UK: THE LONDON PREMIER OF THE FILM "THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING ERNEST" STARRING DAME JUDY DENCH

Record ID: 393084

  • Title: UK: THE LONDON PREMIER OF THE FILM "THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING ERNEST" STARRING DAME JUDY DENCH
  • Date: 4th September 2002
  • Summary: LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM (SEPTEMBER 4 2002) (REUTERS) SLV: RUPERT EVERETT AND JADE JAGGER PULL UP IN TUK-TUK SV: EVERETT SIGNING AUTOGRAPHS CU: OF FILM SIGN SV: (SOUNDBITE) (ENGLISH) RUPERT EVERETT, ACTOR WHO PLAYS ALGERNON MONCRIEF, SAYING: "Yeah, it's really funny still, I think. It's very cinematic, it's kinda "Carry On"-like, I think. It's very very English, even thoug
  • Embargoed: 19th September 2002 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM
  • Country: United Kingdom
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA6SQNH4O6SFNNV6ZJTU1YUI3FJ
  • Story Text: Oscar Wilde's "The Importance of Being Earnest" has come back to London with its premiere being held in the city on Wednesday evening. The film of the play, directed by Oliver Parker, stars some of the best of British acting stock - Dame Judy Dench, Tom Wilkinson, Rupert Everett and Colin Firth.
    Movie stars always know how to make an entrance, and Rupert Everett didn't disappoint. The flamboyant actor pulled up at Wednesday night's premier of "The Importance of Being Earnest" in a bicycle-drawn cart, or "tuk-tuk", accompanied by his friend Jade Jagger. Jagger, who's more famous for being the daughter of Rolling Stones singer, Mick, is also the creative director at Garrad, jewellers for Elizabeth the Second, Queen of England. Everett earned himself the biggest cheer of the evening, but that was perhaps partly due to the absence of his co-star - and arguably England's biggest heart-throb - Colin Firth, who was filming in France. Firth plays Jack Worthing, the other "Earnest" in "The Importance of Being Earnest."
    Everett, who's renowned for his "English gentleman" roles, has starred in an Oscar Wilde film before, "The Ideal Husband"

    (1999), which was also directed by the same man, Oliver Parker. He says he had a great time playing Algie/Earnest, and that despite the play now being over 100 years old it's still very modern.
    "Yeah, it's really funny still, I think. It's very cinematic, it's kinda 'Carry On'-like, I think. It's very very English, even though Oscar Wilde was Irish, and it's really, really good."
    Australian actress, Frances O'Connor, who - like Reese Witherspoon - adopts an English accent for the film, agrees that Wilde will still appeal to modern audiences, perhaps more used to high action films than a gentle, yet razor-sharp, comedy of manners. "Because he's clever, and he's witty and he's very dry, and I think we have a very ironic sense of humour now, so I think it still translates because of that."
    The play, written in 1895, tells the tale of two young gentlemen searching for more excitement in their lives. Jack Worthing (Colin Firth) invents a brother called Earnest and uses him as an excuse to escape his country home to head to London to visit his beloved Gwendoline (Frances O'Connor).
    Everett plays Algernon Moncrieff, another dandy leading a double life, who claims non-existent relatives and false identities all for the sake of pursuing Cecily Cardew (Reese Witherspoon). When the two turn up at the same place, claiming to be the same man, comedic mayhem ensues.
    Dame Judy Dench reclaims the role of Lady Bracknell, the imperious, sharp-tongued snob who seeks to find only the best suitor for her daughter Gwendoline and disapproves of Worthing. Witherspoon was another notable absentee from the London premier.
    "The Importance of Being Earnest" has only made it on to the big screen once before - in Anthony Asquith's much-praised 1952 film version. The film's British director, Oliver Parker, says following that film, with its stellar cast, was a big ask, but after 50 years it was time the film was reprised for a modern audience.
    "We were very keen to see how it would work in a cinematic context and with a slightly more contemporary approach, finding many of the classic actors of the day - and screen actors as well. And I think any great classic bares that sort scrutiny from each generation. So this is our attempt to do it with this generation."
    Parker's more cinematic take on the play, with its inclusion of some action scenes (a balloon race) or some incidents that were certainly not in the original script (a buttock-tattooing scene) has raised the ire of some film critics. But he says although people have a personal response, and often a very purist one, it's a film, not a play, and that's why scenes could be included that simply couldn't have been carried out on stage.
    "The Importance of Being Earnest" has been open for some three months in the United States, so now all eyes on the British film-going audience to see how they receive it. The cast have high hopes, and are certain that, although the film is now over 100 years old, it's still current. And although Wilde was controversial for his time that's exactly what will make him appeal to modern audiences. As Tom Wilkinson says, "He's subversive - people like that. A lot of comedy is the opposite of subversive, but he's the genuine surrealist.
    That's why people like him."
    Perhaps they like him too for giving us some of the best lines in the English dramatic canon - who else could've called smoking an "occupation"? --
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