Sense and Sensibility: Reid makes room for the sisters
Screenwriter Diana Reid told Variety she almost declined another Sense and Sensibility because Emma Thompson's 1995 version already felt definitive. Going back to Austen's novel, she found the story she did not think had been fully told on screen: the love story between the Dashwood sisters. Scenes and characters came out so that relationship could flourish inside just over two hours.
Reid, primarily a novelist taking on her first screenplay, says she was careful not to change the book merely to dodge the earlier film. Integrity meant cutting with a purpose: make space for what this adaptation is actually about.
Calling Austen almost like Shakespeare is less a compliment than a craft diagnosis. The text can hold more than one sincere reading, which is why a new screenwriter can still find an unclaimed emotional center.
Go deeper on Kingdom of Dreams
- → EP 328: Bob Gale on writing the Back to the Future trilogy
- → EP 266: Gary Goldman on writing Total Recall
- → EP 327: Back to the Future: The Complete Screenplay
We have not sat with Diana Reid yet. Go deeper with writers on Kingdom of Dreams who talk about adaptation, structure, and what to leave out.
Headline inspired by reporting at Variety (Mya Copeland interviewing Diana Reid). Full article remains on their site; this page is our craft lens and episode guide. Read the source at Variety ↗