No, this is not a rap about Judy. :-) It's just musings about the Archetypal Evil Bitch, as personified by Morgan Le Fay from the Arthurian legends.
Morgan has always been one of my favorite characters in books and movies. She is just *deliciously* evil, in ways that make other evil bitches pale by comparison. Thus her character provides a challenge to writers of Arthurian fiction, but even more so to actresses portraying Morgan in films. Many actresses have tried to capture Morgan's high evilbitchnessitude in movies or on TV. And failed. To date, only one has succeeded -- the great Helen Mirren, in the film "Excalibur." She basically "set the bar" for portrayals of Morgan Le Fay, the standard that any actress in the future has to try to match or exceed. I for one thought that no actress would ever even get close. But then I heard about the "casting coup of the year," and the fact that the STARZ network had cast Eva Green in the part. If you don't know the name, try to remember back to the most recent "Casino Royale" film, and literally the first "Bond girl" ever to be a match for James Bond. Better, remember back further to Bertolucci's "The Dreamers," which she starred in at age 22. Bertolucci, who knew Eva growing up because he knew her mother (French actress Marlène Jobert), described her as "so beautiful it's indecent," which is an understatement. She carried her first film off well, and even wrote several songs for the score. She's not only beautiful and a talented actress, she's smart. So if any actress had a shot at being as interesting as Helen Mirren in the part of Morgan Le Fay, it was Eva Green, and I found myself looking forward to seeing the TV production. Today I got to watch a reviewer version of the first episode. Sadly, given that first episode, STARZ is not giving her a lot to work with except some lovely costumes. Suffice it to say that the writing is not up to the level of the network's "Spartacus: Blood And Sand." Jamie Campbell Bower is far too pretty as Arthur and Joseph Fiennes is far too wussy as Merlin. At least so far. I'm hoping for more in future episodes, both from them and from the writing, but I may be hoping in vain. So far, there's not a great deal more to Eva Green's performance as Morgan Le Fay than just being able to look at her. Then again, that's almost enough. :-) [Eva Green Camelot] [Eva Green in Camelot TV Series Season One Image] <http://www.beyondhollywood.com/uploads/2011/01/camelot-tv-series-1.jpg>
