A rush for royalty

The new version was written by Oscar winner Peter Morgan, who penned not only "The Queen" but also a 2003 TV version of "Henry VIII" with Ray Winstone as the monarch and Helen Bonham Carter as the ill-fated Anne Boleyn. Morgan streamlined Gregory's book and made Anne Boleyn less of a harridan. Although the sisters are still rivals, sibling love is stronger than the fury that might occur when your sister steals your boyfriend. Religious debates and realpolitik are just footnotes in the story, though the feminist interpretation of events is given voice by the Boleyns' weary mother, played by Kristin Scott Thomas.

Gregory, who was consulted regularly by Morgan and Chadwick, sounds pleased by the film; she did enjoy the royal premiere, which was attended by Prince Charles and his wife, Camilla. (According to Chadwick, Camilla and many of her ladies-in-waiting were already fans of the book.) Still, Gregory has a few quibbles. One is the fact that the real Henry VIII was famously a redhead. But not in the movie version of "The Other Boleyn Girl." "I told them he's got to have red hair," Gregory says. The filmmakers told her, "We're not putting red hair on Eric Bana." The other is a terrible violation that Henry VIII does to Anne Boleyn, which will not be revealed here. Suffice it to say, it's not in the book or, says Gregory, history. She explains that Anne Boleyn "was very dominant" in their relationship. "Until their marriage, it's the woman who runs their relationship."

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rachel.abramowitz @latimes.com