Lost in Austen to be Hollywood film

Lost in Austen: the British drama is to get the Hollywood treatment. Photograph: ITV
ITV's critically acclaimed Jane Austen time-travel drama Lost in Austen is to be made into a Hollywood movie with Oscar-winning director Sam Mendes as producer. The high-concept drama, which originally aired on ITV1 in September last year, featured a contemporary Austen fan transported into the late 18th century world of Pride and Prejudice heroine Elizabeth Bennet. A movie version is now being developed for Sony Pictures, the Hollywood studio behind James Bond movie Quantum of Solace and the forthcoming Angels and Demons, by the TV show's original UK independent producer Mammoth Screen, which has credits including BBC1's Bonekickers, and Neal Street Productions – maker of the Oscar-nominated Revolutionary Road. As the project is still at an early stage, there are currently no casting details. The show's original writer, Guy Andrews, is currently working on the script. It will be executive produced by Mammoth Screen's Damien Timmer and Michele Buck, with Neal Street Productions' Mendes and Pippa Harris as producers. Even though he is not due to direct the film, Mendes' high profile in Hollywood will give the project a boost. His last film, Revolutionary Road, starring his wife Kate Winslett and Leonardo DiCaprio, has been nominated for three Oscars. A source familiar with the project said: "There has been a huge amount of interest in a film version of Lost in Austen and with Neal Street and Sony, Mammoth Screen seem to have found the perfect fit. "The TV serial was so acclaimed it's a great stamp of approval on the high concept approach that they took to the story and all the executives are really excited to re-imagine it for the big screen, looking to the best film talent possible to make it a massive box office hit." Lost in Austen was one of ITV1's most critically acclaimed dramas of last year. Although it only averaged about 4 million viewers, a high proportion were from the key ABC1 demographic. source by : siew may wah