Jane Austen Actors Shine at Golden Globes

While the Brits came up empty-handed at the Golden Globes, they sparkled as nicely in their dress up clothes. Last year's winner for Happy Go Lucky, Sally Hawkins (Anne Elliot, 2007), looked fit and sassy in her short gown.

Colin Firth (Mr. Darcy, 1995) and wife Livia managed to keep dry on the red carpet. He was nominated for A Single Man.

Caret Mulligan (Kitty Bennet, 2005 & Isabella Thorpe, 2007) brought her mom, and sported a cute hair band. Sadly, she did not win for An Education.

Kate Winslet (Marianne Dashwood, 1996) looked regal and spectacular in an Yves St. Laurent gown. She presented a Golden Globe to Jeff Bridges for Best Actor in Crazy Heart.

And although Emily Blunt (nominated for Young Victoria) has not yet portrayed a Jane Austen character in a film, she is removed by only one degree of separation, having performed opposite Anne Hathaway (Becoming Jane) in The Devil Wears Prada and as Prudie in the Jane Austen Book Club

Addition:
Mention must be made of Janet McTeer, Mrs. Dashwood, 2007, (Thanks Deborah) for HBO's Into the Storm. Unfortunately, I could find no image of her at the Award Ceremony.

Happy Ever Afters: An Irish Comedy

Sally Hawkins and Tom Riley are two actors Jane Austen fans know well. Sally played Anne Elliot in 2007’s Persuasion and Tom Riley recently did a turn as Mr. Wickham in Lost in Austen. Both play the lead in a new Irish comedy, Happy Ever Afters’, scheduled to open after Christmas in Ireland.



The plot is goofy and improbable: Two wedding parties are double-booked and end up at the same reception venue. The bride from one wedding and groom from the other wedding realize they made a mistake in marrying their spouses as they fall for each other. Chaos ensues in what is described as an enjoyable slapstick film.


First-time director Stephen Burke chose two British actors to play Irishmen. Tom Riley described how he learned to speak with an Irish accent, which sounds like a comedy in itself:

“When I came on set the first day everyone was saying ‘Ok, that is too Dublin, nobody is going to understand you outside of Ireland’ and then there was ‘Can you sound more English?’. Now an English person doing an Irish accent trying to sound more English… well, I don’t know how successful I was. And especially because we were on a set where there are people from Galway, Cork and Northern Ireland and everyone is giving you their opinion. So I just decided to keep everything as neutral as possible and hopefully it’s ok, we’ll see how people respond.”

Learn more about the film in this article: Marrying Irish Humour & Filmmaking Talent, ‘Happy Ever Afters’ in Cinemas Dec 26

And read a review in Cinametic Concerns

Happy Ever Afters’ will be released in Irish cinemas on Saturday, December 26th. I can’t wait until it hits the U.S.