Daisy Edgar-Jones says secret weapon in landing Jane Austen film role was her mum

Praised for the “youthful energy” she brings to the part of Elinor Dashwood in the new Sense and Sensibility movie, Daisy Edgar-Jones has her mum to thank for her grasp of Jane Austen. For the Normal People star’s Northern Irish mother, Wendy, who switched from being a drama film editor to working in property, introduced her to the celebrated author when she was just six-years-old. Daisy, 28, who grew up in Muswell Hill, north London, and whose dad, Philip, is a TV executive and producer, says of her first encounter with Jane Austen’s novels: “My mum is an avid reader and when I was about six, she plonked them on my desk. She was ‘ok. When you’re ready. After Harry Potter, this is next.’ I’m such a huge Austen fan, I love all and any Austen adaptations. I re-read all the books all the time, so it really is a dream come true to play this role.” The current film, directed by Georgia Oakley - in which Esme Creed-Miles, 26, plays Elinor’s sister, Marianne Dashwood, also stars Fiona Shaw, 68, as gossip and matchmaking matriarch Mrs Jennings. Meanwhile, Elinor’s love interest, country clergyman Edward Ferrars, is played by George MacKay, 34 - whose breakthrough role was playing Lance Corporal William Schofield in Sam Mendes’ 2019 First World War drama, 1917. With period dramas some would say currently overcrowding our TV and cinema screens, this is the sixth screen adaptation of Sense and Sensibility since 1971. And it has big shoes to fill. The 1995 film won Emma Thompson an Oscar for best adapted screenplay and a nomination for best actress, alongside Kate Winslet - who was up for best supporting actress - in a part that propelled her to fame. It also starred seasoned male actors, Alan Rickman, Hugh Grant and Greg Wise. While some critics feel that Austen’s trademark wit is in short supply in the new film, it has been praised for its study of sisterhood - something that Daisy is keen to promote. Only child Daisy, who has been dating British photographer and director Ben Seed, 37, since 2023, describes it as “the thing about the film I think I am most proud of.”. Speaking to The Arts Hour on the BBC World Service, she says: “It feels like, amongst many things, a real romance of the sisters. That feels like the real core love story. And I know our director was really keen to kind of find that between the two of them. At the beginning of the film, their father has just died and they find out that they are losing their fortune. So the story sort of follows on from there, of how they navigate life and love and their aunt.” Of her character’s romance with Edward Ferrars in the film, which is showing in cinemas now, she adds: “I feel like they’re soul mates and it’s about how they find each other.” The ‘slow-burn’ journey of Elinor and Edward’s relationship in the film stands out, according to critics, as Daisy gives her character a youthful energy, combined with a poise and restraint that distinguishes this from other screen adaptations of the Austen novel. And Daisy - who joined the National Youth Theatre, aged 14, while studying at north London’s Mount School For Girls, and took her A-levels at a sixth form college before studying through the Open University - has previously confessed: "When it comes to love, I think I am very much more Elinor in every sort of way. I definitely lead a lot with my head and try and push aside, bury my emotion" The author of six finished novels - Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, Emma, Northanger Abbey and Persuasion - Jane Austen died more than 250 years ago. And yet, the appeal of her work for TV and film makers has never been stronger. Daisy, who is starring as a young lawyer opposite Michelle Williams and Andrew Scott in a new thriller, A Place in Hell, directed by Chloe Domont - due for release in April 2027 - says: “Jane Austen is so timeless, because she’s so adept at exploring romance and societal dynamics, and her witticisms are so brilliant. I think growing up in the UK [Jane Austen] is such a part of the fabric of your life.” Fiona Shaw's hilarious performance No one grasps Jane Austen’s wit better than veteran actor Fiona Shaw, according to the film’s Australian screenwriter, Diana Reid. Her comic credentials were firmly sealed playing MI6 executive Carolyn Martens in the 2018 comedy Killing Eve. Diana says: “One of my favourite memories of the whole production process was the read through, when Fiona first sunk her teeth into that character [Mrs Jennings] and she just had the whole room in stitches. She’s just so gifted. Having Fiona was just incredible. I, probably like everyone else, am already a huge fan of hers.” With critics describing her performance as Mrs Jennings as a “riot,” and teetering on the brink between “obnoxious and infectious,” Fiona’s vibrant wardrobe is also praised for matching her larger than life persona. Diana says: “Mrs Jennings is an amazing character to write. I feel like Austen always arcs the satire in her novels. "The characters who are initially ridiculous sometimes become less so and then, conversely, sometimes characters who are villainous, they become more and more ridiculous. It’s almost like a morality tale. Mrs Jennings is definitely one of those characters who, when she storms into the plot, and she’s such a huge personality, even the sisters don’t really take her seriously. “Then she blossoms into this incredibly gentle, generous soul. By the end of the film, I think this woman who you were laughing at, at the start, is someone who you have such genuine affection for.” *This interview can be heard in full on The Arts Hour on BBC Sounds.