So farewell then, Anthony Minghella. Say what you like about The English Patient (and I know it gets right up some people's noses), but it put Britain back on the cinematic map. Minghella then championed the British film industry as Chairman of the BFI's board of governors until last year. We have much to thank this great writer-director for. Just for starters, he brought the charming Kristin Scott Thomas to the attention of Jeremy Clarkson and middle-aged men everywhere:
He made my mother's heart flutter by turning the fine Alan Rickman into a sex symbol, in Rickman's second greatest role (after the Sheriff of Nottingham, obviously):
And he persuaded Jude Law to be in good movies when no one else could:
Minghella's latest project, directed with Richard Curtis, was an adaptation of Alexander McCall Smith's The No 1 Ladies Detective Agency, which is being shown on the BBC this weekend. Last week, HBO, the BBC and the Weinstein Company announced they had commissioned a 13-part series of the popular detective stories. If it boasts anything like the quality we've come to expect of Minghella's movies, it will make a fitting legacy.
The English Patient is a fabulous film which has it all (and is one of the few adaptions that is actually better than the original book - I can only think of The 39 Steps as another one). Will be sadly missed.
Posted by: Rose | Wednesday, 19 March 2008 at 10:42 AM