I can't see the phrase "period piece" without laughing. Because I'm ten.

I'm an English major nerd, I've been to Haworth, home of the Brontes, and I'm a Portman fan, so I'm excited for this movie.

Noooo! Natalie, listen, I don't hate you. You're pretty, moderately talented and sweet-seeming, but you are NOT Catherine Earnshaw. Back off the Bronte, babe. For both our sakes.

@funnyface: i too, am thrilled. i loves my brontes.

Marrying for stability = hooker... might be a stretch.

But wouldn't the message of Wuthering Hieghts be something more like,"Hey women, marry who you want because if you do what everyone else wants you'll regret it"? And isn't that a good message?

I am kind of stoked to see Portman as Catherine; Wuthering Heights was one of my fav books growing up.

But technically, aren't both the Boleyn Girls movie and Goya's Ghost period pieces as well? Not totally new territory, then?

@blackbirdfly: Oh SHIT, you just ruined it for me. I went from composed to cackling in the few seconds it took to click into this thread.

"Period piece". HEE.

I do love me some Natalie Portman, and I do love me some period pieces (SNRRRRK), but when are we gonna see a really compelling spankin' new rendition of Jane Eyre? Seriously Jane was my hero.

"Catherine is a variation of a hooker, marrying for stability and then being punished for it." BOO! No, Jezebel, this is wrong.

Just wondering if Natalie can muster the fire to play Catherine. Who is going to play Heathclif???

What?? No doormats? But what will the menz wipe they feets on?

Portman would NOT make a good Catherine. Period.

It is all so incredibly disheartening. I read that xkcd blog last night and it just near broke my heart. Not to mention surprised me! I'm ashamed of myself for not having noticed the state of women in the film industry.

@tscheese: My mom used to tell my sister and I that she loved dramatic films, but really preferred "period pieces." We would dissolve into fits of laughter.

@tscheese: There's a new BBC version that recently aired on PBS that has gotten fab reviews: [en.wikipedia.org]) And since it's a miniseries, they likely didn't cut key scenes for time (::coughP&P2005cough::)

The Toby Stephens/Ruth Wilson Jane Eyre from a couple of years ago on PBS was AWESOME!!!!! Have you not seen it? check it out.

Also, Portman is NOT Catherine. Boo. totally wrong.

(I've been to Haworth too - Charlotte Bronte's dress is amazing, no? She was so little!)

I'm not quick enough on the draw to comment here!

@hello.kitty: Clive Owen? Pretty please?

@LittleMissFour-Eyes: For REALS. That could quite possibly be the worst bit of casting I've seen since Juliette Binoche played the love interest of Steve Carrel and Dane effing Cook in Dan in Real Life...and I love Juliette Binoche. Ugh. Also...I don't know if I would boil down Catherine Earnshaw to a hooker, exactly...

I disagree that Paz Vega's role is a victim. I mean, I gathered that she is helping investigate the death of her boyfriend. And she will probably fall in love with Farrel. Again, I don't see how that's victimhood. I'd give her a high-5.

@mynameisrio: @bellethellama: OMG, thank you! I'll have to check that out.

I always loved Jane Eyre because it put all the onus of being flakey/wacky/tormented/victim on the GUY. Because, you know what? In real life, not all women are flakey or wacky, and not all dudes are stoic and serene.

Jane was a goddamn trooper, comfortable with herself and her talents despite her humble beginnings, and she didn't give into her weird missionary cousin who wanted weird missionary cousin sex. Also she was nice to her other cousins when they were in need.

@bellethellama: I'm sorry, but Knightley's P&P sucked. If y'all want Pride and Prejudice, watch the 1995 BBC/A&E version, and forget Miss Talks-through-her-Teeth.

Catherine is the classic character that I have problem with. I'm always one step short of identifying with her because she's just so whiny and insecure. Yet I still root for her being with Heathcliff.

Btw, I love the MTv version of this. I know that sounds wrong but it is well-acted.

@tscheese: If by trooper your mean doormat, I'll agree. She just wasn't spunky enough for my tastes. And any woman that considered marrying that ass St. John loses all of my respect.

Ah, Paz Vega. Why anyone would want to go from playing smart, sexy women in a variety of excellent European films to play Adam Sandler's ESL-challenged Mexican maid is beyond me. Oh well...

@jennilyn: OMG OMG OMG that would be a dream. My TV might melt from his hotness. *fanning self furiously* Wonder if Clive looks good as a muddy stable boy....*le sigh*
@mynameisrio: Toby Stephens should be better known. He is classically handsome and a fine actor. I liked his Rochester too. Son of the fabulous Maggie Smith.

@Tisiphone: I agree, she can't come close to the kind of deranged, masochist type who can play Catherine. And yes, I loathe Wuthering Heights.

I did, however, like the Jane Eyre with Charlotte Gainsbourg. Did anyone else see that? I think I was in middle school when it came out.

@westvillagegirl: Oh, I totally agree. It did suck, in part due to them ignoring all the comedy and instead having everyone moon about in their nightclothes (when I meant "cut scenes for time," I was referring to the novel's scenes that they completely ignore). The 1995 version is the definitive version, hands down.

Speaking of period pieces, I found out today that Masterpiece Theater is doing a new version of Room with a View where they have a different ending! I'm dying to watch it but I think it might be too upsetting. Plus it's not Room with a View without Julian Sands.

From the xkcd blag:

The Rule

@westvillagegirl: Let's be honest, St. John was probably autistic or somewhere on the spectrum. his rigid religiosity? Preoccupation with routine and schedule? Totes Rain Man.

Jane was far better off with a rapid-cycling bipolar Rochester.

@westvillagegirl:

WORD. Blech on Keira's Elizabeth and not staying true to the book/hollywoodization of a classic.

I love "where the journalists not only break stories but also solve mysteries!"

Duh, deja fait: Pot Psychology.

@bellethellama: And they totally put on this modern day quasi feminist tone to it, that I think Jane Austen herself did a much better job at dealing with.

@dr.funke: Yeah, Rain Man or, you know, Jim Jones.

Also Jane Eyre always bothered me, because I feel like there were some kind of racist/nationalist undertones. You know, in having the crazy wife be Carribbean, and all.

@westvillagegirl: I have watched that version many, many, many times and I lurves it still. Colin Firth should be in all Jane Austen movies. Colin Firth should be in all movies, period. Colin Firth should be here right now, as a matter of fact.

@westvillagegirl: I dunno! I think she did pretty good for the time. She wavered on marrying St. John, sure, but she didn't jump into his arms like a good heroine all "OMG GOOD THERE IS A MAN WHO WILL TAKE ME." She also didn't jump all over Rochester until she knew he was single, AAAND...I dunno, I just liked her quiet resolve.

She wasn't as outgoing as feminist heroes today, though. You're definitely right on that. But for the day and age she was in, I think she did okay.

@femminista: I too, love me some Juliette Binoche, although I wasn't entirely sold on her as Catherine Earnshaw either, if only because you could still hear the French accent, and it seemed a bit ridiculous to have one of the most famous female characters in English literature played by a clearly French woman. That said, she rocked and roe, and I'd still take Juliette over Natalie.

@blackbirdfly: I's in ur laik, divin into ur wet dreemz.

@hello.kitty: I don't know, but it's gonna be tough to top Ralph Fiennes. I always thought he'd make the perfect Heathcliff even before I knew he actually played him. Plus, the character of Heathcliff works so nicely with the Rules of Dating Ralph Fiennes in a Period Piece.

@westvillagegirl: Wide Sargrasso Sea explores that whole side to the story. I can't say if it's any good or not, because by the time we got to that book I was so overwhelmed with other work that I let it slide.

Portman can't pull it off--the girl's real pretty and all, but no.
Also, Heathcliff is a twat. That is all.

@tscheese: I'll agree that she was definitely a moral young lady. But it was always SHE who paid the price for her morality. I don't think that's a good feminist message.

@mynameisrio: Ditto on the recommendation. I'm not a huge Jane Eyre fan, but the way they write Jane in that one makes her so smart and secure in herself. I took a whole class on the Brontes in college, and Emily will always be my favorite, with Anne a close second. Charlotte just seemed a little too worried about public opinion to give in to her wild side. And I still think she either destroyed any remaining work of Emily's or buried it with her. Portman is so wrong for this role I could throw a Catherine worthy fit. Let her play the dull wretch Heathcliff ends up marrying instead. Clive Owen would make an amazing Heathcliff, but he's too old now. Richard Armitage maybe? Nom, nom, scrumscious.

@Jezebabe...is a stern and angry midget!!!!: I love you for seeing that! I saw it. Loved it. Worship Charlotte G. @LittleMissFour-Eyes: normally I'd have to thrash you for talking trash about Binoche but agree about the accent. That version wasn't terribly good overall though and Ralph Fiennes' wig... ::shudders::

@bellethellama: Read it! Read it! So gooooooood.

@LittleMissFour-Eyes: Err, that was supposed to say "she rocked that role," although I seem to have been wanting to type "she rocked and rolled." Which I'm sure Ms. Binoche does as well, from time to time.

@and Begorrah: Yeah, I haven't really been blown away by anything Natalie has done since the Professional. And I loved, loved, loved her in that. And we share the same first name.

@bellethellama: Worth it, very good. I read it for the same Bronte class, and I remember being blown away by the writing style.

@westvillagegirl: Totes! read Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys(?) who attempts to provide the "crazy" wife with a backstory that takes the heinousness of colonization into account. you may like, because you're right, that part of Jane Eyre is problematic.

@mockingbird: Richard Armitage...just his VOICE is crazy sexy, but those eyes, and those hands...nom nom indeed. My fiance refers to him as a combination of Hugh Jackman, John Stamos and Patrick Dempsey.

@LittleMissFour-Eyes: Ralph Fiennes was fabulous, yes. His version is closest and truest to the novel, as I recall. The original on screen Heathcliff was Sir Laurence Olivier, so just by chronology he is first.

@bellethellama: @roodles: Thanks. I've never even heard of that. I guess that's what I get for not reading JE until after I was out of college and had no "discussion section"

@Jezebabe...is a stern and angry midget!!!!: LOVE the one with Charlotte Gainsbourg.

@Jezebabe...is a stern and angry midget!!!!: I saw the half that had Anna Paquin in it.

Natalie Portman is not that good of an actress. She was good in The Professional and Closer, but meh in a lot of other things. She makes up for it by being an interesting personality in interviews, but she is nearly 27 and still seems like a young girl to me.