Robin Swicord convenes 'The Jane Austen Book Club'

Robin Swicord
Screenwriter and film director Robin Swicord was working on a script called "The Jane Prize," about a dysfunctional family of Jane Austen scholars, when she was asked to direct "The Jane Austen Book Club." She says the producer felt it was a natural as she had already done the reading.
MPR photo/Euan Kerr

When a producer approached filmmaker Robin Swicord with the idea of a film adaptation of the best-selling novel "The Jane Austen Book Club," she leapt at the chance.

The story is about a group of acquaintances, each facing challenges in their family lives. They decide to escape by reading all of Jane Austen's novels together.

Swicord told Minnesota Public Radio's Euan Kerr she saw an opportunity to tell a very modern tale reflecting the same sensibilities Austen wrote 200 years ago.

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