Carrie Brownstein, Portlandia comedy queen and feminist rock-star extraordinaire from the band Sleater-Kinney, is embarking on a new project that will take her headlong into the wonderful world of Austen fandom. Brownstein will complete the screenplay of Lost in Austen, begun by three-time Oscar nominated writer (When Harry Met Sally) and director (Sleepless in Seattle, Julie and Julia) Nora Ephron, but cut short by her passing in 2012. Though this will be her debut as writer for a feature film, I’m 100% positive that Carrie Brownstein can do anything. (I mean, she’s already famous for being fantastic at, like, a billion other things!)
“Lost in Austen” centers on Amanda, a Brooklyn woman (Woohoo! Represent!) who finds herself transported back to the regency era, the time when Austen set her (amazing) novels including Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, Emma, and so many others (all 100% worth reading!).
Why do we need another Austen-themed movie, you might ask? Well, leaving aside the fact that you clearly need to spend more time getting your Austen on, I’ll tell you exactly why.
1) Jane Austen is amazing. She totally rocks at writing romance, especially for those of us who are anglophiles and can’t get enough of a guy in a cravat confessing his love to us in a British accent. (Shhh! Don’t tell me he was talking to a character in the movie! I totally saw him look right at me!)
2) More may not always be better, but in this case it is. I wanna watch another Austen movie, and I wanna watch it now. But if I have to wait, I might as well be waiting for something built by the dynamic duo of Nora Ephron and Carrie Brownstein.
3) We can always use more lady-power on the big screen and behind it.
So the real question is, why would you not be super enthused about it?
Have any Austen favorites? Books? Movies? (The version of Pride and Prejudice with Colin Firth, because it’s the best in my humble, objective, and absolutely correct opinion.) Austen paraphernalia? (I have a set of Jane Austen playing cards and a tote bag with “I <3 Darcy” written on it.) Comment below!
Images courtesy of BUST and flyhigh-by-learnonline.blogspot.com.
