Pride & Prejudice Production Notes
| Pride & Prejudice
A Focus Features Release
Table of Contents I. Synopsis II. The Production III. The Locations IV. About Jane Austen V. About the Cast VI. About the Filmmakers VII. Credits
Synopsis The glorious world of Jane Austen is at last brought back to the big screen in all its romance, wit, and emotional force in Pride & Prejudice. Faithful to the setting and period of the beloved novel and filmed entirely on location in the U.K, this is the first movie version of the story in 65 years. The classic tale of love and misunderstanding unfolds in class-conscious England near the close of the 18th century. The five Bennet sisters – Elizabeth, or Lizzie (Keira Knightley), Jane (Rosamund Pike), Lydia (Jena Malone), Mary (Talulah Riley), and Kitty (Carey Mulligan) – have been raised well aware of their mother’s (two-time Academy Award nominee Brenda Blethyn) fixation on finding them husbands and securing set futures. The spirited and intelligent Elizabeth, however, strives to live her life with a broader perspective, as encouraged by her doting father (two-time Golden Globe Award winner Donald Sutherland). When wealthy bachelor Mr. Bingley (Simon Woods) takes up residence in a nearby mansion, the Bennets are abuzz. Amongst the man’s sophisticated circle of London friends and the influx of young militia officers, surely there will be no shortage of suitors for the Bennet sisters. Eldest daughter Jane, serene and beautiful, seems poised to win Mr. Bingley’s heart. For her part, Lizzie meets with the handsome and – it would seem – snobbish Mr. Darcy (Matthew Macfadyen), and the battle of the sexes is joined. Their encounters are frequent and spirited yet far from encouraging. Lizzie finds herself even less inclined to accept a marriage proposal from a distant cousin, Mr. Collins (Tom Hollander), and – supported by her father – stuns her mother and Mr. Collins by declining. When the heretofore good-natured Mr. Bingley abruptly departs for London, devastating Jane, Lizzie holds Mr. Darcy culpable for contributing to the heartbreak. But a crisis involving youngest sister Lydia soon opens Lizzie’s eyes to the true nature of her relationship with Mr. Darcy. The ensuing rush of feelings leaves no one unchanged, and inspires the Bennets and everyone around them to reaffirm what is most important in life. Focus Features presents in association
with StudioCanal a Working Title production. Pride & Prejudice. Keira
Knightley, Matthew Macfadyen, Brenda Blethyn, Donald Sutherland, Tom Hollander,
Rosamund Pike, Jena Malone, and Judi Dench. Casting by Jina Jay. Music
Supervisor, Nick Angel. Music by Dario Marianelli. Hair and Make-Up Designer,
Fae Hammond. Costume Designer, Jacqueline Durran. Editor, Paul Tothill.
Production Designer, Sarah Greenwood. Director of Photography, Roman Osin.
Co-Producer, Jane Frazer. Executive Producers, Debra Hayward, Liza Chasin.
Based on the novel by Jane Austen. Screenplay by Deborah Moggach. Produced
by Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Paul Webster. Directed by Joe Wright. A Focus
Features Release.
The Production Although dramatized for television several times (in 1938, 1952, 1967, 1980, and 1995), Jane Austen’s classic Pride and Prejudice has been a feature film only once before, in 1940, directed by Robert Z. Leonard and starring Laurence Olivier and Greer Garson. Now, Pride & Prejudice makes its triumphant return as big-screen entertainment and a passion project for Working Title Films, Europe’s leading film production company. Working Title co-chairs and Pride & Prejudice producers Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner reflect, “People remember the two most recent television adaptations, but the only other film version, from 1940, emphasized romantic comedy. Over the decades, Jane Autsen’s central depiction of Lizzie and Darcy has been appropriated as the core of many other films – including a couple of our productions. We felt that it was time to bring Austen’s original story, concentrating on Lizzie, back in all its glory to the big screen for audiences everywhere to enjoy.” Producer Paul Webster concurs, noting, “Pride and Prejudice has provided the template to so many romantic comedy movies that it comes as a surprise that no film proper has been made for 65 years. The two BBC versions are seminal -- the second one was the most successful BBC drama ever – but we were intent on making a big-screen version, one that doesn’t conform to the television drama stereotypes of a perfect clean Regency world.” Bevan and Fellner comment, “Director Joe Wright’s previous work, including Charles II: The Power & the Passion [aired in the U.S. as The Last King], had really impressed us. We met with him, and his vision of how to make the film and tell the classic Austen story was in tune with ours. For all of us there was no point in reinventing the story, as it is such a worldwide favorite. But we wanted to present the story as it was written, casting actors at the ages Jane Austen indicated, and giving them a depiction which avoided the ‘chocolate box’ presentations that television veers towards. Joe is a true romantic, yet he also shoots the story in a modern way and without subverting it.” The BAFTA Award-winning director’s unique approach was understandable since, as he admits, “I had never read Pride and Prejudice, nor seen a television version. I come from a background of television social realist drama, and so I suppose I was a bit prejudiced against this material, regarding it as posh. But as I read the script adaptation, I became emotionally involved and by the end I was weeping. So I read the book, and discovered that what Jane Austen had written was a very acute character study of a particular social group. I saw that she was one of the first British realists. She had read the gothic literature which was fashionable at the time, and she turned away from that, and started writing what she knew, thereby inventing a new genre. “I got excited about new ways to film the
story which I don’t believe have been done before. I wanted to treat it
as a piece of British realism rather than going with the picturesque tradition,
which tends to depict an idealized version of English heritage as some
kind of Heaven on Earth. I wanted to make Pride & Prejudice real and
gritty – and be as honest as possible. Austen’s characters are young people
– Lizzie is 20, Darcy 28, Lydia 15. The emotions they
Wright also drew on his experience of directing The Last King. “What I learned from directing that, my first period piece, was that if you utilize the specifics of a period very precisely in tandem with emotional truths, it all becomes relevant to a modern audience.” While researching the late 18th century, Wright and his team kept records of discoveries and facts which were not spelled out in the film, but which enhanced their understanding of Austen’s finely wrought characters. Wright remarks, “The establishment of England was looking across the Channel at the French Revolution – and wondering how it might affect them. The upper classes were frightened, and made the decision to assimilate more with the lower classes. Hence, the Assembly Rooms dances in village halls, which people of Darcy and Bingley’s class would now attend. There, they would mingle with people they wouldn’t previously have ever met socially. It was a whole new era for society. For young women, this was very exciting – like, say, Prince William turning up at a High Street disco. Suddenly, marriage prospects were widened. Bingley handles all this well, whereas his sister Caroline does not readily embrace the idea of these new associations.” Screenwriter Deborah Moggach, herself a novelist, notes, “I tried to be truthful to the book, which has a perfect three-act structure, so I haven’t changed a lot. It is so beautifully shaped as a story – the ultimate romance about two people who think they hate each other but who are really passionately in love. I felt, ‘If it’s not broken, don’t fix it.’ “The Bennet daughters in fact have to get married off or they face ruin; but, to a modern audience, these girls look pretty well-heeled! So we had to make their plight matter, in order that the audience cares about the outcome. They seem well-off – they live in a big house, with doting parents, they have a carriage and servants – but we had to convey that if they don’t marry well, they could end their lives in penury, shunned by their own class of people and the lower classes too.” Moggach reflects, “I’ve emphasized it as being Lizzie’s story. Unlike in the novel, she keeps her secrets to herself and they are a great burden to her. There are things she can’t confide to her parents, her best friend Charlotte, or even her beloved sister Jane. Lizzie suffers alone. She sees her father neglecting her sisters – he ignores Lydia’s follies, which facilitates her elopement – and she views her parents’ marriage as a tragicomedy. Lizzie sees Charlotte, for the sake of security, marry the odious Mr Collins, and sees her beloved older sister sink into lovesick misery. She also wonders if her own chance of happiness is disappearing. As she keeps all this to herself, we feel for her more and more. The truest comedy, I believe, is born from pain.” “The Bennets could certainly exist today and, I’m sure, do. It’s only the economics of the situation, the girls’ dependence on finding a good husband, which are germane to the period. All the emotions are equally relevant today. Take Lizzie, for example. She has a mother who is often embarrassing; a best friend who disappoints; unrequited love for someone [Wickham] who turns out to be a complete cad; sisterly loyalties, jealousies, and squabbles; and she falls madly in love with somebody [Darcy] she can’t admit she’s in love with.” In her adaptation, Moggach paid extra attention
to Jane Austen’s dialogue. She explains, “I’ve sort of pulled a comb through
the dialogue; of course, you can’t reproduce Austen’s fiercely
Wright adds, “In the novel, Austen’s characters are all very polite, waiting until the other person has finished speaking, before speaking themselves. But I know that, particularly in big families of girls, everyone tends to speak over each other, finishing each other’s sentences, etc. So I felt that the Bennet family’s conversations would be overlapping like that.” Moggach says, “One of the wonderful things about Jane Austen is that the canvas on which she painted was very small. Now, that has also been cited as a criticism of her work; she has been accused of ignoring other social classes of her time, and contemporary world events. But she did not deny it; she was observing the small piece of the world that she inhabited. For example, there is no scene in any of her books where men are alone in a room together. She either didn’t know what they might be talking about, or she wasn’t interested. The wider world is seen through tiny chinks. For instance, Caroline Bingley is reading a letter and she remarks, in the script, ‘Lady Bathurst is re-decorating her ballroom in the French style. A trifle unpatriotic, don’t you think?’ I put that in as a tiny acknowledgement that all these events were going on in France. “But my interest lies in the family dynamic and, after all, people don’t read and enjoy Jane Austen for the historical overview. I’ve got three sisters, so I know what it is like being with lots of girls – and I had a father who felt out numbered by us. I had previously adapted Nancy Mitford’s Love in a Cold Climate, and that was also lots of girls and another father who felt completely outnumbered. So I feel very much at home in this world of girls sort of giggling and sparring and sharing, having jealousies, etc.” The filmmakers were determined to shoot the film completely on location in the U.K., where the camera would have the luxury of seeing outside from inside and vice versa, and could actually follow the characters indoors and outdoors. An 11-week shooting schedule was blocked out, and Groombridge, a moated 17th Century mansion, was chosen to be Longbourn, the Bennets’ house, where the only tranquillity is to be found in Mr. Bennet’s library. Webster notes, “It is quite unusual for a movie this size to be shot entirely on location. Part of Joe’s idea was to try to create a reality which allows the actors to relax and feel at one with their environment.” The approach proved viable early on; cast members, instead of retiring to movie trailers between scenes, would head into their own Groombridge bedrooms. In seeking to avoid what he has referred
to as “the picturesque tradition,” Wright comments, “I believe that when
people do period films they are reliant on paintings from the period, because
there is no photography. But in a painting, everything is formally composed;
it’s not real life. Then they do wide shots to show off the period detail
of the sets. I think that the detail is in the small things, like crumbs
on a table, or flowers in a vase. Austen’s prose gave me many visual references
for the people in the story, so I used a lot of close-ups of them, too.
I also tried to cut out carriage shots. In a modern-day film, it’s not
very interesting to see people simply get in a car and drive away, so why
should it be more interesting to see people arriving and leaving in carriages?
There are a lot of period film clichés; some of them are in the
film and some are not, but for me it was important to question them.”
Elizabeth Bennet is a character who has been strongly identified with, and cherished, by several generations. Keira Knightley describes her as “every girl’s dream.” Even so, Joe Wright admits, “I originally hadn’t considered someone as beautiful as Keira. I was looking for someone who didn’t fit the normal feminine conventions, and was bright and slightly difficult. I figured Lizzie Bennet would be quite difficult to live with; she’s tough-minded and questions everything all the time. “When I met Keira, I realized that she asks questions of herself and other people, and is really a tomboy. She has a lively mind and a great sense of humor. During shooting, she kept on surprising me. What does one look for in an actor? Originality of thought; somebody who is able and willing to give their heart to what they are doing, and is able to really listen to the other actors. Keira did all of that, and was a hard worker.” Knightley was keenly aware of the pitfalls inherent in playing such a longstanding heroine. She says, “There was a huge pressure taking on the role; she’s one of the best roles in literature for girls. If you’re an actress and you get the chance to play her you definitely can’t say no. But it is scary, because when you read Pride and Prejudice, you feel like you own her; I know I did, and I’m sure everybody feels the same way and that they’ll have a very clear idea of who Elizabeth Bennet is. So this was an exciting challenge. “Jane Austen’s own critique of her the book was that she felt it was too lighthearted. She felt the relationship between Jane and Elizabeth wasn’t realistic enough. We took heed of her comments and tried to bring to the movie a realism that perhaps isn’t so much in the book, bringing out the idea that these sisters are two girls who have lived with each other and slept in the same bed for so many years now. They have annoyances and such, but they love each other and stand by each other, enjoying each other and sharing each other’s pain.” Knightley adds, “It was great being directed by Joe because he’s got a very clear vision of what he wants the entire piece to be like. So he can also say, ‘You can stray a tiny bit, that’s all right.’ And I think you have to do that to really own a character, to possess the role. It’s a different process to do a film based on a book, because the inner dialogue of your character is all written down. So if there was ever a scene where I was having problems, we would go back to the book and in some way or another it was right there. But, equally, you have to take a stand and say ‘OK, I know it says this in the book, but you know what? I can’t do it like that because it doesn’t make sense as far as this goes, so I’m going to have to change that slightly.’ And then you have to be brave and just do it.” Casting Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy in the new
movie might have posed even more of a challenge for the filmmakers. However,
as Wright reminds, “I had never seen the TV dramas or the film, so I was
able to look for the Darcy I had in my head -- and Matthew Macfadyen was
the only one for me. Darcy is 28, and Matthew was 29 when we were shooting.
I had no interest in casting just a pretty boy; Darcy is more interesting
and complicated than that. He’s a young man who has less than ideal social
skills and a huge responsibility. His parents have died and left him with
a massive estate and a younger sister to take care of, and my sense is
that he has had to grow up too fast. Matthew has incarnated Darcy as that
complicated layered person who isn’t
Knightley confides, “When I went in to read with Matthew, I was so blown away that I virtually couldn’t get my lines out. I just kept staring at him thinking, ‘What the hell happened between you walking in as Mathew and you starting to read?’ Because he actually did turn into Darcy, and the scenes flowed.” Wright adds, “Keira and Matthew were just wicked together.” “Matthew’s a man who is sexy in the mode of Richard Burton, with a bit of Alan Rickman,” muses Knightley. “You need to see that kind of rugged beauty in Darcy, knowing that here was a man who walks across fields, climbs trees, and very much manages his own estate. With Matthew, you can see that etched across his face, yet he’s also got this extraordinary vulnerability. On the page, Darcy reads as being very cold, but Mathew is so vulnerable through his big manliness that he gives Darcy extra qualities.” Macfadyen sees the character as “very buttoned up; he’s very prideful and haughty. Some would say, ‘He’s arrogant’; I would say, he’s misunderstood. And a fantastic part to play! The material is so very richly drawn. Of course, always looming are those who played the part before you – Olivier and Colin Firth – but that exists with lots of roles. If you worry about that, then you’ll never take on a role in Shakespeare! Every actor brings something different to the roles they play. “Communication between the sexes is probably as confusing now as it was in Jane Austen’s time. Apart from any physical attraction, Darcy is enchanted by the liveliness of Lizzie’s mind and her mercurial qualities. The first time they meet, he remarks to Bingley that she is not handsome enough to tempt him to dance. She overhears this and throws it back at him with such winning wit that he is immediately enchanted. He is a serious young man, with huge responsibilities for his estate, and he has never met a young woman like her. When he proposes to her, first explaining how unsuitable a match she is, he makes that explanation out of integrity, not out of arrogance.” Wright clarifies, “In the beginning, Darcy can’t deal with the fact that he fancies Lizzie, so they are like children in a playground – in the way that kids pull hair because they don’t know how to express their feelings. He needs her to tease him and to be able to lighten up with her. She in turn needs someone who has as much integrity, honesty, and goodness as she has. These are the foundations for what will hopefully be a happy life together. “They have a huge effect on each other’s lives from the moment they meet. When he proposes in the rain, she says that she knew as soon as she met him that he was the last person she would consider marrying. If you meet someone with whom there is no chemistry at all, why would you think about marriage at all? And while she is thinking how much she dislikes him – she is still thinking about him.” Getting two-time Golden Globe Award winner
Donald Sutherland to play Mr. Bennet, the lone male in a household full
of women, was a thrill for Wright. The director states, “Donald is simply
a legend. When I was a kid, I was an actor in a film called Revolution,
more or less a glorified extra, and I used to watch him. Plus Don’t Look
Now is one of my all-time favorite films. Watching him recently with Nicole
Kidman in Cold Mountain, I realized that he could access the
Sutherland remarks, “I love Jane Austen, although I hadn’t read the novel for 40 years. Joe wrote me a letter. He said there was a quality of me in Cold Mountain that he wanted for the father of these girls – somebody, he said, who didn’t get married until he was 45. He had to wait until his father died before he married, and then he had 5 daughters. It’s worth noting that none of them could inherit his estate because the law then was that the estate must pass to a male heir, in this case a distant relative [Mr. Collins]. All very intriguing to play.” Two-time Academy Award nominee Brenda Blethyn took on the role of Mrs. Bennet. Wright notes, “It’s a tricky part, as she can be very annoying; you want to stop her chattering and shrieking. But Brenda has the humor and the heart to show the amount of love and care Mrs. Bennet has for her daughters.” Blethyn’s take on the character is, “Mrs. B has a very serious problem, which nobody except she is taking seriously; she has five daughters, for whom she has to find husbands, and eligible men are not so common around Longbourn. When the militia are billeted in the village of Meryton, she’s delighted.” To ensure authenticity among the latter, the production employed members of the Napoleonic [Re-enactment] Society for the scenes of the militia arriving and leaving the village (filmed in Stamford, Lincolnshire). It was at the start of the 19th Century that the British Army commenced a 15-year campaign against Napoleon’s Army. Extras were schooled in how to march and wear the uniforms. The county militia would have mainly been made up of volunteers, with the officers being of a higher social status (those who had a stake in the particular county, perhaps a large parcel of land). It was seen as the duty of the upper-class male to serve his county for a time in this manner. The purpose of the county militia was twofold: to act as the second line of resistance, should a foreign army invade the British Isles, reassuring the people of their safety amid rumors of invasion; and to discourage any possible riots or sedition, as the Crown and Parliament were ever wary that some subjects might decide to follow the French or the Americans and declare themselves to be a republic. Women’s own motions for independence were all but inconceivable. Echoing Donald Sutherland’s comments, Brenda Blethyn reminds, “Mrs. Bennet’s concerns are compounded by the fact that women had no status then. The inheritance laws mean that her husband’s estate, her family’s home, will be inherited by a distant cousin when Mr. Bennet dies. That means, she and her daughters could be cast out to fend for themselves – or even sent to the workhouse. So the solution is for at least one of her daughters to marry a man wealthy enough to take care of all the family. She is trying to solve the problem as best as she knows how.” “I believe Mrs. B came into her own marriage
with a very small dowry, and that they married for love – which, as the
story shows, was not so common then. You can see that they feel something
for each other. He is tolerant and kindly, although he cultivates interests
outside the drama of his home – books, plants, wildlife...She is sometimes
an embarrassment to her family, but then too all parents can be embarrassing.”
Of her character, Pike says, “As the oldest Bennet girl, Jane would have had a lot of responsibility bringing up the younger girls, so she has a slight maternal instinct. But I didn’t want to play her as this very demure and slightly dull character. People say, ‘Oh Jane’s a bit staid.’ I play her as someone who laughs a lot. We wanted the whole Bennet family to be a household that’s filled with laughter and movement; if you’ve got lots of girls all living in a house that they are beginning to outgrow, then you get this sort of farmyard whirlygig of a family.” Wright adds, “The sisters all had to have similar characteristics so you can see that they come from the same stock and they all find each other funny.” Pike adds, “Unlike Lizzie, Jane likes to think the best of people. She has found that the easiest way to get through life is to think that people are nice and good, and not to be suspicious about other people’s negative motives. Jane doesn’t have much pride or prejudice, really… “Jane Austen wrote such a sensationally romantic story. It got to me all the time during filming. It’s deeply romantic, and I think in this day and age we need films with romance at their core out there. They can light people up.” The lone American in the cast is Jena Malone, whose empathetic portrayals of young women convinced the filmmakers that she was the top choice to play Lydia Bennet. Malone felt that she well understood the teenager, noting, “Lydia’s focus is purely ribbons and soldiers. She’s 15 years old and is in love with the idea of being in love, spending her time thinking about the clothes she’ll wear when she meets boys. She can’t really approach a lot of men, only those of a suitable social status. That’s why she finds the idea of going to the balls so exciting; it’s the only place where she could dance with such a range of boys, even the tradesmen’s sons. Her day-to-day life was very simple, because she had no housework to do and no school to attend – her education is being neglected. Because she is the youngest of the Bennet sisters, she has more freedom than the others. “Yet, her options are so much different than young women’s today. For Lydia, the only way to secure a future is to get married; otherwise you would live with your family or leave home and be a governess to someone else’s family – which gives you a lower social status, and no hope of marrying anyone of your own particular class. Many women became much more pragmatic about reasons for marrying, and the idea of marrying for love even came to be regarded as frivolous. But Lydia, being in love with love, is overjoyed to elope and fails to foresee any of the disastrous consequences, intending to be able to lord it over the other sisters that she is the only married one.” Rounding out the Bennet sisterhood, screen newcomers Carey Mulligan and Talulah Riley won the roles of Kitty and Mary Bennet, respectively. Wright remembers, “This was the first film job for both, and they were both huge Jane Austen fans. So they were so excited about the whole process that it created a heightened atmosphere for the family sequences.” Another Jane Austen fan realizing a dream
by participating in the film is Tamzin Merchant. She was cast as Georgiana,
Darcy’s sister, after writing a letter to the casting director and
The role of Darcy’s formidable aunt Lady
Catherine de Bourg necessitated someone with considerably more acting experience
– and the filmmakers felt fortunate indeed to secure the participation
of Judi Dench. Wright remembers, “On our first day of filming, we shot
a dining room table scene. Now, as any director will tell you, that is
difficult. And, with Dame Judi Dench at the head of the table on the first
day of my first feature, I was terrified. But she is a complete professional
and a genuinely nice person; it was a joy to watch her transform herself
into such a difficult woman.”
Behind the scenes – literally – Wright called upon a frequent collaborator, production designer Sarah Greenwood. He offers, “Sarah and I have a professional shorthand and understand each other. I always involve her as early as possible, and together we worked to inject reality into the locations for Pride & Prejudice.” Another early decision for the director was the approach to wardrobe, in tandem with costume designer Jacqueline Durran (late of Vera Drake). He explains, “I find empire line dresses are very ugly, so I did some research. Although the novel was published in 1813, Jane Austen wrote her first draft of Pride and Prejudice, then called First Impressions, around 1797. So we used the fashions of the earlier period, where the waist on dresses was lower and more flattering. When Caroline Bingley appears, she would obviously be wearing the latest creation. But Mrs. Bennet’s dresses are earlier than 1797, and Lady Catherine’s are even earlier, because those two would have best clothes from previous years in their wardrobe. Jacqueline, working with Mike Leigh, comes from a very character-oriented British realist style of filmmaking, and her use of fabric and color for this movie was exquisite.” Keira Knightley remarks, “When the men in the cast stood around in their normal clothes, we Bennet girls could chat away to them. As soon as they wore their costumes, the sisters, myself included, were suddenly faced with these sexy creatures and we turned into giggling idiots who couldn’t string a sentence together. They were so well-costumed!” Joe Wright concludes, “I think that what
Jane Austen wrote is a fairy tale on some levels. I believe that all the
best fairy tales are based in social realism, have inherent emotional truths
which remain relevant through the generations, and are worth telling over
and over again. Today, people are still falling in love, people are still
prejudiced against others, and people are still too proud on occasion.
We like to be told that love exists, and this story is a jouyful and satisfying
affirmation of that. Pride & Prejudice is a love story about how to
try to understand one another.”
The Locations GROOMBRIDGE PLACE (Longbourn, the Bennet family home) Groombridge Place, near Tunbridge Wells on the border of Kent and East Sussex in Southern England, is anchored by a tranquil moated brick house, set within acres of gardens. Although a dwelling was first built on the site around the year 1200, the present house dates from the 1660s, when the first formal gardens were planned with the help of the celebrated horticulturist John Evelyn. Over the years, additions and alterations have been made to the gardens – the unique White Rose garden, the Drunken Garden, and the Knot Garden, among others. The Apostle Walk is now commonly known as the Draughtsman’s Garden, after being used as the key location for Peter Greenaway’s The Draughtman’s Contract. While the house is a private home, the gardens are open to the public throughout the summer, and as such are visited by 200,000 people annually. The Pride & Prejudice production was fortunate to request use of the house to stand in as the Bennet family home at a time when the property had changed hands – for only the second time in 400 years. The new owner was persuaded to delay his own plans for interior redecoration until after the Bennets and the film crew had moved on and out. Production designer Sarah Greenwood and her art department were able to transform the house’s interior to late 18th-Century “shabby chic,” and it became the Bennets’ house, Longbourn. Exteriors were also transformed, as Lizzie’s duckboard bridge was built across the moat; windows were changed to match the period portrayed; and a tidy courtyard became a manure-rich refuge for the various farmyard creatures that would eventually find their way to the Bennet family dining table. BASILDON PARK (Netherfield Park, rented by Mr. Bingley) Netherfield, the temporary home (near the Bennets’, Longbourn) of the dashing and wealthy Mr. Bingley, is in reality Basildon Park (near Reading, Berks), a magnificent 18th Century Palladian mansion, set in 400 acres of parkland and overlooking the River Thames in Berkshire. Built between 1776 and 1783, Basildon Park fell into disrepair in the early part of the 20th Century. It was rescued and restored by Lord and Lady Iliffe in the 1950s. The couple restored the house and filled it with important paintings, textiles, and furniture. In 1978, the Iliffes presented the property to the National Trust, along with a large endowment and the collections they had assembled inside. The house and gardens are now open to the public from spring through autumn. Pride & Prejudice audiences will see
the west front and loggia of Basildon Park, as well as the dining room
and the Octagon Drawing Room, which overlooks the East Park and has an
Italianate ceiling and frieze; however, they will not see the Sutherland
Room, named not for Pride & Prejudice actor Donald Sutherland but rather
for Graham Sutherland, an artist whose studies were bought by Lord Iliffe
and presented to the Herbert Art Gallery and
BURGHLEY HOUSE (Rosings, the home of Mr. Darcy’s aunt Lady Catherine de Bourg) For both the exterior and interior of Rosings, the imposing home of the equally imposing Lady Catherine (dowager aunt of Darcy and patron of Mr Collins), the Pride & Prejudice production journeyed to Burghley House, one of the largest homes in England. The house remains in the family whose ancestor, William Cecil Lord Burghley (Chancellor and favorite of Queen Elizabeth I), built it in the mid-16th Century. The main building has not been much altered over the centuries. Many of the Cecil descendants have acquired major works of art and employed artists and craftsmen from Europe to enhance their surroundings. The Heaven Room, used in the film as Lady Catherine’s drawing room, is a stellar example. The 5th Earl, Lord Exeter, commissioned the Italian artist Verrio to paint the wall and ceilings, in addition to the magnificent murals on the walls and ceilings of the staircase (the Hell Staircase) leading to the Heaven Room. Verrio worked at the house for many years, but took to spending his earnings in the George Hotel in nearby Stamford, where the Pride & Prejudice cast stayed during filming. Verrio eventually left Burghley House in disgrace – and in debt to many of the villagers. Burghley House is now owned by a family trust, and the property is managed by Lady Victoria Leatham (daughter of the Marquis of Exeter, the medal-winning Olympic runner portrayed in the Academy Award-winning film Chariots of Fire by the late actor Ian Charleson, who has an RSC Award named after him which Pride & Prejudice leading man Matthew Macfadyen was nominated for). Lady Victoria appears regularly on the long-running Antiques Roadshow, advising members of the public on the provenance and value of articles that they have brought from their homes. CHATSWORTH HOUSE (Pemberley, Mr. Darcy’s family home) The largest private country house in England and the home of the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire, Chatsworth House is the house used in Pride & Prejudice as the exterior of Pemberley, Mr. Darcy’s family home. Jane Austen made mention of Chatsworth in Pride and Prejudice, and the Duchess believes that the author was thinking of Chatsworth (which is in Derbyshire) when describing Pemberley. Deborah, the Duchess of Devonshire, is one of the renowned “Mitford Girls” (her sisters were writers Nancy and Jessica Mitford, as well as Unity Mitford and Diana Mitford). During WWII, Chatsworth (built in the 17th Century) was occupied by a girls’ boarding school, Penrhos College. 300 pupils and teachers lived and worked there from 1939 until 1946. The house was subsequently reopened to the public, and in 1973 a farmyard and adventure playground were added on. Beginning in 2001, Chatsworth was opened to visitors for the holiday season (from early November until late December). Within the house, the grand staircase of
the Painted Hall (where charitable functions and the children’s Christmas
party are held) is where, in Pride & Prejudice, Lizzie Bennet and the
Gardiners (the latter portrayed by Penelope Wilton and Peter Wight) begin
their tour of Pemberley. It is within the Sculpture Gallery (so named for
the 6th Duke’s having devoted the space to stone and sculpted figures)
that Lizzie sees the bust of Mr Darcy – and hears of his fine qualities.
Built in the 16th Century on a site occupied for nearly 800 years prior by a succession of religious communities, Wilton House Salisbury is the family home of the 18th Earl of Pembroke (whose late father, the 17th Earl, was director/producer Henry Herbert). The uniquely designed Double Cube Room is seen in Pride & Prejudice as the drawing room of Mr. Darcy’s family home, where Lizzie is introduced to Darcy’s sister Georgina. The Double Cube Room, widely recognized as one of the finest surviving examples of 17th Century Palladianism (inspired by the architect Palladio) in England, houses and showcases a collection of family portraits by the 17th-Century artist Sir Anthony van Dyck. HADDON HALL (The Inn at Lambton) The Banqueting Hall at Haddon, utilized onscreen in Pride & Prejudice as the dining room at the Lambton Inn, is the essence of a medieval manor from the 14th Century, and would have – as the principal dwelling room – housed 40-50 at that time. For over 400 years the house, built atop
a limestone outcrop and located in Bakewell, Derbyshire, has belonged to
the Manners family, and the house and grounds are open to the public. Other
feature films that have been shot there include the Working Title production
of Elizabeth and the most recent version of Jane Eyre.
Additional locations TEMPLE OF APOLLO’s Stourhead Gardens (in Stourton, Wilts) were used for the Rosings Garden sequence in which Darcy proposes to Lizzie but is rejected. ST. GEORGE’S SQUARE (in Stamford, Lincolnshire) is where the (Bennets’ local) Meryton Village scenes were shot. HUNSFORD (of The Alms House, at the Boughton House Estate in Northamptonshire) was used for scenes of Mr. Collins’ parsonage (adjacent to the film’s Rosings house). HUNSFORD CHURCH (at St. Peter Brooke, in Rutland) is the church whose interior doubled as Mr. Collins’ church in the film. PEAK DISTRICT (at Stanage Edge, in Hathersage Moor, Derbyshire) is where Lizzie and the Gardiners tour Derbyshire.
About Jane Austen The seventh of eight children (and the second of only two sisters), Jane Austen (1775-1817) was born to Cassandra and George Austen in Steventon, Hampshire, and lived in the small town in south-central England for the first 25 years of her life. Her father was the rector of the local parish. Aside from a couple of years away at school, she was taught largely at home, informally; her mother, for example, taught her to speak French (and a little Italian) and to play the piano. The avid reader began to write short satirical pieces while in her teens and completed the original manuscript of Pride and Prejudice, then entitled First Impressions, between 1796 and 1797, at 21 years of age. This followed her having fallen in love with a young man – only to have his family discourage a marriage because neither of them had any fortune. A few years later, Jane became affianced to another man, but broke off the engagement the very next day, perhaps after realizing that she was not in love with him. For several years, she did not pursue her writing, because her family began moving frequently after her father’s death in 1805. She was able to work again in 1809 after settling, with her mother and her sister Cassandra, into a house in Chawton that one of her brothers owned. A publisher had, years before, rejected the initial First Impressions manuscript, and it was only at this time that Jane began the revisions that would bring First Impressions to its final form as Pride and Prejudice. She would also rework some of her early writings to become her later novels. Two years after the successful publication of Sense and Sensibility (the publishing of which was funded by Jane herself, and which was originally titled Elinor and Marianne in its nascent form over a decade earlier), Pride and Prejudice was published in January 1813 and instantly attained a popularity that endures after nearly 200 years. Four more novels followed: Mansfield Park, Emma, Persuasion, and Northanger Abbey. The last two were published posthumously in 1817 (the year of her death, at age 41, from a long illness), and Northanger Abbey had originally been written and worked on (as Susan) in 1798. She left behind an unfinished novel, Sandition. For a time, she wrote behind a door that
creaked when visitors approached; this warning allowed her to hide manuscripts
before anyone could enter. All of the books were initially published anonymously.
Even so, Pride and Prejudice was such a success that, by September 1813
(eight months after it was first published), her authorship of the novel
became less of a secret. Certainly her immediate family and close friends,
and the literary community, knew that she was the author. Though publishing
anonymously prevented her from acquiring a reputation in her own lifetime
as a great author, it also enabled her to preserve her privacy at a time
when English society equated a woman’s entrance into the public sphere
with a loss of femininity and respectability. Furthermore, as the Napoleonic
Wars (1800–1815) threatened the safety of monarchies throughout Europe,
government censorship of literature proliferated.
While social advancement for young men lay in the military, church, or law, the chief method of self-improvement for women was the acquisition of wealth. Women could only accomplish this goal through a successful marriage; hence the pervasiveness of matrimony as a goal and topic of conversation in Jane’s writing. Though Jane’s young women of the early 19th Century had more freedom to choose their husbands than those of the early 18th Century, practical considerations continued to limit their options. Jane Austen is frequently accused of portraying a limited world. As a clergyman’s daughter, she would have done parish work and was certainly aware of the poor around her. However, she wrote about her own world, not theirs. The critiques she makes of class structure seem to include only the middle class and upper class; the lower classes, if they appear at all, are generally servants who seem perfectly pleased with their lot. While this apparent lack of interest in the lives of the poor can be seen as a shortcoming, it was one shared by almost all of English society at the time. The influence of Jane Austen in general, and Pride and Prejudice in particular, continues to be evident in movies, television programs, and the works of many an author. As long as the human comedy abides and love and class complicate it ever further, Jane Austen’s perspective remains relevant and refreshing. Think only of the past as its remembrance
gives you pleasure.
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Pride & Prejudice
About the Cast KEIRA KNIGHTLEY (Elizabeth Bennet) Keira Knightley is one of today’s true rising stars in films. She is known to audiences worldwide for her performances in Gore Verbinski’s blockbuster Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, starring opposite Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom for producer Jerry Bruckheimer; Gurinder Chadha’s sleeper hit Bend It Like Beckham (for which she was honored with the London Critics Circle Award for British Newcomer of the Year); and Richard Curtis’ ultimate romantic comedy Love Actually, also for Working Title Films. Ms. Knightley next stars in Tony Scott’s action thriller Domino, as real-life bounty hunter Domino Harvey. She is currently at work filming Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest (the first of two sequels to be filmed back-to-back), reunited with the original cast and filmmakers and joined by Pride & Prejudice costar Tom Hollander. The U.K. native acquired an agent at an early age, and appeared in her first television drama (Ferdinand Fairfax’ Royal Celebration) at the age of 6. Her subsequent television credits included playing Lara in Giacomo Campiotti’s miniseries remake of Doctor Zhivago (opposite Hans Matheson). Ms. Knightley’s first big-screen role was as a handmaiden in George Lucas’ Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace. Among her subsequent films were Gillies Mackinnon’s Pure; Antoine Fuqua’s King Arthur (again for producer Jerry Bruckheimer), as Guinevere; and John Maybury’s The Jacket. MATTHEW MACFADYEN (Mr. Darcy) Matthew Macfadyen has become best known to audiences on both sides of the Atlantic for his compelling portrayal of government agent Tom Quinn in the hit series MI-5 (originally titled Spooks in the U.K.). The series (costarring Keeley Hawes, David Oyelowo, and Peter Firth) has enjoyed three successful seasons on the BBC and, subsequently (in the U.S.), on the A&E Network. The program takes an authentic and dramatic look inside the operations of Britain’s national security service and at the high personal and professional stakes for its agents. Mr. Macfadyen is now also making a name for himself in films. After small but pivotal roles in Ben Elton’s Maybe Baby (with Hugh Laurie and Joely Richardson), Michael Apted’s Enigma (with Dougray Scott and Kate Winslet), and Paul McGuigan’s The Reckoning (with Paul Bettany and Willem Dafoe), he played his first lead film role (opposite Miranda Otto) in Brad McGann’s In My Father’s Den. The dramatic thriller attracted attention from the worldwide film industry. Mr. Macfadyen’s acting career began with extensive schooling. He attended Oakham School in Rutland, Leicestershire, where he was a drama scholar from 1990 to 1992. On leaving Oakham, he was accepted at the famed Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA). He graduated from RADA to join the innovative Cheek by Jowl theatre company, and made his professional stage debut in the troupe’s production of The Duchess of Malfi. He also performed with the Royal Shakespeare Company, in productions of A Midsummer Night’s Dream and School for Scandal, and on international tours. In 1998, Mr. Macfadyen starred again with Cheek by Jowl, as Benedick in Much Ado About Nothing, opposite Saskia Reeves as Beatrice. The production “crossed the pond” to the U.S., playing at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM). In 1999, he was nominated for the prestigious RSC Ian Charleson Award for Best Classical Actor under 30. At that time, Mr. Macfadyen began working in U.K. television, taking a role in David Skynner’s telefilm remake of Wuthering Heights. He was nominated for a Royal Television Society Award for his first television starring role, in Peter Kosminsky’s BAFTA Award-winning BBC drama Warriors. He subsequently starred opposite Sir Michael Gambon in Stephen Poliakoff’s miniseries Perfect Strangers, again winning acclaim. His subsequent U.K. television miniseries appearances include David Yates’ BAFTA Award-winning The Way We Live Now and Peter Kosminsky’s The Project. Mr. Macfadyen’s most recent stage appearance is in Nicholas Hytner’s National Theater production of Henry IV, Parts 1 and 2, starring as Prince Hal opposite Sir Michael Gambon’s Falstaff, through August 2005. BRENDA BLETHYN (Mrs. Bennet) Brenda Blethyn will next be seen starring onscreen in another Focus Features release, Gaby Dellal’s On a Clear Day, opposite Peter Mullan. Her performance in Mike Leigh’s Secrets & Lies gained the actress international recognition, as she won Best Actress honors from the Golden Globes, the BAFTAs, the Cannes International Film Festival, and the Los Angeles Film Critics Association. She was also nominated for the Screen Actors Guild Award and the Academy Award. Ms. Blethyn was again nominated for an Academy Award, as Best Supporting Actress, for her performance in Mark Herman’s Little Voice, which also brought her BAFTA, Screen Actors Guild, and Golden Globe Award nominations. She has been nominated a third time for the latter, for her performance in Nigel Cole’s Saving Grace. Her other film credits include Cherie Nowlan’s upcoming Clubland; John McKay’s Piccadilly Jim (with Tom Hollander of Pride & Prejudice); Kevin Spacey’s Beyond the Sea; Nicole Holofcener’s Lovely & Amazing; Robert Redford’s A River Runs Through It; and Nicolas Roeg’s The Witches. Ms. Blethyn was an Emmy Award nominee for her performance in Robert Dornhelm’s miniseries Anne Frank: The Whole Story. Her other notable television credits include Christopher Menaul’s Belonging (for which she earned a BAFTA Award nomination); Benjamin Ross’ RKO 281 (as Louella Parsons) and Roger Michell’s miniseries The Buddha of Suburbia. She has been acting on the stage for 30 years, and recently starred on Broadway in Marsha Norman’s ‘night, Mother, opposite Edie Falco for director Michael Mayer. In 2000, Ms. Blethyn was awarded the Order of the British Empire. DONALD SUTHERLAND (Mr. Bennet) Donald Sutherland’s career as an actor encompasses over 100 films. These include such classics as Robert Aldrich’s The Dirty Dozen; Robert Altman’s MASH; Alan J. Pakula’s Klute (opposite Jane Fonda); Nicolas Roeg’s Don’t Look Now (opposite Julie Christie); John Schlesinger’s The Day of the Locust; Bernardo Bertolucci’s 1900; Federico Fellini’s Casanova; John Landis’ National Lampoon’s Animal House; Robert Redford’s Ordinary People (opposite Mary Tyler Moore and Timothy Hutton); and Oliver Stone’s JFK. Mr. Sutherland’s many other films include Paul Mazursky’s Alex in Wonderland; Philip Kaufman’s Invasion of the Body Snatchers; Bob Clark’s Murder by Decree; Richard Marquand’s Eye of the Needle; Richard Pearce’s Threshold; Euzhan Palcy’s A Dry White Season; Fred Schepisi’s Six Degrees of Separation; Barry Levinson’s Disclosure; Joel Schumacher’s A Time to Kill; Robert Towne’s Without Limits; Clint Eastwood’s Space Cowboys; F. Gary Gray’s The Italian Job; and Anthony Minghella’s Cold Mountain. In addition to Pride & Prejudice, he will shortly be seen starring in Griffin Dunne’s Fierce People (opposite Diane Lane); Robert Edwards’ Land of the Blind (opposite Ralph Fiennes); Aric Avelino’s American Gun (opposite Sissy Spacek); James C.E. Burke’s Aurora Borealis (opposite Louise Fletcher and Juliette Lewis); and Robert Towne’s Ask the Dust (opposite Salma Hayek). Mr. Sutherland won Emmy and Golden Globe Awards for his performance in Chris Gerolmo’s Citizen X, and won a second Golden Globe Award for his performance in John Frankenheimer’s Path to War. He is currently at work on the new ABC dramatic series Commander-in-Chief, in which he stars as the Speaker of the House, opposite Geena Davis as the first female U.S. President. TOM HOLLANDER (Mr. Collins) While at Cambridge, Tom Hollander was in the university’s Cambridge Footlights revue and played a much-celebrated Cyrano de Bergerac, directed by Sam Mendes. His honors include a Best Actor nod from Time Out; and four Ian Charleson Awards from the London Critics Circle. His stage and radio credits include productions
of The Judas Kiss; The Government Inspector; Tartuffe; Mojo; and The Threepenny
Opera (again directed by Sam Mendes, at the Donmar Warehouse). On U.K.
television, he has appeared on Absolutely Fabulous, among other series;
in the miniseries Wives and Daughters (directed by Nicholas Renton, with
Rosamund Pike of
Mr. Hollander’s film credits include Robert Altman’s Academy Award-winning Gosford Park; Tom Hunsinger and Neil Hunter’s The Lawless Heart; Neil LaBute’s Possession (also for Focus Features); Michael Apted’s Enigma; Ben Elton’s Maybe Baby; Rose Troche’s Bedrooms and Hallways; Terry George’s Some Mother’s Son; Richard Eyre’s Stage Beauty; John McKay’s Piccadilly Jim (with Brenda Blethyn of Pride & Prejudice); Laurence Dunmore’s The Libertine (again with Rosamund Pike of Pride & Prejudice); Robert Edwards’ Land of the Blind (with Donald Sutherland of Pride & Prejudice); and, now in production, Gore Verbinski’s two back-to-back Pirates of the Caribbean sequels (with Keira Knightley of Pride & Prejudice). ROSAMUND PIKE (Jane Bennet) Rosamund Pike will shortly be seen starring in Andrzej Bartkowiak’s sci-fi action thriller Doom. At 16, she joined the National Youth Theatre, while continuing her studies at Oxford University and gaining a degree in English literature. Her first television roles were also undertaken during her studies – including leading roles in the miniseries Wives and Daughters (directed by Nicholas Renton, and with Pride & Prejudice costar Tom Hollander) and Love in a Cold Climate (directed by Tom Hooper, and adapted by Pride & Prejudice screenwriter Deborah Moggach). In her recent return to the stage, Ms. Pike won critical praise for her starring role in Terry Johnson’s Hitchcock Blonde. Her other films include Laurence Dunmore’s The Libertine (again with Pride & Prejudice costar Tom Hollander) and Lee Tamahori’s blockbuster Die Another Day (opposite Pierce Brosnan as James Bond). JENA MALONE (Lydia Bennet) Jena Malone made an unforgettable debut in the lead role of Anjelica Huston’s Bastard Out of Carolina (based on the Dorothy Allison book of the same name), which aired on Showtime. Her performance earned her CableACE, Screen Actors Guild, and Independent Spirit Award nominations as well as a Young Artist Award. A number of projects followed, with roles that firmly established her as a gifted young actor. She starred in another acclaimed Showtime telefilm, Martin Bell’s Hidden in America; Robert Zemeckis’ blockbuster Contact (as the young Jodie Foster character); Goldie Hawn’s telefilm Hope (which earned her a Golden Globe Award nomination); John Erman’s “Hallmark Hall of Fame” telefilm Ellen Foster; Chris Columbus’ popular Stepmom; and John Stockwell’s telefilm Cheaters. More recently, Ms. Malone has starred onscreen
in one of the most talked-about films of recent years, Richard Kelly’s
Donnie Darko; Irwin Winkler’s Life as a House; Peter Care’s The Dangerous
Lives of Altar Boys; Jordan Brady’s American Girl (which she co-produced);
Anthony Minghella’s award-winning Cold Mountain; Rebecca Miller’s The Ballad
of Jack and Rose; and Brian Dannelly’s Saved!
Since playing Ophelia in Hamlet at the Old Vic 40 years ago, Judi Dench has received worldwide acclaim for a career marked by outstanding performances in both classical and contemporary roles and notable for encompassing the full range of the stage, television, and motion pictures. She has won 9 BAFTA Awards to date. Ms. Dench received the OBE (Order of the British Empire) in 1970 for services to the theatre, and subsequently became a DBE (Dame of the British Empire) in 1998. She won the Academy Award for her performance in John Madden’s Shakespeare in Love, in addition to a BAFTA Award and the National Society of Film Critics citation. An earlier collaboration with the director, Mrs. Brown, earned her Golden Globe and BAFTA Awards, as well as an Academy Award nomination. Ms. Dench was again an Academy Award and Golden Globe Award nominee for both Lasse Hallström’s Chocolat (for which she won a Screen Actors Guild Award) and Richard Eyre’s Iris (for which she won a BAFTA Award). Her other feature film credits include David Hare’s Wetherby; Merchant Ivory’s A Room with a View (for which she won a BAFTA Award); David Jones’ 84 Charing Cross Road; Charles Sturridge’s A Handful of Dust (for which she won a BAFTA Award); Kenneth Branagh’s Henry V and Hamlet; Franco Zeffirelli’s Tea with Mussolini; Lasse Hallström’s The Shipping News; Charles Dance’s Ladies in Lavender; and four movies as spy boss “M” opposite Pierce Brosnan as James Bond, the most recent of which was Lee Tamahori’s Die Another Day (which costarred Rosamund Pike of Pride & Prejudice). Ms. Dench will soon be seen starring opposite Bob Hoskins in the title role of Stephen Frears’ Mrs. Henderson Presents, and next begins work on Richard Eyre’s Notes on a Scandal. Her television work includes the long-running series As Time Goes By (starring opposite Geoffrey Palmer); the animated series Angelina Ballerina (starring opposite her daughter, Finty Williams); and Gillies Mackinnon’s telefilm (also for Working Title) The Last of the Blonde Bombshells, for which she won BAFTA and Golden Globe Awards. In recent years, Ms. Dench has starred
onstage in David Hare’s Amy’s View (winning a Tony Award for her performance
in the Broadway production); Peter Hall’s staging of The Royal Family;
David Hare’s The Breath of Life, at the Theatre Royal Haymarket, with Dame
Maggie Smith; and All’s Well That Ends Well, for the Royal Shakespeare
Company in Stratford and then the West End.
About the Filmmakers JOE WRIGHT (Director) Joe Wright won a BAFTA Award for his work on the miniseries Charles II: The Power & The Passion (which aired in the U.S. as The Last King), which was his most recent directorial project. The miniseries, which starred Rufus Sewell, won two additional BAFTA Awards, and was nominated for three more. His prior credits as director include another highly acclaimed miniseries, the epic drama Nature Boy (for which he was a BAFTA Award nominee), starring Lee Ingleby; the miniseries Bodily Harm, starring Timothy Spall; and the telefilm Bob & Rose (which won several international awards). Mr. Wright has also directed two short films, The End (written by Kathy Burke, and aired on the U.K.’s Channel 4) and Crocodile Snap (starring Claire Rushbrook, and aired on the BBC). The latter was a BAFTA Award nominee. He directed his first short film, Whatever Happened to Walthamstow Marshes, back in 1991, while enrolled at the Camberwell School of Arts. From 1991 to 1994, he studied Fine Art, Film and Video at St. Martin’s. In 1993, Mr. Wright was awarded a Fuji Film Scholarship to make The Middle Ground. As part of the development process, he spent six weeks teaching drama at Islington Green School, where the short was cast and subsequently filmed. TIM BEVAN and ERIC FELLNER (Producers) Working Title Films, co-chaired by Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner since 1992, has become Europe’s leading film production company, making movies that defy boundaries as well as demographics. Working Title, founded in 1983, was recently presented with the Michael Balcon Award for Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema at the Orange British Academy Film Awards [BAFTA, Britain’s equivalent of the Oscar] and the Alexander Walker Film Award at the Evening Standard British Film Awards. Together, Messrs. Bevan and Fellner have made more than 70 films that have grossed nearly $3 billion worldwide. Their films have won 4 Academy Awards (for Tim Robbins’ Dead Man Walking, Joel and Ethan Coen’s Fargo, and Shekhar Kapur’s Elizabeth), 20 BAFTA Awards (including ones for Richard Curtis’ Love Actually and Mike Newell’s Four Weddings and a Funeral), and prestigious prizes at the Cannes and Berlin International Film Festivals, among other honors. Messrs. Bevan and Fellner were recently made CBEs (Commanders of the British Empire). In addition to those films mentioned above,
Working Title’s other worldwide successes include Roger Michell’s Notting
Hill; Mel Smith’s Bean; Sydney Pollack’s The Interpreter; Peter Howitt’s
Johnny English; Joel and Ethan Coen’s O Brother, Where Art Thou?; Chris
and Paul Weitz’
Upcoming Working Title films include Kirk Jones’ Nanny McPhee, written by and starring Emma Thompson and also starring Colin Firth, Angela Lansbury, and Kelly Macdonald; and Phillip Noyce’s Hot Stuff, currently in pre-production, to star Derek Luke. In 1999, a new division, WT², was formed with the purpose of providing an energetic and creatively fertile home for key emerging U.K. film talent and lower-budgeted productions. Its first film, Stephen Daldry’s Billy Elliot, was released in 2000 and became an international critical and commercial hit. The film grossed over $100 million worldwide, earned three Academy Award and two Golden Globe Award nominations, and was named Best Feature at the British Independent Film Awards. The film’s director Stephen Daldry and screenwriter Lee Hall have reunited for a stage musical version, with newly composed songs by Sir Elton John. The production, marking Working Title’s debut theatrical venture (co-produced with Old Vic Prods.), opened at London’s Victoria Theatre in May 2005 to glowing reviews. WT²’s subsequent films have included Mark Mylod’s Ali G Indahouse, starring Sacha Baron Cohen, which was a smash in the U.K.; Marc Evans’ acclaimed thriller My Little Eye; Terry Loane’s Mickybo & Me; Damien O’Donnell’s Rory O’Shea Was Here (also a Focus Features release), which won the Audience Award at the 2004 Edinburgh International Film Festival; and Edgar Wright’s award-winning sleeper hit “rom zom com” (romantic zombie comedy) Shaun of the Dead (a Rogue Pictures release). PAUL WEBSTER (Producer) Paul Webster is an independent feature film producer based in London. In 2004, he formed Kudos Pictures with Stephen Garrett and Jane Featherstone. He was executive producer of two recent award-winning features, Walter Salles’ The Motorcycle Diaries (also a Focus Features release) and Kevin Macdonald’s Touching the Void. He intends to continue his collaborations with Joe Wright and Working Title while nurturing his Kudos Pictures projects. As the creator and head of FilmFour, the feature film arm of the U.K.’s Channel Four, Mr. Webster oversaw a slate of original productions from 1998 through 2002 that included such movies as Gregor Jordan’s Buffalo Soldiers (starring Joaquin Phoenix); Jez Butterworth’s Birthday Girl (starring Nicole Kidman); Gillian Armstrong’s Charlotte Gray (starring Cate Blanchett); and Jonathan Glazer’s Sexy Beast (for which Sir Ben Kingsley received an Academy Award nomination). Prior to forming FilmFour, Mr. Webster was head of production at Miramax Films for over two years. In that capacity, he supervised such Academy Award-winning films as Anthony Minghella’s The English Patient, Gus Van Sant’s Good Will Hunting, and John Madden’s Shakespeare in Love. He had previously worked as a producer,
both independently and with Working Title Films, during which time he produced
such films as Mel Smith’s The Tall Guy (starring Emma
Prior to segueing into his producing career, he ran Palace Pictures, the theatrical distribution arm of the U.K. production company Palace. Mr. Webster began working in the film industry in the mid-1970s, clerking at the (Notting Hill) Gate cinema. DEBORAH MOGGACH (Screenplay) Deborah Moggach is a screenwriter and novelist. She has written the screenplays for a number of television miniseries. These include Love in a Cold Climate (which she adapted from Nancy Mitford’s novel, and which was directed by Tom Hooper and starred Rosamund Pike of Pride & Prejduice); Goggle Eyes (for which she won a Writers’ Guild of Great Britain Award, and which was adapted from Anne Fine’s novel and directed by Carol Wiseman); Seesaw (directed by George Case, and for which she adapted her own novel); Final Demand (directed by Tom Vaughan); and Close Relations (directed by Michael Whyte). Ms. Moggach’s novels include the best-selling Tulip Fever and Porky. DEBRA HAYWARD (Executive Producer) The longtime head of film for Working Title Films, Debra Hayward recently transitioned into an exclusive deal to work as executive producer on a slate of films. The restructuring follows her being creatively responsible for Working Title’s motion pictures, in conjunction with U.S. counterpart Liza Chasin. Ms. Hayward joined Working Title in 1989 as producer’s assistant on such films as Pat O’Connor’s Fools of Fortune and Nick Ward’s Dakota Road. She then segued into development, working on such diverse features as Hanif Kurieshi’s London Kills Me and Vincent Ward’s Map of the Human Heart. Her credits as executive producer include Beeban Kidron’s Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason; Michael Lehmann’s 40 Days and 40 Nights; Richard Loncraine’s Wimbledon; Daisy von Scherler Mayer’s The Guru; and Kirk Jones’ upcoming Nanny McPhee, written by and starring Emma Thompson. Ms. Hayward has co-produced, among other films, Sydney Pollack’s The Interpreter; Richard Curtis’ Love Actually; Peter Howitt’s Johnny English; Paul and Chris Weitz’ About A Boy; John Madden’s Captain Corelli’s Mandolin; Sharon Maguire’s Bridget Jones’s Diary; Peter Hewitt’s The Borrowers; and Shekhar Kapur’s Academy Award-winning Elizabeth, starring Cate Blanchett. As development executive, she was instrumental
in bringing to the screen such films as Roger Michell’s Notting Hill; Jake
Scott’s Plunkett & Macleane; Lawrence Kasdan’s French Kiss; David Anspaugh’s
Moonlight and Valentino; Mario Van Peebles’ Panther and Posse; and Mike
Newell’s smash Four Weddings and a Funeral.
Liza Chasin has served as president of U.S. production at Working Title Films since 1996. She most recently co-produced Sydney Pollack’s hit The Interpreter, starring Nicole Kidman and Sean Penn. She was executive producer of Catherine Hardwicke’s highly acclaimed debut feature thirteen; Beeban Kidron’s Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason; and Jonathan Frakes’ Thunderbirds. Additionally, she co-produced Richard Curtis’ Love Actually; and produced Richard Loncraine’s Wimbledon, starring Kirsten Dunst and Paul Bettany. Over the past decade, Ms. Chasin has been involved in the development and production of such acclaimed films as Tim Robbins’ Academy Award-winning Dead Man Walking; Joel and Ethan Coen’s O Brother, Where Art Thou? and Academy Award-winning Fargo; and Roger Michell’s smash Notting Hill. She also co-produced Paul and Chris Weitz’ About A Boy; Sharon Maguire’s Bridget Jones’s Diary; Stephen Frears’ High Fidelity; and Shekhar Kapur’s Academy Award-winning Elizabeth, starring Cate Blanchett. A graduate of NYU Film School, Ms. Chasin first joined Working Title in 1991 as director of development. She was then promoted to vice president of production and development, becoming the head of the Los Angeles office and overseeing the company’s creative affairs in the U.S. Prior to joining Working Title, she worked for several years in various production capacities at New York-based production companies. JANE FRAZER (Co-Producer) Jane Frazer was co-producer of Robert Altman’s Gosford Park, for which Julian Fellowes won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. She began her producing career in the mid-1980s, working with directors Stephen Frears (on My Beautiful Laundrette, as production manager) and Bernard Rose (on Paperhouse and Chicago Joe and the Showgirl, as associate producer), and then on Peter Medak’s Let Him Have It (as associate producer). From 1992 through 1999, Ms. Frazer worked as head of production for Working Title Films. Among the notable films that she oversaw there were Mike Newell’s smash Four Weddings and a Funeral; the Academy Award-winning Dead Man Walking (directed by Tim Robbins) and Elizabeth (directed by Shekhar Kapur); Joel and Ethan Coen’s O Brother, Where Art Thou?, The Big Lebowski, and Academy Award-winning Fargo; Roger Michell’s blockbuster Notting Hill; and Stephen Frears’ The Hi-Lo Country and High Fidelity. She most recently co-produced Mira Nair’s Vanity Fair (also a Focus Features release). ROMAN OSIN (Director of Photography) For his cinematography of Asif Kapadia’s
award-winning epic The Warrior, Roman Osin won Best Cinematography at the
San Sebastian International Film Festival; was honored with a British Independent
Film Award; and was selected for Competition at the Camerimage International
Film Festival of the Art of Cinematography. He recently reteamed with the
director
Mr. Osin’s other feature credits as cinematographer include Terry Loane’s Mickybo and Me (for Working Title’s WT² division); Paul Feig’s I Am David; Maria von Heland’s Big Girls Don’t Cry; and Christos Georgiou’s Under the Stars. SARAH GREENWOOD (Production Designer) Pride & Prejudice marks Sarah Greenwood’s fourth collaboration with director Joe Wright, following the miniseries Nature Boy, Bodily Harm, and Charles II: The Power & the Passion (a.k.a. The Last King). She earned a BAFTA Award nomination for her work on the latter. She had earlier been nominated for a BAFTA Award as production designer of Mike Barker’s miniseries The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, for which she won a Royal Television Society Award. Ms. Greenwood’s other credits as production designer include Robert Bierman’s Keep the Aspidistra Flying (a.k.a. A Merry War); Patrick Marber’s After Miss Julie (for the BBC); Sandra Goldbacher’s The Governess; and David Kane’s This Year’s Love and Born Romantic. After graduating with a BA from the Wimbledon School of Art, she designed extensively for stage productions and later joined the BBC as a designer. She has also designed for television commercials. Ms. Greenwood is currently at work on Tom Vaughn’s Starter for Ten, which David Nichols has adapted from his novel of the same name. PAUL TOTHILL (Editor) Paul Tothill first worked with Pride & Prejudice director Joe Wright on the miniseries Charles II: The Power & The Passion (a.k.a. The Last King). He started his editing career at the BBC. In addition to several Royal Television Society Award nominations, he has received five BAFTA Award nominations, for his work on the following television miniseries: Bille Eltringham’s The Long Firm; Stephen Poliakoff’s Perfect Strangers; Andy Wilson’s Gormenghast; Metin Hüseyin’s The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling; and Anthony Page’s Middlemarch. Mr. Tothill’s other credits include Stephen Poliakoff’s miniseries Shooting the Past; Beeban Kidron’s miniseries Murder; Simon Cellan-Jones’ segments of the epic miniseries Our Friends in the North; and Shane Meadows’ A Room for Romeo Brass. JACQUELINE DURRAN (Costume Designer) Jacqueline Durran began her career as costume designer working with Mike Leigh on All or Nothing. They collaborated again on Vera Drake, starring Imelda Staunton, for which Ms. Durran won the BAFTA Award for Best Costume Design. Her other credits include David Mackenzie’s
Young Adam, starring Ewan McGregor, and Sally Potter’s Yes, starring Joan
Allen and Sam Neill.
FAE HAMMOND (Hair and Make-Up Designer) Fae Hammond has been responsible for hair and make-up on a number of films. These include Peter Medak’s Let Him Have It; Gary Oldman’s Nil by Mouth; Antonia Bird’s Ravenous (on which her make-up work earned her a Saturn Award nomination); Guy Ritchie’s Snatch and Swept Away; Brian Helgeland’s A Knight’s Tale; Gregor Jordan’s Buffalo Soldiers; and Charles Dance’s Ladies in Lavender (starring Judi Dench of Pride & Prejudice). She was the make-up designer for Giacomo Campiotti’s miniseries remake of Doctor Zhivago, which starred Pride & Prejudice leading lady Keira Knightley. Ms. Hammond is currently at work on Tom Hooper’s miniseries Elizabeth I, starring Helen Mirren and Jeremy Irons. DARIO MARIANELLI (Music) Dario Marianelli’s film credits as music composer include two BAFTA Award winners, Michael Winterbottom’s In This World (which also won the top prize at the Berlin International Film Festival) and Asif Kapadia’s The Warrior. He has also composed the music for Terry
Gilliam’s The Brothers Grimm; David Thewlis’ Cheeky; Tim Fywell’s I Capture
the Castle; Julien Temple’s Pandaemonium; Philippa Collie-Cousins’ Happy
Now; Paddy Breathnach’s I Went Down (which won four awards at the San Sebastián
International Film Festival); and Ailsa; and two soon-to-be-released films,
Michael Caton-Jones’ Shooting Dogs and Peter Cattaneo’s Pobby and Dingan.
Cast in order of appearance Elizabeth Bennet
Keira Knightley
Credits and Crew Produced in association with Scion Films Directed by
Joe Wright
Production Coordinator
Samantha Knox-Johnston
Music
Jean-Yves Thibaudet appears courtesy of Decca Music Group Soundtrack album on UCJ
Special Thanks to
Thanks to
Filmed entirely on location in England
Originated on Motion Picture Film Supplied by Kodak
MPAA Rating: PG (for some mild thematic
elements)
Aspect Ratio: 2:35/1 [Scope]
Dolby SR/SRD/SDDS/DTS in selected theaters
www.prideandprejudicemovie.net A Focus Features Release |