Emma Thompson recalls complaints about 'Sense and Sensibility' screenplay

Emma Thompson wasn’t so sure of herself while writing the screenplay for the 1995 adaptation of Sense and Sensibility.

Thompson spoke about the making of the film, in which she also starred as Elinor Dashwood, during an episode of the BBC Bookclub podcast.

While the film is now considered a classic and won the Oscar for Best Writing (Adapted Screenplay), Thompson doubted herself while writing the screenplay.

During the discussion, a fan asked, "When you were writing the screenplay, did you ever find yourself arguing with Jane Austen in your head about what she really meant? Or did you sort of apologize in advance and just get on with it?"

"I did a lot of apologizing," Thompson confessed of the Ang Lee film. "I thought, 'God this is just plagiarism, plane and simple. I’m just taking something and making it into something else.'"

"You know, I felt quite diffident about it. I really did," she shared.

"I read it now and I think, ‘I don’t know how I did that, actually,'" said the Cruella star. "I don’t because an awful lot of the dialogue is not hers, because we had to invent so many things. Yes, one did feel very apologetic."

"But of course, all of this was pointed out to me in no uncertain terms by the Jane Austen Society in America, who disapproved hugely," she said of the many changes between book and screen. "They disapproved of so many things."

Emma Thompson’s screenplay Oscar made her the only person ever to win in both acting and screenplay categories at the Academy Awards. She won her best actress Oscar for 1992’s Howard’s End.