All language subtitles for Sense.and.Sensibility.Extra.Interview.Featurette

Adapting Sense & Sensibility

is not actually a doddle

because it's been done before.

It's a Jane Austen book.
It's a lot of people's favourite book.

You've got to tread
really quite carefully.

The script is the beginning
and end of everything.

And, for me, the script is 90%
of the success of any production,

which is why I like working with Andrew.

In a way, one's thinking,

"What can I do to make this thing new?
To make people think,

"'Oh, yes! We really needed this new
version of Sense & Sensibility. "'

So you have to
look at the book very carefully

and really take some risks with it.

I hoped very much that you'd like it.

Would you like to see inside?

Of course I should.

But is your aunt expecting us?

She's away on a short visit.

Oh.

So if you don't mind
being un-chaperoned.

Do you think I would care
about such a thing?

I hate these stupid conventions.

So do I.

- Casting is also crucial.
- Casting is crucial, yes.

You can have the most wonderful script,

and if you get somebody that
the audience don't like

- or they think...
- Yeah.

"Ooh, that's not like the character."

Yeah, but a great script
will attract a great cast.

And I think on this production,
you know,

we had great scripts
and people were falling over themselves

to want to be cast in it,

- which was very, very pleasing.
- Helpful.

And very helpful, yeah.

One of the most important points for us
was to make the cast young,

closer to the ages they were in
the book, and to give it a fresh energy.

DAVIES: 'Cause they're very young
in the book.

- These girls are 16 and 19, aren't they?
- PIVCEVIC: Yes.

DAVIES: They're like kids, really,
who had to grow up very quickly.

So, it's all going to look
very different from the film,

which we are pleased with.

'Cause we wouldn't want to
come out looking like...

(PIVCEVIC CHUCKLES)

You know, a rather longer version
of the same thing.

I think one of the reasons that
we were both attracted

to this book in particular is, I think,

because out of
all of the Jane Austen novels,

the characters in this story
undergo vast changes of fortune.

They go on an enormously long journey,
physically, from the home counties

to the depths of Devonshire,
from a huge stately home

to a tiny cottage by the sea.

Emotionally, first love, heartbreak,
near-death experience for Marianne,

and in the end,
obviously, reconciliation

and a fuller understanding,

a greater understanding
of what love can mean.

But it covers, actually,
an enormous landscape,

which makes it, I think,
quite exceptional

in terms of her work.
Wouldn't you agree?

Yeah. Yeah, I do think so.

It's also got

a very dark subplot

that a lot of people just don't notice
when they read the book

because Jane Austen never turns it
into scenes,

if you see what I mean.
You just hear about it,

with one character telling
another character about it.

But, for example,
we've got the seduction of a schoolgirl.

We've got a duel,

which people just don't notice
in the book.

I thought, "Well, you know,
it's there in the book,

"let's turn them into proper scenes."

So we start with
a rather shocking opening.

GIRL: Do you truly love me?

Trust me.

- But Mrs Edwards...
- Mrs Edwards

thinks you're a child still.

But we know better than that, don't we?

It's a kind of teaser
because we don't know

exactly who she is
or who is seducing her.

And we find out the story later on.

It's a very important story.

It's not there
just for the sake of titillation.

It tells us a lot about
particularly one of the characters,

one of the main characters,

who turns out to be
much more of a baddie

even than we thought he was.

So there is all that,
and there is a sense that...

Especially the kind of
perils that young girls are in.

You know, if they make a mistake,

if they give way to their emotions
too much,

they've got the chance
of falling right down

through the bottom of society
and they're ruined.

But didn't you get my notes?

Tell me, for heaven's sake,
what is the matter?

Yes, I had the pleasure of receiving
the information of your arrival in town.

Which you were so good as to send me.

Excuse me.

- Almost happens to Marianne.
- Yeah.

Could happen to her,
because she is just such a...

A lovably, sort of, passionate girl.

That... You know, she comes very close.

I mean, if Willoughby had asked her
to give him her body,

- she would, like a shot.
- Mmm.

Because she thinks,
"Go with your feelings."

Well, we have also the scene where
he takes her round his family home,

Allenham, which was not in the film
and is mentioned in the book.

And that's been turned into
a very beautiful,

very dangerous scene, really.

Two young people at that time
going round the house.

He's showing her the place
where she might one day live.

And there is this suggestion,
in a sense...

DAVIES: (CHUCKLING) Lots of beds.

... that they're alone,
anything could happen,

and it's really
a matter of honour, for him,

whether he allows it to happen or not.

It reminds me
of the Sleeping Beauty's palace.

Exactly.

Why did I never think of that before?

Waiting to be awakened.

Hmm.

The whole point, in a way,
of dramatising Jane Austen

for a contemporary audience
is to bring out

what Jane Austen's world
has in common with our world.

And, without cheating,

really to emphasise this.

It is such a contemporary story.

I mean, you've got...
Here are two girls, sisters,

one is emotionally reckless.

She's very attractive and likeable,

but, you know, she is in danger
of being taken advantage of

by the first ruthless seducer she meets.

And the other one is, in a way,
almost too sensible for her own good.

You know, she's very reluctant to
take risks and...

And is in danger of
not getting what she wants.

- DAVIES: Yes.
- Because of exactly that point.

DAVIES: Yes, because she doesn't

- put out enough for it.
- She doesn't push for it. Yeah.

These last few weeks have been
very happy ones for me.

For me, too.

In fact, I don't think
I've ever been happier.

Yes.

I'm very glad

to have been able to offer you
friendship at this difficult time.

And I want you

to know that I very much

value your friendship, too.

It's a kind of universal story
that can be appreciated very easily.

Here are two girls,

we long for them to be happy
and find nice blokes.

And there's that kind of story.

The other thing is that people just like

the Englishness of it
and the style of it.

The way the men
are really old-fashioned men

and the women are real women.

And also, of course, the delightful
costumes, and the settings,

and the beautiful houses and all that.

I always think, you know,

"No, no, the story is
the main thing, but..."

- Story within a setting, isn't it?
- Yeah, but the setting is terrific.

We've got some
really unusual settings here,

as well as what you would expect.

We've set the cottage

that the girls have to go and live in
when they lose all their fortune

right by the wild North Devon coast.

So you've got the waves
crashing on the rocks

and this tiny, little windswept cottage

in the full force
of the Atlantic gales and...

PIVCEVIC: It was good way of
emphasizing the isolation of the girls.

Once they left, once they lost
their family home, their ancestral home,

they have no place in society
and they really are abandoned,

isolated in the middle
of this landscape.

And all they can do is
watch out of the window

to see who's gonna come
trotting down the hill.

They don't have the power
to go anywhere or do anything.

And we felt that setting
really emphasised that.

I mean, every time
they go out for a walk

it's a thunderstorm.
They get soaked to the skin,

fall over, twist their ankles.

They haven't got a carriage.

- They haven't got anything.
- No, nothing.

They're dependent on

- the kindness of others, really.
- Exactly.

I had occasion to ride over to my
home in Delaford earlier this morning.

I took the liberty of bringing
you these flowers, Mrs Dashwood.

Oh. Well, thank you. They're beautiful.

And I looked out some music

which I thought might be of interest
to Miss Marianne.

Thank you.

I think you overestimate
my abilities, sir.

I think not.

- You have an instrument here?
- Yes, of sorts.

Well, I have a very fine
pianoforte at Delaford

that deserves to be
played on more often.

- I hope you will try it one day.
- Thank you.

It was actually a very isolated spot,
and it was quite difficult

to get all the crew
and the gear down there.

The weather was appalling,

which actually was great
in terms of the story.

And all the rain that you see
in the first episode is absolutely real.

So it was possibly one of the most
challenging filming experiences

that I've had.

And in terms of the stately homes,

I think they are quite difficult
to film in

because one has to be very careful.

But I think the beauty
and the sort of charm

that they give the final product
meant that they were very much worth it.

I think the first thing to do is rip out
all these dingy old panellings.

So dark and dusty, I'm sure you
will agree. And all these old books!

How could a gentleman bear to sit
in a gloomy old den like this?

Oh, Elinor.

Well, do not let us disturb you.

- Here, will you take this?
- Fanny.

- Yes, Edward.
- Let me explain.

This is a library, a place of refuge.

Libraries should be
full of dusty old books

and nooks and corners
and places to hide away in.

We were particularly concerned

in this story with

making the men really worthy
of the girls that they get in the end,

because that is, in a way,
a weakness of the novel.

And it certainly came out
in the previous film, I think,

that Edward,
although he's got good reason

to be rather hesitant
in his approach to Elinor...

You know, he's got a secret attachment
that he can't get out of.

He needs to be, kind of, more manly,

more of a man than he seems in the book.

And part of this is achieved
through casting Dan Stevens,

who is an extremely attractive actor.

But also, I shamelessly tried to
think of ways in which he could,

you know, do more physical things.

So we got him doing quite a bit
of galloping around on a horse.

And I even wrote him
a log-splitting scene,

so that he could, you know,
show off his muscles.

And that was down in Devon
where it rained solidly for a week.

And so he is doing this
absolutely soaked to the skin.

So I think we might have
another wet shirt scene

with a bit of luck.

Colonel Brandon is a bit of
a mystery man in the book.

We don't really learn enough about him.

And, certainly, Jane Austen
doesn't give us enough to understand

why Marianne should fall for him.

So we developed his story

as much as possible,

emphasised his strong points,

that he is a military hero,
and he's been a man of action

and that he's got a, kind of,
sad, broken-heart story behind him.

And he's never looked at another girl

since his boyhood sweetheart
was lost to him.

SIR JOHN: Miss Marianne Dashwood.

- Miss Margaret Dashwood.
- Honoured to make your acquaintance.

Now, what do you say, Mrs Dashwood?

I think he'd do for one of them,
don't you?

Dominic Cooper, he plays Willoughby,

who's extremely attractive,
much younger,

much livelier, probably,
and quickly able to charm Marianne.

- Do you know Lord Byron?
- No, I have heard of him.

"So we'll go no more a-roving
So late into the night

"Though my heart be still as loving
The moon be still as bright"

- He is a true romantic.
- That is just the sort of thing I like.

And I.

Casting Dominic as Willoughby
was a way of indicating that

this was sort of more first love.

There is a charm about him,

which obviously conceals
a much darker interior

that she doesn't come to know
about until halfway through the story.

But on the surface of it,

you know, they are
much more playful with each other.

And you get that lovely,
youthful exuberance and energy

of a kind of teenage first love.

We saw a lot of girls,
a lot of girls for both of those roles.

And we discussed that quite closely,
didn't we?

You know, who we were going to cast,

because they have to be
believable as sisters,

but obviously very, very different.

And we were absolutely
bowled over by both of them.

MARIANNE: Do you love him?

I think very highly of him.

- I like him, Marianne.
- But is he worthy of you?

He has no taste for drawing or music
or anything of that kind.

There are worse faults
than failing to appreciate your music.

But his reading last evening,
so calm and spiritless.

He has a different style from yours.

He allows the words
to speak for themselves.

Well,

when you tell me to love him
as my brother-in-law,

I promise I'll think him
as perfect as you do.

That's one of the things
that's the most fun

with adapting one of these great novels,

to write scenes that
Jane Austen didn't write.

- Yeah.
- And try to make them so convincing

that people will afterwards...

- Look for them in the book.
- Look for them in the book,

and think, "Oh,
that was one of my favourite bits."

You know, "Where is it?"

Yeah, and I think you have
the licence to do that,

because there really is nothing.
Of course they met.

It's just that
she chooses not to describe the meeting.

And we have a charming meeting
in the carpet-beating scene

where they come together,
there's an immediate attraction,

but also a slight awkwardness,

which characterises a large part
of their relationship.

(SIGHING)

- Good morning.
- Oh, I was just...

Beating carpets.

- Yes.
- Edward Ferrars, how do you do?

My horse has thrown a shoe,
so I came by the way of the stables.

Elinor Dashwood.

Would you like some help
with the carpet beating?

No.

I'd better take you in
to see your sister.

And the scene
where they part at Norland,

where the girls are going away
and Edward is staying,

Jane Austen never wrote that as a scene.

Mmm.

And yet, for me,

it's got a lot to do with
the wonderful playing of the characters,

and Hattie as Elinor not being able
quite to say something.

And we think, "Why doesn't he propose?

"It's all set up
as the proposal scene."

And she is waiting and waiting
for him to say the magic words.

But he just says
nice polite things like,

"Our friendship means such a lot to me."
And then he runs out of things to say.

- He gives her a book about flowers.
- Gives her a book about flowers, yes.

'Cause we felt again that
he needed to give her something,

he wanted to give her something.
It's just that he couldn't

give her the thing that
he really wanted to give her

because of this big secret that
obviously he can't acknowledge.

And so, giving her the book
was a way of signalling something,

and it also gave Elinor something
to remember him by because...

You know, there's quite a long time
before he appears again

in the middle of Episode Two.

Excuse me.

We got a fantastic team.

I mean, I'd used the designer before
on another project,

so we had a very strong
relationship already.

And I think he was immediately
in tune with the kind of look

that we wanted,
and the sort of freshness,

and just the general inventiveness,
I think.

I think all the stuff with the shelves
and the look of the cottage,

we discussed, you know, at great length.

But he brought that kind of
freshness and spark to it.

And the costumes,
we very much went for somebody

who didn't have
a lot of period experience,

but came from a fashion background.

Because we wanted to, sort of,
refresh the colours

and the look of the costumes.

While they were still believably
of the period,

they just kind of gave us
something a bit different and I think...

I was terribly pleased with the way
that the costumes turned out.

Stay, Marianne,
you've got a lock coming loose.

Never mind it, Elinor! Let us go in.

(FIREWORKS EXPLODING)

MRS JENNINGS: Oh, there's Charlotte.

What I really like is to...

Is when the director manages to
get on the screen everything I wanted

and also give me more stuff
that I wasn't really expecting

and does more.

And Johnny Alexander has just
done such a lovely job with this.

I particularly like
the little, subtle bits.

The way he links scenes together.

He's done some lovely little montages
that just give you the feeling

of how life goes on in this cottage,

which make it feel like
a very real bit of life.

And there was another bit

I was talking about to Anne just now

about building Colonel Brandon's
relationship with Marianne.

He brings her some music. She says,

"Oh, I think
it's gonna be too hard for me."

And then you get a little bit in amongst
the montage of other things,

her making her first attempt to play it
and getting the notes all wrong,

and then the music continues
over other scenes,

and then you see her playing it
on a much posher piano at...

(STAMMERING)

- Barton Park.
- Barton Park.

With Colonel Brandon standing by her,
turning the pages,

and she looks up at him, you know,
'cause she's so pleased

she's got it right.

And he looks down at her full of...

- Full of love, really.
- Mmm.

(PLAYING CLASSICAL MUSIC ON PIANO)

Well, Miss Marianne has made
a conquest of Brandon,

there's no doubt of that.

I particularly love the scene
in Episode One

where they're all bustling about
getting ready

for Colonel Brandon to arrive.

They're unpacking,
they know that somebody is coming.

And the old habits, the conventions of
living in a great house,

of receiving visitors with
a certain amount of dignity and grace

don't disappear overnight.

So, the frantic sort of scramble
to try and tidy away,

even though he knows and they know
they've just arrived

and everything is all over the place.
And then lining up in a little line

in this tiny cottage on the beach
by the sea to receive somebody

has a wonderful
awkward formality about it.

I mean, that's definitely become
one of my favourite sequences.

It's Colonel Brandon.

Meg! Meg!

Meg.

Colonel Brandon, ma'am.

Elinor.

My favourite scene is

Edward's botched proposal,
or non-proposal, to Elinor.

I mean, it comes across just perfectly.

Just as I had hoped.

And it's got a lot to do
with her performance.

She hardly says anything.

I think she has about one line in it,
and his performance is very...

But it's all in her eyes, really.

And Hattie Morahan, in a way,
she had to learn

to act for the screen, in a sense,

because she'd never done it before,
and to learn,

which she did so brilliantly,
that you can seem to do nothing,

you just think and you feel

and the camera will sort of read it.

And the screen will... It will just
jump off the screen, and she does.

- It's heartbreaking, really.
- It is.

Ah, I was, um...

Excuse me, Edward.
I must just ask Mama something.

Come along, Meg.

Ah.

Surely you'll be very sorry
to leave Norland.

Of course.

- But in the circumstances...
- Yes.

Yes, quite.

It was a fantastic,
fantastic undertaking

and hugely, hugely enjoyable,
even though it was hard.

It was just such a lovely,
lovely story to tell.

And such, you know,
there was obviously...

There were difficult parts to it,

but what a pleasure,
what a privilege to be able to do it.

- And we did have a lot of fun with it.
- Yeah, we did.

One thing we haven't talked about
is how funny it is in parts.

- There's lots and lots of humour and...
- Mmm.

Not an awful lot in the early stage,

but I built Margaret,
little Margaret, up into...

She makes

a few small appearances in the book,

but we got just
this wonderful little girl to play her,

and she's almost become
the star of the show.

Because she's got
most of the funny lines, really,

and she just punches them out.
She's got wonderful comic timing,

- hasn't she?
- She has, yeah.

Edward, the state of you.
Where are your things?

They're sending them on from the inn.

I felt like a ride,
so I borrowed a horse.

- How long are you going to stay?
- MRS DASHWOOD: Margaret.

There is the...

- The Steele sisters, yeah.
- Steele sisters,

who are very funny,
especially the elder one.

And how do you like Devonshire,
Miss Dashwood?

Have you found any smart beaux here?

I suppose there cannot be
so many here as there are in Sussex.

Anne!
Must you always be talking of beaux?

I suppose some young ladies
don't care for them,

but I think they're vastly agreeable,

provided they dress smart
and behave civil.

But I cannot bear to see them
dirty and nasty, can you?

And Fanny Dashwood
is just very funny, as well,

- in a very scary way.
- Yeah.

She's quite scary, isn't she?
Very pointy looks.

So, Elinor, still at your music?
Marianne still sketching away?

You see, I remember everything.

- Other way round, Aunt.
- Marianne is the musician.

Oh, yes.

- And what about you, Margaret?
- I'm going to be a writer.

A writer.

Well, pens and paper cost very little.
You have made a sensible choice.

This is an elegant dinner service.

Of course, you will have no use for it
when you move to a smaller place.

- My dear...
- And, of course, it belongs here.

Belongs to the house.

DAVIES: Oh, little Henry, yes.

It's lovely to bring him
onto the screen,

as well as build up Margaret's part.

He doesn't have many lines.

- I don't think... Perhaps none, in fact.
- No.

I don't think he does, he just looks.

I did write him a line or two,
but they've gone, I think.

- They have, yeah.
- But he looks

so wonderful,
and I imagined him as being like...

'Cause they're always talking about
poor little Henry will starve

if he doesn't get his inheritance.

So I thought,
"I bet little Henry is quite plump,

"and that he sits there."

I imagine him as being like Cartman
in South Park,

sitting there, eating his Cheesy Poofs.

We cannot tell you
how much time we spent in working out

what little Henry was going to eat.

I mean, the food designer

created about six different varieties
of cheese straws

and various delicacies for him
to crunch on,

just to get the right crunch
to end the scene with.

And we decided to be quite brave
and put him in a ginger wig,

and I think we pulled it off.

I think he looks great.

- Yeah.
- Like his dad.

Well, they were both
in matching ginger wigs.

Yes.

(BOTH LAUGHING)

Edward, promise you'll come
and see us soon.

Soon as I can.