Kate Beckinsale and Chloe Sevigny will reunite with their “Last Days of Disco” director Whit Stillman for period drama “Love and Friendship,” based on Stillman’s adaptation of the Jane Austen novella “Lady Susan.”
Protagonist will launch international sales at the Berlin Film Festival.
In the film set in the 1790s, Beckinsale will portray the widow Lady Susan Vernon, who has come to the estate of her in-laws to wait out the rumors about her dalliances that are circulating through polite society. She decides to secure a husband for herself and her rather reluctant debutante daughter.
The cast includes Xavier Samuel as the object of Lady Susan’s affections, and Stephen Fry, who’ll play the long-suffering husband to Lady Susan’s friend and confidante portrayed by Sevigny. Filming begins in Ireland this month.
The film is being produced by Stillman, Katie Holly and Lauranne Bourrachot, and co-produced by Raymond van der Kaaij. Production companies are Westerly Films in association with Blinder Films, Chic Films, Revolver Films, Irish Film Board, Arte and the Netherlands Film Fund.
Popular on Variety
“The Last Days of Disco,” set in the mid-’80s, was released in 1998.
