Claire Danes is a super talented actress, and I’m torn between “I don’t think of her as a frock flicks actress” and “how have we not done her yet??” So, without further ado, here’s her historical film/TV resume:
Beth in Little Women (1994)
Glady Jo in How to Make an American Quilt (1995)
Cosette in Les Misérables (1998)
Maria in Stage Beauty (2004)
Young Ann in Evening (2007)
Yvaine in Stardust (2007)
Sonja in Me and Orson Welles (2008)
Temple in Temple Grandin (2010)
Cora in The Essex Serpent (2022)
What’s your favorite of Claire Danes’s many frock flick roles?
She had a knitted sweater w huge 1890s sleeves in ‘Essex’. But oh they changed the ending.
Little Women, hands down. (Hollywood, please adapt other Louisa May Alcott works. They exist, I promise.)
I would love to see an adaptation of ‘An Old-Fashioned Girl’. Will I hate it because they changed so much of it? Yes, but I want to see who they cast and if they do their parts justice.
Or an anthology series on the lives of the women that Polly takes her rich friend (blanking on the name) to visit in that great chapter in the second half.
‘Eight Cousins’ and/or ‘Rose in Bloom’. Lots of opportunity for great performances!
Definitely “and.”
I didn’t realize there was an adaptation of Essex Serpent! I loved that book. I also really like Claire Danes, although I have the same complaint about her in period dramas that I have about many contemporary actresses–her posture is all wrong! I’m an inveterate sloucher myself, so no judgment here, but it is a little distracting.
That bone structure! I like the fact that Beth wasn’t played by some weedy little girl; Claire gave her some depth and a certain mystery. Am torn between Beth, Temple Grandin, and Maria.
My second-favorite Beth, because I do so love Margaret O’Brien in the role, but Claire Danes is amazing in every one of these. I loved her in Stage Beauty and Temple Grandin. Still need to get back to The Essex Serpent, I got distracted.