Celtic Jane in Need

Here's a Jane Eyre retelling project (Celtic Jane) which is in need of some help. As reported by WhatsOn North:

An ambitious amateur film, resetting the story of Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre in 1920s Scotland, has been forced to put production on hold after its lead actors left the area to pursue professional careers.
Now director and producer Clive Malcouronne from Kirkhill is sending out a call for replacements so the film, Celtic Jane, can be completed.
Malcouronne, who has already completed one feature length film with local amateur talent, has already shot most of the scenes involving young Jane in the Moniack and Abriachan areas.
Now the search is on for an 18 to 30 year old actress to play the grown up Jane, and an actor in his 20s to play Captain Ross, Celtic Jane’s equivalent of the novel’s brooding Mr Rochester.
"We regret we cannot offer any fees, only an unforgettable experience and the life changing insight of being lead actors in a passionate and beautiful love story," Malcouronne said.
Also needed are behind the scenes volunteers to help with continuity, wardrobe, make-up, sound, lighting, set design, artwork and model making, etc.
"When this ambitious project was initiated, we had originally applied for funding assistance. When this was declined, the project hit the buffers and many lost heart, believing it was impossible to proceed without it," Malcouronne said.
"However, due to the exceptional generosity of local home owners and estate principals, we have finally been able to move ahead."
Malcouronne, who hopes to screen the film in aid of charity Save The Children, said the experience had made him appreciate why so many amateur filmmakers around the world hesitated to take on the challenge of a full length film and limited themselves to short films of 20 minutes or so.
"However, we have certainly proved that filming the first third of the screenplay was perfectly possible by going on location selected Sundays and the occasional weeknight.
"So yes, the roles for the two lead actors are big and very challenging, but just one day’s shoot can usually achieve two scenes in the can, so it is doable."
Anyone interested in being a part of the film should contact Clive Malcouronne on 01463 782389 for further information.

In the meantime, the Derby Telegraph lists Haddon Hall among '19 locations in Derbyshire turned into TV or film sets'.

The Guardian features the Encore award, which 'celebrates a quarter-century of rewarding those ‘difficult second novels’'. We are reminded of the fact that.

 Pride and Prejudice is a second novel, as is Jane Eyre. Joseph Heller’s Something Happened is regarded by many as a finer book than Catch-22. The Luminaries, Eleanor Catton’s second novel, made her the youngest ever winner of the Man Booker prize in 2013. (Alex Clark)

Toute la culture (France) finds echoes of Jane Eyre in Katherine Webb's The Misbegotten

Il y a l’influence des grandes romancières britanniques du 19e siècle, bien sûr. Jonathan Alleyn a des airs d’Edward Rochester, Rachel a tout d’une Jane Eyre qui se serait mariée avant de rencontrer le maître de Thornton Hall. Il y a des secrets de famille, des histoires sombres et des révélations qui chamboulent la vie de tous ceux qu’elles touchent. Charlotte Brontë n’est jamais loin, même si Katherine Webb a préféré installer ses personnages à Bath plutôt que dans le Yorkshire. (Audrey Chaix) (Translation)

 Novelicious interviews the writer Caitlin Raynes:

I first read Jane Eyre when I was 13 or 14, a large illustrated edition I pulled from my grandmother’s shelves. Afterward, I was intolerable for months, longing for the moors and the 19th century, for a great love with a difficult man worthy of my affections. I’ve read Jane Eyre many times since, and each time the novel rewards me with some fresh insight. The book hasn’t changed, but I have. I can still thrill to the lines, Reader, I married him, but that thrill is tempered with pity that Jane should have the lifelong care and feeding of a wreck of a man who would doubtless remain difficult and never mellow. (Read more)