A.O. Scott At TIFF

Keira Knightley arrives at the premiere of 'The Duchess' at TIFF. A.O. Scott compiled an audio slideshow from the film fest.

Up In Arms Over Trailer For 'The Duchess'

Amanda Foreman, who wrote the biography, Georgiana. Duchess of Devonshire, on which the movie 'The Duchess', starring Keira Knightley as Georgiana of Devonshire, has a problem with the reference to Diana, Princess of Wales, in the trailer for the movie which was produced by Pathe and is being shown on British television. In the opening seconds of the trailer a drawing of Diana fades in and out over footage from the movie with the captions: "Two women related by ancestry" followed by "United by destiny".

This is from The Times Online:

Amanda Foreman, who wrote the biography on which the film is based, said: "There is absolutely no reason to have done this trailer, which is a bad joke.

"The marketing people probably thought the only way they could get the young popcorn-eating brigade to see this film was if they made some comparison with Diana. But they did not need to and should not have done it."

While there are some similarities between the lives of Georgiana and Diana, nether Foreman’s book nor the film makes any reference to the former Princess of Wales.

The Telegraph quotes Foreman as adding:

She also said that the "united by destiny" tag is inaccurate.

"I don't actually think that Georgiana died in a carriage crash," she said.

According to the Mail Online, Knightley told Channel 4 "Marketing is nothing to do with me - you are going to have to ask whoever it was at the film company that thought that that was a good idea about that one."

And..."I don't know, it's nothing to do with me. I am just about playing the role that I was given which was not Diana, which was Georgiana."

While Georgiana is the great-great-great-great aunt of Diana it seems to me the 'connection' ends there. The trailer is a jaw-dropping embarrassment. It did, however, succeed in getting the movie a lot of free press, which will serve some idiotic suit in Marketing well.

The Duchess

Keira Knightley hinted she was a movie star with her performance in 'Atonement'. I think she may confirm that with her turn in 'The Duchess'. She's been in big movies like 'Pirates of the Caribbean' but more or less as window dressing. She held down her part in 'Domino' but that wasn't a star-making role and I think she deserved better. 'The Duchess' looks like a turning point.

Yahoo has a hi-def version.

The Duchess