Jane Eyre 2011. Day 0

Apart from the reviews (check this other post), there are more Jane Eyre 2011 mentions:

If you went through (survived) a public school system, chances are you’ve read Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre. While the boys in my high school (and, well, just about everyone) seemed to favor Salinger’s sarcastic teenage diary, The Catcher in the Rye, I preferred Victorian gothic novels. They were more interesting, and contained characters that couldn’t be neatly divided into “good” and “bad” columns. Just five years after BBC produced a miniseries on the novel, Hollywood is releasing its own version. The arts district is still without a proper movie theater, so you’ll have to catch the Red Line to Hollywood/Vine to see it at Arclight. If director Cary Fukunaga does a decent job, it will be worth it. After all these years, it’s still one of my favorite pieces of literature. (Tiffany Kelly on North Hollywood Toluca Lake Patch)

Another version of Jane Eyre is an occasion for celebration, both an opportunity to revisit the previous versions and even more delightfully, the complicated, romantic novel by Charlotte Bronte that is their dramatic underpinning. What an excellent reminder that certain historical heroines deliver the goods to us as much as any modern girls: Brontë could have pitched her story as Teach, Pray, Love.(...)
Almost everyone who comes to know Jane identifies with some aspect of her tortured journey to womanhood, even if by degree. After a childhood of emotional and physical deprivation, thinking herself destined for an ascetic life, she develops a huge crush on her (married) boss, gives him up when she learns the truth and casts herself out into the world, impoverished. But her scrappiness, learned early and well, serves her and she is rescued by a family who turn out to be long lost cousins and with whom she shares a love of literature and religion. Her cousin proposes marriage and joining him as a missionary as she is so suitable, but Jane cannot give up her tormented ghost and journeys to be by his side, only to learn that he has become a blind widower who is now free to marry her after all. (Read more) (Patricia Zohn in The Huffington Post)

Speaking of gothic fairy tales, okay, no, this Bronte extravaganza is not so much one of those, but with a stylish makeover, erstwhile Alice Mia Wasikowska, and only hazy teenage memories of the book, you'd be forgiven for assuming it's in the same ballpark. Jane Eyre fans should just be pleased that this particular adaptation is coming to movie theaters. (Jesse Hassenger in The L Magazine)

TPR Classics reviews the soundrack by Dario Marianelli:

The score opens on a note of melancholy, and harmonies that reminded me just a little of early music, but with the complexity and musical development of John Corigliano’s work. Jack Liebeck’s violin is the featured instrument throughout the score. Early on, it cries, but as Jane begins to free herself from the past, it begins to sing instead.
There’s a heavy emphasis on strings; I don’t remember hearing much in the way of brass or percussion throughout the score, though there are moments of solo piano. Sometimes that’s a dangerous road to travel on too long, as there can be a kind of mind-numbing sameness about the music throughout. But Marianelli develops his themes enough to keep one interested. (Nathan Cone)

Northern Stars talks about the contributions to the film by Modus FX. You can watch a clip showing some samples of their work.

The computer graphics for this visually rich adaptation had to blend seamlessly with the original footage. Along with removing the trappings of modern life from a number of shots, the team at Modus changed the season in which several sequences are set, adding leaves to an almost bare tree.
But the most complex part of the project called for a digitally altered environment to create the burned-out ruins of Thornfield Castle. “Atmosphere is everything for a film like this, so our work had to support the mood of the story and the scenic locations,” said Yanick Wilisky, VP of production and VFX supervisor at Modus. “The film uses a soft palette and natural light to capture the feeling of a world before the age of electricity, so our visual effects had to be entirely invisible.” (...)

“The trees were bare, so we had to add CG leaves and a gentle breeze,” said Cote. “The challenge was to match the colors so that everything looked real and fit in imperceptibly with the live action.”

The Learning Network from the New York Times has a whole teaching lesson focused on Jane Eyre:

In this lesson, students consider the themes and characters of Charlotte Brontë’s novel “Jane Eyre,” beginning with responding to key lines from the novel. They then engage in one of seven activities designed to guide them to deeper reading of the text. Some of the activities involve considering one or more film adaptations, including a 2011 movie version. Finally, they compare the life of someone they know, or themselves, with Jane Eyre. (Check it here) (Shannon Doyle and Holly Epstein Ojalvo)

Variety tries to understand the Focus promotional strategy for Jane Eyre 2011:

In limited release, Focus Features bows period lit adaptation "Jane Eyre" at four locations in New York and L.A. Focus is aiming for a slow rollout, hoping to tap into residual Oscar momentum among adult moviegoers. (Andrew Stewart)

Westport Now publishes a picture of Cary Fukunaga at the WFYY preview of the film just yesterday.

The Wall Street Journal quotes Glenn Close as saying about the movie:

"Mia is a complete joyous original," Ms. Close said. "I loved the movie, and that's a toughie. Did you know she filmed the rainy scene at the beginning of filming and was basically sick for the rest of the shoot?" (Diana Scholl)

Wall Street Journal's Speakeasy interviews Cary Fukunaga:

Speakeasy: You begin the film with an event that happens pretty late in the book, with Jane Eyre fleeing Thornfield Hall. It’s a pretty radical approach to the story. How did you make this decision?
Cary Fukunaga: By starting out with her fleeing Thornfield, you’re starting out at her most desperate — a dramatic moment. When you start out a film like that, it’s an instant mystery – you don’t know why this person is doing this, or what’s going on. It’s all a big question and it allows for much more of a mystery leading into the story and much more anticipation for what could potentially happen. Even for people who are familiar with the book, by changing the structure like that, it doesn’t make it immediately predictable.
One of the reasons the book resonates with readers so much is that the story is told in the first person in Jane’s voice. Did you consider carrying this over to the film with a voiceover narrator?
We never considered that, no. It’s easier to use a voiceover. It’s much more difficult to use visual language to express observation. What makes the book so interesting is that rich, revealing observation that Jane has throughout the story – not only on her own romantic and intellectual experience, but also her observation of the classes. While voiceover can be great, it gets to be a point where voiceover as information and communication can become tiring in a movie scene. (...)
Do you think real loyalists of the book are going to dispute these discrepancies?
Everything’s adaptation and you’re not going to make everyone happy. I’m trying to make the best version I can in a cinematic version of the story that I still feel is faithful to the themes, the characters, the emotions, and even the tone of Brontë’s book. Every detail isn’t necessary as long as the feeling is right. (Barbara Chai)

Check the interview to know more about the changes that the film introduces as compared to the film as well as the reasons behind them.

NPR interviews Cary Fukunaga:

Indeed, for 160 years Jane Eyre has appealed to readers in no small part because she doesn't seem to care what people think; she's invested instead in what she understands to be the truth.
"She won't compromise that," Fukunaga says, "even though she's absolutely in love with Rochester. To live with him would go against her morals, and against her respect for herself. ... And I think that's rare today. Today, even, people often compromise themselves in order to try to maintain a love, even if it destroys them."
Of course another factor in Jane Eyre's endless fascination is that Rochester isn't especially admirable. He's dissolute, by his own admission. To help make audiences care about him, or at least about Jane's feelings for him, movie directors return again and again to the oldest trick in Hollywood.
"Traditionally you make him pretty," says Fukunaga, whose own Rochester, Michael Fassbender, doesn't precisely fit that mold. "He's a very rugged man. He's a man's man in that sense. I think what you look for there is a fierceness — a fierceness that is covering for a lot of pain and here, anguish."
Charlotte Brontë herself dealt with loneliness, and her story ended sadly. She lived in a tiny parsonage set in the middle of a cemetery, in a small mill town. She, her sisters and her brother wrote to entertain themselves — "these mini-epic fantasy novels on paper about 2 inches by 2 inches big," Fukunaga says. "They had incredible imaginations."
"You know, there's a scene in Jane Eyre where Jane talks about the limited horizon that women have, that men get to go wander the world but [women] have to stay there. And I think that it's hard to separate Charlotte from Jane."
Not long after she married, Charlotte Brontë died from complications from her first pregnancy. She'd written letters to friends describing "the misery she was going through," Fukunaga says, "and the fears she had of what could potentially happen — and what came true."
She was 38 when she died.
"The books," Fukunaga says — "obviously, the books are immortal." (Renee Montagne)

CinemaBlend interviews Michael Fassbender:

Even though you're trying to get away from old-fashioned interpretations of the story, you've still got this older language to deal with. Is that a hurdle in getting the more modern version of the story across?
You have to work a lot at the language, because the language is the music of the piece. To try and find the right rhythms for that is the key. Sometimes the more dramatic the line, the flatter you would play it, but not always. When I watched Orson Welles, he's like "Jane, Jaaaaaane" and all these crazy faces. The gothic element of it, it comes through with the character is, that he's this Byronic hero. He encompasses the idealism, the destruction, the intelligence, the shady past, the passion and courage.
And there's this wild secret that's just part of who he is. It's not a big bombastic thing.
And I wanted him to be carrying it on his shoulders all the time. She's [Rochester's first wife, who lives in the attic] got a hold on all of them-- Rochester, Fairfax, Mrs. Poole, Jane by coming in the house. She starts to inhabit the house, and there's a living, breathing human being. (Katey Rich)

PopSugar has a video interview with the actor:

Michael spoke to us about his sudden transformation into a sex symbol, also saying that it was indeed intimidating tackling the iconic role of Charlotte Brontë's fictional leading man. (Allie Merriam)

And another one with Mia.

Starpulse has its own Q&A with Cary Fukunaga and Mia Wasikowska:

What was it that drew you to “Jane Eyre?” Was it the story or the location?
Cary Fukunaga: I’ve certainly never been dying to go to England my entire life. It’s just one of those things that sort of happened. I love the story and I happened to be in the UK promoting “Sin Nombre” and I had a general meeting with the BBC and found out it was on their slate, and that’s how I crossed paths with it.
Prior to that I hadn’t really thought about taking on someone else’s story or screenplay, but it’s a classic. It seemed like a really interesting sort of second film, rather than spending another year or two developing the one I was already writing so it gave me the opportunity to direct another feature, which was another attractive part about it…
Q: I read that both of your parents are photographers and that you dabble a bit yourself. Did you take any interesting snapshots while you were on set for this film?
MW: Yeah I had a lot of fun taking pictures for this film. We have such an interesting perspective as actors because a lot of the behind the scenes photography is taken from the outside looking in at the clump of people setting up shots. It dawned on me that my inside perspective being in the middle of everything is really interesting seeing all of the compositions. So I keep a camera in my pocket, and on ‘Jane’ the costume department often put a little pocket in my dress, so I had my sneaky camera. It was great. You can get such an interesting view. (Evan Crean)

SheKnows Entertainment also publishes a clip with an interview with Cary Fukunaga:

The Jane Eyre director takes us through his process of bringing a Bronte sister mainstay to the big screen. Adding Oscar winner Judi Dench into the mix could never hurt things.
In fact, the dynamic between Dench and Wasikowska has us begging for more movies featuring the two actresses as they showcased flawless cinema chemistry in Jane Eyre.
Cary Joji Fukunaga also sheds light on some English movie history. (Joel D. Amos)

And with Mia Wasikowska, who is also interviewed on MTV.

PopEater interviews her too. The journalist seems a bit... well, judge by yourselves:

Did you give Judi Dench pointers?
(Laughs) I wish. It's the other way round. The good thing is these big stars instantly put you off guard and make it so easy to relax and just hang out with them. You realize they're so much like you. I've never had a bad experience with anyone.
Aren't Brontë books like the original 'Twilight' -- very dark and gothic?
For sure and that's what I liked what Cary wanted to do with it, bring out the darker side of the novel. It's a really gothic story. It's not really a bonnet drama. I really love period dramas that aren't afraid to show the darkness. (Nicki Goslin)

The Saint Louis Post-Dispatch presents the film and gives you the chance to win a copy of the book:

A new movie version of "Jane Eyre" opens March 25 in St. Louis, giving readers just enough time to re-read the book. (...)
The whole stormy 1847 tale is available online, but if you'd like a new paperback copy of the book, post a comment about "Jane Eyre" here. Focus Features will pick five winners at random to receive the book in the mail. (Jane Henderson)

TBD has some tickets for the Washington DC screening next March 17. Other Jane Eyre-related contests can be found on BermudaOnion's Weblog, Angieville, Stiletto Storytime, Pageturners, Literary Ladies, GreenCine,

Nooks, Towers and Turrets ends its series of posts about Jane Eyre film locations with North Lees Hall (previous posts were Stanage Edge, Haddon Hall, Darley Dale and Chatsworth House).

And more mentions in The Globe and Mail, Action News, OntheRedCarpet, FilmSchoolRejects, PopCornBiz (which talks with Cary Fukunaga who tells a nice Judi Dench anecdote), la Daily Musto, Socialitelife

Categories: Jane Eyre, Movies-DVD-TV