Queen of Romance
7 Onscreen Jane Austen Performances, Ranked — How Will ‘Miss Austen’ Fare?
For all the screen adaptations of Jane Austen’s works — e.g. Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility — and movies and TV shows about her writing — e.g. The Jane Austen Book Club, Austenland — there are surprisingly few onscreen stories about the writer herself. But we’ll get one more on Sunday, May 4, when the four-part series Miss Austen debuts on PBS’ Masterpiece at 9/8c.
Black Mirror’s Patsy Ferran plays Jane in the miniseries, but the central character is actually Jane’s sister Cassandra, played by Bodyguard’s Keeley Hawes (wife of onetime Mr. Darcy player Matthew Macfadyen), who “makes a decision that will have consequences for centuries to come” to preserve Jane’s memory, PBS says.
While we wait to see how that onscreen Jane Austen depiction plays out, we’re ranking seven others — and you’ll see they range from the ridiculous to the sublime!
7. Rachael MacFarlane, Family Guy
In Family Guy’s Season 13 episode “Stewie, Chris & Brian’s Excellent Adventure,” Stewie and Brian (both Seth MacFarlane) take Chris (Seth Green) back through time to help him with his history class. The trio stops in 1798 to release “pent-up time travel farts” in the home of Jane Austen, voiced by Rachael MacFarlane. And this Jane has, um, a particular predilection that fuels her creativity. Puerile? Yes. Funny? Also yes.
6. Eden Riegel, Saints Row IV
In the action-adventure video game Saints Row IV, alien invaders trap the 3rd Street Saints gang in a simulation, while the alien leader keeps his favorite historical figures in suspended animation, including an (ahem, nude) Austen. Voiced by Eden Riegel, it’s Austen who narrates the game and its spinoffs How the Saints Save Christmas and Gat Out of Hell. Riegel does a fine job… but the dialogue isn’t exactly Austenesque.
5. Geraldine James, Northanger Abbey
As Felicity Jones, JJ Feild, Carey Mulligan, and their costars brought Austen’s Northanger Abbey to life in this 2007 television adaptation, Geraldine James served as the voice of Austen herself, beginning and ending the movie with narration from the book. James’ voice is welcoming, friendly, and just a touch mischievous, just as we imagine Austen to be.
4. Kendra Anderson, Love and Jane
In Love and Jane, Kendra Anderson plays the famous novelist as she’s transported to modern-day times to give romantic advice to Alison Sweeney’s Austen fan. This is a Hallmark Channel movie, so it’s not exactly prestige fare, but Anderson still milks the culture-clash comedy for all its worth.
3. Jenna Rosenow, DC's Legends of Tomorrow
The titular Legends traveled to Bath, England, in 1802 to fix an anachronistic sexual revolution in Legends of Tomorrow’s Season 4 episode “Séance and Sensibility.” There, Mona (Ramona Young) comes face to face with her favorite author, Austen, played by Jenna Rosenow. This Jane proclaims not to believe in love, but Mona discovers she’s just a hopeless romantic whose brilliance has been overlooked by the Regency-era publishing industry. We approve.
2. Anne Hathaway, Becoming
In the 2007 big screen biopic Becoming Jane, Anne Hathaway played a young Austen, while James McAvoy portrayed Thomas Lefroy, the Irishman with whom Austen is believed to have had a romantic connection. Hathaway never disappears into the role, but if you can get over an American actor portraying Austen and forgive that actor’s spotty accent, this Jane is as charismatic as any.
1. Olivia Williams, Miss Austen Regrets
That same year, we got the British TV movie Miss Austen Regrets, which, like Northanger Abbey and Miss Austen, made the leap to Masterpiece for the benefits of us Yanks. This time, it’s Olivia Williams playing an older Austen who’s reflecting on her romantic choices toward the end of her life. This is a Jane embittered by love, but through William’s tightrope performance, you still get glimpses of the sentimentalist beneath the hurt.
