NEW YORK –
Angourie Rice
specializes in giving new vitality to classic works.
You’ve seen the actor portraying Betty Brant in the most recent adaptation.
Tom Holland
“Spider-Man” movies
and as Cady Heron in the 2024 musical reboot of
“Mean Girls.”
Now, she’s expanding her portfolio as an author with “Stuck Up & Stupid.”
out now from Candlewick Press
), a youthful adaptation of
Jane Austen’s
She penned ‘Pride and Prejudice’ alongside her mother, the playwright Kate Rice.
During a seated interview shortly before
Mother’s Day
Angourie and Kate spoke with USA TODAY about their experience “meeting each other as artists” beyond their roles as mother and daughter. Angourie expressed enthusiasm for sharing this deeply personal aspect with their audience, particularly since the story unfolds in locations dear to her—her homeland of Australia and her adoptive city, Los Angeles.
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“This is sort of a piece of my home that we’ve put in the book and that we’re sharing with people,” Angourie says. “That’s scary and vulnerable, but it’s also exciting because it’s something that has really defined who I am and the place that we describe in the book is so special and unique, but also I think universal.”
The ultimate mother-daughter collaboration: How Kate and Angourie Rice co-wrote a novel together
“Pride and Prejudice”
Is deeply ingrained in the fabric of the Rice family—Angourie reminisced about recalling pleasant memories of Kate reading it out loud to her when she was young.Kate had always thought about writing about the subsequent generation.
Bennet family members
Then, when Angourie asked Kate if she would write a modern-day adaptation for her (thanks to having a writer mother), Kate proposed that they collaborate on it together.
Following an outline of the novel parallel to Jane Austen’s work, they penned the initial segments manually during their seaside holiday. The duo alternated between writing and reviewing each other’s sections. In these preliminary versions, they maintained a rigid guideline for revisions: exclusively insert material, never delete anything.
As a writer, you become highly self-critical, and I didn’t want us to direct that critique at each other’s creations,” Kate explains. “My aim was to ensure our collaboration remained extremely supportive since it’s challenging enough dealing with one’s inner critic saying, ‘That’s awful,’ during the writing process.
It’s also highly improvisational,” Angourie says. “Similar to ‘yes, and.’
Initially, some people view disclosing their written work as an exposed act, yet for Angourie, this was not true for “Stuck Up & Stupid.” She mentions that Kate has previously witnessed all her most mortifying experiences throughout her life.
When reflecting on collaborating, I appreciate the opportunity to move past just being mother and daughter,” Angourie states. “It involves joining forces to produce something as two individuals expressing their creativity and sharing narratives. It’s quite exciting to connect with one another through our roles as artists.
‘Stuck Up & Stupid’ modernizes ‘Pride and Prejudice’ for the 21st century.
“Stuck Up & Stupid” retains the core aspects of “Pride & Prejudice,” incorporating several contemporary twists — think more than just swapping out dowries for handshakes. In this version, Mr. Collins has abandoned his plans to marry his cousin solely to retain control over the family wealth. The
Mr. Darcy
And Bingley’s characters are portrayed as celebrities instead of wealthy Englishmen.
“Why retell this?” echoed through the thoughts of both Kate and Angourie as they penned their work. In the end, their mission became one of exploring which universal themes endure and which ones warrant a new interpretation.
“There are certain scenes in there that might have taken place just yesterday or even today,” Kate remarks.
Angourie remarks, “I vividly felt the intense anxiety and pain experienced by the characters. To me, it didn’t seem distant at all. These characters didn’t come from two centuries ago.”
The original “Pride and Prejudice” has a lot to say about women’s inferior standing in 19th-century society. From Charlotte’s spinster monologue to Lydia’s scandalized elopement and the general pressure of Elizabeth and her sisters to marry off hastily, there’s a lot that needed a facelift. “Stuck Up & Stupid” is
instead billed
as a novel for “a generation of teens who are definitely NOT looking for love.” It also gives more color to the mother character, as Mrs. Bennett is traditionally depicted as a derisive woman whose only goal is to get her daughters married.
“For us, it was also important to delve deeper into the mother-daughter dynamic and truly provide an opportunity for that character to develop,” Angourie explains.
Clare Mulroy serves as the Books Reporter for USA TODAY, covering popular book releases, interviewing authors, and exploring reading culture. Look out for her work.
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The article initially appeared on USA TODAY:
From Marvel to Mr. Darcy: Why Actor Angourie Rice’s Debut Novel Draws Inspiration from ‘Pride & Prejudice’