The Serious Side of Paris Hilton

The film, which has a working title of Tess! Oh Tess!, is a Miramax Films and BBC Films co-production to be directed by Guy Ritchie. Paris Hilton will play the role of the central character Tess Durbeyfield, a simple country girl with a heart of gold, a tragic anti-heroine to whom fate dealt numerous cruel blows. The film will co-star Ewan McGregor as the farmer Angel Clare and Christian Bale as the wealthy Alec d'Urberville. Filming begins in England in June this year at an undisclosed location in the West Midlands.

Paris Hilton's acting career was on shaky ground after her supporting role in the dreadful 2005 horror, House of Wax. Since then she has bounced back with two comedies that are currently in post-production, National Lampoon’s Pledge This and Bottoms Up and is now seeking to establish herself as a serious actress by taking on a challenging role. Film industry insiders are sceptical that Paris will succeed as a serious actress and a source within Miramax Films has been heard to say that he doubts that she will be able to actually read and understand the screenplay and that the task ahead is beyond her abilities.

Paris Hilton appeared briefly with director Guy Ritchie at a media conference at Miramax Films' New York City headquarters to answer questions about the new project. When asked why she was suited to the role Guy answered "Paris is very much misunderstood by the entertainment industry, the media and the public. Everyone thinks that she's just a self-absorbed, vacuous bimbo who has totally lost her grip on reality, but she's not, she has strength and depth of character which reminds me of Tess Durbeyfield." Paris explained further, "Tess is like this totally hot farm girl and I know all about working on farms from doing The Simple Life."

Tess of the d'Urbervilles is one of the great classics of English literature but it hasn't been seen on the big screen since Roman Polanski's Tess in 1979. Guy Ritchie believes that it is well overdue for a re-make, "Tess of the d’Urbervilles is one of my favourite books of all time. I want to tell Tess's story to an audience who may not have read the book, or even know that the book exists." That audience would seem to include Paris Hilton herself. When asked if she had read the book, she admitted that she hadn't, "No, I don’t read books, it takes too much time. I got this cool CD where someone reads it to me. I’m gonna listen to it one day and Guy has given me a book by Cliff Notes that’ll tell me what’s going on in the story."

Guy Ritchie's Tess! Oh Tess! is due to be released world-wide during the first half of 2007 and, if successful, it will take one of literature's finest stories to a new audience and give Paris Hilton the credibility as an actress that she so desperately covets.

 

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