Welcome to the Thomas Hardy Association Film Page’s News section.  Here you will find the most recent, up-to-date information on new productions based on Hardy’s works, releases and re-releases of existing film and TV programs on DVD and in other home entertainment formats, and other items relating to Thomas Hardy and the moving image.  If you have information on upcoming productions or releases, please contact the Film Page Director at pniemeyer@tamiu.edu .

LAST PAGE UPDATE:  December 21, 2008

Posted:  21 December 2008

Hardy fans who live in North America will receive a double treat in January.  First, the recent four-part BBC serial of Tess of the d'Urbervilles, starring Gemma Arterton, will be released on DVD in early January.  The serial also airs in two parts on 4 and 11 January on PBS's Masterpiece Classics.  Second, John Schlesinger's 1967 film of Far from the Madding Crowd, starring Julie Christie, Alan Bates, Terence Stamp, and Peter Finch, will finally be released on DVD on 27 January.  Both films are available for pre-order on Amazon.com.

IN PRODUCTION:  BBC’s Tess of the d’Urbervilles

Posted:  20 March 2008

A four-part, four-hour television serial based on Tess of the d’Urbervilles will begin production in Britain’s West Country in late March 2008 and is scheduled to be broadcast on BBC One in autumn of this year.  The serial is written by David Nicholls and will star Gemma Arterton (right), a 22-year-old performer who gained worldwide attention after being cast as “Agent Fields” in the forthcoming James Bond film Quantum of Solace.  Other confirmed cast members are Jodie Whittaker as Izz, Ruth Jones as Joan Durbeyfield, Hans Matheson as Alec, Eddie Redmayne as Angel, and Anna Massey—who played Lucetta in the 1978 serial of The Mayor of Casterbridge and who starred in The Day After the Fair (1986)--as Alec’s mother.                                                                                                                            

The serial’s executive producer, Kate Harwood, calls Hardy perhaps “the most neglected of our great literary authors” (why and how?), and says of Tess, "Hardy's novel explores love, betrayal and the emotional burden of secrets locked away at the heart of a passionate, loving relationship which, when unlocked, implode with heart-breaking consequences.  David Nicholls' adaptation brings Hardy's tragic heroine, Tess, to life with verve, passion and sensitivity."

No word on possible American broadcast dates.

Sources:   BBC, Daily Mail, InTheNews.co.uk

RUMOR:  Far from the Madding Crowd in Wyoming

Posted:  20 March 2008

Recent reports have emerged on the Internet that Cate Blanchett and Russell Crowe will star in an adaptation of Hardy’s 1874 novel Far from the Madding Crowd.  The film, titled North of Cheyenne and set in the present, is described in press releases as follows: “After a woman inherits a sprawling Wyoming ranch, she finds herself courted by three very different men.”  The production is said to be financed by the Ladd Company and Paramount , and the credited director is Jon Amiel.

While the idea of bringing Hardy’s story from mid-nineteenth century Wessex to modern America is intriguing, readers should be aware that the film—with the same stars, producers, and director—was first announced in a Variety article in 2000, but today the official sites for Paramount Pictures as well as for the major players do not list the movie as a current production.  Many films have long gestation periods, but it seems unlikely that this movie’s principals—especially Blanchett and Crowe, whose careers were budding at the time they were first associated with Cheyenne—would continue their attachment for eight years.  Further, the full cast list, available from Hollywood.com, reads like a wish-list compiled by fans of hot actresses: Gwyneth Paltrow, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Ashley Judd, Charlize Theron, and Angelina Jolie (and there’s no sign of the two other male suitors).  Take all information on the production with the proverbial grain of salt until more reliable news emerges.

Source:   New York Times

RUMOR:  ITV’s Return of the Native

Posted:  20 March 2008

A site that offers rundowns of more than five hundred current and future productions on British television runs this intriguing description of a forthcoming ITV-1 series to be called Rural Classics:

"Three period dramas – Silas Marner by George Eliot adapted by Adrian Hodges, Return Of The Native by Thomas Hardy adapted by Simon Burke and one other literary adaptation."

Unfortunately, no other details on any of these “period dramas” can be found, indicating the project may be set for the distant future.  This would be the second ITV production based on a Hardy novel; its serial based on The Mayor of Casterbridge aired in Britain and America in 2003.

Source:  The Custard.tv