Northanger Abbey interviews
Northanger Abbey : JJ interview Toronto Star
Submitted by kls010 on Sat, 12/01/2008 - 21:04.
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TV & Satellite Week: JJ article & interview
Submitted by kls010 on Sun, 03/06/2007 - 15:38.
I received some magazines that contained JJ related articles, interviews and images from the promotion of Northanger Abbey. I scanned everything and have uploaded them to the galleries.
One interview from TV & Satellite Week can be found online here and I love JJ's final quote from the interview...
'We uptight Brits love that restrained passion!'
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The Works TV April 2007 by David Richardson
It's something of a shock to meet JJ Feild in modern gear; after all, he's often seen playing romantic characters in stories set in Victorian or Edwardian England. His role as Henry Tilney in Northanger Abbey keeps with that tradition: a handsome mild-mannered vicar who falls for fantasist Catherine Moreland (Felicity Jones).
This is your fourth costume drama on TV in the past year. Have you cornered the market in them?
My sideburns have an agent and I go where they are booked. I did The Secret Life Of Mrs Beeton with Jon Jones who directed this, then did the Philip Pullmans (The Ruby in the Smoke and The Shadow in the North) with Billie Piper, and then Jon asked me back to do Northanger Abbey.
Is it just coincidence that yourself and Billie have starred in the Sally Lockheart films and this?
Total coincidence. So we can engage in friendly rivalry and watch the viewing figures.
What did you know of Jane Austen before you got the script?
Absolutely nothing. I hadn't read any Austen since O-levels. Jon sent me the novel and I was amazed how easy it was to read. When you're young and you read classical text you think it's frightening. I was amazed at what a page turner it was.
Did you do any of your own stunts on this?
I had some sword-fighting, which was kind of doing a jig in a highly cow-patted field in a rainstorm. It was a very long fight that we rehearsed for a month and then you go and try to shoot it on a hillside in Wicklow. And I think it has been cut down to about five seconds.
I also did lots of horse riding. I've ridden all my life, which is lucky, but I have been told off already by the editor that my heels were not down far enough, apparently. My horse did bolt and took me miles off. Apparently it doesn't like the word "action", which is a bit unfortunate for a stunt horse. So they get the clapperboard and stop it really gently and say (whispers), "Go!". But it took a couple of times for them to figure that out.
Any other stories from the filming in Ireland?
We were up against the weather but they made it look amazing. We were in the middle of summer and it rained for six weeks non-stop.
What are you working on right now?
I'm just opening a film in the States called O Jerusalem, which is about the creation of Israel and Palestine in 1948 with Ian Holm and Tom Conti. Ther's this New York business guy and Arab friend who end up on either sides of the buffer zone and they are played by me and a guy called Said Taghmaoui.
Are you tempted to go off and work in LA?
Who knows? I do spend a lot of time there. I was born in America, in Colorado, so I am the only English actor who doesn't have to marry someone to work there, but I just tend to follow the good scripts. I was in America when this stuff came up and I was straight on the next plane to come over.
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Interview: Northanger Abbey - Memorable TV 2007
Submitted by kls010 on Fri, 04/05/2007 - 02:58.
I found an interview on the Memorable TV website that JJ did for Northanger Abbey. read more »
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JJ FEILD PLAYS HENRY TILNEY
The story starts in Bath, where all of society go to find a bride. Henry Tilney is a man who doesn?t really want any part in that society. He?s the unexpected bachelor. And then he meets Catherine.
Henry and Catherine's love story is not a classic one, particularly as the heroine's view of the handsome vicar is somewhat distorted by her love of Gothic literature.
The first time we meet Henry he is not as we expect him to be because he has a very strange reputation. There are rumours about the Tilney family, particularly that the mother died under strange circumstances, and we don't know if it's all bred in Catherine's imagination or not. Was it foul play or negligence or a strange Gothic murder.
Throughout the story, as it's seen through Catherine's eyes, we see her young, exaggerated imagination unfold. She is always reading Gothic horror stories, so her perception of the Tilneys is in the perspective of what she reads. That is one of the underlying themes of the piece how much fiction can you live and read and digest before it starts distorting your view of reality.
Having good guys and bad guys in Austen is perhaps a bit simplistic, but Henry is the guy who gets the girl at the end. I don't think John Thorpe is necessarily bad. Even Henry isn?t necessarily all good - he's a bit of a snob at first and he comes with an awful lot of baggage. It's about Henry overcoming the issues he has with his family to find love, and John is a man who is looking for love for social and financial reasons. But we are telling, primarily, Catherine's story.
One of the key developments in the relationship between Catherine and Henry is when she's invited to Northanger Abbey, because our father has assumed she is a rich heiress and wants her money. Her imagination has run wild about the death of my mother and she accuses my father, through me, of some foul play. Henry, who has fallen in love with her, suddenly realises that she is just like all the other girls, or so he thinks. He leaps in and destroys her by telling her she is just a silly little girl like the rest of them. All of this idyllic, natural growth to the relationship is destroyed in one scene, on one simple misunderstanding and an act of imagination.
JJ was flattered to be asked to play the lead in Jon Jones' next drama, shortly after completing another of the acclaimed director's films.
I've worked with Jon Jones before (on The Secret Life of Mrs Beeton) so he already knew how to put up with me! I have to say, Jon is by far and away one of the best television directors I've ever worked with. I was so flattered to be asked to do this because, as an actor, I think the best compliment you can receive is to be asked back by the same director. And to be asked back within six months was beyond my expectations.
It was a terrifically short filming schedule, so we really had to jump in at the deep end and get stuck in. We started with the final scene ? the first scene we shot was will you marry me Catherine! It can be a little bit strange shooting the last scene first but all filming is shot out of order, so you should know where you character is supposed to be at any time. But you do usually get to know people before you say you love them and ask them to spend the rest of their life with you!
Proposing to a stranger was the least of JJ's worries. Learning to dance was far more nerve-wracking.
The first time Henry and Catherine meet is at a Bath ball. I get to prance around and pretend I'm a good dancer! They get on very well and she soon finds out that there are all sorts of mysteries about his family. The character of Henry Tilney was based on Jane Austen's unrequited love - on which she based a lot of her work - called Thomas Lefroy. We filmed the ballroom scenes in the King's Inns, Hall of Judges in Dublin, in which hangs a giant portrait of the Chief Justice of Ireland Thomas Lefroy. So we were dancing underneath me!
To prepare for the dances I had to fly backwards and forwards to Dublin and be told off viciously for my posture, my arms, my legs, my chin, where I look, where I breathe! Maybe I should have taken more note of movement at drama school! It was fantastic fun though. The Movement Director Sue Mythen was an absolute perfectionist - it's like she's been transported from that time to here. She was very structured and precise which is great, because at the end of the day I'm never going to be able to do 100%, but if I can get 50% of what she wants then I think I'll get away with it.
As well as dancing, JJ also had to undertake his fair share of stunts.
The strangest scenes I've ever had to shoot were the fantasy scenes, which involved sword fighting, being airbrushed with white make-up to look gothic, running around in a cow field with horses - which seem to dislike me - and slipping in cow pats all night in the rain! And all whilst trying to look dashing! We spent some time with a stunt man called Phillipe Zone, who was convinced that as long as we try to kill each other then it will look convincing!! We also spent a lot of time training on the horses. I had a beautiful gray called Smirnoff who liked to bolt at the sight of a camera. So I managed to gallop around most of the Wicklow countryside, unintentionally, to try to get control of her.
As a fan of costume drama, JJ enjoys each element that goes into starring in one.
I seem to do a lot of costume dramas. Northanger Abbey was my fourth of the year. I did three Victorian ones and then Regency. Sometimes it can be easier to play something which is so alien to yourself, although you do get odd costumes, which pinch in very strange places. And lots of frilly sleeves which get in your lunch! The costume department got very bored of me coming back from lunch with my frilly sleeves covered in ketchup!
It's been nice to go back and watch as many Jane Austens adaptations as possible. To be honest, I hadn't read any Jane Austen before this. Strangely enough, after reading Northanger Abbey, I have noticed more and more layers to her writing which I didn't necessarily appreciate before. It's been really nice getting into one of our classic writers as a result of getting a part. Although we don't have a society now where you have to marry for money, the themes in Austen are pretty universal. We are all searching for a partner and love and hoping that we can throw out all of our issues and backgrounds and simply be with the person we love. Whether it's in Austen's time and it's about throwing away your inheritance or it's in modern times and it's about throwing away the baggage we have with our past, it's a very universal thing. That's maybe why people keep going back to Austen.
Andrew Davies brings an awful lot of pace to Jane Austen's writing. Her books were huge with a lot of chapters simply about a dance or a meal. In order to keep it ticking along, you need to pick the right bits and keep it alive and fresh. Andrew is incredible at keeping the emotion and the humour while tightening the pace.
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Jane Austen like you've never seen it before... DIRECTOR PUTS NAKED GIRL IN BATH FOR STEAMY ADAPTION.(News)
From: Sunday Mercury (Birmingham, England) | Date: March 18, 2007
Byline: BY ROZ LAWS TV Editor
ACTRESS Felicity Jones has revealed how TV's latest Jane Austen adaptation became steamy in more ways than one.
The pretty Midlander is the heroine in Northanger Abbey, adapted for ITV1 by racy writer Andrew Davies.
He was the man who put Colin Firth in a wet shirt for Pride And Prejudice.
And he put Felicity NAKED in a bath in the middle of a field.
But the 22 year-old was more bothered about being in hot water than having to take her clothes off.
"Everyone was worried I'd be too cold," she says. "So they made the water really hot.
"It was boiling and I was nearly fainting with the heat of it!
"It was one of the strangest scenes I've ever done."
Felicity plays Catherine Mor-land, a naive teenager who reads Gothic novels and has sexy fantasies, such as imagining men duelling for her hand.
Andrew Davies has brought these to life, including one scene where Catherine is in the bath, daydreaming about Henry (played by actor JJ Field).
The floral wallpaper in the bathroom turns into real woodland and Catherine is suddenly out in a field. Then Henry appears and admires her naked form. Viewers see her in the buff from behind when she stands up.
"None of the scenes are gratuitous," insists Warwickshire writer Andrew. "But I do bring out the sexual content which is inherent in the material.
"In the 19th century it was the convention never to write directly about sexual matters, so I'm just giving it a bit of a nudge.
"I've always through it a drag that in so many period adaptations they are always buttoned up to the neck in so many clothes.
"I'm always looking for excuses to get them out of their clothes!"
But Felicity reveals that Andrew was thwarted in one of his bids for nudity.
"In the original draft, Catherine sees Henry completely naked," explains the Birmingham actress.
"But the director thought that was a bit too far-fetched and would never happen.
"It makes a change from female nudity - and I would have been fine with it!
"But JJ Field was quite relieved he didn't have to do it."
ITV1's Jane Austen season begins today with Billie Piper in Mansfield Park and continues next week with Northanger Abbey.
The role marks Felicity's return to television after a three-year break, while she was taking an English Literature degree at Oxford University.
She gained 10 GCSEs and three A grades at A Level at Kings Norton Girls School in Birmingham, and has acted professionally from the age of 12.
She starred in the TV series The Worst Witch and was cast as Emma Carter in The Archers.
Felicity helped the Birmingham-made Radio 4 soap achieve record ratings with a racy 'Who's the daddy?' storyline involving brothers Ed and William Grundy.
She married William - but left him after having a baby with Ed!
The Archers was the only acting job that Felicity continued while at Oxford.
"I was commuting to Birmingham, reading books on the train, recording a few episodes then coming back and going to the library," she says.
"University was a good testing ground to see whether I still wanted to act. Now I can't imagine doing anything else."
For anyone else, taking a three-year break might have killed their career. But Felicity got the Northanger Abbey part in her first audition, just two weeks after graduating.
Then she spent four months making the forthcoming Channel 4 drama series Cape Wrath, a psychological thriller starring David Morrissey.
She's now rehearsing for That Face, a play at the Royal Court with Lindsay Duncan.
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Daily Record 24th March 07
Andrew Davies (House Of Cards, Pride And Prejudice, Bridget Jones' Diary, Bleak House) adapts Jane Austen's gothic masterpiece - and we reckon this ravishing romp will make a star of lead actress Felicity Jones.
She plays spirited, wide-eyed country girl Catherine Morland, who throws herself into Bath's debauched high society - naively toying with the affections of the two handsome men vying for her heart.
After dancing and flirting with good-hearted Henry Tilney (JJ Feild) at her first society dance, Catherine also attracts the attention of caddish John Thorpe (William Beck). And to complete the confusion, Catherine's new best friend - John's sister Isabella (Bleak House star Carey Mulligan) - is planning to marry her brother, James.
With her imagination fired up by Gothic novels, and a head full of gossip courtesy of ambitious Isabella, Catherine throws herself into her new and exciting life - with her vivid fantasies played out in some sexy dream sequences.
"I love Catherine Morland," grins actress Felicity, who is a revelation in her first lead role.
"Out of all the Austen characters, she has such freshness and an optimism about people. There is a lot of myself in her, when I was younger - that open-eyed wonder that she has.
"She is so willing to please that she gets carried away with both Henry and John. Henry is someone who teaches her and has quite a paternal role in her life whereas John is much more of a bad boy."
And the dreams, in which Catherine is attacked by hunky highwaymen or ravished by Henry were as cream to film for 23-year-old Felicity.
"It was a really lovely experience," she says. "I was doing something different every day. One day I was trying to horse ride, the next I'd be running through fields full of cowpats in the middle of Ireland with JJ Feild - wearing a nightgown.
"Right from the beginning you get an insight into her thoughts, and her developing affections for Henry Tilney come out in these quite sexual dreams."
With scandal and heartbreak alongside the romance, and a superb cast this classy costume drama has it all.
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