Gala magazine, May 27, 2015
By:Nicolas Guerin
Gala magazine, May 27, 2015
By:Nicolas Guerin
James McAvoy and Daniel Radcliffe pose for a portrait at the Getty Images Portrait Studio at Hard Rock Hotel San Diego on July 11, 2015 in San Diego, California.
A portrait of Tom Hardy by Jay L. Clendenin - from Los Angeles Times.
The Rogue Cut | X-Men: Unguarded
Isobel and her young son Matthew are taken in by Lord Grantham after Reginald's death. Merton, Clarkson, and newborn Mary about to appear. I'm looking forward to chapter 2!
Walt Whitman, I Sing the Body Electric
A lot of people point to a very brief scene when Maggie Smith’s Violet encounters Carson on the day after Sybill’s death in Season 3. After that, she walks across the hallway and falters for a second, then straightens herself up. Many people thought she had that second won an Emmy just for that scene alone, and she’s shot from the back. Did you write that little trip in?
Julian Fellowes: I wrote it, but that’s not the point. The point is that Maggie has this extraordinary taste and so you don’t have to write, “This is only very slight.” The other thing that’s written into the scene, I forget the lines exactly, but Carson says, “Oh this is a sad day,” and she says, “Yes it’s terrible,” and she touches his hand. It’s the only time in six years that she has touched Carson and there you see her just for a slight moment breaking with the conventions within which they both live quite happily, and just for once they abandon that. And again it’s in the script, but Maggie knew just to touch him and not do what a lot of actors would do, which is to make a great emotional moment out of it. Her straightening herself up to walk into the drawing room, those women, that generation and that type of women would consider it a burden to inflict their grief onto others who have their own grief. It’s not going to make Cora feel any better if Violet comes in sobbing. And there’s this thing of, “It’s their day, it’s not my day.” There was this thing put on the Internet recently of a man proposing to a woman at someone else’s wedding as a very romantic thing—well, not for me, bub! You’re trying to steal thunder. Maggie has tremendous understanding of her characters. This is our third go at the rodeo you know. We understand each other’s work methods. It’s a luxury, rather like a muse for a designer. It’s great to have an actor who understands how you write. (x)
He wants to change our lives.
"So it was not until now, when it happened to my friends, when it was my dear Chris and my dear Margaret who sat thus englobed in peace as in a crystal sphere, that I knew is was the most significant as it was the loveliest attitude in the world. It means that the woman has gathered the soul of the man into her soul and is keeping it warm in love and peace so that his body can rest quiet for a little time."
The Return of the Soldier, by Rebecca West, 1918.
Hi, Patsan! Here’s my contribution to MM AU Fest 2015! The link to the story at ffnet is:
I’ve pasted the story below. Thanks so much for organizing this! xoxo lily
Happy MM AU Fest 2015! Thank you, Patsan, for once again organizing this day!
Can you write an AU to your own AU? Well, apparently you can, because that’s what this is. In Chapter 10 of my canon AU, The Center of My Heart, Mary asks Matthew what he would have done if she had told him her secret at the garden party. (In Center, she tells him in Chapter 3.) So, here are the Mary and Matthew of Center, and what might have happened that day.
It was a perfect English summer’s day, that August day in 1914. A perfect day for a garden party. The sun beamed down from an azure sky that was painted with just the whisps of clouds; not too warm, thanks to a gentle breeze. There were undoubtedly many garden parties in England that day, but none could have surpassed the perfection of the party at Downton Abbey.
Green and white. That was the lawn at Downton: the green grass, which seemed to stretch as far as the eye could see, and the everything else that was white, or almost white. White tents, white tables covered with white linen, surrounded by white folding chairs; elaborate flower arrangements of white roses, with a few pale pink blossoms for contrast, and, of course, more green, in white urns; men in white linen suits and straw hats, and women in gauzy white dresses and elaborate hats and parasols. A touch of color, here and there, of course, but really, green and white.
Except that wasn’t completely true. Green and white, but yes, too, there was the black of the servants who moved amongst the guests serving champagne, and punch, and canapés, and cakes, tarts, and ices. It seemed an effortless dance, hurrying back and forth to the kitchen, exchanging empty trays for full, arriving with more champagne at just the right moment, weaving in and around the guests without a misstep. It was beautifully executed; the key was in the planning.
So green, and white, and black.
A string trio was playing, the breeze carrying the soothing, satisfying music even beyond the lawn. The clink of glasses and silverware mixed with the conversations of the guests who ate, and drank, and talked, and wandered the grounds.
.
But, in the shadows of the giant Lebanon cedar, Mary could see none of it; hear none of it. All she could see was the pain and hurt and, yes, anger, in Matthew’s eyes; all she could hear was her heart pounding in her ears.
“Would you have stayed, if I’d accepted you?”
For a moment, his eyes changed, grew soft. His hand reached into his left coat pocket for a moment. Then he withdrew his hand, and when he spoke, there was an ache in his voice that betrayed the depth of his hurt. “Of course.”
And she knew it to be true, even before he answered. “So I’ve ruined everything,” she choked.
Matthew’s eyes filled, and when he spoke, she saw his mouth grow tight as he fought to maintain control. “You’ve shown me I’ve been living in a dream, and it’s time to return to real life. Wish me luck with it, Mary. God knows I wish the best for you.” And he turned and left her. Left her standing by what she had come to think of as their bench. No longer. She watched as he strode across the lawn, through the meandering guests. Was he leaving? No, not yet. He started toward her father, then seemed to change his mind. Too many guests around, no doubt. He walked to the edge of the lawn and stood looking out at the Downton park. She brought her hands to her face and began to sob.
Congratulations to Lily Tomlin for her 2015 Emmy Nomination for Lead Actress in the Netflix series Grace & Frankie as Frankie!
Rebecca West, BLACK LAMB AND GREY FALCON (1940)
Rebecca West and H.G. Wells became lovers in late 1913 and West gave birth to their illegitimate son on 4 August 1914. It is no surprise that the Archduke's assassination on 28 June did not catch her attention.
Rebecca West (via observando)
the sentence finishes with the phrase "or a prostitute", which often gets dropped from quotations
~My Favorite Austen Adaptations~
Recently haslemere posted her favorites among the many adaptations of Jane Austen’s six novels and invited us to agree, disagree and likewise post our own favorites. (You were foolish enough to ask. Just remember that. ;D )
I have read each of the books many times (some more than others) in the past 35 years and during that time have seen oodles of adaptations–from the 1940 P&P, with Greer Garson and Laurence Olivier, to the updated Emma web series, Emma Approved, from last year.
Perhaps it’s because I love these 6 books more than any others written in the English language that I have strong opinions about the way they have been adapted for the screen. I don’t have a problem with different interpretations. Nor do I mind altering the stories to fit a visual medium–as long as I can see some justification in the original book for the changes made. In fact, I think it’s possible to adhere too closely to the text; going word-by-word and scene-by-scene isn’t always the best way to bring Austen’s stories to life. However, any adaptation that strays too far from her characters, her words, or her plots–or tries to impose its own agenda on her themes–is going to disappoint me. I give a lot of leeway to modernizations, since it seems to me that the whole point of them is to move beyond Austen’s text. So I can enjoy the fun and creativity of Clueless, Bride and Prejudice, and Emma Approved without feeling the need to assess whether they’re “good” adaptations or not. I’ll leave them off this list.
Here are the versions I prefer, the ones I feel are truest to Jane Austen in style and spirit: