It may not seem like your typical rom-com duo: Keri Russell, known as a clandestine Russian spy in FX’s retro thriller “The Americans,” and Bret McKenzie of New Zealand’s comic-music duo, “Flight of the Conchords.” Put them both in regency costumes in a faux British amusement park devoted to Jane Austen fanatics, and things are bound to get a little freaky.
That’s the premise of the new film “Austenland,” directed by Jerusha Hess, the co-screenwriter of “Napoleon Dynamite” and “Gentlemen Broncos.” Based on the book by Shannon Hale, Russell plays a plain Jane unable to sustain a relationship while absorbed in her time-warp fantasies of romance and ruffles in Jane Austen books.
Her home is a shrine to Colin Firth’s portrayal of the dashing Mr. Darcy from the BBC production of “Pride and Prejudice,” complete with life-size cut-outs of the actor in costume and pillows and throws emblazoned with “I (heart) Darcy” symbols. She blows her life savings on a full-emersion experience at a British resort devoted to role-playing Austen where male actors are hired to fulfill guests’ romantic fantasies.
“It started with a lot of giggling about British men in britches,” says Hess, who co-wrote the screenplay with Hale and makes her directing debut. “I wanted to do something different and this is unashamedly a girl’s movie.”
It may not seem like your typical rom-com duo: Keri Russell, known as a clandestine Russian spy in FX’s retro thriller “The Americans,” and Bret McKenzie of New Zealand’s comic-music duo, “Flight of the Conchords.” Put them both in regency costumes in a faux British amusement park devoted to Jane Austen fanatics, and things are bound to get a little freaky.
That’s the premise of the new film “Austenland,” directed by Jerusha Hess, the co-screenwriter of “Napoleon Dynamite” and “Gentlemen Broncos.” Based on the book by Shannon Hale, Russell plays a plain Jane unable to sustain a relationship while absorbed in her time-warp fantasies of romance and ruffles in Jane Austen books.
Her home is a shrine to Colin Firth’s portrayal of the dashing Mr. Darcy from the BBC production of “Pride and Prejudice,” complete with life-size cut-outs of the actor in costume and pillows and throws emblazoned with “I (heart) Darcy” symbols. She blows her life savings on a full-emersion experience at a British resort devoted to role-playing Austen where male actors are hired to fulfill guests’ romantic fantasies.
“It started with a lot of giggling about British men in britches,” says Hess, who co-wrote the screenplay with Hale and makes her directing debut. “I wanted to do something different and this is unashamedly a girl’s movie.”
Source: http://www.glendalenewspress.com
