Emma Thompson slams film icon Audrey Hepburn

[SiorX]

^Wot 'e said.

Emma Thompson can at least be trusted to put intelligent thought into a new adaptation. I'm looking forward to seeing her interpretation of Shaw's ideas.

And it's a little rich, is it not, to castigate her for expressing her critical opinion of an actresses performance given how much time many of us dedicate to doing that same thing ourselves - often with far less restraint.

Also, Emma Thompson's just generally awesome.

 

[sidious618]

Audrey Hepburn was supposed to be quite the nasty person herself so I can't hold it against Emma Thompson for "slamming" her. Although that slam was sure dissapointing. I was hoping for something really ugly.

 

[Snaploud]

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.

Wit is a great movie.

Oh...and I'll admit I also thought this thread was about Emma Watson at first...

 

[pookha]

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.

but back in the day people did hold it against hepburn that andrews was cast aside.
especially since she didnt do her own singing.

and really disney soon made jack warner out to be an idiot..
.http://www.reelclassics.com/Musicals/Fairlady/fairlady.htm

he wouldnt cast andrews because she wasnt a name..
well disney grabbed her for poppins and andrews blasted into super stardom.
and of course andrews got the oscar.. another kick to the head of jack warner.

 

[Orac Zen]

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.

The "Academy" is hardly a reliable arbiter of acting talent. After all, they've awarded gongs to Gwyneth Paltrow and Julia Roberts, and failed to award gongs to actresses of the calibre of Angela Lansbury, Glenn Close, Deborah Kerr, Irene Dunne, Thelma Ritter or Jean Simmons, to name a very few. The Oscars are no guide to acting ability.

 

[Deckerd]

Audrey Hepburn was supposed to be quite the nasty person herself so I can't hold it against Emma Thompson for "slamming" her. Although that slam was sure dissapointing. I was hoping for something really ugly.

As to her 'nastiness' I can't venture to speculate. I do know that when they were filming Breakfast at Tiffany's, her famed skeletal thinness got in the way of filming the very first scene: dressed in an evening gown, eating a pastry for breakfast and looking in the windows of Tiffany's. To paraphrase; after several takes where she completely failed to carry out an essential part of the action, the director eventually yelled "just eat the fucking thing".

 

[Out Of My Vulcan Mind]

The "Academy" is hardly a reliable arbiter of acting talent. After all, they've awarded gongs to Gwyneth Paltrow and Julia Roberts, and failed to award gongs to actresses of the calibre of Angela Lansbury, Glenn Close, Deborah Kerr, Irene Dunne, Thelma Ritter or Jean Simmons, to name a very few. The Oscars are no guide to acting ability.

The Academy certainly gets it wrong sometimes, and some great actors and actresses have gone without a win, but those who rack up multiple nominations - and certainly those who score five nominations in a leading category - tend to be genuinely talented, as Audrey Hepburn was.

 

[TheBrew]

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

Your problem is that you actually read the article before posting.

 

[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.

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

Yes, I should have been clearer about the "she" being Emma Thompson, and my response being to the "who the hell does she think she is, rewriting MFL and she'll just sink back into obscurity" comment.

 

[Sakrysta]

I actually pretty much agree with everything Emma Thompson said in her article. I haven't seen Audrey Hepburn in anything but My Fair Lady. She has a lovely presence and stillness - when she's just being. The camera loves her. Her eyes carry a wealth of emotion. Her quiet scenes are an elegant thing to behold.

However, none of these qualities characterize Eliza Dolittle. I'm not sure I'd even use "twee" to describe Hepburn's portrayal. She was just trying too hard to be a character she's not. She put everything she had into being the bold, brash, mannerless street woman that Eliza was, and it just didn't translate. It ended up being over-the-top and cartoonish.

There are a lot of good elements in My Fair Lady. Audrey Hepburn as Eliza just isn't one of them.

(As an aside, I'm not terribly fond of Rex Harrison either, but his aloof demeanor and complete lack of romantic chemistry with ANYONE on screen is PERFECT for Henry Higgins. )

I would love to see a remake of My Fair Lady. I just hope Thompson doesn't take the story too far in the other direction. It can be a lovely dance on the edge of woman power/sappy romance if done well.

 

[J.T.B.]

Whether you like Hepburn or not (I do, but don't like My Fair Lady a lot, nor Breakfast at Tiffany's), I have to say Thompson was off-base in saying Hepburn couldn't sing. She had a nice singing voice, not as impressive as Andrews' or Nixon's, but pretty good for a movie singer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nyeJ99Ha5O8

(Not "Moon River"!)

--Justin

 

[exodus]

Who's Emma Thompson again?

The woman complaining about Audrey Hepburn's acting in the classic "My Fair Lady" when her latest acting endevoir is "Nanny McPhee".

 

[iguana_tonante]

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.

Did you read the article? Because I don't think you did.

 

[ST-One]

Who's Emma Thompson again?

The woman complaining about Audrey Hepburn's acting in the classic "My Fair Lady" when her latest acting endevoir is "Nanny McPhee".

And that invalidates her opinion or her own acting skills?

I don't think I've seen Hepburn in anything but My Fair Lady (one of my favourite films) and in that film there aren't a lot of moments when she really shines for her acting abilities; she looks pretty but Harrison plays her against the wall.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Who's Emma Thompson again?

The woman complaining about Audrey Hepburn's acting in the classic "My Fair Lady" when her latest acting endevoir is "Nanny McPhee".

Which she wrote and I believed produced. Emma Thompson is also an Academy, Golden Globe and BAFTA award winning actress and writer. (And has been nominated a few times). I believe the "Nanny McPhee" films are a pet project of hers and the part looks to be a real "actors" role involving make up and inventing/playing a character very different than her actual self.

What point we're you trying to make?

 

[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.

but back in the day people did hold it against hepburn that andrews was cast aside.
especially since she didnt do her own singing.

and really disney soon made jack warner out to be an idiot..
.http://www.reelclassics.com/Musicals/Fairlady/fairlady.htm

he wouldnt cast andrews because she wasnt a name..
well disney grabbed her for poppins and andrews blasted into super stardom.
and of course andrews got the oscar.. another kick to the head of jack warner.

1. Well, they shouldn't have held it against Hepburn. Even while she was filming the movie, she was in fact 'doing her own singing' and thought it was going to be in the film. It was only after they were halfway done with the film that the studio decided to dub her.

When they told Audrey Hepburn that they were going to dub her, she was pretty upset at first. She got over it...but the fact remains that she did not take that job knowing that someone else's singing was going to be used.

And as for 'people at the time blaming her'...well, her reputation seems to have endured pretty well and she is much loved by a large group of film fans, so apparently lots of people no longer care.

2. Now, as for Jack Warner being an 'idiot' for not hiring Andrews, do keep in mind that MANY film stars were passed up by one studio, only to be made into a top star by another studio. For every time Jack Warner was an 'idiot', there was another time that Louis B. Mayer was just as much of an 'idiot'. Or that David O. Selznick was similarly an 'idiot'. And I'd be willing to bet that Disney made more than one decision over the years that would similarly qualify him for the club.

And of course, EVERY film star was once an unknown...and Jack Warner picked a lot of winners also. One example that comes immediately to mind is Errol Flynn. When Jack Warner cast him in the lead role of big-budget film Captain Blood, he was a virtual unknown and no one could understand why he got the role when there were plenty of 'big name' stars around. But with that ONE movie, both Errol Flynn and Olivia deHavilland were launched into stardom - from close to obscurity.

If you look at the most enduring classic film stars, all of them have a story. Humphrey Bogart played smaller roles for many years, even after he received early support from Leslie Howard to get cast in The Petrified Forest (and did an excellent job in it), before he finally got the lead in High Sierra and The Maltese Falcon - the two movies that launched him into stardom and set him up to be cast in Casablanca. Other stars 'make it big' a lot earlier.

And some stars, even today, just get a lucky break. I have read that Harrison Ford labored unsuccessfully for so long that he finally gave up acting completely and became a carpenter. He ended up at George Lucas's house on a carpentry gig, and the next thing he knew he was Hans Solo. I wonder how many movie people are kicking themselves for not 'discovering' him when they had the chance.

I guess what I'm saying is that don't assume Jack Warner to be some sort of supreme idiot, simply because he didn't give Julie Andrews her first break. Because all of the studios and studio heads can be tagged with similar stories. And on the flip side, they can all be credited with discovering a star that another studio missed.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

Who's Emma Thompson again?

The woman complaining about Audrey Hepburn's acting in the classic "My Fair Lady" when her latest acting endevoir is "Nanny McPhee".

Which she wrote and I believed produced. Emma Thompson is also an Academy, Golden Globe and BAFTA award winning actress and writer. (And has been nominated a few times). I believe the "Nanny McPhee" films are a pet project of hers and the part looks to be a real "actors" role involving make up and inventing/playing a character very different than her actual self.

What point we're you trying to make?

I was going to say something along these lines myself. Surely that is a good thing. It shows she has a wide range of acting experience from costume and period dramas to comedy and children's films. She also wrote and executive produced Nanny McPhee... which shows her experience on both sides of films too.

 

[A beaker full of death]

Hepburn or no... how are they possibly going to find someone to fill Rex Harrison's shoes?

 

[Dusty Ayres]

Hepburn or no... how are they possibly going to find someone to fill Rex Harrison's shoes?

Hugh Jackman can fill Harrison's shoes adequately.

 

[Sakrysta]

^Hugh Jackman would fill Harrison's shoes - every single pair, not to mention his blasted slippers!!!