dirac
Apr 25 2009, 05:09 PM
A film based on the latter part of Margot Fonteyn's life and career is planned.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1172991QUOTE
But the film, being made for BBC4 by director Otto Bathurst (who made last year's superb Criminal Justice TV drama) and screen writer Amanda Coe, will also delve into the dark side of her marriage to Dr Roberto Arias, a shady diplomat with Panamanian credentials and an eye for women who weren't his wife.
Seems to me this can only be a mediocre effort at best. Apart from anything else, casting a non-dancer as Fonteyn means the dance sequences will have to be shot under less than optimal circumstances, and Duff seems about as appropriate a choice for Fonteyn as her hubby James McAvoy would be for Tito or Rudi. Oh, well.
Helene
Apr 25 2009, 05:23 PM
James McAvoy was terrific in the British TV series "Shameless". He's a lot more versatile than his romantic lead roles would suggest, and he's very adept with a dark side underneath surface charm.
dirac
Apr 25 2009, 05:28 PM
I didn't mean he was a bad or limited actor. I meant he was unsuited for either role - not the type in the one case, and not a dancer in the other. (There are other ways, too, but it's off topic. Shouldn't have mentioned it in the first place, sorry, but I thought it was a passing remark that wouldn't inspire debate. Let's talk about the film, everyone.
)
leonid
Apr 25 2009, 05:31 PM
QUOTE (dirac @ Apr 25 2009, 06:09 PM)
A film based on the latter part of Margot Fonteyn's life and career is planned.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1172991QUOTE
But the film, being made for BBC4 by director Otto Bathurst (who made last year's superb Criminal Justice TV drama) and screen writer Amanda Coe, will also delve into the dark side of her marriage to Dr Roberto Arias, a shady diplomat with Panamanian credentials and an eye for women who weren't his wife.
Seems to me this can only be a mediocre effort at best. Apart from anything else, casting a non-dancer as Fonteyn means the dance sequences will have to be shot under less than optimal circumstances, and Duff seems about as appropriate a choice for Fonteyn as her hubby James McAvoy would be for Tito or Rudi. Oh, well.
I have written at length elsewhere on this subject and will concur with dirac's, "Seems to me this can only be a mediocre effort at best."
dirac
Apr 25 2009, 05:34 PM
Looking on the bright side, it's possible for even less than great movies about ballet to inspire new interest in the art. Perhaps this one will, as well.
Helene
Apr 25 2009, 05:39 PM
I can't say I'm inspired by the photograph of Huff: it's hard to imagine how she'd physicalize Fonteyn's offstage carriage and grace.
bart
Apr 25 2009, 06:06 PM
This is of interest.
QUOTE
Just in case, Covent Garden stars, past and present, are being considered to 'dance' the role.
They include the likes of Alina Cojocaru, for instance, or Darcy Bussell - although a balletomane observed, wickedly, that Ms Bussell might be too 'robust' to make us think of Fonteyn's slim, elegant physique.
Maybe we need a new "Everything Else Ballet" thread: who should dance Fonteyn?
duffster
Apr 25 2009, 09:06 PM
Alexandra Ansanelli
vipa
Apr 25 2009, 09:24 PM
QUOTE (duffster @ Apr 25 2009, 10:06 PM)
Alexandra Ansanelli
YES - Any maybe act it too. I have not idea if AA can act but she has an elegant quality the Fonteyn had & is beautiful.
Helene
Apr 25 2009, 09:30 PM
QUOTE (vipa @ Apr 25 2009, 07:24 PM)
QUOTE (duffster @ Apr 25 2009, 10:06 PM)
Alexandra Ansanelli
YES - Any maybe act it too. I have not idea if AA can act but she has an elegant quality the Fonteyn had & is beautiful.
That was my first thought -- cast her to do both. But they'd have to shoot her dancing from the waist up, unless she spent a lot of time trying to move like Fonteyn. She moves her legs and feet very differently than Fonteyn.
dirac
Apr 27 2009, 12:35 PM
QUOTE
She moves her legs and feet very differently than Fonteyn.
True, but that would only make a difference to the likes of us, perhaps. The general audience would see a beautiful ballerina with a general resemblance to Fonteyn, and that would be enough.
I saw Duff in
The Magdalene Sisters and yet another miniseries on Elizabeth I, and while she seems a good actress I can’t imagine her as Fonteyn.
QUOTE
YES - Any maybe act it too. I have not idea if AA can act but she has an elegant quality the Fonteyn had & is beautiful.
I find that often as not in ballet-themed films the ballet dancers are at least as good as any professional actors in the cast (and sometimes better)!
I have not seen Tamara Rojo, but would she be appropriate?
Natalia
Apr 27 2009, 01:05 PM
It should have been Anne Hathaway, who so resembles Fonteyn in looks, IMO.
Old Fashioned
Apr 27 2009, 01:25 PM
I don't see Ansanelli bearing much of a resemblance to Fonteyn looks wise, other than they both have dark hair. Rojo may be a better fit (again, only basing this on looks). Duff looks nothing like Fonteyn, but I can't really think of another actress who could be a good fit. Emily Mortimer and Emily Blunt are too tall (although about the same height as Duff, according to their imdb bios). Maybe Natalie Portman?
Helene
Apr 27 2009, 01:30 PM
I saw Ansanelli do a fabulous imitation of Fonteyn in the opening of the Fonteyn movement of "Homage to the Queen" last year: same eyes, same head tilt, same neck. It was quite remarkable.
dirac
Apr 27 2009, 01:32 PM
QUOTE
I don't see Ansanelli bearing much of a resemblance to Fonteyn looks wise, other than they both have dark hair.
True, but Ansanelli is a dancer. (If the makers of "Isadora" back in the Sixties had cast Lynn Seymour as in the title role, she wouldn't have been an exact physical match, but in spirit and style she would have been as close to Isadora as anyone could have gotten.)
Duff also strikes me as a little young for the movie's time frame described in the article - she will be playing the middle aged Fonteyn, not the young dancer. So in the best of all possible worlds a suitable mature ballerina would be cast in the role, although no one springs to mind offhand.
It may be, of course, that the filmmakers don't intend on showing much if any dancing, in which case the project would indeed be worth very little....
Thanks for commenting, everyone! Keep posting.
(Edited to note that my comment was in response to Old Fashioned's post and not Helene's, which I didn't see before posting, and so I've altered this post slightly to reflect that.)
Natalia
Apr 27 2009, 02:46 PM
dirac
Apr 27 2009, 04:38 PM
She does have that million dollar smile, doesn't she, although the eyebrows need a little work. (But then I really like Anne Hathaway, so I’m slightly biased. A delightful talent.)
mimsyb
Apr 28 2009, 07:58 AM
QUOTE (dirac @ Apr 27 2009, 02:32 PM)
True, but Ansanelli is a dancer. (If the makers of "Isadora" back in the Sixties had cast Lynn Seymour as in the title role, she wouldn't have been an exact physical match, but in spirit and style she would have been as close to Isadora as anyone could have gotten.)
Duff also strikes me as a little young for the movie's time frame described in the article - she will be playing the middle aged Fonteyn, not the young dancer. So in the best of all possible worlds a suitable mature ballerina would be cast in the role, although no one springs to mind offhand.
It may be, of course, that the filmmakers don't intend on showing much if any dancing, in which case the project would indeed be worth very little....
Thanks for commenting, everyone! Keep posting.
Do you mean the film "Isadora" with Vanessa Redgrave or the marvelous other Isadora film that starred the wonderful British actress Vivienne Pickles in the title role. ? Totally a non dancer, Ms. Pickles brought huge passion and clarity to the role. Well directed and with a good script, a non dancer could realistically play Fontyne. It also would depend on the story line. While we define the life of Fontyne by her dancing (duh!), still her other life away from ballet could prove quite a story. Wait and see.
mimsyb
dirac
Apr 28 2009, 01:22 PM
Thank you for mentioning the movie with Vivian Pickles, mimsyb. I had heard of it but I’ve never seen it. It is true that depending on the story line chosen, there may not be much dancing involved. I guess in this case we can only wait and see!
Old Fashioned
Apr 28 2009, 08:39 PM
QUOTE (Natalia @ Apr 27 2009, 02:46 PM)
I might get flamed for saying this--but Anne Hathaway is too beautiful to be Margot Fonteyn.
dirac
Apr 28 2009, 09:12 PM
You won't get flamed by me. Fonteyn was not a beauty, I agree. But on the stage it didn't matter, because there the charisma and skill of the performer can create the illusion of beauty. But she had pretty features, a lovely smile and figure, and, as she once noted, nice legs, and she made the most of what she had with impeccable grooming. She also photographed well in stills.
I wouldn’t go so far as to say Hathaway is too beautiful to play her, though.
vipa
Apr 28 2009, 09:21 PM
QUOTE (dirac @ Apr 28 2009, 10:12 PM)
You won't get flamed by me. Fonteyn was not a beauty, I agree. But on the stage it didn't matter, because there the charisma and skill of the performer can create the illusion of beauty. But she had pretty features, a lovely smile and figure, and, as she once noted, nice legs, and she made the most of what she had with impeccable grooming. She also photographed well in stills.
I wouldn’t go so far as to say Hathaway is too beautiful to play her, though.
No flaming here either. Fonteyn had beautiful proportions in a classical sense. Just beautiful and pleasing to look at. Photos of a young Fonteyn reveal a South American look (in my opinion) that was not so apparent as she matured.
I still vote for Alexandra Ansanelli (a useless fantasy)
Mashinka
Apr 29 2009, 04:23 AM
By the standards of her day Fonteyn was a beauty (and in my ancient eyes, remains so), but I'm praying this ill-conceived project never gets off the ground. I'll be grateful for the recession if it prevents this abomination getting to the screen.
bart
Apr 29 2009, 06:05 AM
Sounds like this might be a good topic for a Ballet Talk POLL.
Natalia
Apr 29 2009, 06:19 AM
Perhaps 'Generation Me' would prefer that Alina Somova be Fonteyn? (tee-hee)
Awww, c'mon guys, Fonteyn was (is) THE epitome of the perfect face, the perfect features, the perfect body for ballet -- though I am not saying that her technical skills then would match-up to today's ballerinas, 50 yrs later. [She most likely would have matched or exceeded today's requirements, had they been requirements.] Every time that I've seen Anne Hathaway on the red carpet, her hair up, in a glamorous super-slim beaded gown, I instantly remember Fonteyn.
sandik
Apr 29 2009, 11:35 AM
Hathaway looks similar in still photos, but I'm less convinced in movement. I haven't seen the Jane Austen film, so don't know if she moderated her physicality for a period work, but I think she doesn't innately have the upper/lower body coordination that marked Fonteyn, even in pedestrian moments -- I don't remember ever seeing a graceless action. But even if it's not ingrained, she may be a skilled enough actress to learn the style.
Old Fashioned
Apr 29 2009, 11:42 AM
QUOTE (Natalia @ Apr 29 2009, 06:19 AM)
Perhaps 'Generation Me' would prefer that Alina Somova be Fonteyn? (tee-hee)
Awww, c'mon guys, Fonteyn was (is) THE epitome of the perfect face, the perfect features, the perfect body for ballet -- though I am not saying that her technical skills then would match-up to today's ballerinas, 50 yrs later. [She most likely would have matched or exceeded today's requirements, had they been requirements.] Every time that I've seen Anne Hathaway on the red carpet, her hair up, in a glamorous super-slim beaded gown, I instantly remember Fonteyn.
I certainly would not like to see Somova as Fonteyn. If I had my choice of casting, it would be a dancer. Fonteyn had the perfect proportions for ballet, but I don't consider her a natural beauty. She matured very well, and was beautiful in a glamorous way. Her features looked different when she was younger before her nose job(s) (according to the Daneman bio). Vipa mentions a South American look about her; wasn't her mother half Brazilian? I might cast Roberta Marquez as Fonteyn; I've really enjoyed the clips on youtube of Marquez in Symphonic Variations. I don't know if she's been at the Royal enough to embody the British style, and she would have to work on an accent.
carbro
Apr 29 2009, 03:50 PM
If we were to cast a dancer in the role, I'd nominate Jenifer Ringer, whose coloring and proportions match Fonteyn's and who is also a natural beauty (I agree with Natalia on Fonteyn's qualifications as a beauty).
I am not familiar with Hathaway's work, but I sense in her an extroverted nature, which runs counter to Fonteyn's air of regal restraint.
Hans
Apr 29 2009, 04:20 PM
I agree about both Ringer and Hathaway, Carbro. For me, this is a bit like choosing who might play Maria Callas or another similar artist: ultimately impossible, but still interesting to consider.
dirac
Apr 29 2009, 04:36 PM
QUOTE
Fonteyn had the perfect proportions for ballet, but I don't consider her a natural beauty. She matured very well, and was beautiful in a glamorous way. Her features looked different when she was younger before her nose job(s) (according to the Daneman bio).
In early photographs you see an attractive girl with baby fat, a lot of hair around the forehead, and yes, the nose is a tad chunky. She wasn’t a raving beauty like Shearer or glamorous like May, but she made herself beautiful and her features were perfect for the theatre.
QUOTE
If I had my choice of casting, it would be a dancer.
For sure.
smitty1931
May 6 2009, 03:15 PM
QUOTE (dirac @ Apr 27 2009, 02:32 PM)
QUOTE
I don't see Ansanelli bearing much of a resemblance to Fonteyn looks wise, other than they both have dark hair.
True, but Ansanelli is a dancer. (If the makers of "Isadora" back in the Sixties had cast Lynn Seymour as in the title role, she wouldn't have been an exact physical match, but in spirit and style she would have been as close to Isadora as anyone could have gotten.)
Duff also strikes me as a little young for the movie's time frame described in the article - she will be playing the middle aged Fonteyn, not the young dancer. So in the best of all possible worlds a suitable mature ballerina would be cast in the role, although no one springs to mind offhand.
It may be, of course, that the filmmakers don't intend on showing much if any dancing, in which case the project would indeed be worth very little....
Thanks for commenting, everyone! Keep posting.
(Edited to note that my comment was in response to Old Fashioned's post and not Helene's, which I didn't see before posting, and so I've altered this post slightly to reflect that.)Has anyone out there seen the DVD "MARGOT"? It is a complete coverage of her life and dancing thus no need for a movie, i.e a phony portrait.
dirac
May 6 2009, 04:07 PM
Thanks, smitty1931. A dramatization or biopic doesn't have to be phony (although all too often they are). A good, or even mediocre, movie about Fonteyn would bring her name and story to people who might not know much about her and might even be fun to watch.
dirac
May 12 2009, 07:02 PM
Anne-Marie Duff talks about the dance requirements of the role:
QUOTE
"I haven't done ballet since I was at school," she told Mandrake at a party after the premiere of the film Is Anybody There?, in which she stars opposite Sir Michael Caine. "I wasn't too bad then, but it was such a long time ago. Of course, they will have a prima ballerina to film all the intricate parts, but I think I'll need to practise standing on pointe."
Uh, yes, that would certainly help. It looks as if they are going to bring in a double for the ballet sequences, a la Claire Bloom/Melissa Hayden in Limelight, which worked reasonably well although not having the same person in both roles hampered the cinematography in the dance sequences. (Bloom has written that Chaplin was a martinet about her ballet classes, too – even if she wasn’t doing the dancing.) However, a ballerina that matches up with Duff isn’t going to look much like Fonteyn.....
toeprints
May 21 2009, 09:26 PM
Google News reports that this film will be a 90 minute drama "which will explore her relationship with Russian dancer Rudolf Nureyev," and will air in the autumn. This seems to be just another juicy, gossipy thing, and dancing will be minimal.
dirac
May 21 2009, 09:47 PM
Thanks for the update, toeprints. Oh, well.
PeggyR
May 21 2009, 10:24 PM
QUOTE (toeprints @ May 21 2009, 07:26 PM)
Google News reports that this film will be a 90 minute drama "which will explore her relationship with Russian dancer Rudolf Nureyev," and will air in the autumn. This seems to be just another juicy, gossipy thing, and dancing will be minimal.
A film about the relationship between Fonteyn and Nureyev with minimal dancing isn't about the relationship between Fonteyn and Nureyev, is it?
leonid
May 22 2009, 09:22 AM
QUOTE (PeggyR @ May 21 2009, 10:24 PM)
A film about the relationship between Fonteyn and Nureyev with minimal dancing isn't about the relationship between Fonteyn and Nureyev, is it?
There is no witness evidence or statement by either Dame Margot or Rudolf Nureyev to suggest that having become the greatest and closest of friends and often social companions, that there was anything more to their relationship, apart of course from their legendary partnership. There have been a number of trashy books wriiten about these two great artists that have all contained factual errors that could have been easily checked, so how could you trust them in dealing with their matters of relationdship when no substanial evidence of relationship above what I have described exists and none I would suggest to be found, but only invented. I understand that the projected film has arisen from the existence of such published material and not an original work.
toeprints
May 23 2009, 09:13 PM
More news reports today and yesterday state that this film is based on Daneman's book. Oh, Lord! There must be a need for BBC4 to air trash; I guess trash does sell. There was also something about a Nancy Bishop (some sort of production agent) looking for a "Rudolf Nureyev" look-alike, in his mid-twenties, for the role. She stated that a dancer would be preferable; if not, a double would be used for the dancing! And production begins the end of June. It does get sillier and sillier.
toeprints
Jun 13 2009, 09:16 PM
Dutch pop star to portray Rudi! According to London's Daily Mail, a Dutch pop star turned actor, Michiel Huisman, will play Rudi in the tv show, "Margot." He also has never danced before. A production exec. stated that, after scores of actors and dancers auditioned, Huisman was the only one who had the combination of animal magnitism and exoticism.
Derek Jacobi will portray Sir Fred Ashton; Penelope Wilton as Margot's Mom; and Lindsay Duncan will play Ninette de Valois. The only name I recognize is Jacobi.
Jane Simpson
Aug 23 2009, 04:55 AM
There's now a trailer for this programme on
the BBC's website. It may help you to decide whether or not this will be something you want to watch...
pmeja
Aug 23 2009, 06:14 AM
Boo, it won't let me watch, says 'not available in your area'.
Jane Simpson
Aug 23 2009, 06:52 AM
Maybe it's a UK only thing - not something I can test! But don't fret about missing it.
pmeja
Aug 23 2009, 06:56 AM
i had a feeling.
PeggyR
Aug 23 2009, 08:35 AM
QUOTE (Jane Simpson @ Aug 23 2009, 04:52 AM)
...But don't fret about missing it.
Too bad; look at this cast:
QUOTE
Margot also stars Sir Derek Jacobi as choreographer Sir Frederick Ashton; Penelope Wilton as Margot's mother BQ; Lindsay Duncan as Ninette de Valois, founder of The Royal Ballet...
Those three are worth watching in anything, no matter how bad it is.
Mashinka
Aug 24 2009, 05:01 AM
From the clip it is more awful than anything I could have possibly imagined.
Alexandra
Aug 24 2009, 09:33 AM
I can't view it either (it says Unavailable in Your Area), but just from the one shot of "Fonteyn" taking a modest curtain call, it's awful. And reading the accompanying promo is worse. Do they distort political and diplomatic history as badly as they distort balletl history?
carbro
Aug 24 2009, 10:23 AM
QUOTE (pmeja @ Aug 23 2009, 07:14 AM)
Boo, it won't let me watch, says 'not available in your area'.
QUOTE (Alexandra @ Aug 24 2009, 10:33 AM)
I can't view it either (it says Unavailable in Your Area), ...
So this is how it feels to live in China. So much for the "worldwide web".
richard53dog
Aug 24 2009, 11:38 AM
QUOTE (carbro @ Aug 24 2009, 04:23 PM)
QUOTE (pmeja @ Aug 23 2009, 07:14 AM)
Boo, it won't let me watch, says 'not available in your area'.
QUOTE (Alexandra @ Aug 24 2009, 10:33 AM)
I can't view it either (it says Unavailable in Your Area), ...
So this is how it feels to live in China. So much for the "worldwide web".
I've run into this before with links to BBC. As it was explained to me the links only "work" from areas (UK, etc)
that contribute to the liscensing fees the BBC receives. So like so many other things in the world today, it boils down to dollars and cents...er.. in this case pounds and pence.
Actually, I have to admit that it makes "cents"
to me.
GWTW
Aug 25 2009, 03:02 AM
richard, the BBC does receive license fees from the US by way of BBC America and from other countries by way of BBC Prime, so the explanation you received isn't that sound.
'Margot' sounds awful, but I Helena Bonham-Carter as Enid Blyton
sounds terrific!!
Mashinka
Sep 25 2009, 10:14 AM
Apologies for the source, but as this piece is written by Meredith Daneman, Fonteyn's biographer, I consider it worth reading. Personally I'm not very taken by the tone of this article. Anyone want to comment?
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/you/articl...man-legend.html
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