‘I can’t act opposite you anymore. You’re too good.’

The above line was said by Anne Hathaway to James McAvoy during their first filming from an article by Ruben V. Nepales of The Inquirer. I found it touching. See the entire article here. This is the excerpt of the article:

We asked Anne if she buys the notion that Jane Austen’s romantic heartbreak over the affair with Tom Lefroy, who reportedly inspired the Mr. Darcy character in “Pride and Prejudice,” sparked her writing.

“It’s a very controversial argument,” she answered. “I don’t think she needed to find Mr. Right to write. I shouldn’t say that because I’m the star of a movie that says she did. We have an argument in the movie that sums it up the best. It’s a part of the script that I fell in love with right from the beginning. It was the artists’ argument—is it experience or imagination that informs the work? I think it’s both.”

English accent

The one time Vassar College and New York University student continued, “I think Jane did have heartbreak in her life. Not just a romantic heartbreak but she had extreme disappointments brought on by a lack of money and by society’s views of what a woman could achieve. Her sad life is probably more responsible for motivating her to write.”

On mastering an English accent for the role, Anne explained, “In the beginning, I tried going in and out of the accent when I was on the set. I felt a bit silly speaking to British people in a fake accent. I just felt like an impostor...I moved to England for a month before we started filming. I worked with a dialect coach for about six hours every day. And I practiced on my own. I would try to go out into the streets and try to pass my British accent. Some days I was successful and some days I got some very strange looks.

Great partner

Anne lavished praise on James, who appeared with Forest Whitaker in “The Last King of Scotland: “I had been working with him for a couple of days when I realized, my God, this guy’s really good. He’s just fascinating to watch. He was a great partner. He has no ego. Believe me, he’s someone who could have an ego—he’s so talented.”

She went on, “I saw him act on that UK TV show called ‘Shameless’ with his wife, Anne Marie Duff. I just burst into tears because I thought, I can’t work with him. He’s too good.

“So I went in the next day and I remember just staring at him. He goes, ‘You’re creeping me out. What’s going on?’ I said, I can’t act opposite you anymore. You’re too good. He just told me to stop being stupid, shut up and say my lines.”

Isn’t James McAvoy wonderful? And I’m so glad to find out that Anne did match him up. Happy sigh…

On the side note, Jennifer Freeman of the Mammoth Advertising (who is in charge of the BJ promotion in the US) has given me the link to the downloadable U.S. Trailers. Now you can watch it without going online!

http://server.mammothnyc.com/becomingjane/trailers.zip

Happy watching guys! Thanks Jen!

Pic: Tom Lefroy (James McAvoy) and Jane Austen (Anne Hathaway), www.james-mcavoy.net