Finally! Someone other than my late mother who agrees with me!
Finally! Someone other than my late mother who agrees with me!#1
Posted: 8/9/10 at 2:49pm
Although I never used the word "twee", I've been saying this for decades.
"I find Audrey Hepburn fantastically twee ... Twee is whimsy without wit. It's mimsy-mumsy sweetness without any kind of bite. And that's not for me. She can't sing and she can't really act, I'm afraid. I'm sure she was a delightful woman -- and perhaps if I had known her I would have enjoyed her acting more, but I don't and I didn't, so that's all there is to it, really."
-- Emma Thompson explains why she's writing the screenplay for a "My Fair Lady" remake and insults a revered Hollywood icon in the process.
Finally! Someone other than my late mother who agrees with me!#2
Posted: 8/9/10 at 3:18pm
I've always found Ms. Hepburn to be a charming screen presence who usually seemed expected to be, well, a charming screen presence. She's quite good in THE NUN'S STORY, and can rise to the occasion when necessary in other films. That lovely little speech at the end of ROMAN HOLIDAY, for example.
But nothing can excuse her ill-casting in that atrocity of MY FAIR LADY. Nothing. She's pathetic in the role, all of Ms. Thompson's twee mimsy-mumsy sweetness right there on the screen, and what's worse is that she was evidently directed to do exactly that by George Cukor, who really should have known better.
Finally! Someone other than my late mother who agrees with me!#2
Posted: 8/9/10 at 3:30pmSo, wait, now Audrey Hepburn couldn't act, either?
Finally! Someone other than my late mother who agrees with me!#3
Posted: 8/9/10 at 3:39pmWell, Ms. Thompson has stronger feelings about her than I do. I don't think Audrey Hepburn is the Keanu Reeves of her day, by any means. She's certainly very pretty and photogenic, and she can get through a film without disgracing herself, and is usually quite good for what she does. On the other hand, there isn't a single one of her films that I'd bother sitting through again.
Finally! Someone other than my late mother who agrees with me!#4
Posted: 8/9/10 at 4:00pm
I totally agree about The Nun's Story. In fact, that was always my, "except..."
As far as George Cukor knowing better, his direction of the piece is the most abysmal thing about it!
Finally! Someone other than my late mother who agrees with me!#5
Posted: 8/9/10 at 4:05pmWell, exactly. What was Cukor smoking to get him to so completely screw that movie up?
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