More on the Shirley project

Yesterday, we reported about a project to bring Charlotte Brontë's Shirley to the screen. Brontëblog has contacted the screenplay writer Dr. Jo Baker and she kindly told us the following:
[In the picture, Elizabeth Irving (1904-2003) that was Caroline Helstone in the 1922 silent version of the novel. (NPG- Source)]

'I was just finishing up my current novel (Similitude, with my agent at the moment). It's set in part in 1842. I'd just moved to Lancaster to take up this lectureship, and I got to know a colleague who was an expert on the period I'd set the story. He's a lovely guy, and very generously agreed to read the text for historical accuracy. He really liked the book - and said, had I noticed my male protagonist had the same name as a character in Shirley. I'd read the book as a teenager; I had no idea I'd reproduced the name, and I couldn't really remember much of the story. I thought I'd better go back and have a look at it, check there was no other unintentional intertextuality!

Re-reading Shirley, it became clear that I was okay as far as overlap went - no other obvious parallels than that one name. It also became clear that the book had really strong visual and narrative qualities, and when given the structural attention that a screenplay absolutely demands, it would be just amazing. At its core it is a reverse Jane Eyre - the gender roles are reversed. I just thought this has to be done. And then I thought, it probably has been done. I did a bit of research, and could only turn up that 1922 silent movie - which seems to no longer exist. I outlined the idea to an independent film producer: he loved it, asked for a treatment, which I supplied. He took it from there.

This is obviously very early days. I plan to get started on the screenplay this spring.'

The previous novels of Jo Baker are Offcomer (2001) and The Mermaid's Child (2004).

Categories: Movies-DVD-TV, Shirley