Literary Drama
Talking cults and corsets with Anya Taylor-Joy, star of this month’s new film adaptation of Jane Austen’s ‘Emma’.
IN THE MID- ’90s, I had a George Costanza–like epiphany: If I wrote a character who was my exact opposite, everyone would love her. Instead of being dark and worried, she’d be light and confident. Instead of growing up in the Bronx with Auschwitz survivors, she’d grow up in Beverly Hills with Hollywood survivors.
I remembered a fictional character from my 19th-century English literature class: the titular protagonist of Jane Austen’s Emma. On page one, we’re told that Emma Woodhouse is “handsome, clever, and rich” with “very little to discuss or vex her.” How perfect is that? I had found the inspiration for Cher Horowitz.
About a year after Clueless was released, I was at one of Alicia Silverstone’s fund-raisers for animals when she rushed up and told me that she had just read Emma and how much she loved it. That made me feel so happy. I certainly don’t expect everyone to have read the novel, but it sometimes seems like Austen fans are part of some secret society. Once you’re in it, you want to recruit new members.
I recently had the opportunity to see the new adaptation of Emma, directed by Autumn de Wilde. It was romantic, funny and heartwarming. After speaking to its young star, Anya Taylor-Joy, I realise we have another Jane-ite among us. The fact that a 23-year-old like Anya can relate to Emma more than 200 years later is a testament to Austen making her so immortal.
AMY HECKERLING: I wanted to ask about playing Emma, Were you a fan of Jane Austen’s before? ANYA TAYLOR-JOY: I was already a fan. Even though the settings were usually very proper, the way her characters would communicate and usurp each other through language always stole my heart. When I met Autumn about Emma, I was daunted but so excited. I thought, “Here is a character whose emotions are flitting around so quickly. You can’t decide whether she’s an entitled princess or she’s amazing.” The idea of getting to figure out how to play a character that changes on a switch really appealed to me.
AH: I thought you totally captured that sparkle in Emma, as well as her intelligence and vulnerability, which people don’t seem to talk about a lot. ATJ: People also forget that Austen herself said, “I am going to take a heroine whom no one but myself will much like.” That was the deciding principle for me. I said to Autumn at the beginning, “Look, I’m sometimes going to play her really bitchy because she can be very bitchy, and it’s okay to have her not be likeable at times.” Emma is really smart, but she doesn’t have a lot to occupy her, so she finds ways to keep herself entertained. AH: They are going to love this film at the Jane Austen Society. They have guests who’ve worked on Jane Austen projects give talks, and they show films, host tea parties, and give English country dance lessons. ATJ: I loved the dance classes. A song just comes on and everybody knows the same dance, and it’s like, “Right ... formation, people!” I am desperately sad that people don’t break out in coordinated dances anymore. Obviously by the end of day two I was like, “Oh, my feet hurt so much ... ” AH: Were you able to wear sneakers when you were shooting and save the wardrobe shoes for the long shots? ATJ: Not ever, I think the most lenient I ever got was allowing my corset to be loosened a little bit. If I was in severe pain, then we would loosen it. But it was all authentic. AH: I don’t know how women could bear the corsets. They squish your ribs; you can’t breathe. ATJ: I’m not quite the waist-training variety, but about two weeks in I actually started relying on my corset to help me get the work done. The second my corset was put on, I was like, “I know what I’m doing. I’ve got this. It’s all going to be fine.” AH: That reminds me of when Michael Keaton did Batman with Jack Nicholson. Jack said to him, “Sometimes you just gotta let the suit do the acting.” ATJ: Big time. It’s like, however you’re standing right now in your corset, just hold it.