[Hardy-l] Updates on Hardy Film Adaptations

[nhardyboy at aol.com]

Recently on the Hardy List we were discussing a new television adaptation of TESS.? I have since learned that Tess herself has been cast: according to IMDb.com, Tess is to be played by Gemma Arterton, who gained fame in Britain on the television series ST. TRINIAN'S, and who is currently playing the "secondary" love interest to James Bond in the forthcoming QUANTUM OF SOLACE.

More interesting is that it looks as though FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD is getting a CLAIM treatment.? A film entitled NORTH OF CHEYENNE is set for a 2009 release.? Directed by Jon Amiel and based on a "story" by Hardy, the film stars Cate Blanchett, Russell Crowe, Catherine Zeta-Jones (who earlier played Eustacia Vye on television), and Gwyneth Paltrow.? The New York Times summarizes the film thus:?"After a woman inherits a sprawling Wyoming ranch, she finds herself courted by three very different men."? If that isn't FFMC, I'll eat my hat!

It's fascinating that we're apparently in an "upswing" period as far as Hardy adaptations go--they?tend to come in clusters, and there have?also been rumors of a new adaptation of RETURN OF THE NATIVE--and I'd be interested to know why people think we're being hit with a new wave of adaptations.? And, if I may gloss a private conversation I had with Rosemarie, it seems she is correct that "transpositions" as?opposed to straight "adaptations" is?a growing trend.??For the second time, a Hardy source is being turned into an American western.? The two genres would at first?glance seem incompatible, but the more I think of it, the more connections I can find.??I now live in the border city of Laredo and on Tuesday I will be delivering a talk on Hardy to a small reading group. . .one of my points will be how the backdrop of TESS, with a modern world built on commerce?overtaking an older and?more traditional world, bears strange similarities to the situation in today's Laredo.? The 
 inhabitants even speak dialect (Tex-Mex or Spanish) in their homes and a more "standard" English at the university!

Anyway, for all who enjoy seeing Hardy on film and television, there are reasons to rejoice!

Best,

Paul Niemeyer
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