Jane Austen never goes out of style. The founding mother of chick lit (I say that with love and respect; please don’t throw your dog-eared copies of Pride & Prejudice at me) has become cinema’s go-to wordsmith. Move over, Shakespeare: This is Jane’s world now.

Of course, adapting Austen’s books for the big screen is nothing new. But two upcoming films take it a step further this summer. They are inspired by the very woman herself. Becoming Jane (opening Aug. 10) and The Jane Austen Book Club (opening Sept. 21) both draw inspiration from Austen’s life. And both look, at first glance, pretty intriguing.

Becoming Jane features Anne Hathaway as a 20-year-old Austen at the start of her writing career and a crossroads in her love life. It sounds like, for lack of a better description, classic Austen. And Anne definitely fits the part. Broody writer looks good on her. … continue reading

This is a live blog from the bi-annual Television Critics Association conference. See previous TCA posts here.

It's time for the highlight of the conference, for me at least: the panel for Cashmere Mafia, the only new show next season with a prominent lesbian character, played by Bonnie Somerville (pictured below on the far left).

The cast — Lucy Liu, Miranda Otto, Frances O'Connor, and Bonnie Somerville — is joined on stage by writer Kevin Wade, executive producer Darren Star, and some exec named Jeff (didn't catch his last name).

All four of the women look great, although Lucy's wearing a bright pink number that's the same color as a prom dress I wore in high school, with some kind of red mock scarf thingie.

The Q&A kicks off with a topic that will prove to be a popular one at the session: Sex and the City, and how it relates to this show. Darren Star insists, "I wasn't thinking of Sex and the City when I sold this idea." He says he initially got the idea for Cashmere Mafia when Gail Katz talked about women she went to business school with at Yale.

A reporter comments that he was disappointed there was only one scene in which someone was actually wearing cashmere. Bonnie jokingly asks the reporter to marry her (because he knows what cashmere is), but he says he has to go pick up his wife at the airport. Bonnie quips back, "That's okay. My character would probably like that." Five minutes in and already with the lesbian jokes? A good sign! … continue reading