After "Emma," "Persuasion" and "Sense and Sensibility," the Jane Austen rage continues unabated.
Austen's last, unfinished novel, "Sanditon," has been optioned for the bigscreen by Orion Pictures, Orion senior exec veeps Brad Krevoy and Steve Stabler announced Thursday.
"Audiences have shown great interest in Austen's classic tales," Stabler said. "We are excited to bring her last novel to life."
A romantic comedy set among hypochondriacs at Sanditon, a seaside health resort, the novel was not complete at the time of Austen's death in 1817. The manuscript was finished by author Marie Dobbs and published by Hough-ton Mifflin Co. in 1975.
Dobbs was repped by the William Morris Agency's Michael Carlisle and Amy Schiffman.
Robert Chartoff and former WMA senior VP Hal Ross are producers on the project, along with Krevoy and Stabler.
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