Ellen Pages Jane Eyre role irks British film industry

The news of Canadian actress Ellen Page bagging the prestigious role of Jane Eyre in BBCs new big screen version of Charlotte Brontes classic novel, has not gone down too well with the British film industry.

London, May 8 : The news of Canadian actress Ellen Page bagging the prestigious role of Jane Eyre in BBC's new big screen version of Charlotte Bronte's classic novel, has not gone down too well with the British film industry.

The actress, who was nominated for an Oscar in the Best Actress category for her hit film Juno, has been casted to play the female lead in the big-screen version of the1847 novel, which tells the epic love story of a governess and her master, Edward Rochester.

The casting has irked many of the industry's bigwigs, who claim that it's yet another example of famous British roles going to actresses from across the Atlantic.

It was just last year that US actress Anne Hathaway angered many when she was cast in the role of Jane Austen in the flick Becoming Jane, while American Scarlett Johansson was recently chosen to play Mary Queen of Scots and previously starred as Mary Boleyn in the Other Boleyn Girl, opposite Natalie Portman as Anne Boleyn.

"No one is doubting Ellen Page's acting abilities but why a BBC movie of Jane Eyre couldn't have a British actress in the lead is pretty hard to stomach," The Daily Express quoted an industry senior, as saying.

He added: "It's not as if we don't have enough talented young actresses here who could play the role. It seems even the BBC has become obsessed with employing talent from overseas at the expense of our own girls."

Jane Eyre, one of the most filmed English novels of all-time, will be Page's first period drama.

Since a long time, many actresses of the likes of Joan Fontaine and Susannah York have played the title character.

ANI