Got a challenge? Whit Stillman will make a movie of it

It takes guts to rewrite Jane Austen. Maybe even gall. But that's exactly what film director Whit Stillman did for his new film, "Love & Friendship."

The film, which opens this weekend, was a labor of love for Stillman — and is really funny.

Lady Susan Vernon — beautiful, whip-smart and devious as a summer day is long — believes people should know their place in life. Especially other people.

Out walking with a friend, she says, "Isn't it rather clear that we, the women of decision, hold the trumps?"

A man approaches and lifts his hat. "Lady Susan? Lady Susan Vernon?" he inquires politely.

"How dare you address me, sir?" she responds.

"But Lady Susan!" he objects.

"Begone, sir! I will have you whipped."

"Outrageous," says her friend. "Have you never met him?"

"No, I know him well," says Lady Susan. I would never speak to a stranger like that."

Stillman is known for a series of wry comedies from the 1990s: "Metropolitan," "Barcelona" and "The Last Days of Disco." He then had a somewhat unplanned hiatus from moviemaking. While living in London, he came across an early Jane Austen novella called "Lady Susan."

"Not her title," Stillman explained. "Something that was published a half-century after her death, as part of her nephew's memoir. And I thought it was very funny and very surprising. And it was like gold buried in a mine that was not very accessible."

He meant not just that few people knew of the book, but also that it took some work. But here's a thing about Whit Stillman: Where many people see problems, he sees opportunity.

"The format of it, the epistolary style, the letters back and forth, was kind of hard going, kind of hard to read," said Stillman. That might have put some people off, but it encouraged him. "And so I said, 'This could be a really fun project. This could be a film.'"

So how do you smooth a story composed of letters into a flowing narrative?

"It's almost exactly like taking a deck of cards and shuffling it," he said. "So you have the letters back and forth and you have to — I am not sure if there is a word — intercalate them? So that there is a little bit of information from each side of an equation, from a dialogue."

Stillman decided to make it a side project for when he didn't have a paying gig. He can't quite remember when he started, but his emails contain references to Lady Susan in 2004, when he opened his account.

Part of his drive was his enjoyment of Lady Susan. He agrees she's despicable, but as a noblewoman with few assets in the late 19th century, she has to live by her ferocious wits.

"She's a reptile," he said. "But she is a reptile doing her thing, and she's just a pretty effective reptile."

In the film, Lady Susan decides her daughter Frederica will save them both by marrying the wealthy but frankly idiotic Sir James Martin. Frederica is not impressed by either the plan or Sir James.

"I can see Sir James is a kind man," she says. "And if it weren't a matter of marriage, I am sure I could like him. But marriage is for one's whole life!"

"Not in my experience," Lady Susan replies, rolling her eyes.

As often happens with independent films, finding the money took a long time. Again, Stillman sees that as an advantage.

"It's great having the struggle for financing, because it allows casting to go on interminably," he said. "It's really wonderful."

He got Kate Beckinsale to play Lady Susan, and he cast a host of British and American talent for the other characters. He shot the film in Ireland. All that planning allowed him to finish quickly.

There was only one more challenge.

Somewhere along the line he agreed to write the novel of the film. But there was never time to do that job. His spur to action came literally at the end of the film. He included the words "Buy the Love & Friendship novel in which Lady Susan Vernon will be entirely vindicated" in the closing credits.

"So it was actually in the film before I had written the novel," he said. "I had to vindicate her really quickly."

Which is why Stillman was curious when he saw a review copy of his novel at MPR. It contains his story, and the original Jane Austen novella. It was the first time he'd seen the finished book.

"See, they didn't correct this part, here," he said, pointing to the dedication. "The layout here is weird. So this first edition will be very valuable, because of all the errors."