Emma Thompson slams film icon Audrey Hepburn

[PKTrekGirl]

Well, given that My Fair Lady is considered to be one of the best musicals ever made by numerous critics and film historians, I hope Emma Thompson is prepared to see her version slide into obscurity in fairly short order.

If she hadn't made these nasty remarks about Audry Hepburn, most people wouldn't even know she was doing a remake. I guess this is her way of getting her film on the public radar. Pretty piss-poor way of doing it though.

I have always admired Emma Thompson and thought of her as much classier than this sort of 'bash the other guy' behavior would suggest.

Guess I was wrong.

And Audrey Hepburn was quite good in a number of movies. Maybe her recorded vocals did not end up being used in the final version of My Fair Lady, but she was quite engaging in that movie otherwise. And it wasn't like she 'stole' the role from Julie Andrews - the studio had already decided to pass over Julie Andrews before Audrey was even offered the role. And when Audrey suggested they use Andrews, they told her that if she didn't take the job, they were going to offer it to Elizabeth Taylor. In other words, Julie Andrews was not gonna get this movie, regardless of anything Audrey did or didn't do.

Other movies I thought she was very good in: Roman Holiday, Breakfast at Tiffany's, Charade, The Nun's Story, and The Children's Hour. I love Audrey Hepburn.

Finally, ever gracious, I really doubt Audrey Hepburn would have made these sorts of remarks about another actress, back in her day. So in my book, Audrey wins this round, regardless of what Emma Thompson does with this movie. She has definitely dropped down a few notches in my book.

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

Except for that whole "she didn't make any nasty remarks" thing.

 

[Dusty Ayres]

Ah, sensationalistic reporting.

Yes, Thompson is critical of Audrey Hepburn, but she's talking about the role and how Hepburn approached it. "It's high time that the extraordinary role of Eliza was reinterpreted, because it's a very fantastic part for a woman." She's glad to be writing a new version of My Fair Lady because she found Hepburn to be unfunny in the role. And I'm not sure I'd disagree; I get bored with the film anytime Hepburn is on screen. Others agree; "Hepburn is an intriguing figure, but I think Emma Thompson is entitled, more than entitled, to poke this sacred cow."

Some of the reports are losing the context. It's not a full-on slam of Hepburn as a person -- Thompson even says "I'm sure she was a delightful woman - and perhaps if I had known her I would have enjoyed her acting more, but I don't and I didn't" -- just a criticism of Hepburn's portrayal of a role.

Too bad they couldn't find an average looking actress who could be both ugly and pretty like this lady or somebody else who was better.

Not sure who could step into Rex Harrison's shoes, though. He was pretty terrific and iconic.

If they had made a remake of My Fair Lady in the 1970's the person who could have played the part of Higgins is ....Leonard Nimoy!

 

[Thestral]

She is remaking a classic movie that she doesn't like very much. That's the definition of an ass.

Well, given that My Fair Lady is considered to be one of the best musicals ever made by numerous critics and film historians, I hope Emma Thompson is prepared to see her version slide into obscurity in fairly short order.

My Fair Lady may be an excellent and classic musical, but it butchers Shaw's play with that ending, so I'd be quite happy if somebody made a well-known and famous rendition of Pygmalion that preserves Shaw's ending. Let the two interpretations stand side-by-side.

Though I do agree this is rather distasteful of Thompson; which is a shame, because Stranger Than Fiction and especially Wit are fantastic films.

 

[Dusty Ayres]

She is remaking a classic movie that she doesn't like very much. That's the definition of an ass.

She is doing the third film version of a play that's been staged a billion times on and off Broadway (including a recent Japanese version staged by Toho Theatricals!) and the West End, that she feels needs to be done the way the writer originally wrote it. Maybe that's being an arrogant bitch, but she has as much right to stage a new version as anybody else does, and in a better version than the original. It's all part of The Great Creative Continuum (similar to The Great Material Continuum of Ferengi lore.)

 

[scotpens]

. . . Her style of acting can be really irritating (particularly the way she overdoes her enunciating of words) and it is very grating at times in “My Fair Lady”.

I thought Hepburn's diction was just right for the role, considering that the character is a lower-class Cockney girl who’s formally taught to speak “proper” English. Actually it was her Cockney accent that seemed a bit more stagey than authentic.

 

[Deckerd]

Well, given that My Fair Lady is considered to be one of the best musicals ever made by numerous critics and film historians, I hope Emma Thompson is prepared to see her version slide into obscurity in fairly short order.

If she hadn't made these nasty remarks about Audry Hepburn, most people wouldn't even know she was doing a remake. I guess this is her way of getting her film on the public radar. Pretty piss-poor way of doing it though.

I have always admired Emma Thompson and thought of her as much classier than this sort of 'bash the other guy' behavior would suggest.

Guess I was wrong.

...
Finally, ever gracious, I really doubt Audrey Hepburn would have made these sorts of remarks about another actress, back in her day. So in my book, Audrey wins this round, regardless of what Emma Thompson does with this movie. She has definitely dropped down a few notches in my book.

It might have been useful if, y'know, you'd actually read what Thompson said instead of just the little extract in the OP.

 

[Pingfah]

God forbid artists actually have an opinion on other artists.

 

[Orac Zen]

Having actually read the article, I can't see where Thompson "slams" Hepburn. At all. Maybe I'm reading it wrong or something.

 

[SPCTRE]

Who's Emma Thompson again?

 

[Thestral]

Who's Emma Thompson again?

That'd be Emma Watson.

 

[Too Much Fun]

. . . Her style of acting can be really irritating (particularly the way she overdoes her enunciating of words) and it is very grating at times in “My Fair Lady”.

I thought Hepburn's diction was just right for the role, considering that the character is a lower-class Cockney girl who’s formally taught to speak “proper” English. Actually it was her Cockney accent that seemed a bit more stagey than authentic.

She does that in every movie, though. At least it "My Fair Lady" there's a story-related excuse, but it still gets on my nerves. And you're right, I forgot how annoying her cockney accent was. Emma Thompson is cool. I thought her banter with Kenneth Branagh in "Much Ado About Nothing" was adorable and hilarious and surprisingly, she made a good love interest for Schwarzenegger in "Junior" .

 

[SPCTRE]

That'd be Emma Watson.

My bad

 

[scotpens]

. . . She is doing the third film version of a play that's been staged a billion times on and off Broadway (including a recent Japanese version staged by Toho Theatricals!) and the West End, that she feels needs to be done the way the writer originally wrote it.

Pygmalion is a play by George Bernard Shaw. My Fair Lady is a musical based on Shaw's play, with book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe. They're two different entities. So far there's been only one film version of My Fair Lady. It was my understanding that Emma Thompson is writing a screenplay for a new film version of the musical. Or is it a new version of Pygmalion with the title of the musical?

In any case, it looks as if Ms. Thompson intends to put a modern political spin on the story, which means it'll probably suck.

 

[Nerys Myk]

. . . She is doing the third film version of a play that's been staged a billion times on and off Broadway (including a recent Japanese version staged by Toho Theatricals!) and the West End, that she feels needs to be done the way the writer originally wrote it.

Pygmalion is a play by George Bernard Shaw. My Fair Lady is a musical based on Shaw's play, with book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe. They're two different entities. So far there's been only one film version of My Fair Lady. It was my understanding that Emma Thompson is writing a screenplay for a new film version of the musical. Or is it a new version of Pygmalion with the title of the musical?

In any case, it looks as if Ms. Thompson intends to put a modern political spin on the story, which means it'll probably suck.

I've a feeling George Bernard Shaw might approve of such a spin.

 

[DevilEyes]

. . . She is doing the third film version of a play that's been staged a billion times on and off Broadway (including a recent Japanese version staged by Toho Theatricals!) and the West End, that she feels needs to be done the way the writer originally wrote it.

Pygmalion is a play by George Bernard Shaw. My Fair Lady is a musical based on Shaw's play, with book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe. They're two different entities. So far there's been only one film version of My Fair Lady. It was my understanding that Emma Thompson is writing a screenplay for a new film version of the musical. Or is it a new version of Pygmalion with the title of the musical?

In any case, it looks as if Ms. Thompson intends to put a modern political spin on the story, which means it'll probably suck.

I've a feeling George Bernard Shaw might approve of such a spin.

"A feminist makeover"? "Modern political spin"? Pygmalion is a feminist story (albeit that story got watered down into something non-feminist in My Fair Lady). Shaw was a feminist.

So, I suppose, scotpens, you must think that Pygmalion sucked, and the musical just managed to salvage it and make it good, eh?

 

[Out Of My Vulcan Mind]

She wasn't bad in Roman Holiday, but apart from that, I was not aware that she was considered to be a particularly gifted thespian.

She was nominated as Best Actress five times at the Academy Awards, and won once. So her peers in the Academy certainly held in high esteem as an actress.

 

[bluedana]

She has also won an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay (for Sense and Sensibility). If you have any doubt about her acting ability, you should go to YT and watch her in Wit. Right now.

 

[Thestral]

She has also won an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay (for Sense and Sensibility). If you have any doubt about her acting ability, you should go to YT and watch her in Wit. Right now.

All true. Except that's Emma Thompson you're talking about, not Audrey Hepburn.

 

[stj]

George Bernard Shaw was a Fabian socialist. The idea that a screen adaptation highlighting the feminist and socialist issues offends against the play is nuts. It was My Fair Lady that put a conservative political spin on the original play. The notion that adherence to conservative social and political attitudes isn't spin while anything else is political correctness reflects the continuing narrowing of political and social discourse. It is really sad when a playwright from decades ago is becoming too left wing to be acceptable. At the rate we're regressing, it seem in a decade only pro-slavery/serfdom/witchburning literature and drama will be acceptable.

And Emma Thompson wasn't especially mean to Audrey Hepburn. Contempt for a living human being for being mildly critical of a dead one seems awfully insensitive to me.