Eloise in Paris Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Here's a story for the little girls out there. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Handmade Films has cast the lead in their upcoming adaptation of Eloise in Paris. Eloise is to be played by young Australian actress Jordana Beatty. That's her to the right -- and doesn't she look the part? She'll join Uma Thurman, who is playing Nanny. (Miles away from the way Nanny was illustrated in the books, at least from what I remember.)

Beatty has been acting since she was four, and was cast after 4,000 other hopefuls had tried out for the part. Filming is to begin August 12th in New York and Paris.

Handmade is hoping the Eloise films become a franchise. There are certainly enough books to keep them going. The Eloise series was penned by Kay Thompson, and illustrated by Hilary Knight. They follow the crazy adventures of Eloise, who lives in the Plaza Hotel. She's largely unsupervised, except for her poor Nanny, and runs wild with her pug, Weenie, and her turtle, Skipperdee. They were published in the 50's but remain popular, as they have that Home Alone vibe without being annoying. The illustrations are charmingly retro. Buy the treasury for your daughter if you haven't already.

No word on release date, except that we should see it in 2009. Charles Shyer is directing. If they need a cheap and handsome pug to play Weenie, I have one who's dying to be a household name.

On the heels of the utterly ridiculous rumors that Uma Thurman might be pregnant because she once again has curves, but which turned out to be a little weight gain from the actress quitting smoking, she's now becoming a nanny. Ouch. The woman gains a little weight, which looks great on her frame, gets called puffy, and now is an aged nanny. Variety reports that she has signed on to costar in Eloise in Paris as the young girl's caretaker. This is Nanny. At least, how she has been previously.

It looks like the role got changed a little for Thurman. Variety says that while they are searching for the child lead, the role of Nanny was adopted "with Thurman in mind." I don't quite get that, unless they're trying to bank in on that whole Nanny Diaries thing. There are a lot of great and bankable actresses who could take on the role, and honestly, as much as I like Uma, her dramas and Tarantino movies work much better than her mainstream comedy. So, why the utter need for Thurman to headline this? So much so that you'd change a classic character?

It looks like we should get used to seeing Uma this way -- Handmade Films is hoping to make this a series that's followed with Eloise Goes to Hollywood.

Forget about all that I told you in January about the Eloise in Paris movie. Well, not everything. Handmade Films is still, of course, the George Harrison-started company. Kay Thompson is still the creator, and she is the god-mother of Liza Minelli. The rest, having Nigel Cole direct a script from Janet Brownell and Erin Joslyn -- that didn't work out. Now Charles Shyer is grabbing the director's chair, and the new, contemporary script will come from Shyer, Larry Spencer and Hallie Meyers-Shyer (his 19-year-old daughter with Nancy Meyers). The director says: "The books consisted of a lot of vignettes, and the challenge is to create a cohesive story. There is sweetness and comedy, but there is also an underpinning of pathos and humanity." The new plan is to whip together the screenplay and go into production in February in London, Paris and New York. If all goes well and the film is successful, the next adaptation is already planned -- Eloise Goes to Hollywood.

This new directorial turn could bode really well for the film. Charles Shyer has written a whole slew of classics that I happen to like -- Smokey and the Bandit, Private Benjamin, Irreconcilable Differences and Father of the Bride. He also directed a few of those as well. Granted, his last feature was Alfie, but not every film can be long-standing and memorable. Undoubtedly, this will be big amongst the young girls, but I also hope Eloise's chase for the stolen dress won't be a fluffy hit, but instead, one of those quality family films.