Sense and Sensibility Premiere: Daisy Edgar-Jones Takes Austen to LA

Focus Features brought its new Jane Austen adaptation to a 1927 movie palace downtown, nine days before the film opens in U.S. theaters.

Working Title has made Jane Austen pay off before, and on Wednesday night it brought its latest attempt to Los Angeles. The Sense and Sensibility premiere took over The United Artists Theater downtown on Oct. 7, with Daisy Edgar-Jones, Esme Creed-Miles and Caitriona Balfe leading the cast on the carpet ahead of the film’s Oct. 16 release from Focus Features. It is the U.S. launch for a film that already opened in the U.K. last month, and it arrives with solid reviews and an awards conversation still taking shape.

A 1927 Movie Palace for a Regency Romance

The setting fit the material. The United Artists Theater, built in 1927 by the studio Mary Pickford, Charlie Chaplin and Douglas Fairbanks co-founded, is a gothic movie palace now attached to the Ace Hotel, about as close as Los Angeles gets to a Regency drawing room.

Edgar-Jones, who plays Elinor Dashwood, was joined by Creed-Miles (Marianne) and Balfe, who plays their mother. Frank Dillane, the film’s Willoughby, and Herbert Nordrum, the Norwegian star of The Worst Person in the World, who plays Colonel Brandon, also walked, along with Stacy Martin and Bethany Slater. Producer Tim Bevan and composer Roger Goula rounded out the film’s team.

The guest list leaned young and fashion-forward, a fitting crowd for a film pitched at a new generation of Austen fans. Cazzie David, Lily Sheen, Scout LaRue Willis, Larsen Thompson, Francesca Capaldi, Saffron Burrows, Spencer House, Jade Coatsworth and Lacey Claire Rogers were among the arrivals.

Georgia Oakley’s Austen, From London to Los Angeles

Georgia Oakley, whose debut Blue Jean won the audience award at the Venice Days sidebar in 2022, directs from a screenplay by Australian novelist Diana Reid. George MacKay plays Edward Ferrars and Fiona Shaw plays Mrs. Jennings. Bevan and Eric Fellner produced for Working Title with India Flint and Jo Wallett.

The film had its world premiere in London’s Leicester Square in September and opened in the U.K. on Sept. 25. Reviews have been warm rather than rapturous: it sits at 79 percent on Rotten Tomatoes and 72 on Metacritic.

This is familiar ground for Working Title, which produced Joe Wright’s Pride & Prejudice in 2005, earning Keira Knightley an Oscar nomination, and Autumn de Wilde’s Emma. in 2020. The bigger shadow is Ang Lee’s 1995 Sense and Sensibility, which earned seven Oscar nominations, including best picture, and won Emma Thompson the Oscar for adapted screenplay. Kate Winslet‘s Marianne got her the first of her many nominations. Oakley’s younger, looser take seems built to avoid a direct comparison.

Edgar-Jones is the film’s strongest awards play. She made our Golden Globes predictions in the drama actress race, though as a long shot, and a strong U.S. opening would help Focus make the case. Sense and Sensibility opens in theaters Oct. 16. For more red carpets, see our roundup of the week’s best premieres.

Scroll Through all the shots from last nights premiere below.

Daisy Edgar-Jones

Sense and Sensibility Los Angeles Premiere

Frank Dillane, Stacy Martin, Herbert Nordrum, Esme Creed-Miles, Daisy Edgar-Jones, Bethany Slater and Caitriona Balfe

Sense and Sensibility Los Angeles Premiere

Bethany Slater

Sense and Sensibility Los Angeles Premiere

Esme Creed-Miles, Caitriona Balfe and Daisy Edgar-Jones

Sense and Sensibility Los Angeles Premiere

Francesca Capaldi

Sense and Sensibility Los Angeles Premiere

The United Artists Theater

Sense and Sensibility Los Angeles Premiere

Inside The United Artists Theater

Sense and Sensibility Los Angeles Premiere

Esme Creed-Miles

Sense and Sensibility Los Angeles Premiere

Frank Dillane and Herbert Nordrum

Sense and Sensibility Los Angeles Premiere

Caitriona Balfe

Sense and Sensibility Los Angeles Premiere

Caitriona Balfe and Stacy Martin

Sense and Sensibility Los Angeles Premiere

Frank Dillane, Stacy Martin, Herbert Nordrum, Esme Creed-Miles, Daisy Edgar-Jones, Bethany Slater and Caitriona Balfe

Sense and Sensibility Los Angeles Premiere

Stacy Martin, Caitriona Balfe, Esme Creed-Miles and Daisy Edgar-Jones

Sense and Sensibility Los Angeles Premiere

Daisy Edgar-Jones

Sense and Sensibility Los Angeles Premiere

Jade Coatsworth

Sense and Sensibility Los Angeles Premiere

Lacey Claire Rogers

Sense and Sensibility Los Angeles Premiere

Stacy Martin

Sense and Sensibility Los Angeles Premiere

Herbert Nordrum

Sense and Sensibility Los Angeles Premiere

Spencer House

Sense and Sensibility Los Angeles Premiere

Herbert Nordrum

Sense and Sensibility Los Angeles Premiere

Daisy Edgar-Jones

Sense and Sensibility Los Angeles Premiere

Lily Sheen

Sense and Sensibility Los Angeles Premiere

Cazzie David

Sense and Sensibility Los Angeles Premiere

Cazzie David

Sense and Sensibility Los Angeles Premiere

Larsen Thompson

Sense and Sensibility Los Angeles Premiere

Larsen Thompson

Sense and Sensibility Los Angeles Premiere

Saffron Burrows

Sense and Sensibility Los Angeles Premiere

Frank Dillane

Sense and Sensibility Los Angeles Premiere

Frank Dillane

Sense and Sensibility Los Angeles Premiere

Caitriona Balfe

Sense and Sensibility Los Angeles Premiere

Esme Creed-Miles and Daisy Maybe

Sense and Sensibility Los Angeles Premiere

Caitriona Balfe

Sense and Sensibility Los Angeles Premiere

Esme Creed-Miles

Sense and Sensibility Los Angeles Premiere

Esme Creed-Miles

Sense and Sensibility Los Angeles Premiere

Esme Creed-Miles

Sense and Sensibility Los Angeles Premiere

Frank Dillane, Stacy Martin, Herbert Nordrum, Esme Creed-Miles, Daisy Edgar-Jones, Bethany Slater and Caitriona Balfe

Sense and Sensibility Los Angeles Premiere

Esme Creed-Miles

Sense and Sensibility Los Angeles Premiere

Esme Creed-Miles and Daisy Edgar-Jones

Sense and Sensibility Los Angeles Premiere

Bethany Slater

Sense and Sensibility Los Angeles Premiere

Daisy Edgar-Jones

Sense and Sensibility Los Angeles Premiere

Daisy Edgar-Jones

Sense and Sensibility Los Angeles Premiere

Daisy Edgar-Jones

Sense and Sensibility Los Angeles Premiere

Esme Creed-Miles

Sense and Sensibility Los Angeles Premiere

Stacy Martin, Caitriona Balfe, Esme Creed-Miles and Daisy Edgar-Jones

Sense and Sensibility Los Angeles Premiere

Herbert Nordrum, Stacy Martin, Frank Dillane, Caitriona Balfe, Esme Creed-Miles and Daisy Edgar-Jones

Sense and Sensibility Los Angeles Premiere

When is Sense and Sensibility in Theaters?

Austen’s 1811 novel follows Elinor and Marianne Dashwood, two sisters forced out of their family home after their father’s death, as they move to a modest cottage in Devon and navigate love, money and heartbreak in very different ways: Elinor with restraint, Marianne with her whole heart. Oakley’s version runs 132 minutes and puts Edgar-Jones and Creed-Miles at the center of a cast that also includes MacKay, Dillane, Nordrum, Balfe and Shaw.

Watch The Sense and Sensibility Trailer Below:

Focus Features releases Sense and Sensibility exclusively in theaters on Friday, Oct. 16.

Jonathan P. Moustakas

Jonathan P. Moustakas founded The Cinema Group in 2020 during the challenges of the pandemic, after losing the vital ability to find community in theaters and escape through the captivating magic of cinema. Feeling profoundly cut off from the vibrant film community he cherished, he sought to create a welcoming home for dedicated cinema fans while providing engaging, daily curated content that resonates with their passions. Years later, The Cinema Group has blossomed from a small collective of loyal fans into a thriving brand that reaches millions of audiences every month across a diverse array of platforms and mediums.

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