The 'Sense and Sensibility' Cast on Who's More of an "Elinor" or a "Marianne"

I just love a bonnet. I really do love a bonnet. They're underrated. I don't know why they went out of fashion. They're really great for, like, not getting burnt. They're good for, like, sun coverage. But also, they just... I think they sort of oomph at every outfit. It is bewitching, the idea of one's happiness depending entirely on another person. It is not always possible. Your sister seems happy. Yes. Such spirit is ultra rare. Hello, everyone. I'm Jacqueline Coley. I want to welcome you all to the big ticket interview for Sense and Sensibility. I am here with the cast. Hello, everyone. Hello. Hi. I'm so excited for folks to get a chance to see this film. But let's, like, start with the title, which I think is a reference to our two main female characters between Marianne and Eleanor, the lack of sense and the sensibility. But I'm curious, which one do y'all think you're more like? Are you more of the sensible side or are you going headlong into your emotions? I'll start with you. I am unbelievably similar to Eleanor. I am very much Sense, unfortunately. Well, not unfortunately. I mean, there's qualities about that I really admire, but I would like to be a little more able to express my sensibility. So I'm very inspired by Marianne as a character. What about you, sir? What do you feel? Yeah. I mean, asking everyone. Oh, right. Yeah, I'm probably more in Eleanor's camp. You know, I love the way that the story champions, you know, being full of feeling, but just kind of holding on to them. But like Daze, I feel like I maybe need a bit more Marianne in my makeup. As the woman that plays Marianne, where do you fly? Where do you have... There's definitely aspects to Marianne that I relate to, the intensity of her, of her feeling. But then we were also saying, there's lots of things that she's like, loves people and partying and adventure. And she wants to be at the ball and dance. And I think I experience all of those feelings from the comfort of my home. So maybe not the social butterfly side of it. Yes. Yeah. I'm hoping that maybe you will you will be on the Marianne side so we don't have nothing. I think she's incredibly boring. What do you feel? Which one are you more like? You saw Marianne and Biddeby's kind of dynamics also as a sort of like, to do with youthfulness, to do with being young. And I suppose the older I get, the more kind of dreary I get. We all have both. But yeah, I am quite boring. Sheena, what about you? Anybody is... Let me just ask, anybody left going to go more towards the Marianne side? Because it seems like everyone here is quite sensible. Completely. OK, good. OK. I'm so far from Brandon. Very Marianne. I have too much emotions. That's my problem. I think that. What about you? I mean, I think I've always been much more Marianne. I think as soon as I became a mom, I had to be like, I better I better find some more Eleanor sides to myself. But yeah, no, I'm definitely more in that camp. I guess the movie sort of asks, what is the best approach to love? Do you feel that this movie tries to spell that out at all? And I'm going to start with you two, George and Daisy. Yeah, I mean, I think what the film and the book does so well is it kind of explores as you grow and as you, you know, fall in love that you can kind of like different people bring out different facets in you. And so like Edward and Eleanor, it feels like they they really are soulmates. They kind of meet and they both really relate to that side of themselves, which means they are a little more withheld or a little more kind of find it challenging at times to to express themselves. It's why they miss each other, but it's also why they are so meant for each other. And then Marianne, her journey is kind of really interesting because, you know, her first instinct is maybe not the one that ultimately is right for her, but it's kind of a rite of passage as a young person to to fall in love and to feel heartbreak. And I think that the magical thing about the book is that and the film is that the sisters sort of gift each other each other's sensibility. So I think by the end, it's a real journey where Eleanor is more able to access that side of herself. And Marianne, it kind of learns to protect her heart at times. And so it's a wonderful kind of exploration of that. And George, your character being the object of affection and we see things through more of the women's perspective. I'm curious what you think the film says about what you should do on the approach to love and what you should do on the approach to love. I think it says there is no one way. I think the film is about balance in general, and either it's about through experience, learning what you need to learn to counter the balance where you might have weighed heavy in one aspect of yourself or you have characters that stay true and strong to who they are, but are all very different and disparate in how they express themselves. So I don't think it recommends one which way. I think it encourages experience to teach you what the best way is for you. She's not here. But obviously, everything that Georgia did for all of you as the director just really made this an incredible, including choosing all of you, obviously, to be this family. But Esme, I'm curious for you, was there anything that she sort of spoke to you about approaching Marianne before you got started that you really held true while you were doing the performance? What I really like about Georgia's directing is that there's a lot of space there. And you can really you can see it in the visual language of her filmmaking. It's spacious. But I think she really encourages actors to tap into their own instincts and allow them to breathe. And I think, yeah, the casting was obviously we all we all really related to elements of our own characters. So it was about kind of just exploring ourselves as much as as much as we could. And Katrina, for you, I was just mentioning I loved your performance in Belfast. It's like one of my favorites from that year. But I'm curious for you when you stepped on set, because Mrs. Dashwood is sometimes just a comic character. But I feel like you added a lot of depth to her this time around, especially. Yeah, I mean, I think that's what Georgia was one of the first things she said to me. She didn't want her to seem silly. Like she wanted to tap into the connection that her and Marianne had. And that really, this was a woman who she came from a place of optimism, that she didn't come from a lot and her life had worked out. And she sort of believes the same will happen for her girls, that goodness will prevail and that things will just work for them. So it was nice to to play with that and not to see her as fickle or silly, but optimistic. Truth be known, spoiler alert, it is an old book. She's pretty right. She's pretty right in her own. You know, Frank Willoughby sweeps Marianne off her feet quite literally. I'm curious. That is one of the most epic, I think, literary meet-cutes. Did you guys discuss it a lot before y'all? Literary what? Meet-cutes. Have you never heard of this? Where people meet in a cute way? Oh, meet-cutes. Yeah, it's very, like if you talk about meeting somebody and they come up to you or you like bump into each other in, I don't know, a grocery store. I'd never heard of that. So, yeah, no, it's one of the most epic ones. He literally lifts her off a beach. So how much did y'all talk about that before you actually set it up on the day? I mean, that specific scene, I don't think we talked about that much, but definitely Marianne and Willoughby's love is kind of legendary, comes with a lot of baggage as well, a lot of preconceptions. And I thought that Esme really revitalized Marianne so, so well and was really kind of modernized her. And so I tried to do the same with Willoughby and just sort of take the edges off these perceptions of the libertine or the cad or the villain while understanding that he has a role to play within the story. But I think that was my feeling towards those two. I'd love for you to talk a little bit about modernizing Marianne, if you could point to some of the stuff that you're hoping audiences see as far as how she is more contemporary in this version. I don't know that it was like a conscious, I'm going to modernize this person. And I think we all work similarly. The cast in general, I don't know. I mean, I can't speak for other people, but some people think it's a bit pretentious, really. But I asked everyone to call me Miss Marianne on the job. And I'm not, you know, I'm not overly sort of method, method. But I think there was, when you're trying to sort of grapple with a vernacular that's quite antiquitous, is that the word? It's a great word. Word, me. I just learned it. That may be totally wrong, but yeah. Mine's good, though. Yeah, it's sort of a different style of speech and a different rhythm of speech. You can, that can very easily start to kind of feel theatrical in the mouth. And for me, anyway, to make that feel natural and real, I had to kind of dissolve myself and dissolve thinking about the book or the anything about it, just like this is a script. This is a story. This is a person, a bit. So if it works, then great. Herbert, I definitely want to talk about the Colonel and how much he really adores Marianne, I think. But at the beginning, he's the embodiment of just how awkward a meeting can be. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Pipe cast. Yeah. I'm curious for you, what is the secret to the awkward first meeting? It comes so easily. I don't even have to try. In fact, it wasn't that awkward. It wasn't. No, no, no. I was like, to George, I was like, we should make this awkward. No, it's very natural. It truly comes very naturally. Well, can you take us into that day maybe a little bit? Because like I said, it is a slow burn of a love story, but it has to start from those first kernels. Because even though it is awkward, there's still those little bits that might say that they're going to be good together. Yeah, yeah. I think Brandon completely falls in love with Marianne from like the first second he sees her. But maybe he doesn't understand what this... It's like overwhelming, you know? And he doesn't know how to express himself in any kind of way. So it kind of makes him... It was this scene where we drank tea. Yes. It was so awkward. It was actually awkward for us to be there as well. You had this idea. It's a great idea that we had eye contact before Georgia said action. So it became even more awkward because we were like staring at each other for like a minute. Yeah. And then Georgia said action and then started drinking tea together. It was a really good idea. That house, was that the first week? That was your first day. That area was so beautiful. And the house was so perfect. I just felt like I was in a dream, you know, doing that scene. Your exit from that scene is one of my favorite things. Yeah. It's because they just don't pay you any attention. Yeah, yeah, no. Yeah, yeah. Goodbye. Just laughing it up. I'm gonna bring it to you, George, sir. And also, Daisy, I think both of your characters had to do this because they're holding so much to the chest. You never really know what they're actually thinking, but I'm sure the stage notes or your conversations with George has a lot to do with what you're actually feeling. I'm curious, how much of Edward did you have to keep locked up in these scenes? Like, were there notes being like, he really wants to just kiss her at this moment, but he's just going to stand there and look very British? In capital letters in the script, he just wants to kiss her. I don't remember the sort of specifics of the conversation. We talked about the project in the prep period before. I think Daisy and I work in a very kind of similar way. We share a lot of the ways that we like to work, and I felt very safe in working with Daisy because of that. Not to speak for Daisy, but I feel like we both really wanted to champion these characters that held onto themselves because I feel like that in myself some of the time. So I kind of loved that there got to be a character that I could champion that operated in a way that maybe I do some of the time. And so I think just that implicit understanding had a lot to do with the relationship that's on screen. And then, of course, Georgia always would talk about specific beats, but it all happened very naturally and was never prescriptive. And I think it also just comes about with Daisy and I sharing a way of being and a way of working, particularly, that fed into the dynamic. Yeah, we also had like a running bit where it would be like the alternate version of Edward and Mary. Well, there was a really, in the scene, not to spoilers, but there's a moment where Edward leans and it sort of kneels down and it's a very like poignant moment. But just as George leant down, his trousers ripped at the seam. And I think you knelt on sheep poo. But we had this running bit of like, what would be like Edward sort of like always tripping over himself or like he just can't seem to get the words out. So we giggled a lot as well during it. And I think we are extremely similar in the way that we work and actually operate as people. So it was a really fun thing to like, because I think we also probably both relate extremely to our characters of like people pleasers and like wanting to say stuff, but not being able to. And I think it was really fun to embody them together. Also, this is Austin and it wouldn't be a good Jane Austen adaptation if we didn't have a good dance scene and lots of balls and all of that kind of stuff. Anybody want to take us inside the choreography, the ballroom stuff? I mean, that was so much. Watching you two dance was so incredible. So take us inside. We worked with a really amazing choreographer, Holly. There were just great dancers involved and we had the luxury of being able to rehearse with them. And it was one of my favourite parts of the process, really. I love dance and yeah, and I think she did a beautiful job. The dancers don't feel stuck or stuffy or prescriptive or like generic. They feel almost modern too, you know, they almost feel like folky and witchy and impassioned. Selling you guys short, you guys have like a full on like pretty intense dance number that is like literally like I would say applause worthy. So take me inside. I think it's a lot of work for the dude on that side as well. Me and Esme did a lot of singing and dancing sort of rehearsals. Yeah. Yeah, Holly, the choreographer and her whole team was just great. And that was such a fun day or a few days of filming and the kind of contrast between the two dances, our sort of very fun and exuberant dance and that matched with your guys beautiful, beautiful dance at the end. And the music as well was just was just great. So I think everyone up here has had the luxury of working with some incredible set designers and prop masters. But I feel like whenever you do a period piece and I think you know this better than anyone, there's just always some little story behind it. I'm curious if there was a prop or a little piece of set design that you really got kind of mesmerized about. I loved my hat. It felt very manly and cool. And I had like a riding jacket that was beautiful. I felt like a superhero with that jacket. It was really, really amazing costumes. Amazing. Katrina, what about you? Any fun little... Oh God, the set design was amazing. I mean, when we were at New Orleans, you would just go, I think at the kids room was the most incredible. All the different little kids toys and they had a miniature Norland and Bodhi's character Margaret had then some of the little miniatures that we brought then to Barton. It's just so many gorgeous little knickknacks. And all the crafts, like your little hanky that you were doing. I sewed a lot of hanky. Yeah. I'm going to turn it a little bit different to y'all because I feel the four of you had some incredible costumes and I want to particularly talk if there was an aspect of your costume that you were kind of in love with. I liked all the costumes. I liked that era of costume. I really liked Marianne's costumes. I liked it all really. It's always fun to dress up. It is fun to dress up. Did you have a favourite? I think your, the ball outfit where she, that last outfit is just so beautiful. I'm not a very effeminate dresser per se. So it was like, I became obsessed with this pink sash bow that I get to wear in the scene with Bodie, Margaret and we're walking through the forestry summer's day. I became really obsessed with that sash. And in my first fitting, I said to Grace, I was like, this pink sash, this pink ribbon is Marianne. And I had to have something really girly to lean into to find her kind of fab vibe. And with your two characters, I feel it speaks to the characters as much in your costumes. They're both kind of like stiff and put together. Like your coat, I feel like is his armour because he very rarely takes it off. But I'd be curious what your favourite part of the costuming was. Yeah, the first fitting with Grace, Grace Sneller, costume designer was really like expanded my mind with the whole, with the character. I didn't know too much about the period. And as Frank said, it was a good period, particularly for men, I think in terms of dressing. I hadn't read the book when I first read the script and I read it since, but the Edward that I sort of envisioned in the script, and he has this thing about sort of wanting to reject his family and the wealth that he's from. And I felt, you know, he has jokes about not having a carriage, even walking everywhere. He's a bit of a, you know, he's quite a singular fella and he's, but he's out in nature. So a lot of it was about materials, to be honest, about looking at what colours and materials would be practical, would be soft, but also sort of tough and masculine and romantic, but also practical. So like, that's where it was a big waxed brown jacket, the sort of the brushed cotton and all that kind of stuff. Those materials felt kind of strong, but soft, which felt very right for Edward. And that was Grace who helped me find that because out of a sort of pretty typical silhouette that it's just all the details in terms of either the specific buttons that he has or the blues. And it was about trying to find something that was kind of masculine and strong, but also very soft at the same time. Any details for Eleanor's? I just love a bonnet. I really do love a bonnet. They're under it and I don't know why they went out of fashion. They're really great for like not getting burnt. They're good for like sun coverage, but also they just, I think they sort of oomph every outfit. And the kind of bonnets in all this film was so amazing because I just didn't know how many varieties of bonnet there were. I had a sort of hood sack at one point that I wore quite a lot, but then I also had quite a structured bonnet. Marianne had one that sort of looked like a mushroom almost or a slash sort of Last of Us kind of monster, but in a kind of magic way. It was sort of a fascinating bonnet. And then Mr. Turner. I had a cage. Constantina. It was insane, but it was so much fun because it was just like, it really, I've never done a Regency period drama. I've grown up loving them. And so to kind of like the bonnet is where it really felt like, oh wow, I'm properly in a Regency Jane Austen film. It was really exciting. And I loved seeing the amazing skill that went into making them. Yeah. And this incredible cast too, I think to do it with. And again, considering how many adaptations there's been and how many iconic ones, it's so great to see how y'all still found a way to make it fresh. I think your dynamic between you and Esme is definitely one of them. I'm curious, was it working together previously How did you sort of find where Marianne and Eleanor were in this? Because I do think it's a different look of sisterly love than we've seen in maybe some of the previous adaptations. Yeah, I would definitely say that I think that's the aspect of the film that I'm most proud of. And I think that I don't have any siblings in my life. And so sisterhood has always been a theme I'm so interested to explore. And Esme and I met when I was 19 and Esme was 17 and we fell in love on a job and had not really seen each other until we met again at our chemistry read. And there was something really moving to me about seeing Esme again, like five, six years later and this sort of sense of history that we'd shared and love. And it was like an immediate connection. And I also think Esme is one of the most incredible performers. And so I genuinely just love acting with Esme. And so playing sisters with her was so seamless and easy. And yeah, I feel like I've now got a real sister in my life, which is pretty nice. That's lovely. I was just going to ask you, what do you hope folks take from watching this kind of like passionate sisterly love on screen? Me and Georgia actually both connect. And she said this at one point as well, that the sister story is no offense, guys. It's really the real love story of the movie. And unlike Daisy, I do have a sister and she's amazing. And also sister relationships aren't always easy, you know, like families are hard. And yeah, I think any film that encourages you or makes you feel seen in those dynamics and relationships that could maybe encourage you to reach out to the people that you love, you know, is special. And I hope that people, when they leave the theater, they give their siblings a ring, you know? Yeah. Jane Austen is responsible for some of the most romantic stories as far as even adaptations. You know, we have this, we have Pride and Prejudice, Bridget Jones's Diary. I don't want anyone ever to forget that is an Austen adaptation. Clueless. Clueless. Thank you very much. But for you, what is your favorite romantic story on screen of all time? I have my answer. I was obsessed with this film growing up with the Romeo and Juliet, the Baz Luhrmann Romeo and Juliet. I mean, I was obsessed. As you should have been. Yeah. I think that is a pretty iconic love story, I gotta say. There are so many great romances. Titanic. I mean, I re-watched that recently and their love is so sort of like, it's on fire. But one that absolutely broke me, but it is so sad. Yeah, it's Blue Valentine. I was just about to say, that's a great one. And I felt like that film, also just like the performances in it, learning about how they made it and the strength of feeling from it, albeit it doesn't have an ending equivalent to this, that film knocked me for six. My favorite love film is Punch Drunk Love, which is also one of his favorite films. And Herbert got me the DVD as a wrap gift. It's quite a cute story. 4K. Not the DVD. Oh, sorry. She hasn't been able to play it. Herbert, what about your favorite love story? I've been thinking about this. I think there's so many, so many good films about love. I saw recently re-watched In the Mood for Love, which is just the most beautiful film ever made, you know? And I thought about When Harry Met Sally. It was like a perfect film. Just, it's hard to choose. I mean, you could just say your show too, by the way. All of the season. I was going to say Blue Valentine or so, and then I was like, oh, but don't they break up in the end? Which is kind of, you know. And then everything I've been thinking of is like, they're all people who break up. Maybe, Frank, you go. Yeah, you can say Blue Valentine. The worst person in the world is pretty incredible. That's incredible. But it's heartbreaking, but it sort of is romantic. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's a good film. Yeah. You're allowed to say that. It's a good film. I do agree. I watched Howard and Lorde recently. Oh, that's a good one. Yeah. So sweet. That's amazing. Well, I think we've definitely got a great tour, and I think Sins Insensibility is going to be another one to add into the canon. So I want to thank you all for being here. I want to remind all of you that you can pick up tickets now on Fandango for Sins Insensibility and Sins Insensibility's hit theaters October 16th. Thank you all. Thank you.