The family’s discombobulated matriarch (Brenda Blethyn), fretful that, in the event of her husband’s (Donald Sutherland) untimely death, their daught
The family’s discombobulated matriarch (Brenda Blethyn), fretful that, in the event of her husband’s (Donald Sutherland) untimely death, their daughters’ meager estate would be usurped by a “dreaded cousin” (Tom Hollander), ensnares many in her matchmaking efforts—including the ill-tempered Lady Catherine de Bourgh (Oscar winner Judi Dench); dubiously charming Mr. Wickham (Rupert Friend); well-meaning aunt Mrs. Gardiner (Downton Abbey’s Penelope Wilton); spinsterly neighbor Charlotte (Claudie Blakley), whose renowned line, “I’m 27 years old. I’ve no money and no prospects. I’m already a burden to my parents. And I’m frightened,” has become a popular phrase on birthday cakes; and the new-to-the-country Bingleys—both eligible suitor Mr. Bingley (Simon Woods) and his venomous sister Caroline (eventual Yellowstone breakout Kelly Reilly).
If the Mamma Mia! stars were singing wild karaoke between takes on a Greek island, it’s only fitting that the Pride & Prejudice cast was known for mid-filming picnics in the English countryside. “I just have memories of very sunny afternoons—Keira, Carey, Rosamund, Talulah, and Brenda Blethyn, and everyone being very happy, really. Tom Hollander being kind of wowed by the whole thing,” Wright says. “We were quite innocent, I think.”
His feature directorial debut earned Wright a BAFTA for most promising newcomer, and the film four Oscar nominations, including Knightley’s first best-actress nod. “I think a certain amount of naivete was present—and a creative ambition,” he says two decades later. “I remember a producer on the film saying to me, ‘One in 10 first-time filmmakers ever gets to make a second film.’ And I was, like, ‘Oh, dear, that’s scary. I better make this good then.’”
In the film, the Bennetts’ daily sprawl comes into simmering focus when Elizabeth meets “the person with the quizzical brow,” a.k.a. an elitist, emotionally distant Mr. Darcy, who declares that she is “not handsome enough to tempt” him romantically. In return, Elizabeth later retorts that he is “the last man in the world whom I could ever be prevailed upon to marry.” But their prideful (and prejudiced) impressions of one another eventually coalesce into a heated attraction.
An extensive casting search led Wright to a pre-Succession Macfadyen, who was tasked with playing a different kind of Darcy—one whose rugged vulnerability stems not from inherited snobbishness, but painful shyness. “I do not have the talent of conversing easily with people I have never met before,” Darcy tells the far more social Elizabeth. That fish-out-of-water feeling was familiar to Macfadyen, who felt “self-imposed pressure” to deliver as the story’s swoon-worthy hero. “I didn’t feel very Mr. Darcy–ish,” he told Vanity Fair in 2022. “I felt like a bit of a middle-aged dad.”
Macfadyen and Knightley were as different off-screen as on, which only enhanced the bond. “Matthew came from drama school and had a lot of experience in theater. Keira was younger and on this meteoric rise after Bend It Like Beckham and the beginnings of the Pirates movies. So they were quite different, but well-balanced,” Wright says. “Chemistry is really about respect—whether the two actors admire each other as artists and want to do their best in front of them. And they both were such fans of each other.”
The stars’ chemistry is never more palpable than in Darcy’s first rain-soaked proposal to Elizabeth. Surrounded by towering Roman columns and the rolling English countryside, Darcy at long last confesses to Elizabeth: “You have bewitched me, body and soul,” stammering out, “and I love… I love… I love you.” Elizabeth, who has been led to believe that Darcy is a traitorous cad, is repulsed by the proposition, but also drawn closer to her admirer as the reality of his disclosure sinks in. “Yeah, that one felt like a big moment,” Wright says. “In fact, we shot it at a house called Stourhead in Somerset, which is where I live now. I fell in love with it while making that movie, and I can practically see [the location] from my bedroom window.”
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