Any fan of Whit Stillman knows that the director is a fan of Austen, and that it inspires his own love of strong female characters, inescapable wit and deliberate (often satirised) manners. So it may not come as a surprise that the director is tackling an Austen text, Lady Susan, and working with two of his previous muses on the new project.
Kate Beckinsale and Chloe Sevigny are to be reunited with their The Last Days of Disco on Stillman’s adaptation of Austen's novella, that was left unpublished in her lifetime. Set in the 1790s, Love And Friendship concerns itself with beautiful widow Lady Susan Vernon (Beckinsale), who has come to the estate of her in-laws to wait out the colourful rumours about her dalliances circulating through polite society. Whilst ensconced there, she decides to secure a husband for herself and her rather reluctant debutante daughter, Frederica.
In addition to Beckinsale and Sevigny, the cast includes Xavier Samuel (Adore, Fury, The Twilight Saga) as the object of Lady Susan’s affections and Stephen Fry as Mr Johnson, long-suffering husband to Lady Susan’s friend and confidante Alicia (Sevigny). Further cast includes Emma Greenwell, Morfydd Clark, Jemma Redgrave, James Fleet, Tom Bennett and Justin Edwards.
To get us in the mood for some biting wit, here’s just a few of our favourite Austen zingers.
Pride & Prejudice. Mr. Darcy on Elizabeth Bennet:
"She is tolerable; but not handsome enough to tempt me; and I am in no humour at present to give consequence to young ladies who are slighted by other men.”
Emma. Emma to Ms. Bates:
"Oh! very well," exclaimed Miss Bates, "then I need not be uneasy. 'Three things very dull indeed.' That will just do for me, you know. I shall be sure to say three dull things as soon as ever I open my mouth, shan't I? (looking round with the most good-humoured dependence on every body's assent)--Do not you all think I shall?"
"Ah! ma'am, but there may be a difficulty. Pardon me--but you will be limited as to number--only three at once."
Pride & Prejudice. Mr. Bennet to Mrs. Bennet:
“Mr. Bennet, how can you abuse your own children in such a way? You take delight in vexing me. You have no compassion for my poor nerves.”
“You mistake me, my dear. I have a high respect for your nerves. They are my old friends. I have heard you mention them with consideration these last twenty years at least.”
Sense & Sensibility. John Willoughby on Colonel Brandon:
“He’s a person whom every body speaks well of, and nobody cares about; whom all are delighted to see, and nobody remembers to talk to.”
Jane Austen’s letters to her sister in 1801.
“Still on the subject of men, Jane writes to her sister in 1801, “There was a scarcity of men in general and a still greater scarcity of any that were good for much.”