I’m re-re-re-re-reading Mansfield Park right now. I’ve written before about how it’s Austen’s underrated novel and that we don’t love Fanny Price as she deserves to be loved.
What I find terribly disappointing that there isn’t a decent film version of Mansfield Park. Granted, the 2007 Masterpiece Theatre version was tolerable, I suppose, but the casting was just not right. Haley Atwell as Mary Crawford was perfection, but otherwise it just missed the mark.
So let’s start from scratch. Let’s cast a new Mansfield Park. And maybe someone will take pity on us and finally film a version that’s watchable.
Tomlinson in BBC’s Poldark
Fanny Price: Eleanor Tomlinson
Tomlinson can act genuinely innocent and full of goodness, but she is incredibly likable which is a must for modern audiences to not misunderstand Fanny as a judgemental stick in the mud. She won’t tattle on you, interfere, or chastise you for all the things Sir Thomas wouldn’t approve of. She just doesn’t want to be in your shocking play, so can you give it a rest?
Other good options: Lily James, Aisling Loftis
Evans in Endeavour
Edmund Bertram: Shaun Evans
You may know him as Endeavour Morse (and if you don’t, drop everything and watch Endeavour, it’s British detective mystery gold). Evans could portray Edmund as serious and introspective and an excellent new clergyman who is sincere, kind, lovable and able to fall in love with a glittering personality like Mary Crawford’s.
Middleton in BBC’s War & Peace
Mary Crawford: Tuppence Middleton
While my first thought was Kate Beckinsale, I had to remember that she’s not 21 anymore which reminded me that I’m not 21 anymore. After I got over a mini-identity crisis, I realized that Tuppence Middleton who recently starred in War & Peace would make a perfect Mary Crawford. Petite, brunette, pretty, charming, and super manipulative. Another good choice would be Jenna Coleman who played Lydia Bennet in the recent Death Comes to Pemberley series. Mary is a warning to all of us how growing up in the house of a philandering sea admiral uncle can spoil one’s education.
Henry Crawford: Matthew Goode
Goode might be a little old to be Henry Crawford, but we know that Crawford has been around the block a few times and that his sisters are begging him to settle down so he could be at least in his 30s, right? Goode has the right charm to be Henry Crawford. In my opinion, you’re supposed to fall just a little in love with him every time you read the book until you’re reminded what a scumbag he is. Another option for Crawford could be Aidan Turner, leading man in Poldark which is my fave.
Maria and Julia Bertram: Kara and Hannah Tointon
They look alike because they’re sisters! I think the Tointon sisters would be perfect as the Bertram ladies. They look so high society. Just ready to be condescending, competitive, and mercenary. I first saw them in Mr. Selfridge as Rosalie and Violette.
image source: PBS
Tom Bertram: James Norton
I haven’t seen Grantchester, but I saw Norton in War & Peace and he could make a great Edmund if Shaun Evans is too busy to add a new Mansfield Park to his schedule. Tom’s only around for part of the plot, but he needs to be a strong, commanding character.
image source: PBS
Lady Bertram and Mrs. Price: Frances O’Connor
I love that in the 1999 film, Lady Bertram and her sister Mrs. Price were played by the same actress since Austen describes them as looking remarkably alike save for how Mrs. Price’s poverty has worn her down. Frances O’Connor played Fanny in the 1999 version so it would be fun to have her play Lady Bertram almost 20 years later. AND O’Connor plays Rose Selfridge, mother of Kara and Hannah Tointon’s characters in Mr. Selfridge, so perfection.
Mr. Rushworth: James Corden
Mansfield Park has a heavy plot and Mr. Rushworth’s hilarious bumbling is key for lightening the mood. I think Corbin is our man for this. And he’d look great in a blue dress and a pink satin cloak for his two and forty speeches which, as we know, is no trifle!
I still need a Mrs. Norris and Sir Thomas Bertram. So gimme all your ideas in the comments and if you’re producing a new Mansfield Park, no need to pay me for casting it for you. A version that doesn’t make me want to poke my eyes out with pencils is all the thanks I need.
Let’s chat Mansfield Park in the comments, friends!
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This is so perfect. I have often wished there was a good adaptation of Mansfield Park, but there just isn’t!
There really isn’t! I think it’s partly because MP is harder for modern audiences to understand so they mess with it to make it more accessible but then it just ends up being a big mess.
This is changing the subject a bit but why is no one talking about Mr. Selfridge? I was thinking I was the only one whose watched it.
I was about to recommend Matthew McFayden as Henry Crawford since he made such a wonderful cad in The Way We Live Now, but then I remembered how old he is and had my own mini-crisis. We’ll stick with Matthew Goode. (LOVE Eleanor Tomlinson!)
Fun piece. I enjoyed it very much.
I don’t know! I watched the whole series of Mr. Selfridge and really enjoyed it but it didn’t have the same punch as Downton or Poldark, etc. I lost interest a big after Miss Towler left the cast. She really was the heart of the show in the first couple of seasons.
I like McFadyen as Crawford. He was SO slimy in The Way We Live Now. If only we could have cast this 15 years ago, right?!
Thanks, Anna!
I read Mansfield Park only a few months ago, and I LOVE IT! (thanks for your post on MP, that helped me finally pick it up) Oh my goodness, I just love Fanny and the morality of the story and everything. Especially looking at the Catholic Church’s teachings on the importance of formation in the family, and seeing how the Bertram parents fail and what happens as a result of their negligence. Eleanor Tomlinson would be the perfect Fanny!!! Aiden Turner would definitely be a spectacular Henry Crawford.
Have you ever seen the webseries “From Mansfield with Love”? Because there is no good movie adaptation of the book, I binged that entire series (it’s similar to Lizzie Bennet Diaries, except it’s actually done by a group that’s British, so they have fantastic accents) after I read the book. It’s a pretty fun modern adaptation, though I’m not a fan of how they adapted every single thing.
I haven’t seen that series! I’ll have to binge watch it ASAP. <3
Beyond the point but one of us def needs to have a daughter named Tuppence or a son named Endeavor. Solid gold.
YES. I’ll have a Tuppence, you have an Endeavour and they can get married. Endeavour and Tuppence Stewart-Bowers. And they will be referred to as the Stewart-Bowerses and it will be glorious.
These names have turn of the century murder mystery characters written all over them.
Love this! And your Imelda Staunton idea is perfect. But PLEASE no Lily James. I am just so beyond over her, even though I enjoyed Cinderella. Eleanor Tomlinson just comes off as much more clever and grounded than Lily, who strikes me as just too saccharine.
I LOVED Lily James in Cinderella and in Downton, but I can see her as coming across as a little goofy if she played Fanny. Totally.
I haven’t seen most of these actors before, but they LOOK good to me. I have to say that Mansfield Park is one of my top 3 all-time favorite books and I am longing for a good adaptation. Nicholas Farrell was perfect as Edmund Bertram in the miniseries, but Sylvestra Le Touzel played Fanny as awkward in adulthood, which Jane Austen specifically says she is not. Shy/reserved does not necessarily mean socially backward!
This is a brilliant book. I was once in a group read at Pemberley.com (also did one for P & P and Emma). Two things to look for in this novel. First, the theme of a novel’s superiority to a play. This was a raging debate at the time it was written, and I once read an essay critiquing the book on these grounds, which was really enlightening. Second, and this is my very own insight, is that in this novel, JA turns inside-out her own typical plot. In Northanger Abbey, she had laughed at the Gothic novel and somewhat inverted it. Here she inverts the “formula” she was so good at. Instead of a heroine like Emma having her eyes opened by a wise hero, we have a hero who falls for the wrong girl and nearly misses the wise heroine who loves him. Edmund was her mentor, and she grew beyond him and then taught him. I find this very daring of JA, given her time and culture. We can also see Fanny as strong in that she was morally strong when everyone else, including Edmund, gave in. And she was vindicated–and got the guy. Yeah!
Great insights, Connie! You might enjoy this other piece I wrote about MP a couple of years ago. MP is one of my all-time favorites, too. http://www.carrotsformichaelmas.com/2014/03/23/in-defense-of-fanny-price-why-you-dont-like-mansfield-park-as-much-as-you-should/
I remember watching the MP mini-series with Billie Piper and thinking the casting was SO wrong. Billie Piper trying to do reserved came across as sulky, and their Edmund was just a bit silly. Their Crawfords were pretty spot on, so was their Sir Thomas (can’t look up actors because phone and what not).
Your next assignment Haley: we need a good casting for Gaudy Night (in fact, we need someone to find a perfect Lord Peter and run with it for a whole series). This is a fact. I don’t know how the BBC has not cottoned on to that yet. Will write strongly-worded letter. Now, as our need is great. ?
She is just SO WRONG as Fanny. She also looks super modern to me for some reason and I just couldn’t believe that she was Fanny Price AT ALL. And Edmund was indeed silly. He’s the perfect Mr. Elton but an awful Edmund. Ah! Gaudy Night! I think Haley Atwell as Harriett and Tom Hiddleston as Lord Peter would be my first thoughts for that one. It would be splendid!
Haley Atwell would be great, that’s a perfect plan! but isn’t Tom Hiddleston just too good-looking? I mean, he’s the perfect cricketing aristocrat, that’s for sure, everything about him screams Eton, but Lord Peter is meant to be more mature-looking maybe?
Although if it means the BBC making a new Wimsey series, I’d get behind him in a flash!
Hiddleston may be too good-looking! I just can’t think of anyone that looks so much like Lord Peter in my head, haha.
It’s her eyebrows. They sort of….stare out at you. So modern. And she’s all *outer* strength as an actress.
I think Matthew Goode might make a good Lord Peter. I wouldn’t be able to stand a too-dishy Lord P, though.
I think I’d have to switch out Goode for Turner personally, but I love your choice for Rushworth!!! Bonus: there’d be a special feature of your whole cast in a 15 passenger van doing “Celebrity Kareoke”!
As for Mrs. Norris that’s tricky…. what about Cora’s lady’s maid from the first season of Downton? Siobhan something.
Sir Thomas, what about Ciaran Hinds? He’ll always be Frederick from Persuassion to me, but now that he’s older I could see him in this role
Ha! I like the idea for Mrs. Norris, but I think I’m set on Imelda Staunton now! And yes to Ciaran Hinds!
Love this! Shaun Evans definitely gets my vote for Edmund, and I agree James Norton would be a good back up- he’s great in Grantchester. 🙂 Have you seen Doctor Thorne? I’m trying to think if anyone in that would be good in MP…
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Have you listened to the BBC Radio dramatization of MP? I loved it, but it had been years and years since I read it, so I’m not an authority. Would love to hear your thoughts.
1980s BBC version is very well-cast –the Bertrams esp. good and the Crawfords looking like evil twins. check that out, Haley (F and E also very good –James Corden would indeed make a good Mr. R, too, and a lot should be done with him and his ‘pink satin cloak’.
I don’t like Sylvestra Le Touzel’s Fanny. She moves very jerkily and awkwardly, making Fanny seem socially inept when she is just shy. This makes it harder to like Fanny. But many of the other actors are superb, especially Nicholas Farrell as Edmund.
I would go crazy mainstream and suggest Emma Thompson for Mrs. Norris. It would be quite different from the other roles she has played, but I think she could pull off just the right amount of stuffy, condescension that the character would need without making her completely hateful.
This is GOLD! I’m having a major Shaun Evans moment right now and Matthew Goode too?? Just perfection. It’s amazing how Austen’s lesser appreciated novels seem to be the ones that grow with you the most. Growing up I thought persuasion was the most boring ever and now I just love it. If this cast was in Mansfield park I would probably love it then too!
Yes, yes, yes! I LOVE all these suggested roles. Matthew Goode could definitely pull off the part of making you fall in love with Henry Crawford… But I like him as an actor so much that I would dislike seeing him as such a scumbag. 🙁
This list is perfection!!! Also, you MUST watch GRANTCHESTER. If you enjoy Poldark and Austen adaptations (like me), I am pretty confident that you’ll love it!
Oh yes, this is so fun!! I totally agree on Tuppence; how perfect. Tomlinson is a great choice for Fanny; she really can strike that perfect balance. I admit I had someone a bit more good looking for Edmund, perhaps the guy who plays Frank Gresham in Dr. Thorne (Harry Richardson, just looked him up). He jsut really seems to have that gentle demeanor, not rakish/roguish looking, but definitely morally upright/strong. I think he’d look great opposite Eleanor Tomlinson. 🙂
Another GREAT option for Henry= Tom Weston-Jones, from Dickensian (the BEST series, OMG, you would love it if you haven’t seen it yet. Tuppence is in that too and she plays the young Miss Havisham. Weston-Jones is the cad who seduces/tricks her. He really has that attractive but SUPER cad thing going).
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm4534594/?ref_=tt_cl_t5
I totally agree that a really good adaptation of Mansfield needs to be made, one we can watch over and over, like P&P, S&S and Emma. I don’t really like the idea of using actors already in similar roles. Tomilson is too well known in Poldark, I don’t really see her doing this part justice. they need to look more deeply, let’s get the casting right this time. Northanger should be redone as well.
hahaha nice casting! did you see the 1983 version? it’s my favourite so far for being true to the book, but Fanny does come across as being quite dour but not totally unlikeable. just discovered your blog through re reading jane austen but I am a Catholic mama too and wish we could be friends! love your writing xox