Actress Daisy Edgar-Jones has shared the demanding physical experience of portraying Elinor Dashwood in the upcoming film adaptation of Jane Austen's "Sense and Sensibility." Edgar-Jones revealed that the period costumes, particularly the tightly laced corsets, significantly impacted her ability to eat and digest food during filming.
"You have the petticoats and you’ve got the corset done up. And then I had to be sewn into my dress," Edgar-Jones stated. She described the process of being sewn into her costumes taking "like 20 to 30 minutes." The actress explained the peculiar sensation of eating lunch while wearing the restrictive garments: "Whenever I was wearing my corset, I’d eat lunch and then I’d feel that my food sort of sat there." She added that she would only begin to feel her food digesting after removing the corset at the end of the day.
The new adaptation, directed by Georgia Oakley, features Edgar-Jones as Elinor Dashwood, with Esmé Creed-Miles playing her sister Marianne. The cast also includes Caitríona Balfe as Mrs. Dashwood, George MacKay as Edward Ferrars, and Frank Dillane as Mr. Willoughby. Bodhi Rae Breathnach portrays the third Dashwood sister.
The film's narrative follows the story of the three Dashwood sisters and their mother, who are displaced from their ancestral home in Sussex after their father's death and must relocate to a more modest cottage in Devon. The story explores their experiences on the social fringes and their encounters with new romantic interests.
In a separate anecdote, Edgar-Jones recently recalled a memorable encounter with her teenage crush, Leonardo DiCaprio. Speaking on the "Dish from Waitrose" podcast, she described meeting the actor briefly at an afterparty. Edgar-Jones humorously noted that while she was a long-time admirer, she did not express her past infatuation to him at the time.