Keats & Fanny

Who among us can resist the allure of a (literally) incurable romantic, sighing deep sighs from his deathbed overlooking the Spanish Steps as he coughs up blood and ponders what might have been with his one true love?

It's been an uninspired moviegoing summer here at Romancing the Tome, but things are looking up for Fall, particularly with Jane Campion's forthcoming biopic of the love story between sickly poet John Keats (Ben Whishaw) and his darling Fanny Brawne (Abbie Cornish). Bright Star will premiere October 18. (It was a hit at Cannes this spring, so that's encouraging.)

Check out the trailer and start stocking up on Kleenex:


F.Y.I., if you're in the neighborhood of London, you can check out the newly restored Regency House where Keats lived (and from whence he swooned over Fanny).

Dream Casting: Alive In Necropolis

Officer Mike Mercer is a confused young cop with a Colma beat (pop. living: 1,200 pop. dead: 2 million) whose life is spiraling out of control. Then he starts seeing ghosts. Author Doug Dorst keeps the plot zipping along without sacrificing character and there's something here that feels coming of age, in a good way. It's the sort of coming of age familiar to us Gen X and Yers who are forever hovering over the line between childhood and adulthood--just like Colma's ghosts hover between this world and the next.

Alive In Necropolis certainly has what it takes to cross over into film: cops, ghosts, drug overdoses, car crashes, romance, and for a backdrop, the haunting streets of San Francisco. My casting picks: Casey Affleck, James McAvoy, or Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Michael Mercer, Giovanni Ribisi as "Doc" Barker, Ryan Gosling as optimistic aviator Lincoln Beachey, Peter Sarsgaard as Toronto, Jesse Eisenberg as Jude, and Lili Taylor as Fiona. Read it and let us know what you think. --Kim

Quiz: Think You Know Your Shakespearean Phrases?

Take our quiz and match the phrase with the correct play.

Victorian Cemeteries & Drood

I began Dan Simmons' Drood in earnest this afternoon after a false start a couple of weeks ago. There's a description of Dickens' era London cemeteries during one particularly stifling summer--you can almost smell the vile stench wafting from the pages. Le Monde diplomatique's article on the history of the Victorian's "see and be seen" cemetery Highgate made a nice companion read for the day. More on Drood to come. --Kim

It's a Mad, Mad World

Vanity Fair has some great pics of Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter, Helena Bonham Carter as the Queen of Hearts and Mia Wasikowska as Alice in Tim Burton's highly-anticipated (at least, by us) 3-D version of Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland! I barely recognize Johnny Depp in this picture, but that's probably a good thing...I was worried he'd look exactly like he did when he played Willy Wonka.

The Time Traveler's Wife Trailer

Nicki Richesin alerted me to the new trailer for the adaptation of The Time Traveler's Wife, starring Rachel McAdams and Eric Bana. It seems to be in the spirit of The Notebook. Is that good or bad? Let us know your thoughts in the comments. --Kim

Ma "Cheri" Amor

This looks so up our alley. Even if it sucks, I'm all about Michelle Pfeiffer's dresses in this trailer. Kathy Bates gives it some street cred, and Rupert Friend lends the sex appeal.

Pancks Resurfaces In Action-Packed Sherlock Holmes Trailer

Watch the new Sherlock Holmes trailer to see Robert Downey Jr. (brilliant casting!) as Holmes, Jude Law as Watson, and Rachel McAdams as the token love interest in action. And by action, I mean explosions, fist fights, and leaping from tall buildings. Hopefully the movie is more cerebral than it appears here, but either way, I can't wait to find out. Also, watch for a Pancks (Eddie Marson/Little Dorrit) cameo! --KIM

The Hobart Shakespeareans

Want to make a couple of English majors cry? Sit them down in front of this documentary about an inspiring teacher, Rafe Esquith, (think Robin Williams in Dead Poets) who teaches inner city Los Angeles school children how to get completely geeked-out about Shakespeare. Kim and I Netflixed this movie last week and went immediately bonkers watching 9-and-10-year-olds (many of whom speak English as a second language) perform Hamlet while slack-jawed Shakespearean actors like Ian McKellan and Michael York got all teary-eyed. Their end-of-the-year performance of Hamlet was awesome, but you'll also lose it watching them read Huck Finn in class and watching them say their end-of-year adieus when Rafe sends them on their way with words of wisdom they will remember for the rest of their life.

Learn more about this phenomenal teacher's program here.

Watch the trailer....

Keanu to Star in New Jekyll and Hyde

Keanu Reeves is set to star in a new adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. I have to admit that I am an unabashed fan of Keanu in the right role, but his wooden performance in Coppola's Dracula was one of the reasons a perfectly stunning film was spoiled for me. Maybe it's just that his style, unlike say Johnny Depp's, is out of place in a Victorian setting. Universal apparently has two adaptations of the novella in the works--the other has Guillermo del Toro directing. Details on the project here. (via @drmabuse)