This is why I love the UK so much. My girl Jane Austen is going to be on MONEY now. Can you see what else is printed on this mock up 10 pound bank note? "I declare after all there is no employment like reading." Who puts that on MONEY?? The les Anglais do, that's who. I salute you, you crazy geniuses. Now I will love money even more than I already do. Ausome. This is the cool article from the BBC which talks about the campaign to get more women on banknotes.
Jane Austen + Rom com + British actor candy = Oooooh mama.
Austenland is about a girl who is so obsessed with the world created by Jane Austen that she books herself on an immersive Regency holiday at a beautiful English manor to meet the Darcy of her dreams.
This showed at Sundance at the beginning of the year and was directed by the co-writer of Napoleon Dynamite (so you know it's going to have some mad quirk.)
Here are the release dates (all 2013):
Jan 18 - Sundance (premiere)
Jun 29 - Nantucket Film Festival
Jul 13 - Maine Int'l Film Festival
Aug 16 - LA & NY
Sep 27 - UK
I feel kinda bad for the producers of films like this. I mean, you're milking the teat of the Darcy archetype to feed a seemingly never-ending appetite for all things Jane (and Colin Firth, obvi). Like taut-bellied piglets, we feed hungrily at the swollen udders of mommy pig, squealing with hysterical joy, our hopes, like our curly tails, impossibly high.
At best, when we're done with a movie like this, we feel a sense of pleasant satisfaction, rolling over like overfilled sacks of barley, sated (for the moment) and placid. At worst, if the movie doesn't deliver the movie producers can expect some severely chapped nipples. There's nothing worse than a bad Jane movie.
Given the risk of grave disappointment, will I still watch this? Um, am I a living, breathing female with some unresolved Darcy fantasies?
Here is the eye candy and potential love interests for Keri Russell's main character:
I think we can all agree that Colin Firth is the man. Not just for his pretty brown eyes or how tall he is. Or because he looks awesome all rumpled up. Not even because he does charmingly befuddled Brit man-candy like NO ONE else. If you have any doubts about his desirableness, recall that this is the man who made MUDDY PONDS look like hot tubs at the Playboy mansion. Extremely foxy. To wit: 1. Man Stares Broodingly Into Muddy Pond Before Jumping In and Making Us All Wish We Were Eels So We Could Get All Tangled Up In His Business. This is the scene that kicked it all off, of course. When Darcy jumps in the pond near his estate in his billowy white shirt and snug breeches. The best thing about this scene arguably has nothing to do with how cute he looked all drippy and disheveled when he runs into Elizabeth Bennett right after, but that it told us a few things about his personality. That in spite of his prideful demeanor, this hero has the capacity to be adventurous and unconventional. Because if the man was hot and sweaty after the long ride to his country estate, he would damn well jump in a pond if he wanted to.
2. Man Jumps Into Freezing Cold Lake After Girl Because He Doesn't Want Her to Think He's a "Total Spaz"
This one is awesome. Maybe even my favorite of all the CF Muddy Pond scenes. All the pages of his manuscript ("rubbish") fly into the lake because Aurelia, his housekeeper, mistakenly lifts the cup holding them all down. She jumps in the lake to save the pages. And he jumps in after her because he doesn't want her to think he's unchivalrous. The first words out of his mouth are "F&%$, its cold." Winner. What does his jumping in tell us about him? That he's a sweetie pie and that he's scared of eels (he freaks out when he thinks he feels an eel). 3. Man Drags His Arch-rival Into Pond to Fight For Her Honor Even Though He Looks Utterly Ridiculous Doing It
Fighting for a lady's honor? Who DOES that anymore? Seeing as it's not 1540, the lady could probably have figured out how to handle her own honor so the gesture was largely unnecessary .. but the fact that he did it! Sigh.
Anyway, I hope to see many more instances of CF leaping into small bodies of water. Because Colin + Muddy Ponds = Pond-tastic awesomeness. See. girls? Math is fun.
