“You can translate these lines. Again, it´s from Keira´s point of view, from LIzzie´s point of view.”
(Joe Wright, Director)
“Judi Dench, I adored watching. I was sitting at that dinner table, in Rosings, and thinking: `This is great !´.”
(Matthew Macfadyen)
Dame Judi Dench, who had a supporting role in the film as Catherine de Bourg, had more time off set and was often found embroidering pillows.
“She makes these beautifully intricate needlepoint pieces and you kind of seeing these words materialize during the shoot like ‘You’re a fucking shit,’ or ‘You’re a cunt,’” MacFayden laughs. “This is the absolute gospel! They do anything to relieve the boredom. They’re not staid in any way.”
“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.”
(Joe Wright, Director)
“My initial thought was, `Oh God, this is too scary.´ It’s very frightening, I’ve only done television before and so in television you have a crew of maybe 80 people and that’s a lot, and then suddenly to walk on set the first day of shooting Pride and Prejudice and discover I have a crew of over 300 and Judi Dench at the head of the table. It’s really scary. Then suddenly I realized Judi Dench was more scared than I was. Just because she’s a very nervous kind of person. So I took it upon myself to make sure she was okay and look after her and care for her and that made me feel a lot better and her feel a lot better too.”
(Joe Wright, Director)
“My first feature and a dinner party scene which l’ve already told you is not the nicest scene to shoot. And also because the walls are all painted and very precious, obviously, we couldn’t attach anything to the walls, so it was a nightmare to light.
Paul, my editor, is very proud of the choreography of the soup spoons.
There’s lots of fives in this film. The candles remind me of the five daughters.”
(Joe Wright, Director)
“She’s unspeakable,” Dench says of her character. “She’s autocratic, suspicious, and pretty tricky; she wants Darcy to marry her own daughter. I knew the book well. Do you know, it was written when Jane Austen was so young. Then she put it in a drawer and left it there for years…It is a masterpiece and a great love story. I was pleased to be offered the part, and I wanted very much to work with Joe. He is 33 years old, and it’s very nice when you’re my age to be asked by somebody so young to do something for him. He has integrity.”
“I have now inherited Lady Victoria´s butler, Harvey (Burghley House). I said to her when I met her `I suppose I have to fight you over Harvey´. Because you raise your hand something rushes in. He´s just brought me a doughnut”.
(Judi Dench)
