Anne Elliot will get yet another chance with Captain Wentworth. Deadline reports “Succession” star Sarah Snook will topline a film adaptation of Jane Austen’s “Persuasion.” Mahalia Belo is directing the Searchlight pic and Jessica Swale is writing the script.
Published in 1818, “Persuasion” marked Austen’s last complete novel and was released shortly after her death. It sees protagonist Anne Elliot crossing paths once more with Frederick Wentworth, the man she rejected years before but never stopped loving. Anne refused Captain Wentworth’s proposal at the behest of her family and friends, who balked at the couple’s class differences, but always regretted it. When Anne and Wentworth meet again, years after their separation, Anne must decide whether to follow her heart or continue to let others make decisions for her.
Monumental Pictures’ Alison Own and Debra Hayward will produce the new adaptation, and BBC Films is co-financing.
Like Austen’s other works, “Persuasion” has received several screen adaptations. Most recently, it received a modern update in “Rational Creatures,” a web series starring Kristina Pupo. Other notable iterations include the 2007 Sally Hawkins-starring TV movie, a 1995 feature toplined by Amanda Root, and a 1971 miniseries with Ann Firbank.
The latest Austen film adaptation, Autumn de Wilde’s “Emma.,” starring Anya Taylor-Joy, was released earlier this year.
Snook is up for an Emmy for her supporting turn as Shiv Roy in “Succession,” an HBO drama about a rich family at the helm of a media empire. She co-stars in “Pieces of a Woman,” a drama that premiered at Venice Film Festival and is currently screening at TIFF. Snook’s other credits include “An American Pickle,” “The Beautiful Lie,” and “Winchester.”
Belo previously directed miniseries “The Long Song” and “Requiem” and TV movie “Ellen.” Swale wrote and directed “Summerland,” a romantic WWII drama starring Gemma Arterton and Gugu Mbatha-Raw that was released this summer.
