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Television and Film

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The Latest Atrocity

go_leafs_nation 29 Mar 11 at 2:08 a.m. GMT

Just when you thought it was safe to return to the theatres:

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/sns-rt-film-us-missmarpletre72r77d-20110328,0,2558161.story

I think that article speaks for itself. We are in for a major, major character assassination. Even Goldfinger wasn't this cruel.

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31 replies

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LuvAgathaChristie26 17 May 11 at 2:59 a.m. GMT

I just cringe everytime I see an article about it. I have no words!

Madeline 17 Apr 11 at 10:16 a.m. GMT

Hello, I haven't posted for ages but do feel strongly over this issue. It makes me furious that the grandson is approving the rubbish that's getting through. In particular Miss Marple being played by Jennifer Garner. Considering how Miss Marple came about when Agatha was upset over them changing the elderly spinster's age in The Murder of Roger Ackroyd and she wanted to give the older women a voice. Shame on the Christie estate for abusing Agatha's character n this way. The movie of course if going to be a load of garbage but the Christie estate should be looking out for Agatha's characters and work more. On my blog, I'll be doing a post on this soon and shall post a link to it if anyone is interested to read.

Harvard_Lapin 05 Apr 11 at 12:44 a.m. GMT

Here's a great BLOG posting that says everything I wanted to say but better: http://tinyurl.com/4ne6rhy

Harvard_Lapin 05 Apr 11 at 12:30 a.m. GMT

My issue is not necessarily with moving Miss Marple forward in time. My issue is with Disney pretending to want to make a movie about Miss Marple, but really just wanting to cash in on a famous "brand".

Miss Marple is a quintessential BRITISH spinster. Nothing is more offensive than American corporations excercising their manifest destiny on cultural institutions. 

LuvAgathaChristie26 04 Apr 11 at 7:09 p.m. GMT

I just wanted to cry when I read what they were doing to Miss Marple in Time. Why do some people hate Agatha Christie so much?

LuvAgathaChristie26 04 Apr 11 at 6:59 p.m. GMT

I'm just horrified about the new movie too. It's going to be terrible I'm sure. I hope that the new version is a major flop. It would be horrible if people who don't know the real Miss Marple thought that Miss Marple was young and sexy. If they were going to do this movie out of respect for Agatha Christie they wouldn't do this movie. The person who thought Miss Marple should be young has just lost their marbles.

Tommy_A_Jones 04 Apr 11 at 3:46 p.m. GMT

Thankyou GKCfan, I share your Hope.

GKCfan 04 Apr 11 at 5:24 a.m. GMT

Tommy A. Jones, Jennifer and James Garner are not related, though I saw in an interview once that when Jennifer Garner first started in the business, a lot of people thought she was James Garner's daughter.

And we can only hope that the widespread complaints have some effect.  The movie isn't in production yet...

NightRayDuck 04 Apr 11 at 1:05 a.m. GMT

I beg your pardon... are you quite certain of this piece of news? I went to the latimes link - ok, it cites Reuters. On Reuters, the same article cites "Hollywood Reporter". On "Hollywood Reporter", one of their "reporters" is named as journalist of the article. Same name is copied to LA Times and Reuters. In my experience as a US resident, no news of upcoming commercial venture is reliable until such item gets a whole-page advertisement on newspaper or a ten-second advertisement on television. Some production companies are in the habit of shooting a few trailers, advertising the trailers 2 yrs prior to projected movie premiere, and if they can't detect audience interest in the trailers, then the movie never gets actually scripted or casted or produced or filmed.

Tommy_A_Jones 03 Apr 11 at 3:57 p.m. GMT

So do I, If they have to Disneyfy  AC lets hope it is in a more sympathetic way, BTW who is that Actress who plays a member of the IRS in 2 Episodes of Diagnosis Murder? I can sought of see her as Miss Marple, If Miss Garner who I am sure is excellent plays Victoria Jones, Is she any relation to James Garner? I can sought of see him as Battle.

MissQuin 03 Apr 11 at 11:37 a.m. GMT

Hollywood or Disney aren't interested in whose best for the role. Only who will pull in viewers to make them profits. I personally don't think Jonathan Rhys Meyers looks like Henry Vlll but they picked him anyway. I can hazard a guesss why

But seeing as the idea is so unpopluar, I can only wish the idea will be dropped.

Tommy_A_Jones 01 Apr 11 at 4:45 p.m. GMT

Julia McKenzie doesn't look as Old as Joan Hickson did so the facelift and botox issue is unemportant in my view, I have huge reservcations about Disney doing AC but they might see sence and re-cast and have MM play someone who might not be Wrinkled but might be more appropriate, If not Joan Hickson's Miss Marple as well as Julia McKenzie's and Helen Hayse's and Geraldine McKewan's and Angela Landesbury's are out there and in our Minds and Hearts and NOTHING can take that away, who knows they might tweek it and have the Leading Character just be like Miss Marple and not miss Marple, you know someone is an Miss Marple fan and she solves Miss Marple type Mysteries in a Miss Marple Type way, I know this is unlikely but you never Know.

MissQuin 31 Mar 11 at 5:20 p.m. GMT

The thing about older American actresses is their usually have had face lifts or botox. So then they look far too young to play Miss Marple! Or just too glamourous. We have a perfectly excellent English Miss Marple already- Julia McKenzie.

But clearly Disney are making Marple young for a purpose- so she can have love interests, so she can be pretty. Hollywood is single minded and fixated on youth and beauty.

There's quite little infomation about Miss Marple's youth in the books. I think nursing was mentioned. But it Disney will in the rest of the gaps. Then it'll no longer be Christie's work but Disneys.

 I can't trust a company that inflicts High School Musical on the world! I'm suprised it's not being made into Miss Marple- The Musical. (recoils in mortal agony)

I happy to tell people I'm a Miss Marple fan. But after Disney's fiddled with it, it might change. People might think I like the Disney version. Well I will put them straight!

Tommy_A_Jones 31 Mar 11 at 4:50 p.m. GMT

I commented on the article I saw that there were probably Characters the Actress could play without annoying as many people like Victoria Jones or perhaps even Bundle Brent but definitely not Miss Marple unless it is a Cartoon bversion and we don't see her, if she played Lucy Eyelsbarrow it might not upset as many people as if she played MM. Are there really no American Elderly Actresses who could do the role?

McGinty 31 Mar 11 at 4:34 p.m. GMT

I've said this before and I'll say it again - Matthew Pritchard is the man who sold his own grandmother. Pity he never got a job of his own instead if making as much money as possible selling his grandmother's work to the highest bidder.

Lone_Wolf 31 Mar 11 at 5:18 a.m. GMT

I want it to be filmed! The results will be hilarous!

oodelally3 30 Mar 11 at 11:52 p.m. GMT

I did it! Please join:

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_200553916642695

 Keep Agatha's Characters & Stories As Originally (Wonderfully) Written!

oodelally3 30 Mar 11 at 11:28 p.m. GMT

Seems the Christieverse is in a definite uproar! Chorion is now saying the deal "is not done." Think they were surprised at the negative reaction. I have no clue why.

“Why don’t they just invent a new character? Then they can have their cheap fun and leave me and my creations alone.” ~Agatha Christie

Thinking of starting a Facebook page in revolt! "Keep Agatha's Characters and Stories As Originally (Wonderfully) Written!" or summat like that...

Adam 30 Mar 11 at 11:19 p.m. GMT

I recall some kind of documentary on Agatha Christie in which they interviewed Pauline Moran (Miss Lemon) who stated that all scripts were sent to Rosalind Hicks and the Agatha Christie estate and often came back with big red lines through some of them, with comments on what they could and could not do in order to keep them as close to the original work as possible... since Rosalind died in 2004 there seems to have been a complete "dumbing down" of some of the TV/ film adaptations, with changes that would possibly have never been made previously.

This atrocity is a shame to the memory to Agatha Christie and to Rosalind Hicks, who at least made an effort to keep her mothers work as the lady herself would have liked it to be remebered.

go_leafs_nation 30 Mar 11 at 10:58 p.m. GMT

Oh, but I love this story.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/2011/mar/30/miss-marple-jennifer-garner-younger-characters

My favourite bits:

"a few traditionalists have made predictable points about her not being quite right for the part,"

Wow. I think that deserves a medal for biggest understatement of the year.

"Christie does appear to have imagined her creation as elderly"

Thank you for pointing that out, Captain Obvious.

"I like to believe the re-moulders of these much-loved characters are motivated by art, not money, by a ceaseless quest to give new meanings to our collective mythos."

And it's obvious that Disney ain't doing it out of respect for AC or the character. If they change all that makes Miss Marple Miss Marple, it isn't Miss Marple! What they've done is hijacked a memorable sleuth and are promising to shamelessly exploit the name "Agatha Christie" for marketing purposes.

I am done with this hunk of junk. There's no way that this idea will ever work, and I have no intention of repeating why.

Things have been going weird with AC adaptations since her daughter died and Matthew Pritchard took over. Coincidence? I think not!

Adam 30 Mar 11 at 10:27 p.m. GMT

Outrageous! The lunatics have, at last, taken over the asylum with one of the most bizarre casting choices in cinema history.

Maybe the travesty won't stop there, after all it is Disney and maybe she will give us a song or two along the way...

oodelally3 30 Mar 11 at 10:13 p.m. GMT

I will not watch this.Part of why Miss Marple is such a great sleuth is the fact that she's an elderly spinster, and has been around and seen everything in her many years of living--AND that people underestimate her because of her age!!!!!!!!! Disney, create a whole new detective that suits your style, but Jennifer Garner is not Miss Marple. As if older women didn't have enough trouble getting cast--now they're casting mid-thirties for 80! Ugh. I'm outraged both as a huge AC fan and as an actress.

What can we do, fellow Christie fans? Some sort of petition?

mrsnemesis 30 Mar 11 at 4:45 p.m. GMT

Daughter saw article in a newspaper and showed me,wish she hadn't.I was so outraged I joined up(don't know why I haven't joined before,though I have to admit I'm only just getting in to posting)Don't know where to begin,it's just wrong,wrong,wrong.Miss Marple(my favourite,just pipping Poirot to the post) is an old "gossipy" village lady with a wealth of experience,garnered(sorry couldn't resist)over many years,not a young Garner playing her without experience!! 

McGinty 30 Mar 11 at 11:58 a.m. GMT

I can't even begin to ....

Someone needs to put a stop to this before it goes any further.

go_leafs_nation 29 Mar 11 at 12:24 p.m. GMT

I can't even begin to describe what is so wrong with this idea. I thought I got mad when I saw the ending of Cards on the Table. Now I realize it was actually a delightfully faithful adaptation true to the spirirt of Christie. They've just been building up to this.

Anyone with two brain cells can tell why this idea won't work. Not now, not ever.

MissQuin 29 Mar 11 at 10:30 a.m. GMT

..... sorry I was too shocked to write. I had to check the date to make it wasn't a twisted April Fools prank. I agree wholeheartedly with GKC here. I hope it's not true, all Christie purists would boycott the film anyway. It's not what Agatha Christie would have ever  have wanted. If she'd have wanted a young Miss Marple, she would have written her so.

If Miss Marple's age, character, whole plot, location, and time settings are changed, in what way is it actually Miss Marple?

MissQuin 29 Mar 11 at 10:26 a.m. GMT

................................!!!!!!!

GKCfan 29 Mar 11 at 6:02 a.m. GMT

We can only hope that Disney's massive financial losses in the wake of the failure of "Mars Needs Moms" will prevent the production from getting the full greenlight.  Oh, my aching stomach... I could take a Miss Marple set in the present day, even an Americanized version if they cast someone like Betty White in the role.  I could take Betty White and Jennifer Garner as Miss Marple and Lucy Eyelesbarrow in a version of 4:50 from Paddington.  But not Jennifer Garner as a thirty-something American sexy Miss Marple.  I can feel the bile rising in my throat.  Is this travesty in the making supposed to be based on an actual Christie novel, or is the whole plot the work of the screenwriter?  I feel the urge to throw a stale cream pie at someone...

GKCfan 29 Mar 11 at 5:31 a.m. GMT

Are you sure that this isn't an April Fool's Day joke four days early?  This completely offsets the joyous excitement of the "Crooked House" film news.

go_leafs_nation 29 Mar 11 at 4:04 a.m. GMT

Believe me, I was shocked. I thought it was a prank at first. But no, it's the real deal.

Here's a challenge to whoever is churning these things out: next time, remove the Agatha Christie name and her characters and THEN try selling your idea. Let's see just how well it sells then.

shanty_sleuth 29 Mar 11 at 3:43 a.m. GMT

Jennifer Garner will be playing Miss Marple...

Ugh, why couldn't they just make her an adult Nancy Drew? The point of Miss Marple's character is her age and her ensuing shrewdness. I just don't see how this could work. The only positive aspect is bringing Agatha Christie to a contemporary audience... it's just for all the wrong reasons.

Plus, this is Disney. I never thought I'd live to see the day.