Anya Taylor-Joy and Autumn de Wilde Went Full Austen on ‘Emma’

Описание: The director sent her star "the most beautiful book" she had ever seen, upon first meeting. "It's the best first date I ever had."

Like many movies, “Emma” started with a pitch. Working Title was planning a remake of the Jane Austen classic, which had spawned some three film and three television adaptations, when they scheduled a Skype meeting with Autumn de Wilde. She had never directed a film feature before, having built a storied career as a music photographer who crafts stories around subjects like Beck and The Raconteurs, creating characters for them, as well as a director of visually sumptuous commercials (Prada, Uniqlo) and music videos (Florence + the Machine, The Decemberists).

The director obsessively researched 18th and 19th century history, from medical science and fashion to design. “I didn’t want to do a digital pitch,” she said in our Zoom interview with her star, Anya Taylor-Joy (above). So she shipped print images that Working Title could open up and spread on the table during their Skype meeting, so they’d have “a bird’s eye view, you could see it from above. I pitched a screwball comedy because I feel that Jane Austen is very funny, besides being a genius at romance and repressed emotions.”

Working Title went along with her concept of an Agatha Christie-meets-Alfred Hitchcock suspense mystery that is also a period-romantic-comedy crammed with beautiful human beings in corsets. Novelist/screenwriter Eleanor Catton (“The Luminaries”) penned the screenplay.

Right from the start, de Wilde also pitched New York-based actress Taylor-Joy (who was born in Florida and raised in Argentina and London) as her Emma, long before her star rose from playing the chess prodigy in Netflix’s hit series “The Queen’s Gambit,” for which she was nominated for SAG and Golden Globe awards, as well as George Miller casting her as the young Imperator Furiosa in his upcoming prequel to “Mad Max: Fury Road.” Now Taylor-Joy could also win a Golden Globe for Best Actress, Comedy or Musical for “Emma.”

As soon as de Wilde landed the gig, she flew to meet Taylor-Joy in New York. The director was already impressed with her films “Thoroughbreds” and “The Witch,” she said. “It’s so incredible that she was able to be both the victim and the villain in the same film and to play with the audience’s trust. That wasn’t someone choosing a side, right, that’s an actor who can completely believe that all of that was possible within her.”

“She sent the most beautifully curated chocolate box you have ever seen,” said Taylor-Joy, who fell in love with de Wilde at first sight. “It’s the best first date I ever had.” The restaurant closed around them. “I fell in love with Autumn as a person and fell in love with her vision for the film.”

De Wilde and Taylor-Joy agreed immediately that they wanted to stay true to Jane Austen’s Emma, warts and all, and embrace her as a female anti-hero. “It’s such a fabulous book,” said Taylor-Joy. “I wanted permission to make her mean. I just want to tell the story the way Austen wrote it. There’s this emphasis on being likable. You have to like the character. No you don’t, not all the time. It’s not interesting that way.”

“It’s important to remind you of all the bullies you’ve been obsessed with all your life,” said de Wilde.

Taylor-Joy reveled in playing the many facets of Emma, who loves to manipulate her friends and play matchmaker. “It’s something truthful, fresh, and fun, fun to watch her behave badly,” she said.

Added de Wilde: “We all enjoy watching someone train wreck themselves, and then get out of it.”

“I knew that the edit was going to be a challenge,” said de Wilde. “When you have somewhat of a villain, we don’t want to wear out the audience.” So the actors gave her multiple versions of every scene. “Give me a take like you mean it, you don’t care, you didn’t mean it.”

Taylor-Joy ran with it. “I was in heaven. It was so much fun.”

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