Move over Elizabeth Bennet, Bathsheba Everdene is jostling for position as the next great literary heroine.

Oscar-nominated actress Carey Mulligan stars as the headstrong and fiercely independent 19th-century character in Thomas Vinterberg’s big-screen adaptation of Thomas Hardy’s 1874 classic Far From the Madding Crowd.

Due for release next spring, it also stars Tom Sturridge as Sgt Troy, Michael Sheen as William Boldwood and Matthias Schoenaerts as Gabriel Oak.

The crew started filming in the summer, choosing locations in and around Beaminster, Dorchester and Sherborne – which doubled as the fictional town of Casterbridge.

“When we came down to Dorset for our initial recces we were hoping to film in Hardy country, but never expecting to find such idyllic locations here,” said producers Andrew Macdonald and Allon Reich.

“The countryside is breathtakingly beautiful and the area is so untouched, it is exactly as described in the book and perfect for the film. It is also full of the architecture we were looking for. The people of Dorset have been extremely welcoming.”

“The scenery is spectacular,” Carey Mulligan said of the Dorset locale. “We are right in the middle of it, trying to get to the heart of this story that is so rare and thrilling.”

Despite this, Mulligan – who recently played Daisy Buchanan in the Baz Luhrman production of The Great Gatsby – has admitted that shooting for the film has left her exhausted.

“I am enjoying it so much, it’s brilliant. It’s outside a lot. Seventy per cent of the film is fields, exteriors and doing outdoorsy things, which is really great but it’s cold and really tiring,” the 28-year-old said.

Producers held open auditions for extras earlier in the summer. In August, hundreds auditioned in Bridport and Dorchester for the open casting of the film, where extras including bearded men who could shear sheep and women with natural hair were sought to play farm workers from the 1840s.

“We have recruited a lot of locals – farmers, thatchers and others with specific farming and agricultural skills – and they have all been fantastic, growing their beards and really getting into the Thomas Hardy spirit,” said producers who were looking at casting up to 1,000 extras for crowd scenes.

Various locations have also been given a bit of Victorian treatment.

At Mapperton House near Beaminster the film crew transformed the grounds into a slimy farmyard, put up false walls and created an entirely new scenario for the Elizabethan manor house. They have been seen painting the main gate as well as preparing the historic mud huts and setting up production tents.

In Sherborne, a Victorian market was created outside the abbey with shops on Half Moon Street having their frontages transformed to fit the era.

Other work in the town has included re-dressing shop windows and covering the grass outside the abbey with gravel.

A spokesman for the production said: “On behalf of the director, producers, cast and crew we would like to say a big thank you to the local community in Dorset who have helped and supported the production of Far From the Madding Crowd.”

He added: “In particular the residents who have put up with us filming on their doorstep, the bed and breakfasts, hotels and cottage owners who have housed all the cast and crew, the very accommodating Dorset councils and highways department, the farmers who have supplied some of the livestock and the locals who have participated in the film and gone to great lengths to grow their facial hair and turn up to work on time, despite the weather.”

The Thomas Hardy adaptation is a collaboration between British production company DNA films, Fox Searchlight and the BBC.

In the story, Bathsheba is courted by a trio of very different suitors: Boldwood, the well-to-do older bachelor who makes her acquaintance after she inherits her uncle’s farm; the heedless young soldier Frank Troy who uses his swordplay to impress the girls; and Gabriel Oak the shepherd who is attracted to her attitude and passionate nature.

Vinterberg said: “It’s a very modern story about a very liberated woman and a fantastic portrait of a female.

"Hardy has a fantastic ability to put his characters in situations that mean life and death, so it’s a sweeping romance and a great drama at the same time.”

Surrounded by lush locations, animals and occasionally annoying stormy weather, Mulligan has been said to bring intelligence, emotion and vulnerability to the production.

“She’s a really great team player, and still she’s a great centre of everybody’s attention, both on the crew and in the story. She charms us all and she plays the graveness of the character, as well,” Vinterberg added.

“To me she is Bathsheba now.”