Here are some photos of Dakota Johnson out this week in New York. She was in town for the Tribeca Film Festival, where she premiered her latest movie, Cha Cha Real Smooth. CCRS is an indie movie which premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival to rave reviews, and AppleTV+ bought it for $15 million. That’s why Dakota is in NYC this week, for promotion, etc, ahead of the premiere on the 17th. Her suit-jacket/minidress is by AREA. She has fantastic legs. Her mother’s legs, honestly. Melanie Griffith was known for her legs too.
I wanted to talk about Dakota because during the pandemic, she went away and filmed another screen adaptation of Jane Austen’s Persuasion. Persuasion has been adapted several times already and I’m predisposed to give every Austen adaptation a chance. We talked about this version when it was announced and when we believed that the story was going to be modernized. I expressed my concern that Dakota is too hot and young-looking to play a “spinster” like Anne Elliot. Dakota would be a natural for Emma, honestly, but not Anne. Well, they’ve released the trailer and… lord, I don’t know about any of this. First of all, they’ve Bridgertonified the story and the casting, which I don’t hate. But they also appear to have significantly changed the story and the main character??
Dakota as Anne, Richard E. Grant as Mr. Elliot (her vain father), Henry Golding as the mysterious cousin and Cosmo Jarvis as Wentworth. I already hate parts of this! First of all, while I love Henry Golding, the whole point of the mysterious cousin is that he just shows up mid-story and Anne feels like there’s something shady happening but she can’t quite put her finger on it. Can Golding do “smarmy”? I don’t know. I also feel like Dakota’s Anne just seems too… flighty and unserious? Like, Anne is not supposed to be girlish at all. She’s the sensible one. This feels like Dakota IS playing Emma Woodhouse and they’re just calling her Anne Elliot.
Photos courtesy of Backgrid.
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- New York City, NY – Dakota Johnson puts on a very leggy display as she steps out for the Tribeca Film Festival’s premiere of Cha-Cha Real Smooth in New York City. Pictured: Dakota Johnson BACKGRID USA 13 JUNE 2022 BYLINE MUST READ: BlayzenPhotos / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- New York City, NY – Dakota Johnson looks glamorous in a white dress suit leaving Tiny’s after dinner and attending the Tribeca Film Festival in New York City. Pictured: Dakota Johnson BACKGRID USA 13 JUNE 2022 BYLINE MUST READ: Ulices Ramales / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- New York City, NY – Dakota Johnson looks glamorous in a white dress suit leaving Tiny’s after dinner and attending the Tribeca Film Festival in New York City. Pictured: Dakota Johnson BACKGRID USA 13 JUNE 2022 BYLINE MUST READ: Ulices Ramales / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
Her acting has yet to convince me.
Yep. This trailer showed up for me on YouTube and I immediately said nope. I just can’t watch this with her in the part.
I cannot with her. A cheap Anne Hathaway.
This trailer screams that they’re LARPing Bridgerton but randomly decided to use a few plot points from Persuasion and appropriated the character names. Richard Grant should be a hoot, though.
I’m watching just for Richard E. Grant.
Exactly this, as Papa Elliot is a fantastic role for him!! I will watch it, as it is my favorite Austen, but I will then watch the Amanda Root/ Ciaran Hinds version as it is perfection.
Oh, yes! Richard E. Grant will be a fantastic Sir Walter! 😀 Persuasion is my favourite Austen. I love both the Root/Hinds and Hawkins/Penry-Jones versions. I am very uneasy about the Bridgertonisation of the story. I will watch it though and will be interested to see how Dakota Johnson handles the role.
He’s the only one who seems to understand the character he’s playing.
I think she’s a fine actress. Will always love her for that takedown on Ellen. But from the trailer, this version of Persuasion is too arch and cool and ironic. Looks like it’s hard to care about anyone or anything that happens.
TEAM AWESOME:
Yes!!! Amanda Root/Ciaran HInds is the BEST!!
Team Root/Hinds all the way, but truly there is no losing between those two versions of Persuasion!
Root/Hinds version ALWAYS!!!
I’ll probably check this version out since I love Henry Golding and sat through some GI Joe movie just for him.
Yes, agree this is a full on Bridgerton rip off. I’m not sure if that’s good or bad, but I do feel like that’s a cheap way to get attention. I think I just have to get used to the new style of producing period pieces. I’m sure once I get past that I will enjoy it. I will give this a try.
I’m not going to lie…if it’s Jane Austen I’m watching it. I ❤️ easy decisions.
I gotta admit I’m going to eat it up with a spoon. Lol! I’ve seen as sorts of good to bad Austen and I enjoy it all, even if it’s tragic.
Samesies!! (Although it is more recent and I have a lot of catching up to do) Do you like the modern book spinoffs? I just read the Murder of Mr. Wickham and I loved it!
You HAVE to read Longbourn by Jo Baker. It is a truly great book.
I’m going to try to find both books! Also, want to read Longbourn’s Songbird too. Lol
Ooh! I nearly picked up the Murder of Mr. Wickham today…I should’ve! Thanks for the Longbourn rec – just borrowed it from the library.
I don’t love the way this adaptation looks (they obviously missed the entire point of the book and woefully misunderstood Anne Elliot) but I will probably hate watch it and then scream about it on twitter.
Same, I have two versions of Persuasion on dvd, Ciaran Hinds one and the Rupert Penry Jones with Sally Hawkins version. Love Richard E Grant too, so it’s a no brainer.
Then you’ve seen Pride & Prejudice & Zombies? 🙂
That version really was a choice.
Zombie slayer Darcy is the best Darcy.
And as zombie slayer Darcy, Sam Riley is smokin’…
Pride & Prejudice & Zombies is one of my guilty pleasures!
I honestly don’t know how I feel about this. Anne seems too flighty, when she always struck me as dependable – warm and loving – but dependable and steady. I think it would be the kind of movie I would prefer if it was a random movie, not Persuasion, you know?
That’s it! I couldn’t put my finger on it. I thought, “I will definitely watch this movie. I mean, Henry Golding all smoldering. But, this isn’t Persuasion, is it?” 🤷♀️
If this wasn’t supposed to be persuasion this would be a Bridgerton knock off which is fine. But the trailer shows a character that is the total opposite of Anne Elliot. It’s a mix of Elizabeth Bennett and Emma Woodhouse.
And Henry Golding needed to be Wentworth here.
If Henry were Wentworth, Anne would NEVER have let him go! LOL
Yeah, I’m suddenly bummed out that he isn’t Wentworth. What lousy casting.
They’re going to have to go a long way to match my favorite Persuasion version: Hinds/Root.
It looks awful. The tone totally misunderstands the source material. They are trying to make Anne Elliot LIzzy Bennet. My favourite reaction to the trailer was on Twitter- someone compared it to Fleabag.
I really don’ get the point in doing this to Austen. Btw, a fantastic recent Austen adaptation is Fire Island.
Yes, those little asides where she talks to the camera – wtf? Is this 19th century Fleabag? A clumsy and goofy Anne is so far from the novel. That’s quite disappointing, Persuasion is my favorite Austen.
Came here to say! The thing that works the least for me is Anne as a clumsy girly girl- that’s the total opposite from the book. I do have faith henry Golding can do Mr. Elliot well but the rest….we’ll have to see
Ooh I had no idea Fire Island was an Austen adaptation. Looking forward to it! The movies that attempt literal adaptations nearly always reduce Austen’s novels to costume romances and eliminate her scathing social commentary, while the more creative adaptations (e.g. Clueless) due justice to Austen’s observations on class and gender.
Yes! Isn’t the thrust of the plot that Anne was meek and unsure of herself, thus being “persuaded” by others to initially end her relationship with Wentworth? This is supposed to be about a heroine coming into her own boldness and confidence–not an already formed Lizzy!
I agree that Fire Island is a great modern adaptation of P and P. You can tell the people behind this film actually understand Austen and applied it to a modern setting with LGBTIA characters and it works.
This version of Persuasion is lazy and shows no concept of what this novel was about.
I just watched Fire Island last night! I thought it was very well done.
The flippant, self-aware, fourth-wall-breaking stuff isn’t working for me. That’s more in line with Austen’s early work (which is why Whit Stillman’s hilarious Lady Susan was perfect). Persuasion is her final, most melancholy novel. This change in Anne’s affect bothers me as much as Fanny’s was changed in the 1999 Mansfield Park (which otherwise was amazing for bringing the slavery theme to the forefront).
Dakota is too pretty.
I’ll obviously watch this to help keep up executives’ new interest in Regency adaptations. I just heard my favorite Regency book series, Stephanie Barron’s novels that make Jane Austen a detective, got a TV contract. Have high hopes for that.
Yeah the asides were reminding me of the 1999 Mansfield Park too. As with that one, if I just pretend this has nothing to do with Persuasion, I’ll probably enjoy it
That’s a good idea. Just enjoy the clothes and the story and forget about following the book!
Aside from the 1995 BBC Pride and Prejudice, Whit Stillman’s Love and Friendship is maybe my fav Austen adaptation. I wish more people had seen it.
And yes you are so right about Anne. She has a quiet wisdom Austen’s other heroines don’t have because: a. She is the oldest of Austen’s heroines b. She has had to live with the consequence of her choices/regrets for years. None of that depth is captured here. It looks a right mess.
OMG, right, they didn’t title it Lady Susan, oops.
Regency romance is a very large, successful genre of publishing. They should just go back to the Bridgerton model and adapt some Tessa Dare, Lisa Kleypas (Victorian, I know, but still) Eloisa James, Diana Quincy… living authors who could use a paycheck.
Ooh thanks for the names!
I feel like this is gonna be blasphemy. It’s also super annoying, because if you’re going to adapt an Austen novel in this style, Northanger Abbey is RIGHT THERE! An entire novel about a bored girl with an overactive imagination acting like her life is a Gothic novel? Amazing! It’d be so good!
Why choose her saddest, most mature novel?
Yes Lou! That’s what I was thinking! If you want to make a kinda campy romcom Austen there’s SO much that you could play with in Northanger.
ITA except I’d hate to see it disrespected with this casting. Northanger Abbey deserves better than Dakota Johnson.
They did a version of Northanger Abbey just a few years back with Felicity Jones. It was OK, not great. Felicity Jones is just not a very good actress IMO. She was one of the worst SNL hosts I’ve ever seen. No charisma or sense of humor. But I digress.
I haven’t read “Persuasion,” which in this case is probably for the best, since I would like to watch and enjoy this version and not be put off by how it strays from the book. I’ll watch it to look at Henry Golding and scenery. But Dakota seems likable here, whether or not she resembles Book Anne.
The novel of Persuasion is great. Read it sometime.
Came here to say the same thing. This doesn’t seem like a good idea.
Diverse casting is great! Making a new Persuasion is great, but not if you completely change Anne Elliot’s character into an outgoing sophisticate.
I was hoping this one would match the 1995 Persuasion that stars Amanda Root. That one is true to Austen’s story and characters.
Why does she keep making faces to the camera like this is the Jane Austen version of Fleabag?
Anne is supposed to be the quiet introvert-I hate everything about this trailer. Plus the usual Netflix issue of giving the entire story away.
I’m all for creative license and love this wave of modern period pieces but yikes. This feels lazy and like no one actually read the book. Slapstick Anne Eliott is the wierdest reach.
Nope – just because you slap on some costumes doesn’t make it Jane Austen. The point of Persuasion is that a mature woman is looking back at the choices she made when she was younger and how she was persuaded not to follow her heart. In any case, the flighty, flirtatious character was Louisa Musgrove – she’s the one who would be suffering the pratfalls. Anne Eliot is the boring, quiet, sensible one who organizes everything behind the scenes, who is ignored by her family (except when they need her) and who finally decides she should shake off the “persuaders” and blossom.
Isn’t Anne 27 years old in the books? Labeling her as a “mature woman looking back” seems to paint her as even older than that.
Richard E.Grant as Anne’s vain father is inspired casting – I’ll probably watch it just to see him. As for the rest? I think Henry Golding can pull off smarmy. I’m a little more skeptical of what they’re doing with Anne Elliot. It’s been a while since I read persuasion, but regret and melancholy are certainly a big part of the story, especially that kind of listless depression that you can experience in your twenties when you feel like everyone has moved on but you. This just seems like…a random rom com that’s just Dakota Johnson being cute and charming. Hmm.
Henry Golding can do smarmy and creepy–see 2019’s The Gentlemen
I am looking forward to this! I have never read or seen Persuasion but I know the story and I have seen parts of a British adaptation. I think that it is odd that they casted Dakota, just because of her accent, etc, but I really don’t have problems with shoddy accent work. I mean, Sean Connery played a Russian submarine captain
Golding was also quite good as the shady husband in A Simple Favor.
He should have been Wentworth though. I mean they could have added that the Elliots were racist on top of classist and that’s why Anne had to reject him the first time.
See there I just adapted this better than whatever this will do.
We’re they afraid a straight adaptation would be a downer, or something? Persuasion is about missed opportunities and last chances–love almost stifled again by petty propriety. Anne is introverted and shy, but that shouldn’t translate into her being a 90s rom-com klutz. I like the multicultural casting, but Dakota is too outgoing and confident for Anne. And Wentworth–not feeling it.
Shame they cancelled the Sarah Snook version because of this. I do love Richard E. Grant though.
Ooh Sarah Snook would be perfect. She’s a great actress and could definitely pull off being a non traditional beauty who blossoms with new found confidence later in life.
Yes love her so much. She’s quality.
Yeah, I’d been looking forward to that one.
This is a little off topic but does anyone know if they’ve ever done a modern version of Sense And Sensibility? I know they’ve done them for P&P and Emma. I think S&S could make for a nice modern tale too.
I think there was a “loosely based” version with Hilary Duff and also a Hallmark movie.
There was a modern retelling called, I kid you not, ‘Scents and Sensibility’.
Also, see “from Prada to Nada”. Oof.
There are a bunch of book retellings. Sonali Dev has done most of the Austen books set amongst wealthy immigrants from India, including “Incense and Sensibility.” One that I’d recommend you avoid though is by Joanna Trollope. I hated it.
OMG – could not agree more! Sonali Dev’s book is LOVELY (her whole series is modern Austen retellings that are sublime). Also heartily agree that the Joanna Trollope redo is AWFUL. Zero imagination and rather tedious. Compared against Sonali’s book (and series), Joanna’s take is a lesson is what not to do.
I had to abandon the Joanna Trollope one after around ten pages.
There is a Tamil movie (Indian language) ‘Kandukonden kandukonden’ – modern adaptation of sense&sensibility. It’s beautifully shot,musical (great songs) with Aishwarya Rai as Marianne. If you can find a version with caption, I would highly recommend it.
I don’t think so since the 1995 version. But how do you improve on Emma Thompson and Kate Winslet and Alan Rickman directed by Ang Lee?
Not aware of any modern adaptation of the S&S but there was another period piece starring Hattie Morahan/Dan Stevens/Charity Wakefield in 2008.
But, how does Patricia Heaton feel about it?
Looks like they completely missed the essence of Anne. I will still try to watch since I watch all Austen adaptations but I can see it’s not going to be good.
Sorry, but there’s no way I can be on board with this adaptation. The idea that any woman would pass over Henry Golding for….any other guy is just ridiculous.
Heuhhhhhhhhhh
In the book, M. Eliott is also a very charming and good looking man. But also a terrible human being, and totally not deserving Anne.
Look are totally not everything.
This ticks me off. They obviously decided to combine Anne and Lizzie together and misunderstand the entire arc of “Persuasion.” Anne was bitter about giving into her fears and pressure to let Wenworth go. Years later she’s alone, a spinster, a poor relation who has to put up with her boorish father and terrible family because she has no other means to support herself. Yes she has a wit, but it’s quieter. And she is devastated having to watch Wenworth fall for someone else. Bah.
I’ll watch it. I’ve knowingly watched worse garbage, and perhaps it will be better than the trailer suggests.
However, I have to highlight the line, “now we’re worse than exes – we’re friends.” Setting aside that in the book they don’t have a friendship because they are both doing their best to avoid each other lest they reveal their intense feelings, “Exes?!?”
So “Anne” is a time traveler who went to the Regency to observe, using advanced technology to brainwash everyone in the vicinity into believing there is a third Elliot daughter. Soon after arrival, her time machine irreparably malfunctioned and she’s been stuck for a decade. She truly did fall in love with Wentworth, but according to her AI companion, PersuasionBot8000, it could never work since she might be rescued at any time. She maintains her video journal, hence her asides to camera, in case her equipment is ever recovered. Mr Elliot is also a time traveler, sent to determine whether she has gone insane in the past or if it is safe to return her to their present time. When all is revealed, will she give up the comforts of the year 2289 to stay with Captain Wentworth?
Oh god I love this. I need this movie. I need it!!
I don’t have any issues with Dakota Johnson, but I’m a huge Austen fangirl, and this entire adaptation should have just been an original story, because it’s not Persuasion. That is not Anne Elliot.
I’m kind of pissed off that a serious adaptation was shelved because of this. I’d kill for another good adaptation of Persuasion. The 2007 miniseries with Sally Hawkins was GODAWFUL. At least the 95 movie will always be there and be perfect, but it’s just one movie, and it doesn’t cover everything from the book. Like, I wouldn’t mind a fresh take that still respects the source material and the characters. This movie is not it.
Root/Hinds all the way for me. As much as I love Sally Hawkins, I still haven’t watched her version. Persuasion is one of my favorite Austen novels, so I’m always scared it will be ruined.
I did finally watch Emma (2020) after avoiding it because I didn’t like the book and haven’t yet liked an adaptation and was astonished at how much I loved and enjoyed it. This production managed to make all the characters likable while retaining their ridiculousness.
Hits imaginary *LIKE* button.
And the costumes! Gorgeous
I haven’t read Persuasion so I can’t comment on its accuracy, but this definitely looks fun to me and I enjoy most Austen adaptations (2020 Emma was brilliant), so I’ll be watching! But I’m also someone who actually enjoys Dakota’s style of acting, which I know isn’t everyone’s cup of tea.
I’m torn between, “meh, it’s just a frivolous movie, it’ll come and go” and knowing that for younger people, the ones who’ve been raised in the Scantron and “outcome assessments” GOP model of education in America, this kind of dreck is how many of them now encounter Austen, as opposed to Olds like me and others here who know the actual sources and can enjoy the comparison of a wildly inaccurate update. The biggest challenges of teaching undergrads at present are that the history curriculum has been decimated—meaning they come to books with little to no cultural context for anything written outside of the last 20 years—and more perniciously, their expectation that anything they read be “relatable,” very short, and not written in anything but contemporary idiom. So when stupid adaptations like this are made, all I can think is “Nuance is disappearing, knowledge is disappearing. Art is disappearing.” It may sound Henny Penny-ish (an allusion my students wouldn’t get unfortunately), but the erosion is real now that kids encounter actual literature through truncated “selected readings” in state mandated readers (if they encounter literature at all). Sigh.
I will watch this. I might even enjoy it, but don’t call it Persuasion because it’s clearly not.
I’m going to be so mad when they ruin the letter though.
Oooh, Henry Golding. That’s all I’ve got to say.
I won’t see this movie even though I am a die-hard Persuasion fan. But the only GOOD version of this is the original with Amanda Root and Ciarán Hinds. It stayed true not only to the storyline, but the *feel* of the novel, and the kiss that Anne Elliott and Captain Wentworth shared at the end was far sexier than any Bridgertonized version ever could be.
No, no, no, no. I mean, yes to Henry Golding, but NO to the rest of it. And this is coming from someone who named her daughter after Elizabeth Bennet.
I absolutely adore the Root/Hinds adaptation, I’ll stick with that.
I agree with you on the Root/Hinds adaptation. I’m not particularly a fan of Henry but he looks appropriately smarmy here. The captain seems like an odd choice and so was Rupert Penry-Jones (he was VERY cute and young in Charlotte Gray though, as a uniformed pilot) and Sally Hawkins. Dakota seems more Lizzie Bennet than Anne Elliot judging from the trailer. Also, she’s breaking the fourth wall.
Persuasion is on my reading list but I haven’t read it yet so I guess I could just enjoy this without knowing how badly its hurting the original material — BUT: Cosmo Jarvis is someone I haven’t heard of yet but based on this trailer he is hotttt and now I’m off to go catch up on Peaky Blinders because it’s the only thing in his imdb that I recognize! Always here for Henry Golding.
Her legs are amazing – just sayin.
Plus, I couldn’t ever begrudge a new Austen adaptation ….. they should all be adapted Bridgerton style and then zombie style and then Gangnam style and whatever other style is going – I’d watch them all.
That trailer is all wrong.
Trailer looks fun to me. I have seen several versions of Persuasion and liked them, but we are in dark times, and I wouldn’t mind at all a lighter interpretation. All the family are ridiculous anyway. Anne is smart. Keep the smarts and I’ll be fine.
Me too! Always look forward to an Austen adaptation.
Me too. There are plenty of versions that stick close to the book for the purists (and I say that as a Persuasion fan) but I like the idea of a more fun version and I like Dakota so will def watch. My only gripe is that the actor playing Wentworth is homely (agree with others that Henry Golding should’ve played the part).
She looks fine for the part. But not watching it. Her acting i can’t sit through it.
I can’t stand the jam on the face stuff. Anne would never! And the captain also looks all wrong.
I might watch for Golding though.
I can’t stand the jam on the face stuff. Anne would never! Can’t we for once have a heroine who isn’t kooky? And the captain also looks all wrong.
I might watch for Golding though.
The adaptation with Ciaran Hinds and Amanda Root was absolutely perfect and authentic, down to the no-makeup rule for the actors. The supporting cast was superb esp Sophie Thompson and Corin Redgrave and the lady who played Elizabeth Elliot.
The other two worthy JA adaptations are the BBC Pride and Prejudice (Firth and Ehle) and Ang Lee’s Sense and Sensibility (with a wonderful, Oscar-winning screenplay by Emma Thompson). Even Hugh Grant was believable as an honourable love interest in that.
The others, as far as I know, are not worth bothering with. The recent Emma with Anya Taylor-Joy looked horrendous, judging from the trailer. The one with Gwyneth Paltrow was tolerable but not great.
I understand they want to make money with these “creative” adapations, but if you’re not going to be authentic, why bother with JA? That’s integral to JA, for me as a viewer and reader anyway.
What do you mean by “creative adaptations”?
“Creative adaptations” when it’s not about being true to the book and period. Like Anya Taylor-Joy’s Emma or P&P and Zombies. Or Clueless (Emma). This one looks like a creative adaptation where they’re taking considerable liberty with the characters.
The 2020 Anya Taylor-Joy Emma is wonderful. Very well cast and very well acted. Plus, top notch production design.
What do people mean by “Bridgertonization” in reference to Persuasion? Bridgerton is based upon some romance novels written by an American. How is this production the same as that TV show (beyond being set during the Regency era?
given that Bridgeton is basically a modern novel set in the regency, as opposed to Austen’s novels that were actually written during the time, i would assume they mean casting POC and upping the romantic scenes beyond what Austen wrote to be more dramatic and explicit about their feelings,.
The only thing interesting in this was Henry Golding *yawn*
The only thing I really liked about that trailer was Henry Golding. I forget if I’ve read Persuasion, I think I did but a long time ago so I don’t remember the story at all. However her unconvincing British accent was really distracting. I think Dakota Johnson is likeable and seems sweet but as an actor she is just okay, nothing special.
Persuasion is my fave Austen and I hate this trailer sooooo much. I’m not opposed to updating things and modern versions (Clueless is arguably the best Emma adaptation!) but this looks so depressingly dumbed-down. The essence of the story isn’t evident here at all. And as others have noted, they seem to have made Anne a cookie cutter ‘sassy’ modern lady. Urgh. Not sure I can even hate watch this.
The Root/Hinds 1995 Persuasion is truly wonderful: intelligently made with rich dialogue, on point casting, and overall design that isn’t prettified or fluffy. Seek it out if you haven’t seen it as it’s the adaptation most Janeites think is the best.