Audrey Hepburn 'couldn't sing and couldn't act', says Emma Thompson- Page 2

[Gothampc]

Posted: 8/10/10 at 9:47am

I understand the point that Emma Thompson is trying to make. George Bernard Shaw had a very sharp point to make when he wrote Pygmalion. When it was musicalized into "My Fair Lady" all the sharpness was removed. That was not Audrey Hepburn's fault.

I think Emma Thompson comes across as a bit of a snob in this piece. Saying Audrey Hepburn couldn't sing? Has she taken a look at Rex Harrison?

Audrey Hepburn was very enjoyable in her movies. She provided what was needed for the roles she was cast in. And yes, she could act.

It's also interesting to note that Audrey herself felt she couldn't act. She once said: "I was asked to act when I couldn't act. I was asked to sing "Funny Face" when I couldn't sing and dance with Fred Astaire when I couldn't dance - and do all kinds of things I wasn't prepared for. Then I tried like mad to cope with it."

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 8/10/10 at 10:36am

I love it when BWWers castigate celebrities for being judgemental and bitchy.

[best12bars]

Posted: 8/10/10 at 11:02am

The difference is the celebrity. Like it or not, it comes with the territory. If she would rather give up her fame and post anonymously on BWW, then let her.

But if she's giving a published and publicized interview as "Emma Thompson," on the record, people will judge her comments as those coming from an established actress/movie star.

You do it all the time yourselves, even lately, whether it's Brittany Spears, Jen Cody, Vanessa Redgrave, or Jane Fonda.

(Wow, I never thought I'd use those examples in the same sentence ...)

[ghostlight2]

Posted: 8/10/10 at 11:03am

Agreed, Borstal, and somehow there's an implication that it's somehow worse because she's saying it publicly with her name attached. It's better to be bitchy and judgmental anonymously?

Shades of (dare I say it?) Huntergate. Pages and pages (and sweet Jesus, pages) of bitchy judgmental name-calling without as much as a hint of acknowledgement of the hypocrisy involved.

[best12bars]

Posted: 8/10/10 at 11:06am

I'm not sure I agree there's hypocrisy involved.

People always talk about taking things "out of context."

The context here is a noted and respected celebrity bashing another one in an on-the-record interview.

The context on BWW, is an anonymous theatre message board, where people come to do everything from find bootlegs to discount tickets to bitch about why somebody doesn't sign to flirt.

Not the same thing, even remotely. Context is everything.

[ghostlight2]

Posted: 8/10/10 at 11:13am

We'll agree to disagree. What you see as bashing, I see as voicing an opinion. As to context, Thompson also talks about her emotional instability and troubles with depression.

I don't think BWWer's get a pass on hypocrisy just because the board is largely anonymous in nature and is utilized for other purposes. Hypocrisy is hypocrisy.

I will certainly agree it was ill-advised of Ms Thompson to voice those opinions, but you can't have it both ways. If the statement was calculated and not simply a bitchy, off-the-cuff statement, then you can add idiotic to ill-advised.

[SporkGoddess]

Posted: 8/10/10 at 11:13am

I saw this yesterday at ONTD but the source was the Daily Mail so I wasn't sure if she really said that or not.

I'm more upset about what she says about MFL. Maybe it does bastardize Shaw, but it's also a great musical by itself. If you want to film Pygmalion, film Pygmalion.

That and she seems to be blaming Audrey Hepburn for the changes to Eliza's character, which were not her fault.

Updated On: 8/10/10 at 11:13 AM

[Bettyboy72]

Posted: 8/10/10 at 11:15am

I have to say I agree with Emma in terms of the content of My Fair Lady. I just saw a wonderful production and I am really struck by the core context of the musical. You have these great songs and costumes, but at the core its much darker and complex.

A neglected young woman from a broken, alcohol abusing family who seems to be replicating her past by becoming attached to an emotionally abusive man who seems to have his own demons. I cringe when people are like "its so romantic." Really? It's pretty mysogynistic in many ways. I think it should end with Eliza leaving Henry.

Also, Emma just noted that she is going into seclusion for several years to deal with her long-standing depression and regroup. Maybe that had something to do with her comments-irritation and being short are symptoms of depression. Emma has never spoken quite so bitterly in public before.

Also, if she were having that conversation with a creative team or with you over coffee it would be perfectly acceptable. Its just a critique-Audrey Hepburn is not untouchable, even in death.

I also though the movie was a bore and could barely get through it once. I feel the same about many Oscar winners.

Let's cut Emma some slack.

[best12bars]

Posted: 8/10/10 at 11:21am

Agreeing to disagree, yes.

BTW, I didn't mean "calculated' as in some evil plot against Hepburn and MFL. More like focused derogatory comments made as a reason to justify her "improved" rewrite of Shaw, Lerner, and Lowe.

Good luck, lady.

[best12bars]

Posted: 8/10/10 at 11:25am

I'm also tired of "artists" bringing their agenda to established works. If you want to tell the story of the plight of Victorian women who had little chance for independence and self-sufficiency, then tell it. Write your own script.

My Fair Lady and Pygmalion are witty COMEDIES. They do manage to make us think about these issues, but that's not what they are largely about. It's a battle of the sexes, and a rather ingenious one at that.

This whole idea makes me itch.

[ghostlight2]

Posted: 8/10/10 at 11:30am

I think we'll have to agree to disagree on that one too, best12. I think she just shot her mouth off.

Fwiw, the 1st article linked to in this thread conflates quotes from two others, Hollywood Reporter and Variety, and uses poor journalism in the process. It offers one quote from Thompson, then says, "she added", then quotes from a completely different interview. Bad journalism. You can't "add" something in an entirely different interview. It's inaccurate and misleading.

Here's both interviews:

Hollywood Reporter: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3iab2d241f10a74f753451b9e614df9711

Variety Updated On: 8/10/10 at 11:30 AM

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 8/10/10 at 11:44am

Whether it's a remake of a movie or a revival of a show, current coventional wisdom seems to be that you have to crap on the original when touting your new version. I guess that makes sense - why do it again if you can't do it "better"? - so I think it's just par for the course.

Heightening the "tragedy" of Eliza's story is not much different than that Annie production that made it all a dream.

Why is BorstalBoy so cranky lately?

[best12bars]

Posted: 8/10/10 at 11:46am

True enough, ghostlight2. The article was clearly spun to get a rise out of readers.

Phyllis--I totally agree.

[algy]

Posted: 8/10/10 at 11:50am

I read the Thompson comments on Hepburn not as an attack on Hepburn in general - but on her performance in My Fair Lady. Still not the best thing to say - unwise definately - but in My Fair Lady Hepburn didn't sing, and acting ability is always a judgement call anyway.

[best12bars]

Posted: 8/10/10 at 11:55am

It's also more volatile for a peer to make a public comment like that. Emma is an Oscar-winning actress herself.

If you or I say Andrew Lloyd Webber is a boob and a no-talent, it doesn't cause nearly the stink as if someone like Stephen Sondheim were to say it. And of course the first reaction to a competitive remark like that is "you're just jealous."

I agree, Emma shot off her mouth. But the article was also slanted to make her sound even more egotistical about her approach to the classic material.

And it doesn't bode well for this remake. It's kinda like a "declaration of war" against the original. Let the jousting match begin, and may the best MFL adaptation win!

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 8/10/10 at 11:57am

All these years later and the English STILL can't learn how to speak!

[ghostlight2]

Posted: 8/10/10 at 11:59am

Well, we can agree on that!

eta: my response was to best12, but I agree with Phyllis too. Updated On: 8/10/10 at 11:59 AM

[Gothampc]

Posted: 8/10/10 at 12:01pm

"I'm also tired of "artists" bringing their agenda to established works."

This raises a very good point. I'm so tired of people having to explain what their view is. I think the show is less about how Victorian women were treated and more about the class system. Look at the women in the piece: Eliza, a cockney flowergirl, Mrs. Pearce, the Higgins housekeeper and Mrs. Higgins a well to do society woman. The difference in them is what class they belong to, not that they are women.

[Bettyboy72]

Posted: 8/10/10 at 12:01pm

Well Nanny McPhee done got a sequel and My Fair Lady did not. How you like me now? WORD!

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 8/10/10 at 12:05pm

I'm not so against agendas showing. It's when they are completely shoehorned in with little or no finesse. Like every time Susan Sarandon spoke in "Little Women."

[Gothampc]

Posted: 8/10/10 at 12:10pm

"Well Nanny McPhee done got a sequel and My Fair Lady did not."

Not for lack of trying. Over the years, MFL has been toyed with for a sequel.

If "The Miracle Worker" can get a sequel, anything can get a sequel.

[philitalia]

Posted: 8/10/10 at 12:14pm

**Well Nanny McPhee done got a sequel and My Fair Lady did not. How you like me now? WORD! **

If you measure the quality of a film by the number of sequels then Shrek and Rocky are among the best movies ever made ... do you really think so ?

Updated On: 8/10/10 at 12:14 PM

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 8/10/10 at 12:19pm

Of course not. That honor belongs to the Final Destination series.

[StageManager2]

Posted: 8/10/10 at 12:23pm

" I think the show is less about how Victorian women were treated and more about the class system."

Just to nitpick, the Victorian Age ended in 1901 upon the death of Queen Victoria. PYGMALION/MY FAIR LADY is set in Edwardian times (1912/1913). Well, George V was king by then (Edward VII died in 1910 after a mere nine-year rule), but the Edwardian Era is often extended up to the start of WWI in 1914.

[broadwayjim42]

Posted: 8/10/10 at 12:32pm

Don't forget "Saw"...seven of them.

While I don't think it was particularly smart of her, I too think Emma was referring to Hepburn in MFL only. It did come off as unnecessarily sharp but seriously, Emm'a always been a little brittle and acidic anyway.