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.