Her romance with Connell in TV drama Normal People caused a global sensation – but actress Daisy Edgar-Jones has turned down the chance to play probably the greatest role in romantic fiction: Elizabeth Bennet in Jane Austen’s Pride And Prejudice.
Netflix are developing a big budget TV series adaptation of the novel, in which the sparky second eldest in a family of five unmarried daughters enraptures snobbish neighbour Mr Darcy. Sources say that she sent the scripts, but her reps insist that she hasn’t said yes.
The novel has been adapted into numerous films over the years, including a version in 2005 with Keira Knightley as Lizzie and Matthew Macfadyen as Mr Darcy.
But it has not been adapted for television since the Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle series for the BBC which caused a sensation in 1995.
That heralded the blossoming of big-budget adaptations of a slew of classic novels (and launched Firth as an international heartthrob).
With the global success of Bridgerton, Netflix is now returning to the great romance that started it all.
Scripts have been written by Dolly Alderton, the well-connected newspaper agony aunt who previously was a ‘story producer’ on Made In Chelsea and a podcast host. Her sole TV credit is scripting the 2022 adaptation of her memoir, Everything I Know About Love, for the BBC. That was a critical hit and ended up being streamed in the US. It was described as Sex And The City for millennials.
Her romance with Connell in TV drama Normal People caused a global sensation – but Daisy Edgar-Jones (pictured) has turned down the chance to play probably the greatest role in romantic fiction: Elizabeth Bennet in Jane Austen’s Pride And Prejudice
Keira Knightley as the famous romantic heroine in the 2005 film of Pride and Prejudice
Jennifer Ehle as Elizabeth Bennet in the Pride and Prejudice TV series directed by Simon Langton
Matthew Macfadyen as Mr Darcy in the 2005 film of Pride and Prejudice
It’s believed that Pride And Prejudice will not jump time frames but will be a ‘full-blooded costume drama’ and reasonably faithful to the source material.
That’s probably a good idea. Netflix’s last big-budget foray into Austen world, the 2022 film adaptation of Persuasion starring Dakota Johnson, was widely panned after it tried unsuccessfully to bring ‘Gen Z vibes’ to Regency England.
Austen fans have had much to celebrate this week, as the BBC announced it is making a spin-off drama, The Other Bennet Sister, about Lizzie’s sister Mary. It is based on Janice Hadlow’s novel about the seemingly unremarkable, overlooked middle sibling.
The ten-part drama is being written by Sarah Quintrell, who adapted The Power, and will be made by Bad Wolf, the Cardiff-based independent production company also responsible for Industry. It’s scheduled for release at the end of next year.
Daisy Edgar-Jones is the daughter of leading British TV executive Phil Edgar-Jones. She appeared in the Cold Feet reboot, playing the daughter of Hermione Norris’s character Karen. But her breakthrough came in Normal People, based on Sally Rooney’s bestselling novel, which earned Daisy Golden Globe and BAFTA nominations. Since then she has played opposite Andrew Garfield in crime drama Under The Banner Of Heaven and was the lead in the film Where The Crawdads Sing.
Jonathan Ross struggles to find a home for his pink ski-suit
Jonathan Ross has struggled to find a home for a cast-off pink ski-suit which he is unable to squeeze into.
On the latest episode of his Reel Talk podcast, he said: ‘I bought myself, perhaps unwisely, in a sale a shiny, Lurex-y, pinky-purple snow-suit, thinking I would wear it walking the dogs.
‘But even though I bought XXL Ladies size, it was still too tight in the undercarriage — and a little short in the arms.
Jonathan Ross pictured at the Smile 2 premiere in London
‘So I’ve been trying to find someone to give it away to.
‘I thought: ‘Now I’m in Masked Singer, perfect recipient: Davina McCall.’
‘Her eyes lit up when she saw it. However when I got in the next day for recording, it was hanging on my door again. She said it was a bit too big for her.’
Ross has now given it to his and McCall’s fellow judge Maya Jama, and doesn’t want it back.
‘I don’t know whether she’ll wear it, but I said: ‘If it doesn’t fit you, give it to one of your friends.’
Zoe Ball goes to see ex-husband Fatboy Slim’s play
Zoe Ball is going to see ex-husband Fatboy Slim (real name Norman Cook) play in London on her birthday – confirming last week’s story in this column about their closer-than-ever friendship.
Zoe Ball pictured arriving for the Audio and Radio Industry Awards at the Adelphi Theatre
Ball told listeners to her BBC Radio 2 breakfast show: ‘Drumsheds is happening, Fatboy Slim is playing on the 23rd of November – which is my birthday – and so we are going out, out.’
The couple, who split in 2016, share children Woody, 23 and Nelly, 14.
Coppola’s support adds to the tears of a clown
You know things are bad when the director of the biggest flop of the year extends ‘congratulations’.
Writing on Instagram, Francis Ford Coppola (Megalopolis) said: ‘Todd Phillips films always amaze me. Ever since The Hangover he’s always one step ahead of the audience, never doing what they expect. Congratulations on Joker: Folie a Deux.’
Joaquin Phoenix pictured in the first Joker film in 2019
Neither Phillips’s film (with a $200 million budget) nor Coppola’s ($120 million, some of that from the sale of his vineyards) look likely to break even. Joker 2 (starring Joaquin Phoenix) is being perceived as a global embarrassment for troubled studio Warner Bros.
Negative word of mouth following its reception at the Venice Film Festival seems to have sunk it; the DC Comics fans who did go to see it gave it a woeful 33 per cent rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Even Megalopolis got 46 per cent.
Nobody does it better? Don’t bet on it, says Craig…
Daniel Craig is naming no names, but confesses that he’s acted in a lot of ‘terrible’ sex scenes.
The actor has, of course, romanced numerous women as James Bond — including actresses Eva Green, Monica Bellucci and Lea Seydoux.
He was also in some memorable love scenes with actress Sienna Miller in Layer Cake; and met his now-wife Rachel Weisz when they fell in love on screen in the 2011 film Dream House.
But . . . he has regrets. Speaking to promote his new film, Queer, in which he plays a protagonist who falls desperately in love with another man, he said: ‘I’ve shot some terrible f***ing love scenes in my career. They’re out there to see.’
Daniel Craig and Eva Green wrapped in the sheets in Casino Royale 2006
He hopes that the scenes in Queer, based on a book by William S. Burroughs and directed by Luca Guadagnino, are a cut above. ‘We’ve gone for that sort of vulnerability . . . and keeping it as real as it possibly can be,’ he said.
‘Sex is wonderful and messy and complicated; and hopefully we’ve managed to stick that on the screen, because that’s what happens in the bedroom.’
He added that he wouldn’t have made the film while he was James Bond – not because of the gay sex scenes, but because he wouldn’t have had the time or ‘headspace’.
‘There was a while when I did other jobs around Bond, and then I stopped because I just didn’t have the kind of headspace to do it. I need to concentrate on one job.’
He added of his wildly lucrative career, which has seen him earn a reported £85 million to play Bond and further massive pay days for the Knives Out films: ‘I don’t have a game plan.
You’ve got to go where you heart goes and let that lead. I’m very privileged to be in a position not to have to work as much as I used to, but if I do the job, I want it to be like this. I want it to be the best thing I can do.’
Kanye believe that they have split up?
My sources insist that there were ‘no problems’ between Ye (the artist formerly known as Kanye West) and his wife Bianca Censori on their recent trip to China.
Some reports have suggested that the couple are divorcing.
However I’m told that not only do his kids with former wife Kim Kardashian ‘love’ their stepmother, but she also had her family with her at her husband’s first show in Haikou, China, a couple of weeks ago. My source says that as far as anyone knows, Mrs Ye is simply in for a planned holiday with her folks.
Ye, formerly known as Kanye West with his wife Bianca Censori (pictured)
Work starts on Victoria Beckham’s new Netflix documentary
It was observed that Victoria Beckham looked absolutely exhausted before her fashion label’s show in Paris last week — and no wonder. I hear that work has started on the self-titled Netflix documentary about her life and career, and there was a crew filming her, behind the scenes, as she prepared for the event.
Work has reportedly started on Victoria Beckham’s new Netflix documentary
Our co-star drove us barking mad
Actress Julie Graham seems to rue the day that she accepted a canine co-star, and offers the opinion that Munchie the terrier, who acted alongside her in Channel 5’s The Hardacres, was ‘a little s***’.
The former The Bletchley Circle and At Home With The Braithwaite’s star softened her stance somewhat, by adding: ‘She is a sweet little thing, but totally obsessed with her owner – to the point where you had to hold her very tightly to prevent her running off towards her mum whenever we shot a scene.’
The Hardacres cast including Liza Hardacre (Shannon Lavelle), Tinny the Dog, Ma (Julie Graham), Harry Hardacre (Zak Ford-Williams) and Joe Hardacre (Adam Little)
Julie plays Ma Hardacre, and Munchie appears as Tinny the dog in the six-part series set in 1890s Yorkshire, which traces the rise of the Hardacre family from dock workers to super-rich landowners.
The Hardacres airs on Mondays.
Saoirse Ronan’s new film Blitz premiers at BFI London Film Festival
Saoirse Ronan has been a busy bee of late. The actress, who is married to Slow Horses star Jack Lowden, is garnering awards heat already for her performance as a recovering alcoholic who returns to her roots in the Orkney Islands in film The Outrun.
But this week was all about Blitz, Steve McQueen’s Second World War movie which had its global premiere on the opening night of the BFI London Film Festival.
Saoirse Ronan and Elliot Heffernan in Blitz 2024 (pictured)
In the picture, Ronan plays Rita, a woman whose son George (Elliott Heffernan, right, with Ronan) is an evacuee who escapes and returns through the horrors of the Blitz to be with her. Though she’s not a mother herself, she said she still had ‘an awareness of what I needed to bring to the scenes’.
‘As much as I was curious and inquisitive with the mothers I know, I really wanted to find out what mine and Elliott’s relationship was,’ she explained.
‘Steve [McQueen] would build the film around us. He was inspired by our natural dynamics. What started to come out for us was a friendship. I wanted it to feel real, and I wanted it to represent my mother.’
Paul Weller plays her dad in the film, and ‘The Modfather’ is surprisingly low-key and effective – although he does spend the majority of his scenes playing a piano and singing.