Caitriona Balfe on her ‘sumptuous’ new period drama perfect for Outlander fans
The Outlander star has opened up about her brand new film away from the historical epic
Outlander actress Caitríona Balfe shared details about her forthcoming period drama that’s perfect for fans looking to fill the void after the fantasy series wraps for good.
Speaking at a recent event in London, the 46-year-old star opened up about the end of Outlander, which is currently airing, and her new projects.
Dublin-born Balfe will be taking on matriarch Mrs Dashwood in the forthcoming adaptation of Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility, which boasts a stellar cast including Normal People’s Daisy Edgar-Jones, Killing Eve’s Fiona Shaw, George MacKay and Esmé Creed-Miles.
Speaking about working on Sense and Sensibility, Balfe told media, including the publishers of the Daily Record, Reach Plc: “That was incredible.”
Ironically, she revealed how she’d previously told her agent: “I’m not doing period dramas anymore. Don’t come to me with anything that’s got a corset.” However, she couldn’t turn down the chance to be in the film helmed by acclaimed Blue Jean director Georgia Oakley.
“I feel like I’ve been so lucky with the people I get to work with,” Balfe said.
Addressing Oakley’s take on the beloved Austen novel, Balfe said: “She is somebody who had a very clear vision of what she wants to do.
“And that to me is the thing that will always make me want to say yes: being led by somebody who’s an artist. And she is, she’s a real artist.”
Balfe asked during a meeting with Oakley why she wanted to make a new adaptation of Sense and Sensibility, given the Oscar-winning success of the 1995 film directed by Ang Lee and starring Emma Thompson, Kate Winslet, Alan Rickman and Hugh Grant.
Lee’s movie was nominated for a slew of awards, including seven Oscars nods with lead star and screenwriter Thompson walking away with the accolade in the Best Writing category.
Balfe hailed Lee’s version of Sense and Sensibility as “so amazing”. She went on to say: “But [Oakley] had this really new, fresh take on it and I think the great thing about these great, classic texts is that every generation comes to it with their own perspective.
“And so they meet at a different place and have a different understanding of what that means to them.”
The movie has been shot on film rather than digitally and Balfe said she’d seen a sizzle reel, describing the upcoming release as “sumptuous in a different way” to Lee’s version.
Sense and Sensibility will be hitting screens in September this year and follows the loves and fortunes of the Dashwood sisters Elinor (Edgar-Jones) and Marianne (Creed-Miles), whose contrasting temperaments lead to two very different outcomes for them.
The actress is also going to appear in The Housekeeper, Tenzing and A Long Winter, the latter of which stars The Bear’s Ebon Moss-Bachrach and Heartstopper actor Kit Connor.
SOURCE: ok
