Rosamund Pike says that she did end up enjoying herself at Oxford because, in her final year, she fell in love. ‘It was like that sentence in Brideshead, about a door finally opening and you suddenly see what it’s all about. Oxford became beautiful for me. I have wonderful memories of being there and it seemed to be endlessly summer and it was wonderful to be in love, really…’ Her boyfriend, Simon Woods, went on to become an actor, too, and after they split up was cast alongside her in the film Pride & Prejudice in 2005.

Hands, hands, hands…

“I was trying to find out what a man of Mr. Bingley´s means and age would do with his time, whether he´d work o have a job or anything, and they really didn´t. They were for walks and played cards in the afternoon…it was a weird period when men really do anything. He wasn´t in government, he didn´t have an estate so he really just had a big fat income and wandered round with it in his pocket. Basically, his aim is to get married, and once married to buy an estate and become a proper landed gentleman”.

(Simon Woods)

“I first saw the assembly ball scene on a little screen, and I thought that it went on too long, it seemed to go on forever! But when I saw it on a cinema, I couldn’t get enough of it. 
Audiences are so literate and read so quickly. You don’t need twenty eight shots to establish who likes who”.

“Mr. Bingley’s sweet but he does not have a lot of brains. Jane is not too brainy either.”

(Deborah Moggach, Screenwriter)

“Camera tilting down here is an excuse to get us to Mrs. Bennet´s feet, but it tells the story of Mr. Bingley and Jane at the same time.”

(Joe Wright, Director)

Mrs. Bennet: My Jane looks well, does she not?
Mr. Bingley: She does indeed.

“Women and men had to find ways of attracting each other and letting somebody else know, that was acceptable. And an awful lot of this would have happened on the dance floor. Dancing was absolutely central to their society in terms of finding a good husband and a good wife.”

Yes! A thousand times, yes ! 

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)

“Well, I think [Wright] wanted to show that in the Bennets’ house is a real family. He shows the house in a real intimate way, but then he shuffled much more formally at the Bingley’ house. For the viewer, Netherfield is shot in a more intimidating manner.”

(Deborah Moggach, Screenwriter)