"Hepburn couldn't act or sing" - Emma Thompson

[Maurice]

Daily Telegraph

by Anita Singh:



She is regarded as one of the Hollywood greats, but Audrey Hepburn couldn't act, couldn't sing and was "fantastically twee", according to Emma Thompson.



The British actress is writing the screenplay for a remake of MY FAIR LADY, the 1962 film in which Hepburn played Eliza Doolittle.



"I was thrilled to be asked to do it because, having a look at it, I thought that there needs to be a new version. I'm not hugely fond of the film. I find Audrey Hepburn fantastically twee," said Thompson, 51.



"Twee is whimsy without wit. It's mimsy-mumsy sweetness without any kind of bite. And that's not for me. She can't sing and she can't really act.



"I'm sure she was a delightful woman - and perhaps if I had known her I would have enjoyed her acting more, but I don't and I didn't.



"It was Cecil Beaton's designs and Rex Harrison that gave it its extraordinary quality. I don't do Audrey Hepburn. I think that she's a guy thing."



Although Hepburn's singing in MY FAIR LADY was dubbed, her acting credentials included five Oscar nominations and the Best Actress award in 1954.



Thompson, who won a Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar in 1996 for SENSE AND SENSIBILITY, plans to give the story a feminist makeover.



Carey Mulligan is in negotiations to play Eliza, whle Hugh Grant and Rupert Everett were linked to the role of Professor Henry Higgins.

[Mr Sloane]

Daily Telegraph

by Anita Singh:

"Thompson, who won a Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar in 1996 for SENSE AND SENSIBILITY, plans to give the story a feminist makeover."



All she has to do is adapt the original play and not either of the films.

[Number Six]

Daily Telegraph

by Anita Singh:







I find Audrey Hepburn fantastically twee," said Thompson, 51.

that would be almost as fantastically over-rated as I find you, would it?

[Moor Larkin]

Audrey Hepburn couldn't act, couldn't sing and was "fantastically twee", according to Emma Thompson.

Is she justifying her own career? Or someone elses? ...............



I'm sure the poor woman has been taken completely out of context dahhlinks ..... Just so long as I don't have to watch another appalling Nanny McTwee movie, she can say what she damn well likes............

[will.15]

Thompson is a bitch.



Hepburn could sing to some extent, as she proved in Breakfast at Tiffany's, but My Fair Lady required a vocal range only a professional singer could master. Hepburn had problems with a cockney accent, but was fine in the second half of the film. I'd rather watch Hepburn in a movie than Thompson. And I know Hepburn isn't just a guy thing. She was hardly every man's fantasy like Marilyn Monroe.



She is going to write it from a woman's perspective? What does that mean? Eliza even in the musical is a pretty tough character.I remember when the woman who did the libretto for the musical Red Shoes said she was going to tell the story from a feminist point of view. That turned out real well.

[charliekane]

I wonder which of the two we'll still be watching in ten years' time....

[Ray]

Nobody could have been more twee than Thompson in that ghastly TV series she did some years ago. Audrey Hepburn was an icon for many teenage girls in the 50's and 60's, and will still be remembered with love and respect long after Thompson is gone and forgotten.

[Zlatna]

Audrey Hepburn had Class.



It's fairly obvious from her remarks that Thompson does not, unless it's all 17th.

[Edward G]

Maybe it is the fact thet Hepburn is still cherished in the hearts of many and has become an iconic symbol to a kind of timeless beauty and classy sophistication that just irks a comparitive plain Jane like Thompson.

Obviously Thompson regards herself as a real actress and Hepburn as eye candy with a posh accent.

How disappointing and shallow!

[Windthrop]

She's just diminishing the original to justify the remake. Sounds like insecurity about both her own talent and the remake

[CaptainWaggett]

Maybe it is the fact thet Hepburn is still cherished in the hearts of many and has become an iconic symbol to a kind of timeless beauty and classy sophistication that just irks a comparitive plain Jane like Thompson.

Obviously Thompson regards herself as a real actress and Hepburn as eye candy with a posh accent.

How disappointing and shallow!

But of course assuming Emma Thompson is jealous of Hepburn's looks isn't shallow at all I doubt very much if Emma Thompson (a double Oscar winner) is likely to be forgotten any time soon.

[Reeldigger]

Daily Telegraph"It was Cecil Beaton's designs and Rex Harrison that gave it its extraordinary quality. I don't do Audrey Hepburn. I think that she's a guy thing."

I don't think anyone left the theater humming Cecil Beaton's designs. And it's been pretty well established that Beaton hogged a lot of credit which rightfully belonged to art director Gene Allen.

[TimR]

An assault on Audrey Hepburn?



A feminist makeover of My Fair Lady?



Which is more repellent?



Has she seen The Nun's Story? That was an outstanding film and Audrey Hepburn gave a powerful, understated performance.



Twee? Audrey Hepburn was one of the most charming and attractive actresses who made a film. Twee is usually associated with gnomes - and Thompson's own scenes with Hugh Grant in Sense and Sensibility, which are played in a smirky, self-consciously cute style that is about half way to twee.

[CaptainWaggett]

So one woman isn't allowed to have a negative opinion on another woman's performance in one film without being called a bitch and the very idea of a feminist version of a well-known story is 'repellent'? Perhaps it is rather surprising that Women's Studies is dying out

[Edward G]

Aye aye, Cap'n!

I would never knock Thompson's acting pedigree. I really like her performance in "Remains Of The Day". The two Oscars that you mention just might have gone to her head, though, when she felt it necessary to dismiss Hepburn as "twee".

Fair enough, I'm offering jealousy as a possible motive, but in the end these are Thompson's own words and they just leave a sour taste. Regardless of her own ability, her stature is diminished when she resorts to this kind of criticism.

Whereas Thompson may be remembered, Hepburn's memory will be cherished.

But of course assuming Emma Thompson is jealous of Hepburn's looks isn't shallow at all I doubt very much if Emma Thompson (a double Oscar winner) is likely to be forgotten any time soon.

[will.15]

So one woman isn't allowed to have a negative opinion on another woman's performance in one film without being called a bitch and the very idea of a feminist version of a well-known story is 'repellent'? Perhaps it is rather surprising that Women's Studies is dying out

She didn't criticize her just for My Fair Lady, which I wouldn't have a problem with as it wasn't one of her best performances. It is clear from the comments she was saying Hepburn couldn't act period, not just one movie. And she makes a nasty remark only guys dug her, which is a complete lie. How can you get more feminist than Shaw's play? Do you think Thompson is going to write a version where Eliza rejects Higgins for Freddy as Shaw intended? Ain't going to happen. There is an arrogance and petty meanness in her comments and if that isn't bitchy, i don't know what the term means.

[CaptainWaggett]

She didn't criticize her just for My Fair Lady, which I wouldn't have a problem with as it wasn't one of her best performances. It is clear from the comments she was saying Hepburn couldn't act period, not just one movie. How can you get more feminist than Shaw's play? Do you think Thompson is going to write a version where Eliza rejects Higgins for Freddy as Shaw intended? Ain't going to happen. There is an arrogance and petty meanness in her comments and if that isn't bitchy, i don't know what the term means.

You don't think she is entitled to her opinion about another woman's acting? Really? It's quite common on these forums for people to claim that a well-regarded thesp can't act but I don't see any accusations of arrogance, petty meanness and bitching. As for the screenplay - well, I haven't read it so I can't comment except to say that she may be going back to the play rather than using the two film adaptations.



But then what do I know? I'm only a rather plain woman so presumably any comments I make are motivated by jealously . I'll leave you all to your critique of Ms Thompson none of which sounds in any way bitchy, no way, no how

[will.15]

What people on this forum say about actors doesn't matter. We aren't in the business. What Thompson did, in a very spiteful manner (Hepburn is a guy's thing only) is different.

[didi-5]

I don't like the idea of this film remake - Thompson has said she would like less songs, so shows a shocking disregard for Lerner and Loewe's lyrics and music; she wants to portray Alfred P Doolittle as someone who sells his daughter into sexual slavery (really?); and now she is having a go at Audrey Hepburn!



Humph.

[Mr Sloane]

I don't like the idea of this film remake - Thompson has said she would like less songs, so shows a shocking disregard for Lerner and Loewe's lyrics and music; she wants to portray Alfred P Doolittle as someone who sells his daughter into sexual slavery (really?); and now she is having a go at Audrey Hepburn!



Humph.

I am paraphrasing but "If I thought your intentions were n't honourable i'd be asking more than £5" Doolittle to Higgins.



I think it's time someone paid due regard to the original play.