Rebecca Hall: "Textual purists will probably be very upset with me"

Well, no, honey, it's not your fault the filmmakers decided to invent a whole new character!

From scifi.com: Dorian Gray Goes Wilde

"And then I arrive after the 25-year gap period as his child that's grown up. So the idea is that she's sort of a new woman and quite spirited and a feminist and a photographer. And that's probably all I am at liberty to tell you without giving away any guts."

I just don't know what to say about that.

New Links

The NY Times has an article on a recent donation to the Morgan Library & Museum that includes some of Wilde's letters and manuscripts. Exciting stuff!

This article about Rebecca Hall's new film Frost/Nixon goes some way to putting my fears at rest be describing her role in DG as "small". Perhaps Emily Wotton isn't a replacement for Sybil Vane after all.

Stephen Fry on Wilde and Chekhov

Stephen Fry has written a new blog post about Oscar Wilde and Anton Chekhov, having just done audio recordings of some of their works. He writes of Wilde's underrated short stories with the kind of passion that should help greatly in getting these works read more wildly. Wilde's fairy tales are, for me, on a par with The Picture of Dorian Gray in terms of beauty, genius, and even wit. In them Wilde holds back nothing, as you feel he is sometimes doing with his plays; he is unafraid to be honest and sincere about the beauty of the world and the flaws of the world. "Beauty" is the term I keep using for I find the fairy tales are saturated with it, even when describing the aspects of life that are ugly. I must agree with Stephen Fry when he says:

Oscar Wilde’s Fairy Tales continue to exert the same pull over the imagination and emotions as they did when he first read them to his children in the 1880s. Written with inspired poetic intensity and sudden flowerings of the matchless wit for which he is so well remembered, the stories combine the wisdom of parables with the impact of drama. I have loved them since I was a child: indeed they continue to make a child of me.

To illustrate, perhaps a quote from one of the stories, hard as it is to pull a suitably pithy one at random. From close to the end of "The Happy Prince":

‘I am glad that you are going to Egypt at last, little Swallow,’ said the Prince, ‘you have stayed too long here; but you must kiss me on the lips, for I love you.’

‘It is not to Egypt that I am going,’ said the Swallow. ‘I am going to the House of Death. Death is the brother of Sleep, is he not?’

And he kissed the Happy Prince on the lips, and fell down dead at his feet.

At that moment a curious crack sounded inside the statue, as if something had broken. The fact is that the leaden heart had snapped right in two. It certainly was a dreadfully hard frost.

Interview with Ben Barnes

TeenHollywood.com has an interview with Ben Barnes in which they ask a few questions about the Dorian Gray film (skip to pages 9 and 10 for those). Ben mentions something I've also previously noted when he says:

A lot of the previous adaptations of it were The Portrait of Dorian Gray and about the portrait and what happens to Dorian. Our version is just called Dorian Gray and we're trying to look a little more into the experience of what the character goes through.

Fair enough, although there's good precedent for The Portrait or The Picture of Dorian Gray given that that is, in fact, the book's title.

Originally, people would say that you can't identify with a character who sins and is manipulated so easily and falls into this vortex with no notion of redemption so we teased some of the stuff toward the end to keep it tense.

I'm not entirely sure what Ben's saying here, but I myself am becoming more and more convinced that the ending of the novel is redemptive, at least symbolically. Dorian's not damned forever, because if his soul is the portrait, then in the end it is cleansed and remade, while his body bears the weight of his sins in death. The question, then, is whether this salvation carries forward to his soul after death, or if it is merely an earthly redemption, but Wilde never goes that far.

Last quote:

Ben: It's quite a rock and roll story actually. It's about this guy whose parents have been killed and he's been raised by an abusive grandfather.

Not an aspect of the story that I've ever thought of as having much of an influence on Dorian -- he sort of enters the story as a blank slate, ripe for Lord Henry to write on (and no, that's not a euphemism) -- but it could add an interesting extra dimension to the characterisation.

Release Date

The Film Distributor's Association website currently lists Dorian Gray for release in the UK on September 11, 2009. Obviously this may change but it gives an idea of how long there is to wait.

NarniaFans.com has a new interview with Ben Barnes in which he recounts how he asked if he could have the portrait from the film and was told it would be going in a museum instead. I guess that was the "start and end" portrait, and now I'm curious as to how many portraits were used for the in-between stages, and how the changes were wrought...

Dorian Gray Promo Art

Two pieces of promo art for the 2009 film can be released, check them out here. Ugh! I am not keen. The look is a little too low-budget horror for my liking, and gives the overwhelming impression that Ben Barnes plays a vampire. Plus, the "Eternally Beautiful. Eternally Damned." tagline? It's only half-correct. "Eternally damned" gives entirely the wrong impression and adds to the vampiric atmosphere. I know vampires are so hot right now (and always), with Twilight etc. on the rise, but I would have expected marketing for this film to be a little classier, and to highlight the period romance aspects. It has Colin Firth in it, after all, and I don't think all of Colin Firth's usual audience (i.e. women) will be attracted by this sort of visual. Here's hoping it's just the start, and more promo material with a different slant is on the way.

Three Wilde Links

Some new, some old:

From InsideCatholic.com: A Novel For All Souls, a Catholic perspective on The Picture of Dorian Gray. The spiritual elements to the novel cannot be denied and are well worth exploring, but I wonder to what extent the novel's ending signifies a redemption for Dorian's soul.

From The Graphic Classroom, a very detailed review of the new DG graphic novel published by Marvel. I haven't checked out this adaptation as it's not really my thing, but it sounds really interesting.

From Informatics411: Oscar Wilde Never Died, a blog post musing on Wilde in his time and out of it.

Wilde Words

From "The Young King" (A House of Pomegranates), an oft-overlooked fairytale. The young king, who has newly come to the palace after being raised by a poor shepherd, is dreaming of the slaves who are weaving the cloth for his coronation robes:

'Who is thy master?' asked the young King.

'Our master!' cried the weaver, bitterly. 'He is a man like myself. Indeed, there is but this difference between us -- that he wears fine clothes while I go in rags, and that while I am weak from hunger he suffers not a little from overfeeding.'

'The land is free,' said the young King, 'and thou art no man's slave.'

'In war,' answered the weaver, 'the strong make slaves of the weak, and in peace the rich make slaves of the poor. We must work to live, and they give us such mean wages that we die. We toil for them all day long, and they heap up gold in their coffers, and our children fade away before their time, and the faces of those we love become hard and evil. We tread out the grapes, and another drinks the wine. We sow the corn, and our own board is empty. We have chains, though no eye beholds them; and are slaves, though men call us free.'

'Is it so with all?' he asked.

'It is so with all,' answered the weaver, 'with the young as well as with the old, with the women as well as with the men, with the little children as well as with those who are stricken in years. The merchants grind us down, and we must needs do their bidding. The priest rides by and tells his beads, and no man has care of us. Through our sunless lanes creeps Poverty with her hungry eyes, and Sin with his sodden face follows close behind her. Misery wakes us in the morning, and Shame sits with us at night. But what are these things to thee? Thou art not one of us. Thy face is too happy.'

Musings on the film

Looks like principal photography on the Dorian Gray film is finished, and it's in post-production now, so news will probably be scarce. No word on a release date besides 2009.

I've been pondering the implications, if any, of shortening the title to just "Dorian Gray". Of course this reduces emphasis on the picture that is at the centre of the novel, but it's possibly not a bad thing. The portrait is, after the transformation, basically Dorian's soul. From the moment he utters his wish his body and soul (or mind or conscience or whatever you want to call what comes to be displayed on the portrait) are separated, and Dorian Gray does not exist independently of his portrait, nor does his portrait exist without him. So, naming the film simply Dorian Gray demonstrates that the story revolves around him, and all parts of him. He's still the hero. I think I'd probably prefer the full title of the novel, but the shortened version is better than something completely made up, like, I don't know, Dorian and Henry, or The Mystery of Dorian Gray (say, that's catchy!) or Big Gay Love Triangle That's a Little Bit Hetero, Too, And There's a Painting Involved.

On another note, the more I think about this new Emily Wotton character, the more I worry about how the addition will affect the plot, and especially how it will affect the character of Sybil Vane. I'm guessing her role or screentime will be reduced, and Emily Wotton will be Dorian's next or later love interest. Which... argh. I appreciate that there are few women in the novel and those that are there get a pretty raw deal. Oscar Wilde is a bitchy misogynist like that. But poor Sybil never gets her due, and there are many ways that her story could be changed or given short shrift without much thought. She's really important in the novel for a lot of reasons that I probably don't have to explain if you've read it, but here goes anyway: Dorian's involvement with her marks the first time he understands, uses and abuses his power, as well as the first time he notices a change in his portrait; her situation mirrors Dorian's in that she has to play the part that is set for her and cannot break free or find her own words; their affair is Dorian's first understanding of the beauty of art and the tragedy of thwarted expectations, etc. Her suicide is also mirrored in his "suicide" at the end of the novel, for they both find themselves in a situation that they want to escape from, but do not know how. And, on a purely personal, sympathetic note, I really feel for Sybil and her desire to break free of shadows and the words of Shakespeare so that she can live in the light with Dorian and speak her own words. I worry that all of Sybil will be lost if they keep adding extra female characters in order to reduce the homoerotic undertones of the story or to lessen the impact of Wilde's stunning sexism. Either motive is not going to serve the original story well.

Dorian Faustus

I keep seeing The Picture of Dorian Gray being referred to as a Faustian novel, and it's starting to irritate. While not very familiar with the legends of and literature about Faustus, I understand the basic premise, and I also understand that "Faustian" as an adjective is an easy way to explain the plot of Dorian Gray: it involves an exchange of the soul. But a key part of Faust's story is that he willingly makes a pact with the Devil, while Dorian Gray does no such thing. He utters a wish without any belief that it will come true, and without any knowledge of the consequences. He is offered no choice, and he makes no bargain. Isn't it interesting that Wilde wrote it this way? Dorian really has no idea what it means to give away his soul. And to whom does he give it, anyway? There is no devil in this story, with the possible exception of Lord Henry (he spends the time just before Dorian sees his portrait telling him the value and importance of youth and beauty: "Youth! Youth! There is absolutely nothing in the world but youth!").

The actual wish, however, is all Dorian:

"How sad it is!" murmured Dorian Gray with his eyes still fixed upon his own portrait. "How sad it is! I shall grow old, and horrible, and dreadful. But this picture will remain always young. It will never be older than this particular day of June.... If it were only the other way! If it were I who was to be always young, and the picture that was to grow old! For that--for that--I would give everything! Yes, there is nothing in the whole world I would not give! I would give my soul for that!"

His friends immediately make light of it:

"You would hardly care for such an arrangement, Basil," cried Lord Henry, laughing. "It would be rather hard lines on your work."

"I should object very strongly, Harry," said Hallward.

And the adage "be careful what you wish for" is proven true once again. Faust's bargain is his soul for knowledge, while Dorian's is almost the opposite of that: he wants to remain young and beautiful, innocent and, it might follow, ignorant (although he does have his own thirst for knowledge and experience, prompted by Lord Henry). But no exchange ever actually takes place, and no one makes it official, although dialogue in the rest of the scene hints at it (Lord Henry tells Basil that he has now seen "the real Dorian Gray"; Basil wants to destroy the portrait and Dorian cries, "It would be murder!"; Basil refers to it as "the real Dorian", etc). The fact that the exchange Dorian wished for has taken place is given no divine or supernatural attribution; there's no sense that Dorian's wish was diabolical. It's just not that Faustian.

Nonetheless, the novel is advocating some sort of morality, and certainly seems to say in the end that Dorian profits nothing by losing his soul. But in this soul-exchange-that-is-not-a-pact, does Dorian regain his soul with his death and the portrait's return to its pristine condition? Answers on a postcard.

Small Dorian Gray article

Here's a small article from MSN quoting Ben Barnes on the relevance of the Dorian Gray story to the zeitgeist (love that word!). On the topic of homosexuality, he says: "I think it is underplayed in the book, and it is present in our film but not highlighted." That sounds promising to me; I feel that while the novel's homosexual subtext is indeed very subtle, it's still a vital part of the storyline and shouldn't be ignored, but nor should it amped up as the main storyline. Getting that balance right will be very difficult for those involved.

Video

A small behind-the-scenes video on set of the film has been posted on Youtube. Don't get excited, the only thing I learned from it was that apparently in this adaptation Lord Henry has a daughter. I had thought that Emily Wotton would be Lord Henry's sister, who from memory is mentioned a few times in the book and whose scandalous divorce Dorian is somehow involved in. Guess I was wrong.

More Dorian Gray photos

Earlier this week a new set of production photos began circulating, first at TheBadAndUgly.com. There are heaps of Ben Barnes, a couple of what appears to be Colin Firth as an aged Lord Henry, and also Emilia Fox as Lady Wotton.

ImNotObsessed has a second set of Colin Firth-heavy photos. I have to say, I'm still not a fan of the facial hair, but I like the blue suit. Very Lord Henry!

From the new to the old: the 1945 adaptation of The Picture of Dorian Gray is about to be released on DVD in the US, as Famous Monsters of Filmland notes. The special features look interesting but I have no idea if it's going to be available in other regions.

Wilde Words

From "The Fisherman and his Soul" (A House of Pomegranates):

But the young Fisherman listened not to his Soul, but called on the little Mermaid and said, 'Love is better than wisdom, and more precious than riches, and fairer than the feet of the daughters of men. The fires cannot destroy it, nor can the waters quench it. I called on thee at dawn, and thou didst not come to my call. The moon heard thy name, yet hadst thou no heed of me. For evilly had I left thee, and to my own hurt had I wandered away. Yet ever did thy love abide with me, and ever was it strong, nor did aught prevail against it, though I have looked upon evil and looked upon good. And now that thou art dead, surely I will die with thee also.'

Dorian Gray Production Photos

The website Ben Barnes Fan has some new photos of the actor on-set. I just love this one with the long coat and cane. It's very Dorian!

Wilde words for today

Basil: "There is a fatality about all physical and intellectual distinction, the sort of fatality that seems to dog through history the faltering steps of kings. It is better not to be different from one's fellows. The ugly and the stupid have the best of it in this world. They can sit at their ease and gape at the play. If they know nothing of victory, they are at least spared the knowledge of defeat. They live as we all should love, indisturbed, indifferent, and without disquiet. They neither bring ruin upon others, nor ever receive it from alien hands. Your rank and wealth, Harry; my brains, such as they are -- my art, whatever it may be worth; Dorian Gray's good looks -- we shall all suffder for what the gods have given us, suffer terribly."

-- The Picture of Dorian Gray

In film news, the production has been given £0.5m of National Lottery funding.

Here's a Guardian review of Oscar's Books by Thomas Wright, a book about the books that Oscar Wilde owned and read. I also had a link to another review, but have now lost it.

I think it's an interesting idea for a book, but perhaps not one that I am interested in following through to its conclusion; after all, reading what Oscar Wilde (might have) read will not make me Oscar Wilde. Would it help me understand his works better? Maybe, but I still would not be thinking like Wilde. I've tried to read A Rebours in the past (in translation) and have failed; I just cannot see whatever it is that Oscar Wilde (and Dorian Gray) saw in the book. Perhaps they had access to a better translation?

But this kind of literary tourism is not without merit, I guess, for we all do strange things in order to get closer to our idols. Who is it in Possession that performs a similar exercise with Randolph Ash's books? I think it is Mortimer Cropper, the moneyed American professor, who seeks to own Ash through the objects that Ash himself owned. Me, however, I just read Oscar Wilde's works, and that's almost enough for me.

John Gray, inspiration for Dorian (?)

The novel is currently being adapted as a stage production in London, choreographed by Matthew Bourne, leading to this feature article in The Guardian about John Gray, the supposed real-life Dorian. It's a great look at John Gray's life, although I've always been sceptical as to how much inspiration he gave Wilde beyond his last name. The article doesn't include a picture of John Gray, so here's the first result I got from Google, and you can judge his handsomeness for yourself.

Production Photos

Some photos from filming have begun circulating, go here for a couple from I'm Not Obsessed. I'm really not sold on the facial hair for Colin Firth as Lord Henry. I always pictured Lord Henry as clean-shaven (and thin. Oh snap!), but I guess the beard and moustache are there as cinema shorthand for "morally suspect", because as Hollywood knows, men with face grass are always hiding something. Plus it provides a great contrast with the smooth babyface of Ben Barnes as Dorian Gray (picture also available at the same link).

Ben Barnes Interview

Benjamin Barnes has an interview and photos in the September '08 edition of Interview magazine. A transcript of the interview can be read here, courtesy of Ben Barnes Online. Features this great quote from the actor:

I don't really see the point in making a film unless you can think of a good reason to do it. We live in this celebrity-obsessed, youth-obsessed culture, and it just seems to make a lot of sense to make this Dorian Gray film right now. Especially for me, as somebody who's...I don't know if "on the brink" is the right term, but sort of at the beginning of getting attention from the media and from other people. Dorian Gray is also somebody who, at the beginning, doesn't want to be looked at, doesn't really want to be noticed, but then begins to realize the power of youth and the power of people wanting to be around him. Obviously it goes very dark...

Seems a pretty accurate summary of Dorian's character to me!