Actress Kate Beckinsale recently revealed that she loved playing the role of the scheming widow Lady Susan Vernon in Whit Stillman's rom-com 'Love & Friendship', which is based on Jane Austen's 1871 epistolary novel 'Lady Susan'.
In a recent interview, the 42-year-old actress said, "I love Lady Susan, she's so funny and so unusual for that period in literature. I grew up with Jane Austen but I hadn't seen a character like that in Austen's work before," Channel.24 reports.
Adding on to this, the 'Underworld: Awakening' star said when she first read the script, she felt like was this really Jane Austen, or has somebody just written in her style as she never realised that she had such a "naughty streak".
In an interview with Daily Mail, the actress opened by about her flirtatious character, saying "There's usually a kind of moral end note to a character like that but there isn't in this, and that's what sets it apart from a lot of other things."
She further said that the Lady Susan enjoyed and felt entitled to a certain amount of sexual and personal freedom that was not usually admitted to in those times.
The movie, which also featured Stephen Fry, Xavier Samuel and Jemma Redgrave, was released on May 13.