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.