Jane Austen Untamed

(energetic music) - Well, one of the things I like most about Jane Austin is that there are always more layers.

The more carefully you read her, the more things you can see.

People think of Jane Austin as being very prim and proper, but if you look at the backstory, you're aware that the world her characters live in is just as dangerous, transgressive and really thrilling and sometimes dark as anything of our own.

I guess that's what I get most excited about trying to bring out when I do the adaptations.

(laughing and chatter) You don't need to see their faces to know these are people of influence.

- The brothers Parker!

- I think people will love the classic nature of this Jane Austen story, but also it is pushing some of the boundaries of what we're used to in terms of Jane Austen.

- I did not come here to work, I came here to imbibe, carouse and generally make an ass of myself.

- How is this different from other Jane Austen stories?

It's reflected in the writing that it was a little more progressive, in terms of some of it's attention to detail and in terms of some of it's themes of capitalism, of growth, of industry.

(clattering of hooves and whineying) There's themes of race in the 1800s.

- We have nothing worth stealing!

- I beg to differ.

- Oh no you don't, she's my property.

- I'm no man's property, least of all yours.

- Sexuality and the use of sexuality as a weapon.

- Our adaptation of Sanditon has all the traits of a classic Jane Austen novel.

For all of that, there's a darker side to some of the stories.

- Men can be so artful in their persuasion, can they not?

(pounding hooves) (gentle music) - I think it's got a feel of a western to it.

In an 1820s costume.

Its a conflict between good and evil.

It's got characters that want the best, and characters that want the worst.

- You are an English Baronet, I am well aware that you have, so far, frittered away these advantages, and used them in pursuit of petty conquests, and the sowing of wild oats.

- No, no, you really misjudge me.

- I do not.

- Jane Austen, we think of her as very gentile, but often in the subplots there's underage sex, there are elopements, there are seductions, there are betrayals, there are teenage pregnancies, really all those things happen in Sense and Sensibility but people tend to forget about them somehow.

- Deep down, the core of the story is nearly always about sex and money.

Sometimes you will be inclined to say love rather than sex.

With Pride and Prejudice it is clearly sex.

The driving engine of the plot is Darcy's sexual desire for Elizabeth, and she's rude to him and he keeps coming back for more.

He doesn't understand what's happening to him, but we do.

It's the great pull, it's the selfish gene, it's biology.

- The wonderful thing about this story is that the women really do hold a lot of the power.

- Oh Babington.

I wondered when he'd come sniffing around.

- Shall I have the pleasure of seeing you at Lady Denham's luncheon party?

- I suppose.

- I shan't be put off, you know.

- It comes across as quite nasty.

You start to realize that it's just pure honesty.

She's just telling the truth about how she feels about people.

- I'm starting to find you slightly better company.

(laughs) - I've never met anyone else who can give a compliment in such a way as it might also be an insult.

You are extraordinary.

- I know you think of me often.

- You flatter yourself.

- What Clara does is, she observes people quietly and then she tries to find their weakness.

With Edward, his weakness is his desire for women.

And Clara knows that she can use that to get to him.

- It's the deadly sins, isn't it?

It's about greed, it's about lust, it's about everything.

It doesn't hold back, you see it for what it is.

All wrapped into a blanket of a beautiful resort.

(seagulls cawing)