Eye candy: W.E, a period film about the Windsors directed by Madonna

MagsRags

MagsRags

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Vanity Fair has a slide show up with sneal previews of the period costume reproductions for W.E., Madonna's directorial debut in a film about Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson. Some gorgeous looks.

I recently saw King's Speech and was interested to see the angle they took on Bertie's brother and his romance with Wallis. Not very flattering to either and definitely hinted at the Nazi sympathizer rumors.
 
Arianne Phillips is a great costumer - she did A Single Man, which I think was wonderful. However, Madonna? I looked it up on IMDB and the desciption sounds sort of like a version of Julie and Julia - with two stories that mirror each other: "A two-tiered romantic drama focusing on the affair between King Edward VIII and American divorcée Wallis Simpson and a contemporary romance between a married woman and a Russian security guard"
The actors all seem a tad young for their roles too - I think Wallis was 40 when she met Edward, and the actress looks 25 tops. I suspect its going to be a gooey movie where everyone is pretty and the facts are ignored. Problem is, Wallis AND Edward were both pretty obnoxious people... and I'm not getting that vibe from the photo shoots.
 
Looking forward to seeing this film. Not least, because Madonna's the director. Oh God! I hope she's not messed up!!!

I agree that both actors are way prettier (and younger) than in real life. I just hope there are deeper insights into what happened and a lot more about Wallis - the person. "Obnoxious", as Jonathan said, is definitely a word that springs to mind for both of them. I think Edward liked to 'party' way too much to become anything more than a play boy. Thank God he never became King. Wallis did us all a huge favour - in my opinion. :drinking2:
 
Edward VIII was about 5' 7". James D'Arcy is 6' 3". That's one problem. The have been several very good characterizations of these two historic figures not least by the actor Edward Fox playing Edward VIII - in my opinion the best.
 
Ahem.....Edward WAS King for about 6 months, just to be clear on that point.

For some reason that fact gets ignored or mis reported. But....I was surprised to hear that mis-fact coming from a Brit. No offense intended.

I agree that this will be a FLUFF piece at best. I will watch it of course, for the costumes and sets.

Madonna...come on..!!!! At least get actors who somewhat resemble the real people. They are not even close. RATS on that aspect. What....you think if the actors are not pretty then no one will watch your little movie? Obviously money is more important than truth to Madonna.

I am mystified about Madonna making a comparison between a relationship between a of King of England and a twice divorced, older American woman in the 1930s...and an American woman and a Russian security guard. HUH? what am I missing here?

Oh well...I like anything that references days gone by.


B
 
I just watched "Wallis Simpson: The Secret Letters", a documentary which aired on Channel 4 (UK) recently, revealing the contents of newly discovered letters, written by Wallis mostly to her husband Ernest, around the time of the scandal and her divorcing him. It certainly gives a very different slant on the whole affair, revealing she didn't really want to marry the king at all.

Here's a link though I'm not sure if the documentary is watchable outside the UK, but the letters are part of a new biography of Wallis by Anna Sebba "That Woman: The Life of Wallis Simpson".

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/wallis-simpson-the-secret-letters/4od

Interesting stuff.
 
Ruth, thank you for mentioning the new biography - I was reading about it lately (in the UK press I think) and it sounds fascinating! Wallis, for all her flaws was a very interesting woman. It must have been awful to be vilified and shunned the way they were. I hope all the jewellery Edward bought her softened the blow, but the impression I got was that she was playing with fire when she started seeing Edward and probably greatly regretted it.

The biography also included some dreadful suggestions that she wasn't "all woman", that she may have had a Y chromosome. I take offence at that on her behalf - there's no proof and the fragile basis, that she was tall and athletic with big hands, is no proof of anything as many women are built in a similar fashion. Here is a link. It's like she hasn't been punished enough for her life - like Louise, I'm inclined to think that she did us all a favour when it comes to the monarchy but of course, his resignation wasn't just about his love life but it did make a convenient excuse.

Nicole
 
Yes, the letters certainly give the impression that she got in too deep and then couldn't extract herself. Made me feel quite sorry for her, though it was of her own making, an attempt at social climbing that got out of hand.

I don't think the gender issue was mentioned in the TV show - I have heard vague rumours about this before, but despite that article saying new evidence and not just wild conjecture - I can't really see anything other than conjecture in what's being presented. I agree it's offensive. And even if it were true, the prejudice against intersex people that flavours the suggestion is offensive.
 
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