TV 1, Cinema 0.
Jane Campion has temporarily turned her back on cinema and is set to develop a six-hour mini-series for the BBC, according to The Australian (via Eyes Wired Open).
Details of the project were not revealed but it was noted that the mini-series will reunite the director with Gerard Lee, the writer of her 1989 feature film debut “Sweetie.” Campion’s move to the smaller screen seems to be catalyzed by the state of the film industry — she laments that to gain financing or attention, films today must have some other incarnation whether that be a musical, a series of novels or comic book.
“You have to look at the industry and know what’s going on,” Campion adds. “And to me it’s really hard to make features right now. I feel like there’s more freedom in doing TV; my mouth gaped open at some of the exciting stuff being done on HBO as compared to how conservative a lot of film is. You have to do event cinema now.”
Campion’s words somewhat echos that of fellow Australian John Hillcoat (okay, Campion is technically a New Zealander but then so is Russell Crowe) who just delivered a similar shot at the industry after his dream project, “The Promised Land,” fell apart. Hillcoat himself also has a mini-series adaptation of Nick Cave’s “The Death Of Bunny Munro” developing with UK television while names such as Martin Scorsese and Michael Mann are also directing television this season — pilots for “Boardwalk Empire” and “Luck” respectively.
Meanwhile, Campion’s latest effort, “Bright Star,” has had it’s screenplay reclassified despite an Oscar campaign already in motion. If nominated, she will now have to compete in the more competitive Adaptated Screenplay category alongisde Nick Hornby’s “An Education” and Jason Reitman’s “Up In The Air.”
What makes the decision surprising is the fact that while Campion did use John Keats’ poetry and Andrew Motion’s biography of the poet as source material, her film actually centers on the character of Fanny Browne and her relationship with Keats, aspects which were largely conceived by Campion as no detailed material exists on those aspects. Common sense, please.