Lindsay Doran film. Doran explained, "For 10 years I'd been trying to find somebody I thought could adapt it. Usually romantics are too optimistic and dreamy to see Austen's cynicism, and satirists are too cynical to believe in romance." Thompson fit Doran's criteria for a good screenwriter, despite the actress never having written a screenplay before. The resulting production of "Sense and Sensibility" earned Thompson an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, making her the only person to have won an Oscar for both her writing and acting (Thompson won the Best Actress award for "Howards End", in 1993). Along with producing,
Sense and Sensibility (film) adaptations of an Austen novel to be released in cinemas in over fifty years, the previous being the 1940 film "Pride and Prejudice". The year 1995 saw a resurgence of popularity for Austen's works, as "Sense and Sensibility" and the serial "Pride and Prejudice" both rocketed to critical and financial success. The two adaptations helped draw more attention to the previously little-known 1995 television film "Persuasion", and led to additional Austen adaptations in the following years. In 1995 and 1996, six Austen adaptations were released onto film or television. The filming of these productions led to a surge in popularity