Whit Stillman has a new movie,** Love And Friendship**, afoot and it now involves the combined talents of Sienna Miller and Chloë Sevigny. The two actresses have signed up for the latest slice of Stillmania, a comedy that springboards off the director’s in-progress (and presumably four-foot wide) novel Love & Friendship: An Adaptation Of Jane Austen’s Unfinished Novella Concerning The Beautiful Lady Susan Vernon, Her Loves And Friendships, And The Strange Antagonism Of The DeCourcy Family.
With Metropolitan, Barcelona and the recent Damsels In Distress, Stillman has carved a niche as a funny, wry chronicler of what he calls the “urban haute bourgeoisie”. This one will mark a departure from those preppy playgrounds – at least in setting and period, if not tone.
Miller plays the lead character, Lady Susan Vernon. In Austen’s book, she’s a widow searching for a husband for herself and one for her daughter. Here, however, she “embarks on a relationship with a married man and stirs up some controversy along the way”. Gosh! That's not very Austen. Sevigny will play a friend of Lady Susan’s.
It's Miller's most substantial role since taking a break to have her first child, although she will also be appearing in Bennett Miller's **Foxcatcher **later this year.
According to Herald.ie, the movie will take advantage of tax breaks to shoot in Ireland. Last Days Of Sligo, anyone? Okay, right you are.