Writing from what they know

Big Issue North interviews actress Juliet Stevenson and she makes a very good point:

“We think great female roles are something we’re only good at now but when you look at the great classical writing, the 19th century novelists like the Brontë sisters, Jane Austen, George Eliot, Elizabeth Gaskell – all of their central characters are women, and that is because they are writing from what they know, which is why we have to get more female writers on screen and on stage.” (Saskia Murphy)

Similarly, actress Ruth Wilson also vindicates the role of women in the film industry in an Elle interview which describes her 2006 Jane Eyre as 'fiery'.

A well-intended reminder for Spanish web Magisnet: if you are going to use a historical figure (or three) to make a claim, please do check facts beforehand so that your otherwise legitimate claim has a basis.

Es el caso de las hermanas Brontë, en 1846, que bajo el nombre de los hermanos Bell escribieron el clásico “Cumbres borrascosas”. (Translation)

All three sisters wrote Wuthering Heights in 1846. Nope.

Stuff (New Zealand) lists where to go to see the actual places where this year's main Oscar winners were shot.

Darkest Hour [...]
Restrictions on filming in such important buildings meant many interior scenes were filmed outside the capital. Wentworth Woodhouse, a Grade I listed Georgian mansion in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, masqueraded as the inside of Buckingham Palace and, claiming to be the largest private-owned house in Europe, is well worth checking out in its own right. Bramham Park, a Tuscan-style country estate in Leeds, and Brodsworth Hall, a dream Victorian home set amid pleasure gardens in Doncaster, both stood in for 10 Downing Street. It's the latest of a string of onscreen appearances for Bramham Park, which has also starred in TV adaptations of Wuthering Heights and Victoria. (Lorna Thornber)

Première (France) thinks the film Marrowbone is a cross between Charlotte Brontë and M. Night Shyamalan.

Le tout avec une petite touche British que ne renierait pas l’auteure de Jane Eyre. (Perrine Quennesson) (Translation)

The Telegraph (India) mourns the death of actress Shammi.

She got her first break as female lead opposite Mukesh in Malhar — the legendary singer was also the producer of the film — and soon she bagged a big project, R.C. Talwar’s Sangdil, a love triangle also featuring Dilip Kumar and Madhubala. Remember the Sajjad Hussain-composed Talat Mahmood classic, Ye Hawa Ye Raat Ye Chandni, where Shammi plays a sitar as Dilip Kumar’s character playfully flirts with her? But Sangdil, loosely based on Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre, bombed and Shammi’s career as a lead actress never really took off.

And so does Mumbai Mirror:

Her back-up act to Dilip Kumar-Madhubala in Sangdil (1952), a take on Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre, whizzed by unnoticed. (Khalid Mohamed)

She played the role of Mohini, who was more or less the role of Blanche Ingram in the original.

Protagon (Greece) suggests a trip to Haworth for Emily Brontë's bicentenary. On Twitter, Leeds Bradford Airport Advertising shows the Brontë Parsonage Museum's new banner. The Brussels Brontë Blog looks back on recent talks by Jones Hayden and Ola Podstawka.