Do You Know Mrs. X?

Harvey Weinstein has apparently been offering a $100,000 bounty to anybody who can identify the inspiration behind Mrs. X, the villainess of The Nanny Diaries. CBS correspondant Lisa Birnbach is known to have employed Nicola Kraus, one of the Nanny Diaries' writers but does anybody have the evidence to pin it on her?

Chances are, there is no single Mrs. X and any suggestion can be undermined by pointing to characteristics sourced from another monstrous mother. Unless, of course, Harvey wants to dish out this $100,000 in another week or two to generate some more buzz for the film?

I'm hoping the Nanny Diaries film does well, but I think the marketing will have hurt it's chances somewhat. The publicity seems to be pushing the film as a comedy whereas, actually, it's something much more considered and dramatic than the posters and TV spots would have you believe.

Or so I'm told. I haven't seen it yet, though I really am looking forward to it. Will it be at the London Film Festival? I'd guess so.

A Page Torn From The Nanny Diaries

Seventeen have an exclusive clip from The Nanny Diaries. And very good it is too.

Stick around after the clip for some brain-rotting drivel about runway fashion and make-up.

X Marks The Spot - Again - In The Nanny Diaries

Big Screen Little Screen (weren't they a pair of regulars on Playschool?) have posted a UK-friendly iFilm version of The Nanny Diaries trailer. Sadly, it's in the wrong aspect ratio.

Take a look at the furnishings and decoration of the appartment in which Scarlett is nannying. You'll see a far higher concentration of X shapes than in The Departed even. This time, however, it strikes me as a much more appropriate and sensible application of the motif, not to mention worthwhile and effective.

For one thing - and not the main thing, let me stress - the appartment belongs to Mr and Mrs X. That's the name given to the employers of our Nanny Diarist, both on the page and here in the adapatation. Secondly, and much more importantly, the design is used to create a very opressively ordered, choking style in the production design. The wallpaper, the chairs, everything - they look heavy, tied-down, that bit more claustrophobically enclosing than if the X structures had not been woven into them.

A very good job by directors Springer and Berman, and particularly Mark Ricker, the film's production designer.