I‘ve been meaning to post about this for a few days now but I’ve been somewhat busy with other endeavors, namely getting through a recently released best seller, to put any real thought into posting news stories but here I am, exhausted after an evening of Bach and going over the long list of news items I’ve been meaning to post about.

Based on the only novel published by the great Oscar Wilde, Dorian Gray is based on “The Picture of Dorian Gray” a novel about a young man (Gray), the subject of a painting who becomes so infatuated with the idea of hedonism (for the non-philosophically inclined the idea that pleasure is of ultimate importance) that he wishes that the portrait being painted of him age while he remains young. That, of course, comes true and Gray then has to deal with the hardships that come as a result of continued acts of debauchery.

I’ve yet to read the novel, it’s on the big shelf along with a load of other classics that I’ll get to at some point in my lifetime, but the film sounds like it could have potential. A while back it was announced that Ben Barnes who recently appeared as Prince Caspian, will play the lead role of Dorian Gray along side Colin Firth. Though Firth’s role has yet to be confirmed, I would not be surprised to see him pop up as Basil Hallward, the painter who falls in love with Gray. Firth playing a gay man again? Oh my!

In addition to those two, the cast has increased exponentially to include Rebecca Hall, Ben Chaplin, Emilia Fox, Rachel Hurd-Wood, Fiona Shaw, Maryam D’Abo, Pip Torrens, Douglas Henshall, Caroline Goodall, Michael Culkin, Johnny Harris and Max Irons. The entire garden of delights is being directed by Oliver Parker who’s directed a number of films, some good (Othello) and some not so good (I Really Hate My Job). The one thing Parker has going for him is that he’s previously directed two good adaptations of other Wilde works namely An Ideal Husband and The Importance of Being Earnest; also among his two best films.

He certainly appears to be a good choice for the director’s chair. We’ll have to wait and see if this turns out better than the apparent atrocity that is St. Trinian’s.

Ah crap. I didn’t realize Firth appeared in St. Trinian’s. You know that now I have to see it. Damned it all to hell.

And if you’re wondering, that’s Firth in the picture. Any guesses as to the substance he’s bathing in?