Ben Barnes, currently waving a sword around in that NARNIA movie apparently no one’s very excited about, is stepping into the shoes of another well-known literary character: Dorian Gray. Yes, it’s been announced that we’ll get an updated version of Oscar Wilde’s classic, THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY, which will commence production this July.
The story, if you didn’t read the thing in high school, concerns a corrupt young man who somehow keeps his youthful beauty, even while a special painting gradually reveals his inner ugliness to all. The tale was famously adapted in 1945, with George Sanders taking on the titular character.
If production company Fragile Films is taking a page from the “updated” version of Edgar Allen Poe’s TELL-TALE HEART, this DORIAN GRAY will take place in Beverly Hills, and instead of a painting, it’ll be a Myspace page…
However, there’s good news to be found, potentially, in the fact that the flick will be directed by Oliver Parker, who has made period pieces like AN IDEAL HUSBAND and THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST. Now I’m not a big fan of those films – hell, I’ve never even seen them – but it appears likely that Parker would want to keep DORIAN GRAY where it belongs: in the 1800s.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Parker intends to make a visceral, dark horror story and says the themes of stardom are as relevant as ever. True dat!
Did they wear sexy corsets like this back in those days? Ah whatever, you’re lookin’ at it anyway…
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