Jane Austen couldn't put her own name on "Sense and Sensibility." When the novel came out in 1811, the cover read "By a Lady."
More than 200 years later, Daisy Edgar-Jones looked around the wrap-day huddle for Focus Features' new adaptation and saw who was standing there: director Georgia Oakley, producers India Flint and Jo Wallett, screenwriter Diana Reid, Edgar-Jones and her on-screen sister, Esmé Creed-Miles.
"It just felt like such a celebration of, yeah, of the power of women," Edgar-Jones said during an Oct. 6 virtual press conference moderated by Gold Derby Editor-in-Chief Debra Birnbaum.
That is the thesis under the bonnets. Oakley's film, in theaters since Oct. 16, keeps the courtships and the comedy. But the cast made clear the beating heart is Elinor and Marianne Dashwood.
"I feel like the real love story is actually between the women and the sisterhood within it," said Edgar-Jones, who plays Elinor.
A sisterhood that started on another set
The chemistry has a head start. Edgar-Jones and Creed-Miles worked together years ago, when Edgar-Jones was 19 and Creed-Miles was 17.
Their chemistry read was the scene where the sisters are furthest apart, when Elinor finally admits she has been heartbroken all along. Edgar-Jones said she found the character in that room.
"I remember doing that scene with Esmé and being like oh, I found Elinor, only through finding it with her," she said.
Oakley let the two improvise. The braiding of each other's hair and the constant touching came from that freedom.
"So much of sisterhood is a shared history," Edgar-Jones said. "And we had that already to hand."
Creed-Miles, who plays Marianne, put it more plainly. "I think so much of what you see in the film is not acting," she said. She added that she had never been that vulnerable in a role before.
Clothes that tell you the money is gone
The Dashwood women lose their home and fortune in the first act, when the estate passes to their half brother. Costume designer Grace Snell built that loss into the wardrobe.
Caitríona Balfe, who plays Mrs. Dashwood, said the women have "wardrobes rather than a series of costumes." The sisters share clothes. An early scene shows their dresses being dyed black for mourning, using natural dyes. Color creeps back in as the film moves on.
Edgar-Jones said one of her dresses was recut into a more modern shape to show that the women now have to be economical.
The hair carries the same message. At Barton Cottage the family has one maid, and Balfe called the idea of an hourlong hair session every morning "ridiculous." The polished looks we know from period portraits, Edgar-Jones said, were the Instagram of their day.
"When the women are just with each other, you know, the likelihood is that they would've been a little more relaxed," she said.
Why marrying for money still lands
Asked how a story about women needing to marry well plays in 2026, Balfe didn't hedge.
"The circumstances are different now. But the navigation is no less precarious," she said. "And I think everyone can relate to that. Especially in these times."
Edgar-Jones called it "a film about female resilience," noting that the Dashwoods end up marrying for love.
Dances, a duel and a camera that tells the truth
Reid and Oakley swapped a book picnic for a dance so the film could stage two contrasting ones. Marianne and John Willoughby's dance is spinning and stomping first love. Elinor and Edward Ferrars' is a goodbye, with hands that almost touch but don't.
Edgar-Jones learned her dance in two days while sick. Creed-Miles, a longtime dancer, had more prep time.
Oakley also used the camera to show what Elinor won't say. When a letter arrives saying Edward won't visit, Elinor calls it "a happy day." Oakley framed the shot so Edgar-Jones could turn to the window and let the audience see the crack.
For the sisters' big fight, Oakley had Edgar-Jones deliver her lines facing away from Creed-Miles. "A character like Elinor only really shows that vulnerability by herself," Edgar-Jones said.
The duel between Willoughby and Colonel Brandon got a rethink on the day, too. Frank Dillane, who plays Willoughby, said Oakley moved the camera in close instead of watching from the sisters' window. "Georgia made that call to come in close, which I think was a really good one," he said.
The men in the waistcoats
Herbert Nordrum plays Colonel Brandon in what the moderator noted is his first English-language role. He called it "nerve-racking" but freeing.
"Like just learning a beautiful song, you know?" he said.
His first day was Brandon's awkward tea with Marianne. Creed-Miles suggested they hold eye contact before "action." They sat on the sofa staring at each other for about four minutes.
"My hands were shaking," Nordrum said. "But it felt it worked very well."
Dillane said he and Oakley agreed Willoughby shouldn't be played as a villain. "You have to have a certain amount of empathy for them," he said. His costume highlight was the long silk trousers Willoughby wears at the final ball, which Nordrum called "disco pants."
The last shot
The film's final image almost didn't happen. The scene was meant to end with the family simply walking in. Creed-Miles pushed for Marianne and Elinor to hold each other instead, and the crew had about five minutes of sunset light to get it.
"Thank goodness, 'cause it is what the film is," Edgar-Jones said. "It's the two women and what they've taught one another and how they've grown."
"Sense and Sensibility" is in theaters now from Focus Features. It also stars George MacKay as Edward Ferrars and Fiona Shaw.
