Whit Stillman

Whit Stillman Talks ‘Love & Friendship,’ Austen Adaptations and the Rules of Comedy

The below is a transcription of a panel interview with Whit Stillman that took place Saturday, May 14th at Angelika Film Center in New York City after a screening of his new film, Love & Friendship. The following has been edited and condensed for clarity. Observer: So I don't want to be cliche and say it's a universally acknowledged truth that Whit Stillman and Jane Austen go very well together but I guess I'm just gonna ask, why did it take so long for you to adapt an Austen novel?

By Drew Grant

‘Love & Friendship’ & Tiny Green Balls: Tom Bennett On Playing the Fool

Part of the fun of any Whit Stillman film is watching the characters negotiate around a comedy of manners. But even more fun, apparently, is watching a character barrell through social courtesy altogether, like a bull in a (very polite) china shop. To wit (or Whit): Tom Bennett, who plays the buffoonish Sir James Martin in Stillman’s upcoming Jane Austen adaptation, Love & Friendship. Like a cross between Ricky Gervais and Colin Firth, Mr. Bennett--an Austenite name if there ever was one-- is pea-brained Punchinello who nevertheless manages to steal the entire show with his casual observations about “the twelve commandments.”

By Drew Grant

Kickin’ Out Old School: Puffed Up Prepsters Warily Eye Collegiate’s Modern Move

Collegiate School is defined on Urban Dictionary as “a haughty, arrogant school.” When the Upper West Side boys’ academy is

By Jonah Wolf

Whit Stillman Joins Twitter, Is Too Nice

By Laura L. Griffin

Knights-Errant Steer Clear in Damsels in Distress

By Drew Grant

Spring Preview: The Season’s Top Ten Movies

By Daniel D'Addario

Triple Play! Swinging for a 3-Way

By Jennifer Ashley Wright

Whit Stillman’s Damsels In Distress to Close Venice Film Festival

By Nate Freeman

’90s Boy Grows Up

By Hillary Frey

Where Are You, Whit? Criterion Does Metropolitan

By Michael Calderone

Where Are You, Whit? Criterion Does Metropolitan

By Michael Calderone

The Vodka Tonic Crowd Could Get Down, Even Sober

By Andrew Sarris

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