Ever After
directed by Andy Tennant
starring Drew Barrymore, Angelica Huston, Dougray Scott, Melanie Lynskey, Jeanne Moreau...
First of all, a piccie (I know you guys can't live without piccies). This was actually the first picture of Mel in Ever After to be available on the Internet, so please join your hands and cherish this moment... (this was sent to me by Mark Tapio Kines) Well this is actually the kind of picture you wish had been taken a few secs earlier, when Mel was skilfully winking her eye to Henry-the-prince (Dougray Scott, nowhere to be seen in my site. Maybe I should get a picture of him. And Drew Barrymore too. I mean they are supposed to be the stars)
So what's this film about ? A Cinderella story, really. Cinderella (wedding waitress Drew Barrymore) has changed her name into Danielle and she's got two stepsisters, one who is a bitch and the other one not-so-much (that's Melanie Lynskey!) She's got an evil stepmother, too (Angelica Huston - talk about typecasting).
From what I hear the plot's been updated (Danielle even saves her prince and gets to play with swords!!!) and the film is actually pretty funny, but it's a Drew-Barrymore-film, not a Melanie-Lynskey-film. Those big-shot producers just don't know what's good... No offence to the Drew-fans out there, of course. I'm just very supportive of Melanie, thats' all.
Click here to view some of the trailers for Ever After. This is a link to the official page, which means it can be shut down any minute now... Please email me if this leads you nowhere, so I can take it off my page. Oh, and here is a link to the official page itself.
And now another picture from Mel in Ever After, freshly given to me by Marloes... Thanks! Melanie is the one on the left, but of course you knew that. Plus Angelica Huston in the middle, again needless information... And the Very Evil Stepsister Marguerite on the right (Megan Dodds), who's loads of fun, in her own special way.
Finally!!! I have seen the film!!!! I can ramble about it!!!!!
First of all, it's great. Too funny. Really. Melanie is terrific and she sure "outshone everybody", as a fellow Heavenly Creature from the HC mailing list once put it ( Angelica Huston is cool too). Anyway, go and see it, you shall not be disappointed by Mel's performance in any way. She's funny, funny, and more funny (I'm dying to tell you how but I won't because it's not nice for those who haven't seen the film. Go see it! It's fun!) More on the film when I see it again... In a few days...
So finally, updating this (it's about time!). It's a fairy tale for sure - although, where are the fairies ? Oh sorry, right, Leonardo da Vinci -, but not your usual Cinderella. She hasn't just changed her name to Danielle, this is also a I'm-eight-years-old-and-I'm-reading-Utopia kind of girl. And one has to admit it's all been very much improved, actually. The prince is no longer a soulless picture of a handsome young man (I remember I had a real problem with that in the Disney animated film - ah, childhood), he is blatantly arrogant and class-prejudiced, and also suffers from the spoiled-brat syndrom, which leaves Danielle no choice but to take care of his education herself - and this is fun.
What about Mel ?????
Jesus, relax, will ya ? Now where was I... Oh right, well she appears quite a lot in the film (which is cool, yes), even if only in the background - but that's not really a problem as she's particularly easy to spot with that green dress of hers. I don't think she's lost much of her accent either (well it does sound a bit weird, but it's definitely not Californian. Dunno what it is actually. Can anybody help me ?) - Melanie Lynskey to the rescue! It's an English accent, and now I have to watch the film again to hear what it's like. When does it come out on video ?
TO ALL THOSE WHO HAVE SEEN MELANIE IN EVER AFTER AND NOTHING ELSE:
You have got to see Heavenly Creatures. It is a matter of life and death. You haven't seen Melanie in a terrific film yet. You haven't seen her doing terrific acting (and I mean really, really amazing). You haven't seen her as the lead. You haven't seen her kiss Kate Winslet (oops, I wasn't supposed to mention that - hehe). What I mean is, if you liked the castles in Ever After, you'll get castles in HC as well. And I can't draw many other parallels because that's about it, but HC is a definite must-see. Trust me!!!!
Note: I saw Ever After in Lisbon, the greatest city in the world and where I come from, you gotta go there, it's soooooooo... Oh I love it.
© 1997 tommywebmaster@yahoo.com
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