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Jane Austen’s legacy is probably what’s single-handedly keeping the concept of romance alive, even as the world descends into the dark depths of modern-day dating.
And Pride & Prejudice, for as long as the Sun rises in the East, will reign supreme. The headstrong, quietly passionate, and burning desire driving Elisabeth Bennet’s love story with Mr. Darcy IS the blueprint of what every woman deserves. And it’s so, so incredibly hard to get right when we’re speaking about cinematisation.
It’s been a few times over — the 6-part BBC series being an incredibly notable watch everyone keeps running back to. But in more Hollywood-esque mainstream context, the 2005 Pride & Prejudice takes the cake and the bakery. Directed by Joe Wright and led by Keira Knightley and Matthew Macfayden as Elisabeth and Mr. Darcy, ‘iconic’ and ‘cult’ aren’t words big enough to shoulder its cultural impact.
Now while Keira and Matthew’s seamless chemistry continues to live in our heads rent-free, did you know that there were several others being considered to step into Mr. Darcy’s shoes? During a Vanity Fair chat with Keira and Rosamund Pike (who incidentally played Jane Bennet in the production), the latter asked, “You must’ve met a few Darcys” to which the former promptly replied, “Yes, there were a few Darcys, and it was very clear that it was Matthew from the get-go. He’s just such a nice man”. Oh, we agree!
But what was it that won Matthew the role?
In a 2005 chat with Entertainment Tonight, Keira excitedly spoke of the moment everyone in the room knew that the current millennium’s Mr. Darcy had been knighted! She shared, “It wasn’t in the script, we’d nearly kiss and then not. It’s just something that naturally happened, in the audition, and everybody around the table went, ‘ohhh, that’s perfect!’. So it was one of those really nice moments of just two people who knew our characters really well, and it just melted together really nicely. And Joe was just like, ‘right, do it, go for it!’, which is great”.
All of this to say…it’s definitely time for a re-watch.
Pride & Prejudice will complete 20 years of having having us swooning, this September 16.
