Sadly, my first real introduction to the tale of Dorian Gray (although I had HEARD of the story before, just never read it or seen it in any of its various incarnations) was through the horrible movie “League of Extraordinary Gentlemen” (the Sean Connery version). In League, Oscar Wilde’s virtually immortal character whose painted portrait ages while he stays the same age was played by Stuart Townsend pretty well, but the film was so bad the performance and the character himself was wasted.
Now there is a stand alone Dorian Gray film coming our way… this time the title character will be portrayed by Ben Barnes (who most recently played the title character in The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian) and he’ll be joined by Colin Firth.
Even though I really enjoyed Prince Caspian, I can’t say that Barnes impressed me at all. Oh sure he’s oh so dreamy… but I never bought into him in the movie. His small role in the tragically underrated “Stardust” was ok… but he didn’t really have much of a chance to show us much either way. Firth is another matter all together. Firth is a rock solid actor who can easily fit into dramatic or comedic roles effortlessly and I’m sure he’ll bring something worth watching.
The basic story of Dorian Gray is a fantastic one and deserves a telling like this. I hope it works.
