Despite the hand flex heard round the world, Matthew Macfadyen doesn’t believe he fully embodied Mr. Darcy in Joe Wright’s “Pride & Prejudice.”
The 2005 film adaptation of Jane Austen’s iconic 1813 novel starred Macfadyen and Keira Knightley as the enemies to lovers British duo. The feature landed four Oscar nominations, including Best Actress for Knightley.
However, Macfadyen hadn’t “enjoyed” the production of the film, mostly because he believed he was miscast, especially following Colin Firth’s performance as the iconic romantic lead 10 years earlier in the 1995 BBC miniseries.
“I didn’t really [enjoy it],” the “Succession” Emmy winner said of his time making the film during “CBS Mornings” in the below video. “I feel bad saying that. There were moments I had a good time, but I wish I enjoyed it more. I wish I was less worried about it.”
Macfadyen continued, “I felt a bit miscast, like, ‘I’m not dishy enough.’ But it worked out.”
The “Deadpool & Wolverine” actor added that he “exhaustively” and “extensively” compared his “Pride & Prejudice” experience with Firth; of course, Firth later went on to play another iteration of Mr. Darcy in the novel adaptation of “Bridget Jones’ Diary.”
Now, Macfadyen still finds himself being recognized as Mr. Darcy from the 2005 film, which has inspired a viral TikTok trend of sharing the rain-soaked scene where Darcy professes his love for Knightley’s Elizabeth Bennet.
Macfadyen said it’s “probably the most flattering thing that happens” to him to still be identified as Darcy by fans.
“It’s a good 20 years later, so I think I can’t be aging that badly,” he said.
And Macfadyen isn’t the only “Pride & Prejudice” alum who felt miscast back in 2005. The legendary late actor Donald Sutherland told Rolling Stone in 2018 that he asked director Wright “why the fuck” he was cast as the Bennet family patriarch.
“I kept trying to quit that damn job,” Sutherland said at the time. “Joe [Wright] wouldn’t let me! ‘Joe, goddammit, I’m not right for this, why the fuck did you hire me for this?’ ‘You’re fine, you can do it.’”
The ensemble cast also included Judi Dench, Tom Hollander, Rosamund Pike, and Carey Mulligan.
Wright previously told IndieWire that he had never read the Austen novel prior to being sent the script for the feature, written by Deborah Moggach. Also, he was hesitant to even cast Knightley in the lead role.
“I don’t know [how I got the job], really. I went in and did an interview and told them my ideas,” Wright said. “The cast wasn’t attached when I came on board. Initially I thought Keira was probably too beautiful for the role. And when I met her I discovered this scruffy kind of little tomboy character. And discovered she had incredible wit and intelligence and a very strong personality. Those qualities made me think that she doesn’t fit into the kind of preconceived ideas of what a girl should be. And that made me think she’d be perfect for Elizabeth.”
