"The Dreaming Child" - Unproduced Julia Ormond/Harold Pinter Project Now a BBC Radio Drama

Last year Julia was on The Late, Late Show with Craig Ferguson where she briefly discussed an unproduced film project she had worked on with the late Nobel Prize-winning playwright Harold Pinter. That 1997 screenplay, based on Karen Blixen's (also known by her pseudonym Isak Dinesen) short story The Dreaming Child is now a BBC radio drama starring Game of Throne's Leslie Rose (where she played Ygritte, the red-haired wilding). Julia does not appear to have any connection with this current adaptation. It will premiere on Saturday, March 7th on BBC Radio 4 (link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b054gxpb )

I. According to the Daily Mail (link:  http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2963444/Now-aPinter-pause-New-plays-broadcast-seven-years-died.html ):

"Pinter’s adaptation of The Dreaming Child is set in Bristol in 1868 and tells the story of childless couple Emily and Tom Carter and their decision to adopt a boy from the slums. But happiness eludes the couple because Emily continues to be haunted by her passionate fling with a young soldier who was killed at sea.

It will be narrated by Anne Reid, who plays Celia in the Bafta-winning Last Tango In Halifax, and stars Rose Leslie.

Pinter was originally commissioned to write the screenplay by Hollywood star Julia Ormond, who at the time had signed a production deal with 20th Century Fox. She was delighted with Pinter’s work but the project collapsed when she insisted on directing the film as well as producing it. Pinter later commented: ‘It was this that brought the project to its knees. The money-men simply wouldn’t give her the chance.’

In his official biography of the playwright, critic Michael Billington said the screenplay for The Dreaming Child compared favourably with Pinter’s very best work."

Harold Pinter's original screenplay was published in the third volume of his "Collected Screenplays" (Farber & Farber, 2000). HaroldPinter.org has a quote from Julia in the Evening Standard from October 1997, "Working with him is the highlight of my career. I think he has done a brilliant script and I hope we will get the green light soon." (Link: http://www.haroldpinter.org/films/films_dreamingchild.shtml )

II. On January 16th Julia posted a link on her verified twitter account to Instagram page. Here's hoping we'll see more posts from her soon. (Link: https://instagram.com/julia.ormond/ )