Rochester, Byronic and Bipolar

The Telegraph interviews Michael Fassbender the week before Jane Eyre 2011 opens in the UK (September 9):

Halfway through filming Jane Eyre last spring, temperamental weather was causing delays and exacerbating myriad niggling production problems.
'Everyone was exhausted,’ the film’s director, Cary Fukunaga, says, 'and there was a dip in morale.’
One evening, his lead actor, Michael Fassbender, invited Fukunaga, Mia Wasikowska (who plays Jane Eyre) and the producer Alison Owen for supper, where he cooked and served a splendid dish of lamb.
'We all just sat around and enjoyed one of the small, perfect things in life, a good meal,’ Fukunaga says. 'And I remembered exactly why you make movies: it’s not just about the project, but about the process, and I think one thing that makes Michael special is his ability to stop and pause for a second.’(...)
Certainly Fukunaga had only Fassbender in mind when it came to casting Jane Eyre, his performance in Hunger having made a deep impression.
'I hadn’t seen that sort of fierceness in an actor in a long time,’ Fukunaga says. 'There was an intelligence, an intensity and a masculinity that is very difficult to find in a leading man.’
For Fassbender, Jane Eyre is a book that he grew up with; his mother and older sister are 'massive fans’ and he says rather touchingly that he wanted to be in the film 'for them, really, to see what they would make of my Rochester’.(...)
It is indicative of Fassbender’s demented work schedule that when we meet he hasn’t yet seen Jane Eyre.  (...)
There have been 18 previous films of Jane Eyre, and while this one is not groundbreaking, it is heartfelt, beautifully filmed and acted, and undeniably moving. Fukunaga mines all the gothic elements of the novel, combining the bleak beauty of the surrounding moors with the darkly awe-inspiring setting of Thornfield Hall to provide the perfect backdrop for the intense romance between Rochester and Jane Eyre.
Fassbender’s Rochester and Wasikowska’s Jane are the perfect foil for each other; her grave features come alive in his presence, while his black moods are lifted into a teasing playfulness. She is a fiercely independent young woman who disregards convention and status, while he hates the society he is forced to be part of. 'These characters are real equals to each other,’ Fassbender says. 'He’s very untrusting of the world and Jane actually melts away his defences.’
Wasikowska originally trained as a dancer, and consequently brings to the role 'a beautiful physicality and a discipline that comes with that profession,’ Fassbender says. 'People are going to see she’s the perfect Jane.’ (...)
Because Fukunaga is American, Fassbender says, 'he hadn’t grown up with the book, and this meant he brought a fresh eye, he wasn’t as reverent and he has the confidence to make bold decisions. He’s a real academic, he does his research and he knows how to frame a shot so beautifully.’
Moira Buffini wrote the script, and turned the structure of the novel on its head. The film begins with Jane’s frantic escape from Thornfield, after discovering the appalling reality of Rochester’s marriage to Bertha, hidden away for so many years in an attic. Taken in by the Rivers family, her miserable childhood is shown through flashbacks, until she lands the job of governess to Rochester’s ward, Adele. At Thornfield she is taken under the wing of Mrs Fairfax (a scene-stealing performance from Judi Dench), and quietly, gratefully lives for several months before the whirlwind arrival of Rochester.
Fassbender’s Rochester is a tormented soul, constantly on the move, either outside in the grounds or on his horse, his moods switching in a moment; one minute playing the piano, the next shouting and storming out into the garden with his shotgun, firing indiscriminately. 'I almost thought of him as bipolar,’ Fassbender says.
He wanted to show Rochester as 'a Byronic hero, somebody who is carrying the past with him. I wanted that attic room on his shoulders all the time. I wanted to show somebody who had a lot of guards and defences and tricks. I had this feeling that he had been to some very decadent places in his life, and his guilt and bitterness and his lost youth is there in flashes. It’s through Jane that he becomes healed, so I wanted to show a sick person in some respect, and by the end he’s found a peace and a reconciliation.’
Fukunaga is keen to point out the playfulness that Fassbender brings to the character. 'Michael can be tortured and still be intelligent and communicate through his eyes and his emotions all the stress of the life Rochester’s lived,’ he says, 'but also still have that sense of humour, which is key to their attraction to each other.’ (Vicki Read)

The Australian box office of the film is given on Sky News Australia:

Jane Eyre held steady in eighth position:
8. Jane Eyre - $342,607 (Universal)

Holly Cara Price continues reviewing the reality Project Runway for The Huffington Post (do you remember this?):

Heidi tells Anthony that if had been up to her he would have gone home, but Danielle [Everine] is the one dismissed this week for her oh-so-boring, one note look. Back to reading Emily Brontë on the window seat, my dear; gosh, I wish you had been made of stronger stuff!

Good Education gives tips to improve classes:

Bored students in English class might just give classics like Jane Eyre a second chance if they could doodle the drama going down between Jane, Mr. Rochester, and the unknown figure in the attic. Given all the benefits, let's bring drawing—and doodling—back to class. (Liz Dwyer)

The Riverdale Press reports how the Irene hurricane has affected Villa Charlotte Brontë:

Not far from there, homes that comprise the Villa Charlotte Bronte were evacuated for about an hour, starting at around 10 a.m. this morning, shortly after the cliffside behind the building collapsed and sent soil barreling down onto the Metro-North train tracks below.
Blanche Baker Magill, one of the residents evacuated, said the Department of Buildings determined that it was safe for residents to return home.

"There were these three floating concrete slabs, not attached to the foundation, that slid down the hill onto Metro-North, and Metro-North is there working on it now,” Ms. Baker Magill said. "The good news is villa charlotte bronte has survived an earthquake and a hurricane. It was built in 1928 so it’s impressive.”

Debbie Jacob in the Trinidad & Tobago Guardian lists her favourite novels:

Wide Sargasso Sea—The prequel to Jane Eyre, written by Dominican writer Jean Rhys, gives the first Mrs Rochester her Caribbean voice. This is one of the most popular and important novels to come out of the Caribbean.

The Democrat and Chronicle asks readers of the Rochester area about are their favourite books and not surprisingly Jane Eyre is one of them:

10. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte (1847). (Catherine Roberts)

flick feast reviews Fright Night (2011) and mentions the Wuthering Heights reference we reported some days ago:

Other opportunities for cleverness are skipped: in early exchanges Charley’s improbably foxy girlfriend (the pretty but, er, bloodless Imogen Poot (sic)) picks up a copy of Wuthering heights from his bedside table and flips through it wantonly. They discuss it briefly (him: it’s boring. Her: oh, no: it’s quite sexy). Cue an extended riff about Wuthering Heights, right? Farrell as Heathcliff (you could even get in some knowing digs about Colin Firth)? Wrong. Wuthering Heights is tossed aside and gets no further mention. (Olly Buxton)

flick filosopher recovers the trailer of Jane Eyre 1944; a local sophomore who is reading Jane Eyre this summer on Wauwatosa Now; chucle1532 and Silence's Blog (in Romanian) review Jane Eyre 2011; 1001 coiffures (in French) posts a tutorial on Charlotte Gainsbourg's hairstyle in Jane Eyre 1996; Seitenansichten (in German) reviews Wuthering Heights.

Categories: Jane Eyre, Movies-DVD-TV, References, Wuthering Heights