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A new documentary will explore Meghan Markle ’s headline-making exit from the royal family.
Meghan Markle Escaping the Crown is scheduled for release on 10 March by Vice Media – which released the first trailer for the movie on Thursday.
“As the saga continues with Harry and Meghan’s loss of royal branding, the documentary confronts issues of race, prejudice, and obsession in a story that now threatens to upend one of the longest-running institutions in the world,” reads a synopsis.
Vice’s description promises “exclusive interviews with palace insiders and experts including William and Harry’s former butler, the American wives of the British aristocracy, and royal correspondents”.
The trailer begins with Meghan and Harry’s wedding on 19 May, 2018, back when many expected the couple to end up “driving the monarchy forward”, an expert explains.
Show all 16 1 /16Jane Austen film and TV adaptations, ranked Jane Austen film and TV adaptations, ranked Pride + Prejudice + Zombies, 2016 The title says it all. This is possibly the worst of all the adaptations, proving that Austen and zombies really don’t mix. It is based on Seth Grahame-Smith’s 2009 novel Pride and Prejudice and Zombies – a parody of Austen’s novel. It stars Lily James as Elizabeth and Sam Riley as Darcy. When zombies attack a ball that the Bennet sisters attend, they fight them off. At the end of the film, when Darcy and Elizabeth have a joint wedding with Bingley (Douglas Booth) and Jane (Bella Heathcote), zombies threaten to ruin it all. That sort of thing.
Jane Austen film and TV adaptations, ranked Bride and Prejudice, 2004 This Bollywood-style romp of Pride and Prejudice was directed by Gurinder Chadha. It got mixed reviews from critics, but it is still highly entertaining as it swaps bonnets for saris. It centres on Lalita Bakshi (the equivalent of Elizabeth Bennet), a young woman living in India, played by Aishwarya Rai. Her Darcy is a suave American businessman, played by Martin Henderson, but the all-singing, all-dancing spin on Jane Austen’s novel lacks any real depth.
Pathé Distribution
Jane Austen film and TV adaptations, ranked Sanditon, 2019 (ITV series) Period drama adaptor Andrew Davies turns his pen this time to Austen’s unfinished novel, written four months before she died. It starred Curfew’s Rose Williams as Charlotte Heywood and Downton Abbey’s Theo James as Sidney Parker. But it was criticised for too much nudity and labelled “cringe-worthy” by The Independent.
ITV
Jane Austen film and TV adaptations, ranked Death Comes to Pemberly, 2013 (BBC TV series) Based on the fan fiction novel by PD James, this picks up the story six years after Elizabeth and Darcy were married in Pride and Prejudice. Revolving around a murder mystery, the three-part BBC TV series garnered just as much acclaim as James’s book, with The Independent praising the casting of Matthew Rhys as Darcy and Anna Maxwell Martin as Elizabeth. There were stand-out performances, too, from Jenna Coleman as Lydia Wickham and Matthew Goode as George Wickham.
BBC
Jane Austen film and TV adaptations, ranked Pride and Prejudice, 1940 The well-received MGM film ends with a long kiss between Laurence Olivier (Mr Darcy) and Greer Garson (Elizabeth Bennet). The is one of the funniest film adaptations of Austen’s most famous novel, with flamboyant costumes that look like they were borrowed from Gone with the Wind. It was directed by Robert Z Leonard with the screenplay written by Aldous Huxley and Jane Murfin.
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Jane Austen film and TV adaptations, ranked Mansfield Park, 1999 This romantic comedy stars Frances O’Connor as Fanny Price and Jonny Lee Miller as Edmund Bertram. It is not faithful to the text; director Patricia Rozema claimed it was not a Jane Austen film, but a “Patricia Rozema film”. “My job as an artist is to provide a fresh view.” Rozema added character traits of Jane Austen to the character Fanny, created a “lesbian frisson” between Mary Crawford and Fanny, and made slavery a central plot point. The film's boldness earnt it favourable reviews.
Miramax Films
Jane Austen film and TV adaptations, ranked Emma, 1996 Gwyneth Paltrow makes a “resplendent Emma” according to The New York Times review, while Rolling Stone said, “Gwyneth Paltrow works such magic in Emma that you can almost hear the click of a career locking into high gear.” The first-time director Douglas McGrath adapted the 1816 Austen novel, having written Bullets Over Broadway with Woody Allen. While others found Paltrow’s nasal voice annoying and her Emma lacking in irony, she carried off the English accent close to perfectly.
Miramax Films
Jane Austen film and TV adaptations, ranked Persuasion, 1995 (BBC film) There’s nothing like a happy ending and Austen was a pro at them. Director Roger Michell’s Bafta-award-winning film is based on Austen’s 1817 novel of the same name. It stars Amanda Root as Anne Elliott and Ciaran Hinds as her love interest, Captain Frederick Wentworth. The pair are reunited eight years after Anne was pushed into rejecting his marriage proposal – which she deeply regrets. He feels hurt by the rejection but eventually the path of true love runs smoothly for them.
Sony Pictures
Jane Austen film and TV adaptations, ranked Emma, 1996 (ITV film) This ITV film is generally considered to be better than Miramax’s starry film adaptation, which was released in the same year. It was dramatised by Davies, who had just done Pride and Prejudice for the BBC. It starred Kate Beckinsale as a wonderfully believable Emma Woodhouse, Mark Strong as George Knightley and Samantha Morton as Harriet Smith.
ITV
Jane Austen film and TV adaptations, ranked Pride and Prejudice, 2005 Joe Wright’s first feature film, which starred Keira Knightley as Elizabeth Bennet and Matthew Macfadyen as her romantic interest Mr Darcy, was a commercial success. Knightley received a Best Actress Oscar nomination for the role. It had a starry cast including Donald Sutherland (Mr Bennet), Rosamund Pike (Jane Bennet), Carey Mulligan (Kitty Bennet), Judi Dench (Lady Catherine de Bourgh) and Rupert Friend (George Wickham). Screenwriter Deborah Moggach changed the film’s period setting to the late 18th century so that it stood out from the 1995 BBC adaptation, which has still remained a favourite.
Focus Features
Jane Austen film and TV adaptations, ranked Northanger Abbey, 2007 (ITV film) Felicity Jones perfectly portrayed Northanger Abbey’s heroine Catherine Morland. Austen’s protagonist has a fevered imagination and a passion for Gothic novels, but things begin to unravel when that imagination leads her astray. The adaptation also stars JJ Field as Catherine's love interest Henry Tilney, and Carey Mulligan as her friend Isabella Thorpe. It was written by Andrew Davies, who adapted 1995’s Pride and Prejudice for the BBC and the TV adaptation of Emma the following year.
ITV
Jane Austen film and TV adaptations, ranked Bridget Jones Diary, 2001 It was the 1995 BBC series Pride and Prejudice, rather than the book, which inspired author Helen Fielding to write her popular Bridget Jones novels. It's fitting, then, that Colin Firth – who played Mr Darcy – stars as Bridget’s (Renee Zellweger) love interest Mark Darcy in the films based on Fielding's own work.
Universal/Rex
Jane Austen film and TV adaptations, ranked Love and Friendship, 2016 This acclaimed Amazon original comedy became a welcome addition to the Jane Austen adaption canon. It is based on Austen's short epistolary novel Lady Susan, which was published posthumously. It stars Kate Beckinsale, who brilliantly plays the scheming Lady Susan, a recent widow who tries to find a husband for herself and her daughter. The film also stars Chloë Sevigny, Xavier Samuel and Emma Greenwell.
Moviestore/REX/Shutterstock
Jane Austen film and TV adaptations, ranked Clueless, 1995 This 1990s coming-of-age cult film is a modern-day retelling of Austen’s Emma, but set in Beverly Hills, rather than the fictional village of Highbury. It stars Alicia Silverstone as the romantic matchmaker Cher Horowitz – a wealthy high-school student who decides she enjoys helping others to find love. It became a surprise sleeper hit of 1995 and is considered to be one of the best teen films of all time.
Rex Features
Jane Austen film and TV adaptations, ranked Pride and Prejudice, 1995 (BBC TV series) No discussion about Jane Austen adaptations is complete without a mention of this adored and critically acclaimed six-part BBC mini series, by the master of the sexed-up period drama, Andrew Davies. Jennifer Ehle won a Bafta for her role of Elizabeth Bennet, while Colin Firth shot to fame as Mr Darcy. It is considered the starting point for the booming Jane Austen adaptation industry in both TV and film.
Rex
Jane Austen film and TV adaptations, ranked Sense and Sensibility, 1995 Emma Thompson spent five years writing her Oscar-winning screenplay about the Dashwood sisters; skilfully updating it for a 20th-century audience. Directed by Ang Lee, the film starred Thompson as Elinor Dashwood, while Kate Winslet played Elinor’s wilful younger sister Mariannne. After their father dies, the sisters are cut out of his inheritance and forced to move into a small cottage in the country. Hugh Grant and Greg Wise played their suitors, Edward Ferrars and John Willoughby, with a superb and much-missed Alan Rickman as Colonel Brandon.
Columbia Pictures
It continues with more footage of the couple, with a voiceover declaring: “This was never going to be the fairytale.”
The documentary, the first release of a planned documentary series called Vice Versa , will be released on major satellite and cable providers as well as ViceTV.com and the Vice TV app.
It comes after Meghan and Harry’s January announcement that they would step back from royal duties.
They will officially stand down as senior royals on 31 March.
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