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Joss Stone in The Tudors

Joss Stone as Anne of Cleves in The Tudors
  • Posted at 12:31pm
  • 09 September 2009
  • by AlisonGraham-RT
  • 4 comments

In this week's episode of the The Tudors a restless, randy Henry VIII at last sets eyes on his bride-to-be, Anne of Cleves. And he's not happy. Anne isn't the winsome beauty he's been led to expect by his unctuous courtiers and his biddable portrait painter, Hans Holbein.

But of course everyone watching knows this; the dramatic tension as the unfortunate Anne at last unveils herself lies squarely in who has been persuaded to play her.

After all, actors are notoriously vain, so who would, happily and willingly, play an unprepossessing woman reputedly dubbed by Henry, her charmless betrothed, as the Mare of Flanders?

The answer is multi-million-album-selling Devon-born singer Joss Stone (pictured). Of all people. In the TV and film business, this is known as stunt casting, when someone well known, not necessarily as an actor, pops up in a film, television drama or comedy. Like Britney Spears's turn in the US comedy How I Met Your Mother. Or Victoria Beckham as, indeed, Victoria Beckham, in Ugly Betty.

Whether or not you like Joss Stone, you've got to admit she's a game girl with a remarkable lack of vanity to have a stab at Anne of Cleves rather than simply joining the ever-growing ranks of The Tudors' writhing sex kittens. Remember, this is a series whose main promotional shot, which made the cover of RT, consisted largely of Henry sitting on a throne comprising buffed and oiled naked male and female bodies.

Maybe Stone's arrival is aimed at capturing the imagination of The Young People, who might not otherwise be interested in The Tudors, though I doubt it, considering the series is packed with sweaty couplings and enough haughty bobbing cleavages to keep any panting teen glued to the telly.

Stone actually isn't bad, though she doesn't have too much to do in the episode apart from look troubled when she realises that her intended doesn't fancy her one tiny bit, with all the implications for the wellbeing of her dainty neck and head that this inevitably entails.

But the fact remains she's a singer, not an actress, and the two aren't interchangeable, even if The Tudors' casting director had to send out search parties equipped with Kendal Mint Cake and flasks of hot soup to find someone, anyone, to play Anne of Cleves. You wouldn't ask Dame Judi Dench to front Red Hot Chili Peppers, would you? (OK, you might, and she would probably be too much of a lady to refuse.) Or would you dream of approaching Dame Helen Mirren urging her to sing lead vocals for Arctic Monkeys?

Maybe Stone's casting opens whole new doors for The Tudors - Lady GaGa can play Catherine Howard and Amy Winehouse can be Catherine Parr. If the producers move on to a romp based on the life of Elizabeth I, may I suggest they get Beyoncé to play her, with Robbie Williams as the Earl of Essex? A brilliant combination, I think.

**

Alison Graham is TV editor of Radio Times

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Comments

  • Posted on 15 November 2009
  • at 9:22am
  • by Slink

I thought Joss Stone was very good. I didnt think she was 'ugly' enough to play Anne of Cleves (in truth she is more attractive than Catherine Howard.) She did as good a job as any other of the Tudor sex kittens.

  • Posted on 25 September 2009
  • at 10:45pm
  • by Chris

I didn't realise it was her until afterwards. All I thought was "Wow, what a sexy voice she has!" That's one advantage of having singers as actresses.

  • Posted on 19 September 2009
  • at 6:21pm
  • by Linda

I thought Joss did a good job, and she is very pretty too.

  • Posted on 11 September 2009
  • at 8:58am
  • by Matthias

Singing and acting aren't interchangeable, eh? Just watch Björk's award-winning tour de force in Lars von Trier's movie "Dancer in the Dark".

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