Thaindian News

London, August 09 (ANI): Emma Thompson thinks that Audrey Hepburn couldn’t act, couldn’t sing and was “fantastically twee”.

Thompson is writing the screenplay for a remake of ‘My Fair Lady’, the 1964 film in which Hepburn played Eliza Doolittle.

“I was thrilled to be asked to do it because, having a look at it, I thought that there needs to be a new version. I’m not hugely fond of the film. I find Audrey Hepburn fantastically twee,” the Telegraph quoted her as saying.

“Twee is whimsy without wit. It’s mimsy-mumsy sweetness without any kind of bite. And that’s not for me. She can’t sing and she can’t really act, I’m afraid. I’m sure she was a delightful woman - and perhaps if I had known her I would have enjoyed her acting more, but I don’t and I didn’t, so that’s all there is to it, really.

“It was Cecil Beaton’s designs and Rex Harrison that gave it its extraordinary quality. I don’t do Audrey Hepburn. I think that she’s a guy thing… It’s high time that the extraordinary role of Eliza was reinterpreted, because it’s a very fantastic part for a woman,” she added.

Carey Mulligan is in negotiations to play Eliza, while Hugh Grant and Rupert Everett have been linked to the role of Professor Henry Higgins.

Thompson plans to give the story a feminist makeover.

In interviews with The Hollywood Reporter and Variety, she explained that Eliza is “sold into sexual slavery” by her father. “I suppose my cheekiness is in saying: ‘This is a very serious story about the usage of women at a particular time in our history. And it’s still going on today. Yes, OK, it’s a wonderful musical, but let’s also look at what it’s really saying about the world.” (ANI)