'Pride and Prejudice' Meets 'Downton Abbey' in 'Longbourne!'
by Shannon Keirnan
News, just in time for Valentine’s Day… a new version of “Pride and Prejudice” will be coming to the big screen.
Yet again.
Focus Features (who also presented the Keira Knightly adaptation), in collaboration with Random House Studio Films, will be turning the not-yet-released novel Longbourne into a big-screen Jane Austen romp.
The book by Jo Baker explores the much-loved story of Pride and Prejudice, that is, the timeless love story between Elizabeth Bennett and Mr. Darcy… but with a twist.
In “Longbourne,” audiences can expect to view the love story from a different perspective—that of the servants in the Bennett’s home.
Wait, does anyone else sense a “Downton Abbey”-esque turn to this?
So how did Baker come up with the idea of changing the classic story… in a way that doesn’t involve interjecting zombies?
“I began to become aware that if I’d been living at the time, I wouldn’t have got to the ball; I would have been stuck at home with the sewing… Aware of that English class thing, Pride and Prejudice begins to read a little differently," she says.
“Longbourne,” like the novel and most faithful re-tellings, will deal with issues of class, but it “will also reveal the tragic consequences of the Napoleonic Wars.”
Bonus: audiences can expect a few more love triangles in the mix. The movie will also focus “on a romance between a newly arrived footman and a housemaid.”
Oooh. Will this be Mr. Bates and Anna, part II?
The novel, and its subsequent movie, are said to “bring background characters to the forefront… The servants’ own stories will be just as richly developed as Austen’s own material, promising nothing short of romance and tragedy.”
It’s an intriguing idea, especially with audiences eating up BBC’s “Downton Abbey” and bringing a new interest to British period pieces.
Are you excited about the news, or has “Pride and Prejudice” been done to death?