Pip

Vogue 2011

I didn't see War Horse in my Oscarian race to see all of the nominated films this year. I wanted to see it, but in London as the stage production. At last year's Tony Awards, I was thrilled by the performance and the ... horse puppets?!

Vogue 2011

But this dreamy young man is also the Pip in the upcoming Tim Burton version of Great Expectations. I've gushed about wanting to see the BBC's version of it that aired at Christmas, but I also can't wait to see this. Tim Burton?! Helena Bonham Carter will play Miss Havisham ... and Ralph Fiennes, Magwitch. It will be dark, brooding and capture the ... moors and cold-heartedness that Dickens describes in his novel.

Now, I am reading The Flight of Gemma Hardy by Margot Livesey. It is Jane Eyre, but set in the 20th Century (late -50's and 60's so far). It is literally the same story. Jemma is Jane. And so far in the read, the same events have occurred. I had read reviews of it in both Vogue and Elle, I believe. I've always loved the story of Jane Eyre, I have seen the many BBC and movie versions of the story, and have read the book several times. The novel was hard to get into at first because it is ... the same as Charlotte Bronte's, but I've managed more and I'm clipping along as I am so familiar with it, and it is a story that I love. I do look forward to Livesy's Rochester! What will he be like in 1965?

But I am much more excited about Great Expectations on film and on the telly because they will be presented in a different medium. And that's what makes it interesting. Yes, the story is fantastic, but it has been told, and well since it has been reproduced so often ... Great Expectations and Jane Eyre. What I look for in film/tape is how the director sees it ... how will he cast these characters that are old friends, and how, in both stories, will the moors be set. And since I imagine that both are set in the period, I say, lucky me. I want to see the story told in the time that it was written. Oh, I am not a bugaboo and think that it would inauthentic to set it in the future, but ... not for these stories. I think that I had the version of Great Expectations with Gwyneth Paltrow and Ethan Hawke in my Netflix queue for a minute, but I never did get around to seeing it. I mean, why? Just give it to me as it is. I promise that I'll watch every version ... more than once.