“We actually had the luxury, Joe had the brilliant idea of having the Bennet family go down to Groombridge Place before we started shooting so that we would absolutely know the house inside out before starting to work. So we wouldn’t have to stop and think ‘which way is the kitchen’, we’d know. We knew every nook and cranny of that house even before we started to film there. It was great.”
(Brenda Blethyn)
“We had the Bennet giggle,” says Knightley of the way she and the four actresses who played her sisters set the mood before each scene. “It’s a high-pitched, screaming, chaotic monkey-like giggle that would get us into it. Joe wanted us to always speak over each other so you got the feeling of people who are so used to each other, they don’t even listen anymore. I do think it will make it more accessible.”
He is here! He is here, he’s at the door! Mr. Bingley! Look. There’s someone with him. Mr. what’s-his-name. The pompous one.
Oh Lord! I shall have a seizure, I’m sure I shall.
Mary ! The ribbons, the ribbons !
Mr. Darcy and Mr. Bingley.
“I like the idea that behind closed doors they are a real family. They squabble and argue and talk over each other. But then anyone else comes to the door, inmediately they close ranks.”
(Joe Wright, Director)
“They were so beautifully made, the costumes all together were handmade, as they would have been by Sands in Rotherhithe. Ridiculously, beautifully made. And mine, because the design was from an earlier period, even had repairs in it to make it really, really authentic, with pieces of fabric that the girls would have had. It was beautifully made.”
(Brenda Blethyn)
“I think when classics are made the code of conduct of the period is painted too heavily on top of the natural behaviour. I think behind closed doors people behave differently no matter what period we’re looking at, because people have to stand up straight in public but can slouch behind closed doors. Can you imagine wearing those corsets? I mean, just to lie down would be heaven, and you see the difference with this family when they have guests for dinner and when they are alone. I think Joe (Wright, director) did a very good job of doing that; you can almost smell it.”
(Brenda Blethyn)
“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 feel very much at home in this world of girls sort of giggling and sparring and sharing, having jealousies, etc.”
(Deborah Moggach, Screenwriter )
“I think Mary is Jane Austen. That´s my subplot, in that she´s watching everyone and recording everything”.
(Talulah Riley)
“We wanted to make the two dances very distinct visually. For the Meryton Ball we used muted earth colours and browns and soft colours so that it would be very much part of the provincial world and the extras would blend in with the Bennets. For Netherfield, we wanted to make it very monochromatic and used primarily black for the men, red on the soldiers and white on the women.”
(Jacqueline Durran, costume designer)
