A pair of clips were released from Austenland, "showcasing the film's quirky, offbeat charm," Indiewire reported, adding: "You also get a pretty good taste of some of the cast, which includes Keri Russell, Jennifer Coolidge and Flight of the Conchords star Bret McKenzie."
At the Sundance Film Festival, where Austenland premiered last Friday, Twilight Saga author Stephenie Meyer, one of the producers, spoke with Deadline.com about the screen adaptation of Shannon Hale's novel that is the first feature movie from Meyer's Fickle Fish Films.
"I've always loved book adaptations," said Meyer. "I don't always love what comes out of it but I love the idea of it. Every time I read a book I'm casting it in my head. So producing for me started out as really cool hobby and Austenland was the perfect place to start."
Fickle Fish has also optioned other properties that are in the script stage now. "We found out that the only Lois Duncan book that was available to option was my favorite Lois Duncan book Down a Dark Hall," Meyer said. "So we acquired it and we're working on a script for it. It is really something to take a book that you loved when you were nine and have a chance to play around with it like that. It wasn't the plan, but we also have Kendare Blake's Anna Dressed in Blood too, so right now we are focusing on women authors. Maybe, I think, that books and then movies by women more naturally speak to women. But there are a lot of books by men that would be pretty exciting to do too so I'm sure that focus will change for us."
Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions picked up the world rights to Austenland at Sundance for "midway between $4 million and $5 million, and Sony Pictures Classics will release the film in the summer," Deadline.com reported.
