Hmmm ... well, file this one under "this could be an interesting casting decision." Variety reported yesterday that Ellen Page, who's been one of my favorite young actresses since I saw her in Hard Candy, has signed on to play one of classic literature's greatest (and most adapted) heroines, Jane Eyre, in an adaptation for BBC.

On the one hand, I can see Page physically in the role -- she looks very like the waif-like Jane in the ancient hardcover edition of the book I inherited from my great-grandmother, all narrow-faced and doe-eyed. And she's certainly proven that she has the acting chops to take on a serious role (see her performances in both Hard Candy and An American Crime).

Of late, though, she's become so identified with the snarky, wise-cracking teenagers she played in Juno and Smart People, that it may be a bit hard now to wash the modern, smart-mouthed teen out of our collective viewing palettes. I say this as a fan of both Page and Juno -- and Lord knows, I've taken enough crap here and elsewhere for loving Juno over the last year -- but I'm trying to wrap my mind around Page as one of the most depressing heroines in literature (all right, Wuthering Heights' Cathy is perhaps more depressing, but until the very end of the book, Jane Eyre isn't what I'd call cheery and uplifting).

According to this morning's Guardian, a warts-and-all biopic of the entire Bronte family is being planned in England. Quite logically entitled Brontë, the film is budgeted at about $11 million and will place Charlotte, Anne, and Emily in a realistic 19th century England, filled with "dungheaps and foul drains ... open sewer[s] in the street and ... cholera and typhoid that killed most children before their sixth birthday." Mmm ... dungheaps.

Since the movie begins filming next month, most of the cast is in place -- and it features some big names, particularly considering how under-the-radar it's been flying. Starring as Charlotte (Who, as all American high school students know, wrote Jane Eyre.) will be Michelle Williams, Nathalie Press will play Emily (Author of Wuthering Heights. That's all, just Wuthering Heights.) and Anne, she of The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, will be played by New Zealander Emily Barclay. Also along for the dung-laden ride will be Jonathan Rhys Meyers (sadly for JRM, his character is apparently straight), Brian Cox and Ben Chaplin.