10 Questions with Daisy Edgar-Jones and Esmé Creed-Miles

More than three decades after Emma Thompson and Kate Winslet starred in Ang Lee’s acclaimed Sense and Sensibility adaptation, Daisy Edgar-Jones, 28, and Esmé Creed-Miles, 26, are stepping into the lead roles in a fresh new take on the Jane Austen classic. Handily, the pair – best known for small screen roles in Normal People and Hanna respectively – already had a sisterly dynamic to build on...

How well did you know Jane Austen?

Daisy When I was younger, my mum plonked all her books on my desk and said, “This is necessary reading – I will disown you if you don’t fall in love with them!” My favourite was always Emma.

Esmé I’m hopefully going to represent a demographic of people who rediscover Austen and fall in love with her – that happened for me making the film.

Did you find it useful to watch previous adaptations?

Esmé I have such a “compare and despair” mindset. I hadn’t seen the Ang Lee film, and then I didn’t want to be in my head about it too much! I can watch it now I’m finished with this.

Daisy  I’ve grown up loving Emma and Kate’s performances. But I think the amazing thing about adaptation is that your context, your voice, your face will imbue that character with something different.

What else makes this version of Sense and Sensibility different?

Daisy Diana Reid’s screenplay honours the book – it’s classic, but there’s a modernity and freshness to it. I never felt like I was in a period piece. I felt like I was playing a real woman – I just happened to be wearing a bonnet.

How was it getting into all those costumes and corsets?

Esmé I didn’t wear a corset – but I saw Daisy struggle! I’m quite androgynous in my own life and I needed a few really girly things for Marianne. I found this pink ribbon and thought “that is her”. I really had to fight for that pink ribbon…

Without devices, women played piano, read, wrote letters, drew. That slower pace is something I wish we could go back to

You previously co-starred in the 2018 film Pond Life. Did that make it easier to build a sisterly dynamic?

Daisy I found it so useful. So much of a sisterhood is shared context, and Esmé and I met when we were young, just before our careers had really begun. I’ve always felt sisterly towards her, so when we met again it felt so effortless.

Did you do any activities to bond with your fellow Dashwoods?

Daisy We did some really random bonding exercises. We went to a metal workshop and made rings, which we put each other’s initials in!

Esmé We did lots of arts and crafts. All the women were brilliant, Catríona [Balfe, who plays matriarch Mrs Dashwood] especially. I adored her. I remember just weeping on her last day.

The door was open for me – I don’t take that for granted

Your characters sum up the title – Elinor all sense, Marianne all sensibility. What balance of both would you say you have in yourselves?

Esmé We laughed about how similar we are to our characters, but there were also distances we had to bridge. I’m like Marianne but there are things about Elinor I wish I had more of.

Daisy I definitely land more in the Elinor camp, but there’s so much that I relate to in Marianne. The magic is that it’s a film about that very distinctive time in your early 20s where you meet somebody or have an experience that shapes and changes you. It’s about what one sister teaches the other.

You both come from families in the arts [Esmé’s parents are the actors Samantha Morton and Charlie Creed-Miles, and Daisy’s parents have worked in film and TV]. How much did your upbringing shape your interest in this line of work?

Daisy I was very lucky that I grew up watching so many great films. But for me, it was the first time I did a school play. That’s why I think arts education in school is so important.

Esmé I don’t know if it made me want to pursue it. I’ve been acting since I was six and through that I’ve found a real love and passion for it. But I’m very lucky to be in a position where it was a door that was open for me and I don’t take that for granted.

You both broke through on TV. Do you prefer the big or small screen?

Esmé I think it depends on the project. TV can be a tough gig. Long, long hours. But it can also be amazing to have the time to explore a character that well. It becomes your whole world.

Daisy The longer I’m doing this, the more I’m realising the thing I want to pursue is great writing. I love TV, film, radio plays and theatre. If the writing is great, that’s where I want to be.

There’s also a new Pride and Prejudice coming this year, and more episodes of The Other Bennet Sister. Is there something about Austen that speaks to the present moment?

Daisy I can’t get enough of Austen, so I’m thrilled, personally. There’s plenty about Regency times that makes me glad I didn’t exist then, but I do think there’s something in the escapism of being with the women in a time where they didn’t have devices. They played piano, read, wrote letters, drew. That slower pace is something I wish we could go back to.