Herbert Nordrum takes on Colonel Brandon in new Sense and Sensibility
Norwegian actor Herbert Nordrum plays Colonel Brandon in Georgia Oakley's new film version of Sense and Sensibility, according to The Hollywood Reporter. It is his first English-language project. Oakley directs the adaptation, which was shot in the U.K.
Nordrum's Brandon sits at the centre of the story's romantic tangle. Esmé Creed-Miles plays Marianne Dashwood, while Frank Dillane plays John Willoughby, her other suitor. Marianne juggles relationships with both men, as reported by The Hollywood Reporter.
Daisy Edgar-Jones plays Elinor Dashwood, Marianne's sister, according to the Hartford Courant. Edgar-Jones and Creed-Miles were the first two names announced for the film. The wider ensemble was then rounded out with several key additions, Focus Features said when filming began.
Nordrum won the part after sending in a self-tape, a video audition recorded without the casting team in the room. Many viewers will recognise him from Joachim Trier's The Worst Person in the World, where he appeared alongside Renate Reinsve. He told The Hollywood Reporter the Austen role is a new language leap.
Oakley made her directing debut with Blue Jean in 2022. Her Sense and Sensibility is the first film adaptation of the novel directed by a woman, according to the Hartford Courant. That is a notable first for a book filmed many times before.
The cast around the central four is deep. George MacKay is part of the ensemble, alongside Caitríona Balfe, Fiona Shaw and Bodhi Rae Breathnach, listed by Kent Film Office. Short sentences help here. Big book. Big cast.
MacKay has chosen a fresh approach to the material. He said he opted not to watch Ang Lee's 1995 film version of Sense and Sensibility, The Hollywood Reporter reported. Lee directed that earlier adaptation.
What makes this stand out is the mix of new and familiar. A Norwegian newcomer to English-language film steps into one of Austen's most patient gentlemen, led by a director taking on the novel for the first time from behind the camera.
