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Release Date: September 1st, 2004 (LA/NY); expands to other cities at later dates

Release Date Note: (1/8/03) This was originally expected to be released in the fall of 2003, but it appears that the scope of the project and the March, 2003 production start date will prevent it from making that. My guess now is that Focus will probably aim for a Cannes premiere in 2004, and release it in the fall of 2004.

Not to be Confused With: This film has nothing at all to do with the magazine of the same title.

MPAA Rating: PG-13 (for some sensuality/partial nudity and a brief violent image)

Distributor: Focus Features

Production Company: Granada Film Productions (Ghost World, The Hole), Tempesta Film, Good Machine (international distribution)

Cast: Reese Witherspoon (Becky Sharp), James Purefoy (Rawdon Crawley), Eileen Atkins, Jim Broadbent, Gabriel Byrne, Romola Garai, Douglas Hodge (Sir Pitt Crawley), Bob Hoskins, Rhys Ifans, Natasha Little (Lady Jane Sheepshanks), Geraldine McEwan, Jonathan Rhys Meyers

Director: Mira Nair (Monsoon Wedding, Kama Sutra, Mississippi Masala, Salaam Bombay!, The Perez Family)

Director Notes: (8/29/02) Before Mira Nair signed on, this film had been expected to be directed by Benjamin Ross (The Young Poisoner's Handbook, HBO's RKO 281; also has Who Goes There? in development).

Screenwriter: Julian Fellowes (Gosford Park; cowriter of Two Brothers)

Screenwriter Note: (8/29/02) Before Julian Fellowes came aboard, Matthew Faulk and Mark Skeet, writing team of NBC's mini-series, Jason & the Argonauts, had been working on a draft that would have been their feature debut.

Based Upon: The novel by William Makepeace Thackeray of the same title, which has been adapted to film six times previously, starting with four silent films, then a 1932 film starring Myrna Loy, and most recently, a 1935 film retitled Becky Sharp, starring Miriam Hopkins. There have also been three different TV mini-series, the most recent of which was a 1998 6-parter on BBC and A&E.

Premise: This is the story of Becky Sharp (Witherspoon), a lower-class girl who uses her wit and guile to make her way through 1820's London society, as the effects of the Battle of Waterloo are felt by her adopted family, the parents of Amelia, her best friend from boarding school. When Becky is unable to get Amelia's brother to ask for her hand in marriage, she is forced to become a governess at a remote country house, where she is courted by both the elderly Sir Pitt Crawley, and his roguish younger son, Rawdon Crawley (Purefoy)...

Premise Notes: Margaret Mitchell reportedly used Becky Sharp as a model for Scarlett O'Hara; but I'm reminded more of the recent (and excellent) Mansfield Park (based on a Jane Austen novel), which also had a similar premise.

Filming: Production started on May 23rd, 2003 on sets at Shepperton Studios in London and at locations in Bath and Gloucestershire, on a budget of $23 million.

Filming had been tentatively scheduled to start in the late fall of 2002, but it was pushed back a few months to allow Reese Witherspoon time to film Legally Blonde 2: Red, White and Blonde.

Genre: Based on a Novel, Drama, Historical

Trailer

New apple encode trailer, direct download;

http://a772.g.akamai.net/5/772/51/5d0f6 ... r_m480.mov

Ali

Just saw the trailer. The art, the backgrounds and the costumes look very nice, although I have no clue what the movie is about. By the end of the trailer, you can see some Indian people walking in a crowd, is that the reason why Mira Nair was hired?

Looks nice, but I'm not convinced yet.

Anwar, I think it's based on a classic novel by this guy named Thackeray (can't remember his first name... not Bal Thackeray in case you're wonderin! lol). I remember cuz my AP English lit teacher used to blab about it

Aah, don't mention AP English!