Closer

Back in Dublin in 2002, I did a lighting design for at Andrew’s Lane Theatre for a show called “Closer” by Patrick Marber. There are some lousy photos here. Its the sort of raunchy but otherwise ordinary play that seems to do well in London over the past decade (see also Shopping and Fucking and, I think, The Blue Room).

Today, I saw a trailer for the deraunched and glammed up major motion picture starring Natalie Portman, Julia Roberts, Jude Law and Clive “The Next Bond” Owen. The film seems to be quite loyal to the play–I recognized almost every line as being from the original text. However, I was dismayed to see Portman and Roberts playing Americans–in the original text all the characters are British, and the dialogue reflects that. (As a quick side note, one of the actresses in the production I designed had the most delightful, sexy way of saying “crusts” which made them sound very exotic.) I know that Natalie Portman playing a stripper equals box office success, but couldn’t they have cast a couple of bankable British actresses instead? Kate Beckinsale, Kate Winslet, Nicole Kidman (not British, but more than capable of the accent), Catherine Zeta Jones (Welsh, but close enough), Elizabeth Hurley, Keira Knightley or Rachel Weisz all immediately spring to mind.

Incidentally, there are two good songs in the trailer: The Blower’s Daughter by Damien Rice and Suzanne Vega’s Caramel.