoms. Soon enough we will be helplessly posting more on Jane Eyre 2006 :)

Categories: In_the_News, Jane_Eyre, Movies-DVD-TV, Audio-Radio