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claudia1829things · 3 months

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"DAVID COPPERFIELD" (2000) Review

"DAVID COPPERFIELD" (2000) Review

For the past eight to nine months, I have been increasingly obsessed with Charles Dickens . . . namely television and movie adaptations of his novels and stories. Many may not find this odd, but I do, considering my previous disregard of his writing. Yes, I have seen various Dickens adaptations over the years. But for nearly a year, I have viewed many Dickens adaptations with a vengeance, including the 2000 made-for-television adaptation of his 1850 novel, "DAVID COPPERFIELD".

This adaptation of "David Copperfield" was a joint American-Irish production that had two Britons - John Davis and Greg Smith; along with an American named Robert A. Halmi serving as the film's producers. However, the director, Peter Medak, shot the movie in Ireland. Starring Hugh Dancy in the title role, "DAVID COPPERFIELD" told the story of an English author living in Switzerland, as he recounts his life up to that point from his childhood to early adulthood.

While living in Switzerland, David Copperfield has a chance encounter with his stepfather, the brutal Edward Murdstone, who seemed to be courting a wealthy young Englishwoman. David uses this encounter to write his autobiography, beginning with his birth some six months after his father's death. David recalls his widowed mother and the family's kind housekeeper Clara Peggotty raising him in an ideal setting. Following his and Peggotty's visit to the latter's family in Yarmouth, they return to discover Mrs. Copperfield's marriage to the harsh Mr. Murdstone. They also meet the latter's equally loathsome sister, Jane Murdstone. After a physical encounter with Mr. Murdstone, the latter enrolls David into a boarding school under a ruthless headmaster named Mr. Creakle. This decision sets David's journey in motion in which he makes new friends, forms new enemies and finds love as he matures into adulthood.

Dickens had regarded his 1850 novel as one of his favorite, regarding it as a strong similarity to his own life. Knowing a bit about the author's life, I found this assessment of his a bit hard to swallow. Perhaps this was wishful thinking on Dickens' part? Who knows. But I must admit that his story seemed first-class and the beginning of a more mature approach to his writing. This 2000 television movie seemed to reflect both qualities of Dickens' novel. Although I believe "DAVID COPPERFIELD" seems like a very faithful adaptation of the novel, I believe it is not as close to the latter as some might have believed it should.

I had a few issues with the movie. One, I believe it had made the mistake of closely following the 1935 movie adaptation, produced by David O. Selznick. I thought it had merely paid lip service to the story arc involving David's schoolfriend James Steerforth and Emily Peggotty and her family. In fact, most of the story involving this arc happened off-screen, much to my disappointment. Also, screenwriter John Goldsmith had reduced law clerk Uriah Heep's complex embezzlement scheme to a simple one involving stolen diamonds. Perhaps that is why this particular plotline seemed as if it had come out of the blue to simply serve as the character's downfall. In fact, the movie's last twenty-to-thirty minutes seemed very rushed to me. I also had one or two issues regarding the casting, but I will later touch upon it.

Despite my issues with parts of the movie's screenplay, I cannot deny that I had enjoyed "DAVID COPPERFIELD". I realized this is not the first or last adaptation of Dickens' novel, but it proved to be the first adaptation I have viewed. Like I said . . . I enjoyed it. Between Goldsmith's screenplay and Peter Medak's direction, I believe the movie took care to set up David's story as a flashback, using his encounter with his old foe as a means to kick start the narrative. "DAVID COPPERFIELD" proved to be a solid, yet entertaining story about the protagonist's coming-of-age, through his experiences - good, bad and tragic, and the people he met. I honestly thought I would be bored with this movie at least thirty minutes into the story. But I found myself both intrigued and entertained.

Also, it seemed a miracle that the David Copperfield character had not been overshadowed by the more colorful ones that appeared in this story. One has to credit Hugh Darcy for his skillful, yet emotional portrayal of the movie's protagonist. The actor had received a few negative reviews from critics who thought he had given a weak performance. I . . . have no idea on how to respond to that. I was more than satisfied with his performance.

"DAVID COPPERFIELD" also featured some very competent performances from the rest of the cast. Max Dolbey proved to be effective as the young David. Both Anthony Andrews and Eileen Atkins provided plenty of subtle menace as the cruel Murdstone siblings. Both Emily Hamilton and Julie Cox gave charming performances as David's two potential love interests - Agnes Wickfield and Dora Spinlow. Judy Cornwell and Nigel Davenport gave skillful performances as the Copperfields' housekeeper Clara Peggotty and her solid and dependable brother, Dan Peggotty. Dudley Sutton proved to be both charming and eccentric as Aunt Betsy Trotwood's close friend and tenant. The movie also featured solid performances from the likes of Lesley Manville, Oliver Ford Davies, Edward Hardwicke, Freddie Jones and Simon Delaney.

The two Americans in the cast for "DAVID COPPERFIELD" - Sally Field and Michael Richards - had received a good deal of criticism for their performances. Frankly, I can honestly say that such criticism were unwarranted. At least in my eyes. Granted, it seemed odd hearing that comical voice emitting from Field's mouth, when she first appeared as Aunt Betsey Trotwood. But in the end, I rather enjoyed her performance. I also enjoyed Michael Richards' performance as the genial, yet unreliable law clerk Wilkins Micawber. But I must admit there were a few times when the actor had allowed his Cosmo Kramer character from the television series, "SEINFELD" creep into his performance every now and then. Paul Bettany made a first-rate James Steerforth. It seemed a pity that the movie had given him very little screen time. I also feel the same about Sarah Farooqui and Anna Maguire, who had portrayed both the adult and young Emily Piggotty. We finally come to Frank McCusker's performance as the villain in the story's second half - Uriah Heep. I thought McCusker gave a skillful portrayal of the character. But at the same time, I found his performance rather exaggerated at times . . . bordering on cartoonish.

"DAVID COPPERFIELD" featured some lovely cinematography, thanks to Elemér Ragályi's colorful photography of the Irish locations. Michael Pickwoad's photography and Josie MacAvin's set decorations did a great job in re-creating early Victorian Britain. And I must admit that I really enjoyed Joan Bergin's costume designs. Most of the narrative for "DAVID COPPERFIELD" is supposed to be set in the 1840s, but the images below seemed to hint at a late 1850s or early 1860s setting for this particular film:

Overall, "DAVID COPPERFIELD" proved to be an entertaining adaptation of Charles Dickens' 1850 novel. Granted, I had some issues with the movie's decision to push most of the James Steerforth and Emily Peggotty arc off-screen and the simplification of Uriah Heep's scheme. Otherwise, I really enjoyed the movie, thanks to Peter Medak's direction, John Goldsmith's screenplay and a very skillful cast led by Hugh Dancy in the title role.

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lamorchemoveilsoleelaltrestelle · 2 years

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Emily Hamilton and Hugh Dancy in David Copperfield (2000)

#emily hamilton #hugh dancy #david copperfield #david copperfield 2000 #movies #period drama #period movies #perioddramaedit #film stills

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pesky--dust · 9 months

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They are the same scenes. A ladder scene thirteen years before the ladder scene from Hannibal.

#hannibal #nbc hannibal #hannibal nbc #will graham #hannibal lecter #hannibal gifs #hannigram #hugh dancy #david copperfield #david copperfield (2000)#the ladder scene #buffet froid #hannibal buffet froid #hannibal s01e10 #pesky--dust shitpost

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asoiaf-fancasts · 3 months

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Willow Heddle - Fancasts

Age: 10

Appearance: She has brown hair, brown eyes and is skinny.

Character[s]: Danielle De Barbarac [Younger] & Emily [Younger]

Actress: Anna Maguire

Movie[s]: Ever After: A Cinderella Story [1998] & David Copperfield [2000]

[She was 7 - 11 during these movies so around the right age for Willow. She has brown hair and brown eyes. She wears medieval clothes in Ever After and early Victorian in David Copperfield.]

#please suggest other fancasts #willow heddle #willow heddle fancasts #asoiaf fancast #a song of ice and fire #asoiaf #fancast resource #game of thrones

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maddie-grove · 27 days

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The Top Twenty Books I Read in 2023

Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell (1949): I thought somebody would make me read this book in school, but no one ever did. Now that I've read it, let me just say...mark me down as horny and scared! No, I will not explain what I mean by that.

Prairie Fires by Caroline Fraser (2017): In this examination of Laura Ingalls Wilder's life and work, Fraser skillfully weaves a portrait of two complicated women (Wilder and her daughter/editor Rose Wilder Lane) with an overview of large swathes of American history. The examination of how Wilder and Lane adapted Wilder's life experiences into autobiographical fiction and why they made those choices is particularly interesting.

Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver (2022): This is a retelling of David Copperfield by Charles Dickens, transplanted to Appalachia in the 1990s-2000s. Kingsolver retains the warmth and the pathos of the original, and the narrative voice is great.

Song of the Magdalene by Donna Jo Napoli (1996): Miriam, a Jewish girl in first-century Magdala, finds her life altered by unexplained seizures, which she must keep secret, and a first love that ends in tragedy. Napoli often brings it when it comes to thoughtful portrayals of disability and unexpectedly weird sensuality, and this novel is one of her best.

My Sweet Audrina by V.C. Andrews (1982): Audrina Adare, a young girl with severe memory problems, lives in an isolated Virginia mansion with her domineering father and various deranged female relatives...and it gets worse. This is V.C. Andrews at her most deliciously perverse and lurid, and I was definitely rooting for Audrina to close the portal.

I Never Asked You to Understand Me by Barthe DeClements (1986): Faced with her mother's terminal cancer diagnosis and the unhelpfulness of most adults in her life, fifteen-year-old Didi ends up at an alternative school for truancy and finds a friend in Stacy, a would-be runaway whose home life is even more dire. This 1980s YA problem novel always gets me, thanks to the author's gentle, empathetic treatment of her messy teenage characters.

Black Swan Green by David Mitchell (2006): Jasons, a thirteen-year-old boy in early-1980s Worchestershire, copes with brutal grade-school politics, a tense home life, various small losses of innocence, and the odd supernatural event over the span of a year. My favorite stretch of the novel was where half a dozen scary/weird/sexually confusing things happen in the course of Jason taking one meandering walk through the countryside.

Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut (1963): I'd been intending to read a Kurt Vonnegut novel since he died in 2007, so don't say I never follow through on anything. This book is extraordinarily fun and absurd, which just enhances the horror of the eventual climax.

The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton (1905): Cash-strapped socialite Lily Bart struggles in turn-of-the-century New York society, mainly because she can neither fully commit to gold-digging nor figure out a viable alternative. Her crumbling state, both social and psychological, is horrifying yet fascinating to witness.

The Fell by Sarah Moss (2021): In November 2020, English waitress and single mother Kate breaks quarantine to take a walk through the countryside, with disastrous results. This short novel is lyrical, compassionate, and impressively stressful.

Old Babes in the Woods by Margaret Atwood (2023): This short story collection is split between vignettes featuring elderly couple Nell and Tig, and several standalones that vary wildly in tone and form. All are well-written, but I generally enjoyed the standalones best, especially the poignant "My Evil Mother," the chilling "Freeforall," and the thought-provoking "Metempsychosis."

Beware the Woman by Megan Abbott (2023): Pregnant Jacy goes with her new husband to visit his widowed father in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, but a pleasant vacation soon turns into a paranoid nightmare. Abbott's lush descriptions--kind of sexy and kind of gross, as always--enhance a truly disturbing thriller.

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (1925): This is another book I assumed someone would make me read in school, but I think all my teachers and professors were like "yeah, yeah, The Great Gatsby, we all know what that is." What you don't get from the Baz Luhrmann movie and pop-cultural osmosis, though, is the exquisite secondhand embarrassment of watching Gatsby pursue a married woman who is actually more into her husband, or just how fucking bizarre that husband is.

How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix (2023): Single mother Louise is pulled from San Francisco to her hometown of Charleston by the sudden death of her parents and has to coordinate funeral arrangements with her ne'er-do-well brother Mark...and it gets worse. This isn't the best or the scariest Grady Hendrix novel, but the sibling relationship is compelling and it features the incomparable Pupkin. I love that fucked-up lil hand-puppet.

Seventeen and In-Between by Barthe Declements (1984): High-school senior Elsie Edwards is beautiful, brilliant, and talented, but she's still plagued by the lingering trauma of childhood bullying, her terrible parents, and her complicated feelings for her long-term boyfriend (slightly older and jonesing to Go All the Way) and her male best friend (also trying to figure things out, albeit through working in the lumber industry in Forks, Washington). The Elsie Edwards trilogy is great overall, and Elsie's struggle to figure out how to move beyond her unhappy past is especially moving.

Don't Look and It Won't Hurt by Richard Peck (1972): Carol, the sixteen-year-old middle daughter of a poor divorced waitress, gets a front seat to her older sister's disastrous relationship with a scumbag, experiences her own first romance, and sorts through her feelings about her strained family and stultifying small prairie town. This is a sweet, understated early YA novel that offers a look into the last few years before Roe v. Wade.

I'm Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy (2022): In this memoir, McCurdy recounts her relationship with her controlling, abusive late mother and her dispiriting time as a child star on Nickelodeon. I really enjoyed her writing style--clear, conversational, and bracingly pissed off--and she offers some good insight into the acting industry.

Just Like You by Nick Hornby (2020): Joseph, a twentysomething black working-class Londoner balancing his musical aspirations with babysitting gigs and a job at a butcher's shop, stars a romance with Lucy, a fortysomething upper-middle-class white single mom and schoolteacher. This is a pleasant, easygoing love story with some insightful commentary on how ordinary people form political opinions.

The Fourth Grade Wizards by Barthe DeClements (1988): Fourth grader Marianne is distracted in class and adrift at home after her mother's sudden death, but she has a good friend in Jack, who struggles in class because he's hyperactive. You might ask why this list is so dominated by one 1980s middle-grade/YA author, and the answer is that I love her. Also, I did not read all that many new-to-me books last year.

How Do You Lose Those Ninth Grade Blues? by Barthe DeClements (1983): Elsie Edwards, no longer the emotionally battered class pariah she was in Nothing's Fair in Fifth Grade but not yet the maturing young woman she'll become in Seventeen and In-Between, starts high school with everything going for her...except her horribly low self-esteem and her still-terrible home life. This is definitely the slightest installment of the trilogy, but it still makes an impact.

#reading #books

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yourlocaldisneyvillain · 7 months

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AO3 fic stats meme!

tagged by @allaganexarch!

rules: give us the links to your fics with the most hits, second most kudos, third most comments, fourth most bookmarks, fifth most words, and fic with the fewest words.

Most Hits: push me gently (into love) | Wednesday (TV 2022) | Larissa Weems/original female character | rated M | 12,988 words

i'm not surprised to see this one here! def not my best work writing wise, but it has sentimental value to me! it's very silly and rom-comy. like an early 2000s hugh grant movie but a lesbian fic (which is kinda my vibe tbh)

oh okay i actually like this one. i need to go back and edit it THOROUGHLY though, bc stylistically i don't like certain Choices(TM) that much anymore, but i am generally really fond of this one. a victorian lesbian romance with filthy smut and Longing(TM), what more can you wish for. i need to write the final chapter to wrap it up but i keep postponing it bc i wanna edit the entire thing before that and it is Long(TM) lol.

Third Most Comments: it's push me gently (into love)

again lol. idk why this one is so popular (that was rhetorical, i do know). alas, it's never the ones that pushed me as a writer and the ones that made me improve greatly. it's always the rom-coms with a lot of porn in them :')

Fourth Most Bookmarks: danger level - one | Star Wars (sequel trilogy) | Captain Phasma/original female character | rated E | 4,784 words

okay, this one is straight up porn lol. it's silly. if you wanna read something filthy and fun, go for it, i guess! not my best work, but it's okay.

Fifth Most Words: on wednesdays we wear black | Wednesday (TV 2022) | Larissa Weems/Morticia Addams | rated T | 7,741 words

IS THIS THE "HOW TO BEST MISREPRESENT AN AUTHOR" OR HOW TO PICK THE FICS I'M LEAST PROUD OF ADSJKHFHFSDAHFSAD GAME like i don't dislike this one, it's just my oldest fic and it's currently on hiatus bc i wanna rewrite it entirely and ughhhhh jdshffsddsa. i love the idea of it, i just. you know. aaaaaagh.

Fewest Words: the secret | The Sandman (TV 2022) | Lucifer Morningstar/Mazikeen | rated E (probably more of an M though)| 1,053 words

lolll okay this is the last fic in my kink!week series. so the premise was that i basically picked a really nasty/unusual/underrepresented/extreme kink for each of the days in the week with different gwendoline christie characters and went to town lol. and this one is the crown of the whole series. the one in which i rickrolled everybody :)))))))) (not as a kink, just to be a lil shit lol)

tagging: @zephyr-is-tired @alexusonfire @dianneking @notinmyvocab @criseydethetraitor honestly idk who else i can tag that didn't cancel me lol. if i forgot about someone (sorry!) and you wanna do it, consider yourself tagged!

#i will produce my own garbage and also consume it #fanfic tag

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mediaevalmusereads · 3 months

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Demon Copperhead. By Barbara Kingsolver. Harper, 2022.

Rating: 4/5 stars

Genre: literary fiction

Series: N/A

Summary: Set in the mountains of southern Appalachia, this is the story of a boy born to a teenaged single mother in a single-wide trailer, with no assets beyond his dead father's good looks and copper-colored hair, a caustic wit, and a fierce talent for survival. In a plot that never pauses for breath, relayed in his own unsparing voice, he braves the modern perils of foster care, child labor, derelict schools, athletic success, addiction, disastrous loves, and crushing losses. Through all of it, he reckons with his own invisibility in a popular culture where even the superheroes have abandoned rural people in favor of cities.

Many generations ago, Charles Dickens wrote David Copperfield from his experience as a survivor of institutional poverty and its damages to children in his society. Those problems have yet to be solved in ours. Dickens is not a prerequisite for readers of this novel, but he provided its inspiration. In transposing a Victorian epic novel to the contemporary American South, Barbara Kingsolver enlists Dickens' anger and compassion, and above all, his faith in the transformative powers of a good story. Demon Copperhead speaks for a new generation of lost boys, and all those born into beautiful, cursed places they can't imagine leaving behind.

***Full review below.***

CONTENT WARNINGS: drug use/overdose/recovery, abusive relationships, homophobia, miscarriage, sexual content

OVERVIEW: I first heard about this novel while watching a "best books read in 2023" wrap up on YouTube. I was initially hesitant to pick it up because I'm not the biggest Kingsolver fan, but a retelling of David Copperfield was too enticing to pass up. Overall, I have mixed feelings about this book, but the premise is good enough that I lean more towards positive. I wish Kingsolver had done a little more with her material and some of the more emotional moments didn't quite hit as hard as I was hoping, but the moments that did land were very good and I think adapting David Copperfield for a new generation of readers was a good impulse.

WRITING: Kingsolver writes with this easy-going first-person style that is meant to mimic something conversational or informal. This means that there are a few colliquialisms as well as sentence fragments, etc. that give the impression of a younger person narrating the story. Luckily, the novel isn't written in dialect, so it's easy for more people to read.

Personally, I felt that this style worked in some instances and didn't do as well in others. In the places it did work, I appreciated the feeling of hearing an experience described in the character's voice; Demon has a distinctive way of talking, so I can appreciate the work put into sustaining that voice for almost 550 pages.

The places it didn't work, in my opinion, were moments of emotional weight. Because Demon is somewhat reluctant to let his emotions show, I got the sense that some things were being told in a detached way (where I would have expected a more emotional impact). In one sense, this is keeping with Demon's character, but also, I kind of wished I got to experience things with Demon rather than being told about them.

PLOT: This book is a retelling of Charles Dickens's David Copperfield, set in rural Virginia during the 1990s and early 2000s. It tells the life story of a young boy names Demon Copperhead from childhood until young adulthood, exploring issues such as economic hardship, drugs, the dysfunctional foster care system, and generational trauma.

As a concept, I have to applaud Kingsolver because I think she did a brilliant job of bringing Dickens's story to life for a new audience. She absolutely picked up on the things Dickens was interested in (namely poverty) and chose a perfect setting for her retelling, not looking for shock value but to explore how the economic situation in rural America damages children in similar ways that poverty damaged Victorian children. The strongest parts of the book, in my opinion, were when these themes came to the forefront. Some of my favorite passages were direct comments about how rural places were robbed then left for dead by coal companies, how lack of opportunity leads to poverty, how drug use arises, and so forth.

I also appreciated that Kingsolver mixed some good in with the bad to avoid the story coming across as "poverty porn." Demon has plenty of people in his life who care about him and who want to help, so there are plenty of bright spots in what would otherwise be a dreary tale. I think these bright spots go a long way, showing how people can still fall victim to things like drugs and violence, even with a support system.

That being said, I still think Kingsolver could have gone harder and made some of the more emotional moments pack a bigger punch. I'm not advocating for melodrama or tragedy; rather, I wish we hadn't been held at arm's length via Demon's narration all the time.

CHARACTERS: Since there are a number of characters in this book, I'll speak about Demon in some detail and then speak of others in more general terms.

Demon, our narrator and protagonist, is easy to sympathize with and fairly compelling as a protagonist because you get the sense that he's a product of his surroundings. He has a lot of good qualities, like stepping up to take care of people he cares about, and I really got the sense that he was a good kid who got dealt a bad hand. The narrative doesn't completely excuse him, however, and there were plenty of times where I wanted to shake some sense into him. But that made his characterization feel more multi-dimensional.

Supporting characters were also quite varied but all felt like they belonged in the story. I loved characters that wanted the best for Demon, and inreally felt like they were doing the best they could with what they had. I also felt sympathy for characters that were utter disasters, hindering Demon in ways that didn't feel necessarily malicious, just part of the poverty and drug-filled ecosystem.

One thing I do wish Kingsolver had done better was carrying supporting character arcs forward. Personally, it felt like Kingsolver would drop characters as soon as they were no longer central to Demon's life, which is a shame because a number of them keep showing up until the end of the book. For example, Demon and Maggot (his neighbor who is like a brother) are supposedly really close, but after a certain point, it felt like Maggot was just an afterthought. I wish Kingsolver had developed some secondary characters as parallel arcs to Demon, rather than letting some of them fade but never quite disappear.

TL;DR: Demon Copperhead is a brilliant retelling of David Copperfield, exploring the effects of institutional poverty on children in rural America. While I do wish Kingsolver had done some things differently, I think this book accomplishes what it set out to do, and it has enough hard-hitting moments that make the story insightful and memorable.

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cygexcen · 3 months

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In third batch of Epstein documents, a call from Harvey Weinstein, more famous men and disquieting details

The third round of documents from a lawsuit connected to Jeffrey Epstein, the convicted pedophile who died in jail before he could face trial on federal sex-trafficking charges, was publicly released Friday.#Epstein #EpsteinList #Epsteinadasi #EpsteinClientList EpsteinIsland EpsteinFiles EpsteinDocs

Friday’s release included over thirteen hundred pages as of mid-afternoon, and it follows hundreds of pages of documents already unsealed on Wednesday and Thursday, with more expected.

The unsealed documents are part of a 2015 civil defamation suit brought by Virginia Roberts Giuffre, an American woman who claimed Epstein sexually abused her as a minor and that Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s former girlfriend, aided in the abuse. The unsealing this week stems from a December 18 court order from the judge overseeing the lawsuit, a response to media’s legal efforts to publicly release the documents.

The documents in total, including material yet to be unsealed, are expected to include nearly 200 names, including some of Epstein’s accusers, prominent businesspeople, politicians and potentially more.

CNN is reviewing the documents.

Famous friends and acquaintances

A former Jeffrey Epstein employee recounted a litany of famous and influential people, including two former presidents, in Epstein’s orbit during a 2009 deposition unsealed on Friday.

Juan Alessi told attorneys that he had dinner with former president Donald Trump in the kitchen of Epstein’s Palm Beach home and met former president Bill Clinton on Epstein’s plane. He also said he met Prince Andrew and his ex-wife, Sarah Ferguson, at the Palm Beach home, according to the deposition.

Alessi also said he met foreign beauty queens and an unnamed winner of a Nobel Prize in Chemistry, according to the document.

When asked on Wednesday about the appearance of Clinton’s name in an earlier batch of unsealed documents, a Clinton spokesman reiterated a 2019 statement that Clinton had flown on Epstein’s private plane but said Clinton knew nothing of the financier’s “terrible crimes.”

The spokesman said that it has now “been nearly 20 years since President Clinton last had contact with Epstein.” Clinton has not been accused of any crimes or wrongdoing related to Epstein.

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Trump has also not been accused of any crimes or wrongdoing with regard to Epstein. When asked earlier this week about Trump’s name appearing in the newly unsealed documents, a Trump spokesman reacted by attacking the media.

Alessi also spoke about the young women who came to the house to give Epstein massages.

Alessi answered questions about one female whom he understood to be under the age of 18. Her name was still redacted from the unsealed documents. Alessi said her mother would occasionally accompany her to Epstein’s home.

In terms of payment, “everybody got $100 an hour,” Alessi said.

Famed magician and illusionist David Copperfield is also among the high-profile men identified as a friend to Epstein.

Copperfield’s name is mentioned during deposition testimony released Friday of one of Epstein’s then-employees, Sarah Kellen. A lawyer for the plaintiffs asked about Epstein’s relationship with the illusionist and whether they recruit girls for each other. The lawyer questioned if Copperfield gives tickets to Epstein for young women when he is performing shows and if the girls are invited backstage after the shows.

To all questions, Kellen asserts her Fifth Amendment right and refuses to answer the question.

Copperfield is also named in a 2016 deposition released Wednesday by a woman who massaged Epstein for years in the early 2000s. She said she met the illusionist at a dinner at Epstein’s Palm Beach residence and testified it was her observation the two were friends.

Johanna Sjoberg testified in the deposition that Copperfield performed magic tricks while he was at the Palm Beach House and asked her what she knew about Epstein’s methods for procuring girls to work for him.

“He questioned me if I was aware that girls were getting paid to find other girls,” Sjoberg said.

Copperfield didn’t elaborate at the time, Sjoberg said.

She also said there was another girl at the house that “seemed young” at a dinner that included Copperfield. She recalled thinking at the time that the girl could have been in high school.

CNN has reached out to representatives for Copperfield for comment.

The name of disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein appears in a 2005 handwritten note left for Epstein as well.

An unsealed legal document in a civil case related to Jeffrey Epstein shows a handwritten phone message saying Harvey Weinstein called. A close-up of that message is seen here.From Exhibit in Epstein-related litigation

Brad Edwards, Giuffre’s lawyer at one point, wrote a book titled “Relentless Pursuit: My Fight for the Victims of Jeffrey Epstein,” released in 2020, in which he discusses Weinstein’s involvement in Epstein’s world. Edwards wrote that Epstein told a victim he would introduce her to Weinstein. In another excerpt, Edwards wrote Epstein ended his relationship with Weinstein after he acted too aggressively with one of his “favorite girls.”

There is no implication of wrongdoing by Weinstein in connection to Epstein in the documents.

CNN has reached out to an attorney for Weinstein.

Weinstein, 71, remains in prison after being convicted on sex crimes charges in New York and California linked to allegations that he used his influence to lure women into private meetings, assault them and then silence any accusations.

Disquieting documents

Some of the documents are unsettling.

In a newly unsealed excerpt from a deposition of Nadia Marcinkova, an Epstein assistant who was accused in civil lawsuits of having perpetrated abuse alongside Epstein, an attorney asked her: “Were you with Jeffrey Epstein on his birthday when one of his friends sent to him 12 – sorry, three 12-year-olds for the purposes of Jeffrey Epstein sexually abusing them?”

He then asks if “these three 12-year-olds were from France. Were they sent to him on his birthday by Jean Luc Brunel or by somebody else?”

Marcinkova invoked the Fifth Amendment to that question and throughout her deposition, which includes multiple still-redacted names.

Brunel, a French modeling scout, died in a jail cell in 2022 while under investigation by French authorities for his ties to Epstein.

Virginia Giuffre has also recounted the story of 12-year-olds being sent to Epstein in her own court depositions.

Previous document releases included information about Epstein’s associates and accusers, though much of the information had previously been reported on by various media outlets or released through other court proceedings.

Giuffre and Maxwell settled their civil suit in 2017, but some court documents remained sealed until now.

Most of the documents from the suit were unsealed in 2019 – one day before Epstein died by suicide in jail.

Epstein was indicted in 2019 on federal charges of operating a sex trafficking ring in which he allegedly sexually abused dozens of underage girls.

Epstein died in jail while awaiting trial. Prosecutors in New York indicted Maxwell on sex trafficking charges involving multiple victims. She was convicted in 2021.

This story has been updated with additional developments.

Contributing: CNN’s Riley Gutiérrez McDermid, Kara Scannell and Curt Devine.

Correction: An earlier version of this story misidentified the lawyer questioning Nadia Marcinkova, as well as Marcinkova’s relationship to Epstein. She was an Epstein assistant.

#Epstein #EpsteinList #Epsteinadasi #EpsteinClientList EpsteinIsland EpsteinFiles EpsteinDocs

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nicklesonraison · 3 months

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In third batch of Epstein documents, a call from Harvey Weinstein, more famous men and disquieting details

The third round of documents from a lawsuit connected to Jeffrey Epstein, the convicted pedophile who died in jail before he could face trial on federal sex-trafficking charges, was publicly released Friday. #Epstein #EpsteinList #Epsteinadasi #EpsteinClientList EpsteinIsland EpsteinFiles EpsteinDocs

Friday’s release included over thirteen hundred pages as of mid-afternoon, and it follows hundreds of pages of documents already unsealed on Wednesday and Thursday, with more expected.

The unsealed documents are part of a 2015 civil defamation suit brought by Virginia Roberts Giuffre, an American woman who claimed Epstein sexually abused her as a minor and that Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s former girlfriend, aided in the abuse. The unsealing this week stems from a December 18 court order from the judge overseeing the lawsuit, a response to media’s legal efforts to publicly release the documents.

The documents in total, including material yet to be unsealed, are expected to include nearly 200 names, including some of Epstein’s accusers, prominent businesspeople, politicians and potentially more.

CNN is reviewing the documents.

Famous friends and acquaintances A former Jeffrey Epstein employee recounted a litany of famous and influential people, including two former presidents, in Epstein’s orbit during a 2009 deposition unsealed on Friday.