Wednesday, March 31, 2010

A Film version of "Betsy and the Emperor"

These posts are going to be dedicated to all the potential or announced movies that either are in Pre-Production, or hasn't gotten a release date just yet.

I read this charming book last year, and I'm pretty excited that they're planning to shoot this later this year! Betsy and the Emperor is a great, fun little read about the relationship between Betsy Balcombe and Napoleon Bonaparte, now exiled to Saint Helena. Emma Watson and Al Pacino have been cast as Betsy and Napoleon respectively.

From About.com:
Emma Watson has signed on to star in the period drama Napoleon and Betsy from writer/director Benjamin Ross. Watson, who will always be recognized by millions of Muggles worldwide for her starring role as 'Hermione' in the Harry Potter movies, will play the role of Betsy Balcombe, a young British woman who falls for Napoleon when he's exiled to the island of St Helena.
Scarlett Johansson had been attached to star in the film a few years back, and will remain involved in Napoleon and Betsy as a producer. Filming is expected to take place in Bulgaria later this year.
Watson is currently filming Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and will begin work on Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the last of the Harry Potter books, next year. Warner Bros Pictures opted to split J K Rowling's final book into two feature films to finish up the series.

Now, as far as the cast goes, Emma Watson's a great choice. She seems to have gotten better with each HP movie coming along, and she's a much better choice if you compare her to say Scarlett Johansson who's WAY to old for the part. Emma could pull out a tough teenager and this is clearly a strecth for her after Hermione. : )

Now as for Al Pacino. Have you even SEEN what Napoleon looks like? Compare this:
To this:


Now I'm not a firm believer that the actor has to look EXACTLY like the part, and I see SOME similarities but this is just looks way too different. He can have the acting chops but acting is not all there is in a movie adaptation as we all know. However, Al is a good actor, and he did say that he wanted to play Napoleon for a while, so I'm not griping too much. Plus thanks to some movie magic, he can look a bit more closer to him.
  
 Definately waiting for this movie to come out! Keep checking for an review of the novel soon!

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