"Jane Austen – A Biography" By Jon Spence, author of "Becoming Jane Austen" Jane Austen was the seventh of the eight children of the Revd George Austen and his wife Cassandra Leigh. She was born on 16 December 1775 at Steventon parsonage in Hampshire where she spent the first twenty-five years of her life. Her formal education ended when she left the Abbey School in Reading after a year and a half, just before her eleventh birthday. At about this time she started to write what her father described as ‘Tales in a Style entirely new’. When she was eighteen or nineteen she wrote her first novel, Elinor and Marianne. Then she fell in love.
Jane met Tom Lefroy in Hampshire during the Christmas holidays of 1795. In mid-January, he went to London to begin studying law. Jane saw him again in London in August, but nothing more is known of their relationship until a sign in the autumn of 1798 that the romance had come to nothing. Jane’s only sister, Cassandra Elizabeth Austen (1773-1845), burned many of Jane’s letters, and none survive between 18 September 1796 and October 1798. She was Jane's closest confidante. Cassandra never married, but was engaged to Thomas Fowle, who died of yellow fever in the Caribbean in 1797. These two years had been among the most fruitful of Jane’s life. After returning from London, she wrote Pride and Prejudice, then rewrote Elinor and Marianne as Sense and Sensibility, and finally Northanger Abbey, which she completed in 1799. She did not write another novel for more than ten years.
Her disappointment in romance might have been in part the cause of her silence, but an even more devastating event was her family’s leaving Steventon in 1801, when her father retired, to live in Bath, a place Jane hated. In December 1802 a rich young man proposed to Jane and she accepted; the next day, however, she withdrew her acceptance. A few months later she sold Northanger Abbey to a publisher for £10 but waited in vain for the book to come out.
Her father died in 1805, and the next year Jane and her mother and sister moved to Southampton where they remained until the summer of 1809 when they went to live in Chawton, the Hampshire village from which Jane Austen at last launched her career as a novelist. 'Sense and Sensibility' was published in 1811; 'Pride and Prejudice' in 1813. 'Mansfield Park', written after she settled at Chawton, was published in 1814, and 'Emma' in 1815. She completed 'Persuasion' about a year before her death from Addison’s Disease on 18 July 1817. 'Persuasion' and 'Northanger Abbey' were published posthumously. Jane Austen Society (AUST) Jane Austen Society (UK) Jane Austen Centre (BATH UK) Jane Austen House Museum (UK) Jane Austen Info Page (UK) Synopsis

Jane Austen believes in love and marrying for love and is holding out despite her parents urging that she should marry for money. In 1795 England, that was the way of the world for a young woman. In the case of the Austen's it will mean the difference between survival and poverty. When twenty year old Jane meets dashing young Irishman Tom Lefroy, his intellect and arrogance ignite Jane’s curiosity and her world spins head over heels. Increasingly their paths intersect. They cross verbal swords in the local wood, they dance at the assembly rooms ball, she outplays him at cricket and he gives her Tom Jones to read. They are falling in love. But can Jane afford to spurn the offer of Lady Gresham's nephew, defy her parents and fly in the face of social convention? A young lady on the first rung of literary greatness risks a romance that was to shape her life and her work.

What The Critics Say

"Becoming Jane coasts on goodwill because it’s irony-free and giddy with romance – an affectionate tribute to the writer and her subject: falling in love. bUT for thousands of love-hungry couples seeking a mutually agreeable reason to cuddle up at the flicks, it’s terrific – eye candy for blokes and girls alike, with a smartly sneaking sense of the reality of relationships. 4 STARS." Nev Pierce TOTAL FILM "The supporting cast are all terrific, as are the Irish locations." Mark Adams SUNDAY MIRROR UK "Thanks to the combined charm of the leads, this remains a most agreeable cinematic portrait." Stella Papamichael BBC "Another month, another James McAvoy movie, and all the better for it. The ubiquitous and consistently excellent McAvoy this time plays roguish Irishman Tom Lefroy, here presented as the gentleman who caused a young Jane Austen to question her sensibility and consider instead her sense. A charming, intriguing biopic, given extra depth and sparkle by attractive performances from its superior cast. 4 STARS." Liz Beardsworth EMPIRE MAGAZINE "The movie wistfully amplifies Austen's real-life flirting with the young Irish lawyer Tom Lefroy into a fully-fledged secret romance, complete with marriage plans. Lefroy is played by James McAvoy. It's not a bad performance, and he has a nice rapport with Hathaway, whose accent is more or less in position." Peter Bradshaw THE GUARDIAN UK

"The American actress Anne Hathaway plays Austen, and while she’s no doubt inauthentically limpid of eye and pearly of tooth, she has a sparky energy that conveys Austen’s fiercely quick wit. The director, Julian Jarrold, who cut his teeth on television period pieces such as Great Expectations , injects some energy into the costume-drama formula with lively, inquisitive camerawork. His party sequences are as giddy as champagne bubbles — no wonder Jane is intoxicated by the thrill of it all. Austen’s fans will recognise something of the author’s playful wit in the film, and forgive the dramatic liberties." Wendy Ide TIMES UK "It's a pleasant little movie that makes a great deal of a flirtation that Austen had in Hampshire around Christmas 1795 with a charming Irish lawyer, Tom Lefroy (James McAvoy), also 20, who later became Lord Chief Justice of Ireland." Philip French THE OBSERVER "The production is impeccable, with lush cinematography, editing, costumes and design, but it never leaps off the screen with any particular originality. The most interesting aspect of this story is the tension between propriety and experience in the various characters, the way Jane's far-ahead-of-her-time attitudes created such a scandal for those around her." Rich Cline SHADOWS ON THE WALL "Jarrold has made a film in the tradition of Miss Potter, inspired by Australian writer Jon Spence's research about Austen's life published in 2003. Spence found that the never-married Austen came close to tying the knot in the late 1790s when she met her own Mr Darcy, Irish lawyer and ex-boxer Tom Lefroy in Hampshire. The pretty pictures may be enough for diehard Austen fans, but any moviegoers looking for surprises may find an Austen novel more stimulating. 3 1/2 STARS." Des Partridge COURIER MAIL "The camera loves the verdant countryside (actually filmed in Ireland, but meant to be Hampshire), the stately homes and the detailed costumes. James McAvoy exudes raffish charm as Lefroy; and the lilting score certainly enhances the on-screen action." David Edwards THE BLURB

The Inside Story In 2003, biographer Jon Spence stirred the literary world and Austen fans everywhere with revelations that the cherished authoress and spinster Jane Austen had actually experienced the romance and excitement of love, of which she is celebrated for writing about. His biography challenged the long-held view that Jane Austen and Tom Lefroy never met again after his visit to Hampshire during the Christmas holiday of 1795. It also concluded that "their relationship was serious and more enduring than the brief flirtation that previous biographers had assumed." The actual facts of the story, according to Jon Spence, are as follows: (1) Jane Austen met Tom Lefroy when he visited his aunt and uncle in Hampshire at Christmas 1795 when they were both 20; (2) Jane Austen visited London briefly in August 1796 and there is strong evidence that she stayed at the house of Tom’s uncle, where Tom himself was living and (3), Tom returned to Ireland to practice law in late 1798, married the sister of a school friend, and named his first daughter Jane. These elements would later be incorporated into the latest film to feature Jane Austen, "Becoming Jane". This romantic encounter had fascinated writer Sarah Williams and she approached Douglas Rae and Robert Bernstein of Ecosse Films. She had read how, at the age of twenty, Jane Austen met with a young Irishman called Tom Lefroy. That meeting was to blossom into a romance, the significance of which had been downplayed for over two centuries. Ecosse Films was immediately engaged. "This was a pivotal relationship in Jane Austen’s early life that was largely unknown to the public,” says Robert Bernstein. “This relationship transformed her life and we felt that the film could be a companion piece to "Mrs Brown", (an earlier Ecosse film that chronicled a similar true life friendship in Queen Victoria's life). The thing about Jane Austen is that beneath her strict exterior she had a beating heart which was awoken by this relationship and through that she became arguably the greatest female novelist that ever lived." Williams produced two draft scripts for Ecosse Films who then brought onboard writer Kevin Hood. "Kevin has a romantic sensibility," says Bernstein. "There is a poetic quality about his writing as well as there being a rigorous emotional truth which I thought was important for Jane." Hood, who found himself intrigued by the story says he was attracted to the project "because the story is such an important one and very much the inspiration for Pride and Prejudice. People forget what a genius Jane Austen was, one of the top two or three prose writers of all time and her relationship with Tom Lefroy was absolutely essential in shaping her work. Some believe she would not have become the writer she was if it had not been for this relationship. The period of life before marriage was what she always wrote about; it was a subject of perpetual interest to her. She also returned again and again to the figure of the attractive unreliable young man, this was arguably based on her personal experience." BluePrint Pictures Graham Broadbent joined the production team in March 2004. He was immediately impressed by the unusual perspective of the script. "There were, for me, some startling and brilliant facts when I first read the script. The first one was that Jane Austen was not a dusty old spinster, she was once a twenty-year-old girl who had a love affair which didn’t proceed further for societal reasons and other pressures of the time. What the writer Kevin Hood has done is to take the true incident of that love and put around it Jane’s family and her experiences and then set it all against the Austen landscape." So how accurate is Hood and William's interpretation? "The film is based on the facts as they are known and the majority of characters did exist, as did many of the situations and circumstances in the film," Hood said. "Some have been fictionalised, weaving together what we know about Austen’s world from her books and letters, creating a rich Austenite landscape." "Kinky Boots" director Julian Jarrold came onboard in early 2005. Why was he Ecosse Film's choice? "I liked his style as it was modern and visceral, and I just had a feeling that he was the right choice," says Robert Bernstein. "This piece needed to be handed with delicacy but also with a certain amount of brio and Julian was able to bring those two things to the production." Hood, who was already familiar with the Austen world, reread "Pride and Prejudice", "Sense and Sensibility" and "Persuasion", consulted a number of Jane Austen biographies, including Jon Spence’s "Becoming Jane Austen". What was the attraction for Jarrold? "I thought it was a rich, witty and clever screenplay from someone who obviously knew his subject very well," he said. "It is a love story but much more besides. Kevin’s screenplay has so many layers and interesting ideas. Apart from the love story I was very attracted by the themes of imagination and experience." Will the interpretation fit the image traditionaly given to Jane Austin? "Everyone has their own treasured image of Jane Austen," notes Jarrold. "The usual image is of a middle-aged spinster; a little prim and obsessed with manners and propriety. This is a very narrow and partial image and not borne out by the known facts. In fact, despite the huge numbers of biographies, we know little about Jane Austen’s life." Anne Hathaway, an avid fan of Jane Austen’s work from the age of fourteen, was cast in the leading role of Jane Austin. "When I met Annie I knew she was the right person for the job," he says. "She is passionate about Jane Austen and an expert on her novels. She’s very bright, hardworking and committed. She was dedicated to doing the research, developing an immaculate English accent, learning piano, mastering the dances and the manners and decorum of the period. She even learned a rudimentary sign language taught to her by Philip who is partially deaf and plays her brother George." Like many cinemagoers Robert Bernstein was impressed by Hathaway's performance in "Brokeback Mountain". "She worked very hard and very well with Julian," Bernstein said. "It worked. Anne gives the character of Jane a certain Audrey Hepburn quality: a vulnerability which is very captivating as she is very beautiful." Hathaway remembers that when she was at high school she "just fell in love with Jane Austen and the world she created." But what about the accent? "I had done an English accent before in "Nicholas Nickleby" but that was a small part and I had never really taken on any kind of role that required this much accent work for such a sustained period. There was a lot of research that had to go into it and also the pressure of playing someone so beloved and of whom people are so fiercely protective was nerve wracking. But I wanted to do justice to the role, not just as an actress but someone who is true fan of Jane Austen," she said. And was Jane Auste a real 'goodie two shoes'? "In some of her own letters she wrote about how she was hung over after attending a ball," Hathaway revealed adding, "and that’s not something that we necessarily think of when we think about Jane Austen." And what of Austen's views on marrying for love? "She was a very modern woman but she was also a woman who truly had a sense of her own worth," states Hathaway, "and knew that she was better than just being a product. She knew the value of love even at that stage and she knew that marriage without love was not worth the economic gain." Starring opposite Hathaway as the roguish young Irishman Tom Lefroy is James McAvoy. "James was Julian’s choice and it was a fantastic one," Bernstein says. "His charm, humanity and wit were absolutely right for someone that Jane Austen would be attracted to. He is very charismatic and the chemistry between him and Anne Hathaway is unique." Did McAvoy have any reservations about his character. "Initially I was a bit concerned that my character was a bit too much like Darcy ("Pride and Prejudice") where in actual fact he couldn’t be further away from Darcy," McAvoy offered, adding "With a lesser director it could have become some kind of parallel "Pride and Prejudice" but Julian made sure that did not happen." And how did he find working with Hathaway? "Annie was fantastic," he says. "She works really, really hard. She’s more prepared as Jane Austen than I would have ever expected. In fact I don’t think we could have chosen anyone better suited to play Jane Austen. She is really good fun as well and is very easy to get on with." Jane’s mother, is played by Julie Walters ("Educating Rita") who admits, "I didn’t know anything at all about her, hadn’t ever read anything. I had never been attracted by her really. Then my brother gave me a book of memoirs that her family had written about her. I looked through that and then read "Pride and Prejudice" which was wonderful: so funny and so contemporary." Janes father the Rev Austen is played by James Cromwell ("L.A. Confidential"). "Mr Austen is a generous gentleman, well educated and supportive of Jane for the most part," Cromwell says. "He is bedevilled by his financial circumstances but deeply in love with his wife and sympathetic to her concerns about what will happen to the girls if they don’t marry." It's a grand cast that also includes Dame Maggie Smith as Lady Gresham. "I had previously worked in the past with Maggie Smith and knew there was no one else who could play the part of Lady Gresham," says Julian Jarrold. The Verdict "I am sure that dedicated Jane Austen fan's will be tearing their hair out over "Becoming Jane". For them the biggest hurdle to overcome will be having someone as absolutely gorgeous as Anne Hathaway playing the talented writer Jane Austen who was in real life, according to images I've seen, dead ugly or at the least, a 'plain Jane'. "Becoming Jane" may not have the mass appeal of Knightley's "Pride and Prejudice" or the glitzy Bollywood styled "Bride and Prejudice", but it does have beautiful settings, an excellent cast, accomplished cinematography and the story is delightful. A bit of a charmer even if it is a bit fanciful. Those who know little of Jane Austen save for the fact that she was an accomplished author will find this a nice way of whiling away a couple of hours at their local cinema. 3 1/2 STARS." Cast & Crew Bytes "BECOMING JANE" stars .......
57th Annual Clarence Derwent Award winner Anne Hathaway ["The Princess Diaries I & 2", "Nicholas Nickleby", "Brokeback Mountain" and "The Devil Wears Prada"]; Five Time BAFTA winner, Golden Globe & Olivier Award winner Julie Walters ["Billy Elliot", "Calendar Girls", "Harry Potter I, II & III" and "Wah-Wah"]; Academy Award ® nominee James Cromwell ["Space Cowboys", "The Sum of All Fear", "The Longest Yard" and "The Queen"]; Two Time Academy Award ® winner Maggie Smith ["Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood", "Harry Potter I, II, III & IV", "Ladies in Lavender" and "Keeping Mum"]; BAFTA, Broadcasting Press Guild & Royal Television Society Award winner Sir Ian Richardson C.B.E. ["Man of La Mancha", "Brazil", "From Hell" and "Joyeux Noël"]; Lucy Cohu ["Pressing Engagement", "Gosford Park" and TV'S "The Real Jane Austen"] and BAFTA Orange Rising Star Award & Elle Style Best Television Actor Award winner James McAvoy ["Bollywood Queen", Bright Young Things", "Wimbledon", "The Chronicles Of Narnia" and "The Last King of Scotland"] as Tom Lefroy.
"BECOMING JANE" was .......
directed by Julian Jarrold ["Some Kind of Life" and "Kinky Boots"]; production design by EMMY Award winner Eve Stewart ["Nicholas Nickleby", "De-Lovely" and "Vera Drake"]; costume design by Eimer Ni Mhaoldomhnaigh ["The Most Fertile Man in Ireland", "Omagh", "Breakfast On Pluto" and "The Wind That Shakes the Barley"]; edited by Emma E Hickox ["A Walk to Remember", "Honey", "The Jacket" and "Kinky Boots"]; cinematography by BAFTA Award winner Eigil Bryld ["To Kill a King", "The King", "Les Amours perdus" and "Kinky Boots"], original music by Adrian Johnston ["Piccadilly Jim", "Kinky Boots" and "Lassie"]. Run Time 116 minutes Rated PG [AUST] Copyright ©2007 - Miramax Films - All Rights Reserved Copyright Protected © 2007 - Impact Internet Services - All Rights Reserved