The series name is “Julia” and you can see a trailer or two if you don’t even try very hard. It’s set to debut on March 31. They are apparently expecting to do 8 episodes. It stars an actress named Sarah Lancashire, about whom I know nothing, and David Hyde Pierce as her husband Paul.
I don’t know if you count yourself as among those who think that Meryl Streep did everything there was to do with this character in the movie “Julie and Julia.” I do. It wasn’t so much that she captured the look and the manner so well, it was that she seemed to me to capture the spirit that animated that person whom I used to watch religiously when I was a teenager (and I swear I remember seeing her drop a chicken on the floor and then pick it up and put it back on the counter, even though everyone says it never happened, or it never was broadcast). Anyway, from what I have seen in one of the trailers, it does not seem like they are trying for a realistic portrayal but rather a re-imagining, which I think is more appropriate for a fictional character than a real one.
I can’t quite figure out from IMDB what network or streaming service is going to be carrying this, but I’m really not trying that hard.
Sarah Lancashire is very well known as a British actress and one of my favorites. She plays the lead in Happy Valley which is probably my favorite UK police procedural (hint, it’s not at all a very happy valley). I don’t think anyone can top Meryl Streep but I have a lot of faith that this actress will be worth watching.
Lancashire also physically resembles Julia Child much more than Meryl Streep. Child had a long and pretty interesting life, including developing a novel shark repellant to keep sharks from setting of underwater mines as part of her WWII service in the OSS. I’m morally certain their is more to mine of her life than was presented in a feature movie in which she wasn’t actually the protagonist.
And I second the opinion on Happy Valley. Broadchurch seems to have gotten all of the attention in the US as a British police procedural despite how over the top it became, but with apologies to David Tennent and the always outstanding Olivia Coleman, Happy Valley was a far better drama and Sarah Lancashire is phenomenal in it.
Lancashire started in the (very) long-running soap Coronation Street, and is a rare example of someone who escaped from ‘Corrie’ to become a well-respected dramatic actor.
I enjoyed that movie, but it really wasn’t so much about Julia Child, the person as it was about Julia Child, the cook, and it was quite shallow even in that. She was an interesting woman who led an interesting life. That deserves a deeper look, I think.
My initial reaction to this news is that I have zero interest in this as a series or even an 8 episode mini-series. She was, however, a culinary institution in and of herself, so there may be a nucleus of fans out there big enough to prevent it from being cancelled.
I’m not interested in watching the series/movie ABOUT JC. But a year or so back my wife and I had several enjoyable evenings watching some of her oldest eps that we got from our library on DVD. We really preferred the oldest black and white eps, as they were very informal.
Is anyone watching this? I know nothing about Julia Child except that film with Meryl Streep, but I’m totally loving it. It’s utterly charming, and Sarah Lancashire is wonderful. Of course, being British I know Sarah Lancashire very well, and don’t know Julia Child, so her rendition may be totally off the mark, but whatever she’s doing, I’m thoroughly enjoying it.
I’m enjoying it. It’s very well done. Interesting to see some of the “backstage” stuff like having someone underneath the counter assisting her. Wonder how long that practice continued or if it’s still done.
Really enjoying it. In the most recent episode, when the guy sits down next to her and says “I like you just the way you are.” I gasped in delight even before he introduced himself.
