tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57280278291254860102011-07-31T14:54:05.264+10:00An Oscar Wilde tragic shares her love.Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04179799955432586932noreply@blogger.comBlogger261100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5728027829125486010.post-17230033198972161692009-07-26T13:45:00.003+10:002009-07-26T13:50:31.117+10:00

From The Irish Times comes this article about some of Wilde's "lost" drafts and letters, which were gathered by the eleventh Marquess of Queensberry and recently donated to the Morgan Library and Museum in New York. The collection includes a draft of "The Selfish Giant", in Constance Wilde's handwriting. Digitised images are available online here.

Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04179799955432586932noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5728027829125486010.post-28055189703085048302009-07-26T13:22:00.003+10:002009-07-26T13:25:33.095+10:00

It's finally here! And, well... I'm underwhelmed.

Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04179799955432586932noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5728027829125486010.post-44087994423573021872009-06-13T21:55:00.004+10:002009-06-13T22:02:25.609+10:00

I'm a little behind and may have missed something, but here are a couple of tidbits:Some photos from the film, some new and some not, and one of the unspoiled portrait; andA lengthy interview with Ben Barnes, most noteworthy because he confirms that there are nude scenes and homosexual kissing in the film. I suppose that answers my concerns as to whether the film will achieve the right homoerotic

Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04179799955432586932noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5728027829125486010.post-89003979110197353412009-06-13T21:49:00.003+10:002009-06-13T21:54:29.928+10:00

Here's an interesting blog: The Weblog of Dorian Gray. The author has been collecting editions of The Picture of Dorian Gray for five years now, and is using the blog to document them one by one.A musical adaptation of the novel will be running in London over the summer. It's not the first musical theatre version of the novel, but it does follow Matthew Bourne's relatively recent ballet

Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04179799955432586932noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5728027829125486010.post-27755758087877090282009-02-04T13:13:00.003+10:002009-02-04T13:23:51.410+10:00

Fangoria has some cast and filmmaker comments on the DG film, with some interesting things to note. Ben Barnes says, regarding Rebecca Hall's character:[Dorian] doesn’t exploit Emily. Despite Henry’s fears, Dorian shows his humanity instead, making it a triangular, stake-raising moral dilemma.So it seems Emily Wotton might be a replacement/equivalent for the character of Hetty Morton, the girl

Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04179799955432586932noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5728027829125486010.post-70140681232778653732009-01-06T11:32:00.002+10:002009-01-06T11:35:00.389+10:00

Having returned from holiday hiatus and sifted through about twenty Dorian Gray Google Alerts, I can only report two items of some note. One, that Dorian Gray has made many website's lists of top movies of 2009, and two, that many film reviewers are referencing the plot of The Picture of Dorian Gray when they talk about the Brad Pitt film The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. I haven't seen it and

Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04179799955432586932noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5728027829125486010.post-62175594372886129022008-12-10T18:59:00.002+10:002008-12-10T19:04:00.454+10:00

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

Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04179799955432586932noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5728027829125486010.post-5360602988231867832008-12-08T21:05:00.003+10:002008-12-08T21:10:30.068+10:00

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.

Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04179799955432586932noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5728027829125486010.post-29065470095782540262008-12-02T21:08:00.000+10:002008-12-02T21:08:52.470+10:00

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

Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04179799955432586932noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5728027829125486010.post-44825247401693658622008-12-01T21:02:00.001+10:002008-12-01T21:03:33.398+10:00

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

Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04179799955432586932noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5728027829125486010.post-3103710424361062532008-11-25T20:41:00.004+10:002008-11-25T20:45:49.776+10:00

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 "

Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04179799955432586932noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5728027829125486010.post-19618893015181091452008-11-10T18:43:00.005+10:002008-11-10T18:50:31.951+10:00

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

Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04179799955432586932noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5728027829125486010.post-1380386440004690292008-11-10T18:36:00.003+10:002008-11-10T18:43:26.960+10:00

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

Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04179799955432586932noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5728027829125486010.post-42047849983881713492008-10-20T08:32:00.000+10:002008-10-20T08:32:00.713+10:00

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

Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04179799955432586932noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5728027829125486010.post-35044713513277167592008-10-19T21:09:00.004+10:002008-10-19T21:29:52.894+10:00

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

Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04179799955432586932noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5728027829125486010.post-47503899518505477652008-10-08T23:39:00.000+10:002008-10-08T23:39:00.575+10:00

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

Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04179799955432586932noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5728027829125486010.post-57795256059610320252008-10-05T18:49:00.000+10:002008-10-05T18:49:14.062+10:00

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

Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04179799955432586932noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5728027829125486010.post-38287713177354953842008-10-03T21:33:00.004+10:002008-10-05T18:49:53.656+10:00

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.

Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04179799955432586932noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5728027829125486010.post-23795982246265809132008-09-21T19:21:00.001+10:002008-09-21T19:23:16.675+10:00

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

Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04179799955432586932noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5728027829125486010.post-30725026157764625722008-09-16T21:31:00.003+10:002008-09-16T21:38:09.733+10:00

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

Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04179799955432586932noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5728027829125486010.post-39320187106547264092008-09-16T21:29:00.002+10:002008-09-16T21:31:36.870+10:00

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!

Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04179799955432586932noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5728027829125486010.post-23557455855247867422008-09-09T20:22:00.003+10:002008-09-09T20:27:39.419+10:00

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

Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04179799955432586932noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5728027829125486010.post-85197151410197532592008-09-06T20:39:00.004+10:002008-09-08T22:10:09.650+10:00

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

Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04179799955432586932noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5728027829125486010.post-69737773142359091762008-08-30T19:44:00.005+10:002008-09-08T22:01:47.349+10:00

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

Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04179799955432586932noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5728027829125486010.post-72187014960519774742008-08-28T21:13:00.005+10:002008-09-08T22:01:20.140+10:00

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.

Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04179799955432586932noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5728027829125486010.post-69554310804859086812008-08-28T21:05:00.008+10:002008-09-08T22:01:00.156+10:00

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

Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04179799955432586932noreply@blogger.com0