Dakota Johnson breaks the fourth wall in cheekily modern 'Persuasion' trailer

Dakota Johnson breaks the fourth wall in cheekily modern 'Persuasion' trailer
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Continuing the Bridgerton trend of cheeky romance adaptations with a contemporary flare, the latest incarnation of Jane Austen's Persuasion has taken a "modern, witty" approach to the classic love story.

Starring Dakota Johnson, the film offers a fresh take on the tale, which centers on Anne Elliot, a non-conforming woman living with her snobby family on the brink of bankruptcy when a dashing man from her past, Frederick Wentworth, comes back into her life, bridging her past and her future. Having previously rejected him a decade earlier, she'll have to decide if she will follow her heart this time or let him go once again for the sake of her family.

"Don't let anyone tell you how to live. Or who to love," Johnson tells the audience directly in the trailer, which sees the actress embroiled in a love triangle.

Persuasion. Dakota Johnson as Anne Elliot in Persuasion
Persuasion. Dakota Johnson as Anne Elliot in Persuasion

Nick Wall/Netflix Dakota Johnson stars in 'Persuasion' as Anne Elliot

The reimagining of the 1817 novel also features Cosmo Jarvis, Henry Golding, Richard E. Grant, Nikki Amuka-Bird.

The Netflix and MRC Film release is directed by Carrie Cracknell, making this her feature film debut after a career in theater and adapted for the screen by Ron Bass and Alice Victoria Winslow. Cracknell previously helmed the Broadway production of Sea Wall/ A Life starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Tom Sturridge.

The trailer's debut on Tuesday was not without its Austenian drama. Shortly after the promo was unveiled, Succession star Sarah Snook began trending on Twitter, with fans disappointed that a previously in development version with the Australian native was sidelined as a result of the Netflix venture.

Snook told Vogue Australia last year of her frustration with the cancelation of the project, set to be directed by Mahalia Belo for Fox.

"The short story is that Netflix decided to greenlight their own, so Fox abandoned the one we were doing, which is disappointing because it was a great script and a director I really wanted to work with," she told the publication.

Persuasion marked Austen's last novel, with the beloved book being published six months after her death.

The story was previously adapted into a BBC miniseries on several occasions, with the most recent version debuting in 2007 while the additional productions were released in 1995, 1971.

See the Persuasion trailer above. The miniseries debuts on Netflix July 15.

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