Actor Daisy Edgar-Jones is no stranger to Ireland, having spent five months in the country filming hit drama Normal People which was released in 2020. But it was actually fields in County Fermanagh, where some of her family live, that helped her prepare for the role of beloved character Elinor Dashwood in Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility, some 20 years before. Her mother is from County Down and Edgar-Jones spent her childhood roaming fields in Northern Ireland.
"I remember big long summers when I was very young in Fermanagh in the fields which definitely helped with my Sense and Sensibility journey because I was doing a lot of the similar wandering around, with not much to do, under the big sky and I love being here," she told BBC News NI. "I always feel so welcome and the people are incredible." Sense and Sensibility was published in 1811 and has been adapted many times, but the 1995 adaptation starring Kate Winslet, Emma Thompson, Alan Rickman and Hugh Grant is perhaps the best known. The Austen novel centres around a relatable story of sisterhood and romance, mainly between Elinor Dashwood (Edgar-Jones) and Marianne (Esmé Creed-Miles).
The Dashwood family is left penniless after the death of their father and the two older sisters are in search of a husband as they are forced to leave their home and move to the modest Barton Cottage. The film was made by production companies Focus Features and Working Title. Edgar-Jones is surrounded by Irish actors in the film, with Irish star Caitriona Balfe playing her mother Mrs Dashwood, Fiona Shaw as Mrs Jennings and Hamnet's Bodhi Rae Breathnach, who plays the Dashwoods' youngest sister, Margaret.
Balfe has often appeared on screens in recent years, mostly in her roles in Outlander and Belfast, alongside Jamie Dornan. The County Monaghan actress, who grew up in a family of seven in the village of Tydavnet, said starring in the film reminded her of her own childhood. "There was a lot of that sisterly dynamic that I recognised," said Balfe.
"This is one of the beautiful things about this film is watching the richness of this family. One of the words that kept coming to me was the resilience of them - even though they were destitute financially, what you see when they go to Barton is actually this blossoming, because they have each other. She said it was an "amazing" time in Ireland for art.
"I'm so proud to be Irish and it's such an amazing time in Ireland right now for all the incredible art that is being produced here and to be able to bring this film here is really special," she said. Balfe said she speaks with her husband about moving back to Ireland "all the time". "You never know, it might be in the future." Sense and Sensibility is in cinemas from 25 September.
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