Why ‘Sense and Sensibility’ Star George MacKay Still Hasn’t Watched Ang Lee’s Oscar-Winning Classic

The cast of Georgia Oakley’s Sense and Sensibility graced London’s Leicester Square at the film’s world premiere on Tuesday night, and to quote Jane Austen herself: They were very amiable indeed. The latest Austen adaptation from Focus Features — out Sept. 25 in the U.K. and Oct. 16 in the U.S. — had fans in a frenzy as Daisy Edgar-Jones, Esme Creed-Miles (daughter of The Odyssey‘s Samantha Morton), George MacKay, Herbert Nordrum, Frank Dillane, Bodhi Rae Breathnach and Fiona Shaw donned their finest ensembles and made their way down the media line. “What I love about this story is that it champions, particularly through Elinor and I guess through Edward as well, people who put others first,” MacKay, playing the noble Edward Ferrars, told The Hollywood Reporter on the grassy, green carpet, where pastel-colored flowers sprouted up from the ground and a live cellist played. “It’s very difficult to have stories centered [around] characters who hide their emotions, and it’s not a particularly shiny quality to put others in front of you all the time. It’s chivalrous, but it’s difficult to translate. And I love that Jane Austen, in her writing, does that so beautifully with a character like Elinor. And in this film, Edward gets to share in that a little bit.” The 1917 star did confess he has opted not to watch Ang Lee‘s 1995 Sense and Sensibility with Emma Thompson, Kate Winslet, Hugh Grant and Alan Rickman — the very film that won Thompson her Oscar for best adapted screenplay. “And I hadn’t read the book before I became part of this project, and so I didn’t really have that pressure,” MacKay continued about shouldering the weight of the Sense and Sensibility legacy and Austen’s adoring fanbase. “I knew [the film] in the ether to be something of a great import, but I elected not to try and see the film so I didn’t do exactly that — didn’t put pressure on myself. I let my interpretation be my own, [I was] led by the script that Diana Reid wrote for this, and so the pressure wasn’t too bad in the end,” said MacKay, who did confirm shortly after that he’ll be watching 1995’s Sense and Sensibility after the premiere. Normal People and Twisters star Edgar-Jones, looking a vision in grey with a black choker, stopped for just a moment, where she mulled over her best Austen-esque advice for matters of the heart. “Oh, I heard this recently — I think it was Ethan Hawke so I cannot claim it,” the Briton laughed to THR. “It’s something along the lines of, ‘The person in love is always the person who wins.’ Because to feel love and be in love is when you feel most alive and that is magic. Like, lean into passion and I think that’s what Elinor learns throughout the film. So I thought that was beautiful.” From Blue Jean filmmaker Oakley, adapted by Diana Reid, the feature follows one of Austen’s most beloved stories. When Henry Dashwood dies, his wife (Caitríona Balfe) and three daughters are left with an inheritance of just £500 a year. In a shock to them all, much of his estate is left to a son from his first marriage, John (Tom Brooke), whose wife Fanny (Stacy Martin) delights in immediately moving into their large house. But this is a scandal-clad love story, of course, and Edgar-Jones’ Elinor soon finds she is of interest to Edward Ferrars (MacKay), while Marianne juggles two different men: the roguish John Willoughby (Dillane) and gentlemanly Colonel Brandon (Nordrum). Shaw stars in a supporting role as Mrs. Jennings. Oakley also tried to put her own spin on the story and focus on Reid’s screenplay. She said on Tuesday that the movie is much different to Lee’s, particularly because of the age difference between the sisters. “[They’re] much closer together in age in reality, and so I guess I was looking to get under the skin of a certain type of sister dynamic. For me, it was important that they were closer together in age. But also, the visual language is very different. The locations are very different.” She continued about the eternal allure of Austen and deciding to adapt Sense and Sensibility again: “What interested me was that Austen is writing about themes that are inherently contemporary, and there is still, for young women today, such a negotiation to be had between what the world tells them they can expect from their lives and what it’s actually prepared to offer them. That negotiation happens usually between the teenage years and your mid-20s to mid-30s, and I feel like that hasn’t changed at all. We’re still living in a world where the rules have been made by men for men, and so I think in that respect, it’s really a timeless story, and felt like a good time to adapt it again.” British screen icon Shaw concurred. “I read [the book] again last week,” she giggled to THR. “That’s how much I love it… She’s a fantastic writer.” On how to describe Mrs. Jennings to theatergoers new to the character, Shaw replied: “I’d say she’s one of the most benign creatures in literature, and it was a privilege to play. She reminded me of all the best people I knew when I was a kid — when people were loud, ebullient, unselfconscious, and very funny.” Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner of Working Title Films produce alongside India Flint of November Pictures and Jo Wallett. The project follows Focus and Working Title collaborating on the 2005 adaptation of Pride & Prejudice, another Austen classic novel, and the 2020 adaptation of Austen’s Emma.