Colette Saucier ~ Answers Our Questions For Authors
1) Your own favorite Austen character and why?
Aunt Gardiner from “Pride and Prejudice.” She is intelligent, intuitive, and unbiased, and she leaves the children with a sitter to go touring the country with her husband.
2) Your Favorite Austen book?
“Pride and Prejudice.” It has set the standard for every romance novel and rom-com film for 200 years—the original that created the formula. Boy meets girl. Girl hates boy. Boy likes girl. Girl and boy realize they like each other. Misunderstanding/outside forces tear them apart. Reunion, reconciliation, happily ever after.
3) Which actor would you chose to be YOUR Mr Darcy and why?
My daughter and I were discussing who could best portray Mr. Darcy in a film adaptation of my novel “Pulse and Prejudice” (one can always dream), and we settled on Ben Barnes. He is the appropriate age and British, but that is for a vampire Darcy. If we may consider actors at any time in their careers…I suppose Russell Crowe is too manly (more a Col. Brandon). I will stick with Colin Firth. He portrayed Mr. Darcy perfectly both in “Pride and Prejudice” and “Bridget Jones’s Diary.”
4) Who would be your perfect Elizabeth?
I would be remiss if I chose any actress other than my brilliant and talented daughter!
5) Your favorite book of all time by any author?
Although I generally prefer the classics, particularly 19th century literature, my favorite novel of all time is “The Transmigration of Timothy Archer.” Although written by Philip K. Dick (the prolific author of “Blade Runner,” “Minority Report,” “Total Recall,” etc.), it is a complete departure from the science fiction genre and was inspired by the life of his friend Bishop James Pike, who died in the Judean Desert while searching for proof of the historical Jesus.
6) Your favorite Austen film or TV adaption?
The 1995 BBC miniseries “Pride and Prejudice.”
7) You are having a dinner party and can invite four Austen characters which would they be?
Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner and Mr. and Mrs. Weston.
8. Why have you chosen them?
I would not invite Mr. Darcy because I know he is uncomfortable amongst strangers. Although I considered Elizabeth and Mr. Bennet for their humor and repartee, they might use their caustic wit and sarcasm at the expense of the other guests—or even their host! I would invite Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner and Mr. and Mrs. Weston because my husband and I enjoy dinner parties with intelligent, sophisticated married couples, and these must be the most sensible people in the entire Austen universe.
9) Which character would you like to play in a film?
The question does not limit me to Austen characters, so I will say Kirsten Lundborg from “The Transmigration of Timothy Archer.” I am not an actress and would rather not portray anyone in film, but this would mean that the novel is being turned into a movie! I would also like to cast Russell Crowe as Timothy Archer.
10) Tell us about your next planned book (whether Austen related or not)?
I am currently writing a sequel to “Pulse and Prejudice” entitled “Dearest Bloodiest Elizabeth” in which the new Mrs. Darcy adjusts to marriage to a vampire. I have a contemporary novel in the works as well, and I am toying with a concept for a romance about a werewolf named Heathcliff living on the moors in Victorian England but with lots of cool, futuristic gadgets. So it would be a shapeshifter, steampunk, erotic romance adaptation of “Wuthering Heights” called “Withering Frights.” Perhaps it would help my daughter find some merit in the “other” Bronte sister.
Our Grateful Thanks To Colette Saucier for Answering Our Questions For Authors
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