Pure Vanity

British actor James Purefoy admits that he hadn't read Vanity Fair at the time he was cast in the latest screen version of William Makepeace Thackeray's novel. And he was equally adamant that he wasn't going to read it before filming began. "I've done a number of these film adaptations and find it's more trouble than it's worth," he says.

"You're making the script, not making the book and end up regretting scenes that aren't in it. Reading the book of other adaptations messed me up a bit, but I have read the book since the film and it's a remarkable, wonderful read."

He plays romantic lead Rawdon Crawley in the new film of Vanity Fair, the story of the rise and rise of ambitious Becky Sharp in 19th century English society. The film is directed by Indian-born Mira Nair, whose Monsoon Wedding was a worldwide hit and who's been tipped to direct the next Harry Potter movie.

Purefoy comes to the role after a series of film and TV roles, including several adaptations of classics, including Mansfield Park, The Mayor Of Casterbridge, and The Tenant Of Wildfell Hall. Another, The Prince And The Pauper, was an earlier collaboration with Vanity Fair screenwriter Julian Fellowes, an Oscar-winner for his Gosford Park script.

"I've done a lot of these adaptations of Austen, Bronte and that sort of world and didn't need to do much research," explains Purefoy. "Also, it's a love story, not about the detail of me as a cavalry officer. I've been in love once or twice in my life. You know in your heart what it's like to be in love."

His dark good looks mean that he's a natural for romantic leads. But Rawdon Crawley wasn't a role he took on lightly for fear of being typecast. As he's now playing Mark Antony in HBO's historical epic Rome, he seems to have succeeded. "That's a very different part and a very different man," he says.

"I've been quite lucky in that way. There are themes that have run through the parts I've played but I've escaped doing type parts. I've been offered another few parts in boots and breeches since Vanity Fair, but I've left those alone."

There's also the small matter of being the next James Bond, now that Pierce Brosnan has given back his licence to kill. Purefoy is one of several actors linked with taking over the role. He points out that he's signed to the Rome series for the next three years, although he will be getting breaks from filming from time to time. "It's an extraordinarily iconic part and I would walk 50 miles over broken glass to do it," he says. Which sounds as if he might say yes if asked to be 007.

For Mira Nair being offered the chance to direct Vanity Fair was "wonderful serendipity" as the book has been one of her favourites since she was introduced to it at boarding school in India when she was 14. "It's a novel I dipped in over the years and every time it gave me something new," she says.

Becky Sharp - played by American actress Reece Witherspoon, of Legally Blonde fame - is a woman with ambition who goes out and gets what she wants, no matter what others think of her behaviour. Nair sees her as a totally modern girl, not unlike herself.

'Like Becky, I was an Indian chick who didn't do as she was supposed to do." She also welcomed the chance to look at the world of Thackeray, an Englishman who spent his early childhood in Calcutta, and how England at that time was being affected by influences from colonies like India.

She'd been looking for a project on which to work with Witherspoon and the role of Becky Sharp was perfect. "We were both interested in seeing Becky, who lived life as a total survivor with her eye on the prize and who forgot what was most precious to her," she says.

"Thackeray wrote Vanity Fair as a monthly page-turner and you see certain things that he does to Becky in response to notes he had. He gave Becky her own set of morals and that's what I honed in on."

Fellowes, an actor turned screenwriter, had known and liked the book for years, and regards Becky as a "very much a modern heroine".

"One of the problems of adapting Dickens is that Victorian heroines sit by the fire and take it on the chin. With Becky Sharp we can make her a woman for modern audiences," he explains.

"What I liked about Monsoon Wedding was combining this detailed narrative with a sense of world they were moving in. I felt you left Monsoon Wedding knowing about their world.

"It's always a battle what to leave out of the novel. We sat in rooms arguing back and forth whether we could have this or have that. There's always a moment when you kill your darlings."

Even the problem of Witherspoon being "very pregnant" while making the film was an advantage as far as Nair was concerned. "She's a really tiny girl and I like fullness in actors. I love that fleshiness and sensuality," she says. "Reece plays from 18 to 35. We had to camouflage her pregnancy with shawls and baskets, and costumes to cover the bump."

* Vanity Fair (PG) opens in cinemas tomorrow.

Published: 13/01/2005