Conception and adaptation As with several recent
Jane Austen adaptations,
Pride & Prejudice was an Anglo-American collaboration, between British studio
Working Title Films (in association with French company
StudioCanal) and its American parent company,
Universal Studios. Working Title at the time was known for mainstream productions like ''
Bridget Jones's Diary and Love Actually'' that drew international audiences, not films in the historical drama genre. Its co-chairman
Tim Bevan said the studio wanted to "bring Austen's original story, concentrating on Lizzie, back in all its glory to the big screen for audiences everywhere to enjoy". Given a "relatively inexpensive" budget of £22 million ($28 million), the film was expected to excel at the box office, particularly given the commercial success of
Romeo + Juliet (1996) and
Shakespeare in Love (1998), as well as the resurgence of interest in Austen. changed the film's period setting to the late 18th century partly out of concern that it would be overshadowed by the
1995 BBC adaptation. Given little instruction from the studio, screenwriter
Deborah Moggach spent over two years on the script. She had sole discretion at first, and wrote approximately ten drafts. Realising it held "a perfect three-act structure", Moggach attempted to be as faithful to the original novel as possible, calling it "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'". While she could not reproduce the novel's "fiercely wonderful dialogue in its entirety", she sought to keep much of it. Moggach's first draft was closest to Austen's book, but later versions excised storylines and characters. Moggach initially wrote all scenes from Elizabeth's point of view in keeping with the novel; she later set a few scenes from a male perspective, such as when Bingley practices his marriage proposal, to "show Darcy and Bingley being close" and to indicate Darcy was a "human being instead of being stuck up". Small details were inserted that acknowledged events outside the characters' circle, such as those then occurring in France. Moggach is the only credited screenwriter, but playwright
Lee Hall provided early additions. Television director
Joe Wright was hired in early 2004, in his feature film directorial debut. He was considered a surprising choice for a film in the
romance drama genre due to his past work with
social realism. Wright's body of work had impressed the producers, who were looking for a fresh perspective; they sent him a script even though Wright had not read the novel. He has said that at the time, "I didn't know if I was really all that interested; I thought I was a little bit more mainstream than this, a bit more edgy. But then I read the script and I was surprised I was very moved by it". He next read the novel, which he called "an amazing piece of character observation and it really seemed like the first piece of British Realism. It felt like it was a true story; had a lot of truth in it about understanding how to love other people, understanding how to overcome prejudices, understanding the things that separate us from other people ... things like that". The only adaptation of
Pride and Prejudice Wright had seen was the
1940 production, which was the last time the novel had been adapted into a feature film. The director purposely did not watch the
other productions, both out of fear he would inadvertently steal ideas and because he wanted to be as original as possible. But he did watch other period films, including
Ang Lee's
Sense and Sensibility,
Roger Michell's
Persuasion, and
John Schlesinger's
Far from the Madding Crowd. Wright cited this last film as the greatest influence on his own adaptation, calling it "very real and very honest—and it is quite romantic as well". In trying to create an atmosphere of charged flirtation, Wright was also inspired by teen romance films such as
Sixteen Candles and
The Breakfast Club. Wright came on while Moggach was on her third draft. Despite her desire to work closely with Austen's dialogue, Wright made an effort to not "be too reverential to [it]. I don't believe people spoke like that then; it's not natural." While a few scenes, such as the discussion over accomplished women, align closely with Austen's dialogue, many others "substituted instead a mixture of modern idiom and archaic-sounding sentence structure". One alteration concerned politeness; Wright noted that while Austen's work had characters waiting before speaking, he believed 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."
Sense and Sensibility actress and screenwriter
Emma Thompson aided in script development, though she opted to be uncredited. She advised the nervous Wright on adapting Austen for the screen and made dialogue recommendations, such as with parts of the Collins–Charlotte storyline. Citing the year Austen first wrote a draft of the novel, Wright and Moggach changed the period setting from 1813 (the novel's publication date) to the late 18th century partly because Wright wanted to highlight the differences within an England influenced by the
French Revolution, as he was fascinated that it had "caused an atmosphere among the British aristocracy of fear". Wright also chose the earlier period because he hated dresses with an
empire silhouette, which were popular in the later period. The decision helped make the film visually distinct from other Austen adaptations. In comparison to the popular
1995 BBC version, which features
Colin Firth and
Jennifer Ehle, producer
Paul Webster desired to make an adaptation that "doesn't conform to the television drama stereotypes of a perfect clean Regency world". Wright and Moggach opted for a "muddy hem version" of Longbourn, presenting a more rural setting than previous adaptations out of a desire to depict the Bennets in "very close proximity to their rural life" and to emphasise their relative poverty. While the degree of poverty was criticised by some critics, Wright felt that the "mess adds to the drama of the predicament that the family were in", and helps contrast the Bennets, Darcys, and Bingleys.
Casting Wright found casting the film difficult because he was very particular about "the types of people I wanted to work with". While interviewing to direct, he insisted that the actors match the ages of the characters in the novel. Wright specifically cast actors who had rapport on and off screen, and insisted that they partake in three weeks of rehearsal in improvisation workshops. He also had to balance who he thought was best for each role with what the producers wanted—mainly a big name. Though Wright had not initially pictured someone as attractive as
Keira Knightley as Elizabeth, he cast her after realising that she "is really a tomboy [and] has a lively mind and a great sense of humour". On
The Graham Norton Show, Knightley said, "He initially thought I was too pretty, but then he met me and said "Oh, no, you're fine!". Knightley at the time was known for
Bend It Like Beckham and the
Pirates of the Caribbean film series. She had been an Austen fan since the age of seven, but initially feared taking the role out of apprehension that she would be doing "an absolute copy of Jennifer Ehle's performance", which she deeply admired. Knightley believed Elizabeth is "what you aspire to be: she's funny, she's witty and intelligent. She's a fully rounded and very much loved character." For the period, she studied etiquette, history and dancing, but ran into trouble when she acquired a short haircut while preparing for her role in the bounty hunter film
Domino. played by
Matthew Macfadyen.
Keira Knightley's name recognition allowed the casting of Macfadyen, who was little known internationally. Webster found casting Darcy especially hard due to the character's iconic status and because "Colin Firth cast a very long shadow". Wright later said that casting Knightley allowed him to cast comparative unknown
Matthew Macfadyen, which would have been impossible had he chosen a lesser-known actress for Elizabeth. Macfadyen at the time was known for his role in the British television spy series
Spooks, but had no recognition internationally. A fan of his television work, Wright called Macfadyen "a proper manly man ... I didn't want a pretty boy kind of actor. His properties were the ones I felt I needed [for Darcy]. Matthew's a great big hunk of a guy." According to Wright,
Rosamund Pike was cast as Jane "because I knew she wasn't going to play her as a nice, simple person. Jane has a real interior world, she has her heart broken". Despite being Pike's ex-boyfriend,
Simon Woods was cast as her romantic interest, Mr Bingley. The other three Bennet sisters were played by
Talulah Riley,
Carey Mulligan, and
Jena Malone, the only American actress among them. Wright believed Malone had a "pretty faultless English accent". Mulligan heard about the casting call at a dinner hosted by
Julian Fellowes, to whom she had written a letter after failing to get into drama school; she won the part after three auditions.
Tamzin Merchant appears as Georgiana Darcy; she was hired despite having no previous acting experience after she wrote a letter to the casting director. In addition to Merchant,
Pride & Prejudice was the feature film debut of both Mulligan and Riley.
Donald Sutherland reminded Wright of his own father and was cast as Mr Bennet; Wright thought Sutherland had the "strength to handle those six women".
Brenda Blethyn was hired to play Mrs Bennet, whom Moggach considered the film's unsung heroine; he said it was "a tricky part, as she can be very annoying; you want to stop her chattering and shrieking. But Brenda has the humour and the heart to show the amount of love and care Mrs Bennet has for her daughters." Wright convinced
Judi Dench to join the cast as Lady Catherine de Bourgh by writing her a letter that read "I love it when you play a bitch. Please come and be a bitch for me." Dench had only one week available to shoot her scenes, forcing Wright to make them his first days of filming.
Cinematography Cinematographer
Roman Osin broke many period-piece conventions, often piercing the glamorous settings to focus on the characters' humanity. He kept the camera moving in many scenes, although almost every shot is suffused with rich colour and light, both in interiors and outdoors. When Darcy escorts Lizzie into the carriage, he takes her hand, and then, walking away, is shown momentarily closing his fingers and then opening them, in what became infamous as the "hand flex". Of note is the extended "onesie" shot in which the camera swirls seamlessly between characters and rooms during the ball at Netherfield, to show the charged emotions and confusions that overlaid the graceful and poised surroundings.
Costume design designed the Bennet sisters' costumes based on their characters' specific characteristics. From left: Mary, Elizabeth, Jane, Mrs Bennet, Kitty and Lydia. Known for her
BAFTA Award-winning work on the 2004 film
Vera Drake,
Jacqueline Durran was hired as the costume designer. She and Wright approached his film "as a difficult thing to tackle" because of their desire to distinguish it from the television adaptation. Due to Wright's dislike of the high waistline, Durran focused on later
18th-century fashions that often include a
corseted, natural waistline rather than an
empire silhouette (which became popular after the 1790s). A generational divide was established: the older characters dress in mid-18th-century fashions while the young wear "a sort of proto-Regency style of hair and dress". Durran's costumes also help emphasise the characters' social rank; Caroline Bingley, for instance, is introduced in an empire silhouetted dress, clothing that would have then been at the height of fashion. Durran said that all the women wear white at the Netherfield Ball due to its contemporary popularity, an idea that Wright credits as his reason for hiring her. Costumes and hairstyles were adjusted to appeal to contemporary audiences, sacrificing historical accuracy. To help differentiate the Bennet sisters, Durran viewed Elizabeth as the "tomboy", clothing her in earthy colours because of her love of the countryside. Of the others, Durran said, "Jane was the most refined and yet it's still all a bit slapdash and homemade, because the Bennets have no money. One of the main things Joe wanted was for the whole thing to have a provincial feel. Mary is the bluestocking: serious and practical. And then Lydia and Kitty are a bit Tweedledum and Tweedledee in a kind of teenage way. I tried to make it so that they'd be sort of mirror images. If one's wearing a green dress, the other will wear a green jacket; so you always have a visual asymmetry between the two." In contrast to the 1940 film, the 2005 production clothes the Bennet sisters in worn-down but comfortable dresses. Mr Darcy's costume went through a series of phases. Durran noted:
Filming represented the fictional village of Meryton. Moggach believed the novel was very filmable, "despite it containing no description and being a very unvisual book". To Wright, many other period films had relied on paintings for inspiration rather than photographs, causing them to appear unreal. He thus used Austen's prose to give him "many visual references for the people in the story", including close-up shots of the characters. The filmmakers also changed several scenes to more romantic locales than those in the book. For instance, in the film, Darcy first proposes outdoors in a rainstorm at a building with
neoclassical architecture; in the book, this scene takes place in a parsonage. In the film, his second proposal occurs on the misty moors as dawn breaks; in the book, he and Elizabeth are walking down a country lane in broad daylight. Wright has acknowledged that "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". , which was used as the location of Netherfield, home of George Bingley served as the filming location of the Bennet family house During script development, the crew created a "constant going back and forth between script and location". The film was shot entirely on location in England on an 11-week schedule during the 2004 summer. Co-producer Paul Webster said, "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." Working under
production designer Sarah Greenwood and
set decorator Katie Spencer, the crew filmed on seven estates in six different counties. Because "nothing exists in the United Kingdom that is untouched by the twenty-first century", many of the sites required substantial work to make them suitable for filming. Visual effects company
Double Negative digitally restored several locations to make them contemporaneous; they eradicated weeds, enhanced gold plating on window frames, and removed anachronisms such as gravel driveways and electricity pylons. Double Negative also developed the typeface used for the film's title sequence. Production staff selected particularly grand-looking residences to better convey certain characters' wealth and power. Locations include
Chatsworth House in
Derbyshire, the largest privately held country house in England, with rooms frescoed by
Antonio Verrio. Many believe Chatsworth House to have been Austen's inspiration for
Pemberley. Chatsworth and
Wilton House in
Salisbury stood in for it. After a search of various sites in England, the moated manor house
Groombridge Place in
Kent was chosen for Longbourn. Location manager Adam Richards said Groombridge had an "immense charm" that was "untouched by post-17th Century development". Reflecting Wright's choice of realism, Groombridge's interior was designed to be "
shabby chic". Representing Netherfield Park was the late-18th-century site
Basildon Park in Berkshire, leading it to close for seven weeks for filming.
Burghley House in Lincolnshire stood in for Rosings, while the adjacent town of
Stamford served as Meryton. Other locations included
Haddon Hall (for The Inn at Lambton), the Temple of Apollo and Palladian Bridge of
Stourhead (for the Gardens of Rosings), Hunsford (for Collins' parsonage and church) and
Peak District (for Elizabeth and the Gardiners' tour). The first dance scenes were shot on a set in a potato warehouse in
Lincolnshire with the employment of local townspeople as
extras; this was the only set the crew built that was not already in existence.
Music Italian composer
Dario Marianelli wrote the soundtrack. It is performed by the French pianist
Jean-Yves Thibaudet accompanied by the
English Chamber Orchestra. The early
piano sonatas of
Ludwig van Beethoven "became a point of reference" and "starting point" for the score. Some pieces were inspired by the film's period, with the assumption that they could conceivably have been heard during that time and contained actual dance cues that befitted the late 18th century. Pieces that actors perform were composed first, before filming began. The soundtrack contains 17 instrumental tracks of music organised in a different way from the film.
Editing In contrast to the five-hour BBC adaptation, Wright's film is two hours and nine minutes long. He said the film is "obviously about Elizabeth and Darcy, following them, and anything that detracts or diverts you from that story is what you have to cut". Some of the most notable changes from the book include time compression of several major sequences, including the departure of Wickham and the militia, Elizabeth's visit to Rosings Park and Hunsford Parsonage, Elizabeth's visit to Pemberley, Lydia's elopement and subsequent crisis; the elimination of several supporting characters, including Mr and Mrs Hurst, Mr and Mrs Phillips, Lady and Maria Lucas, Mrs Younge, several of Lydia's friends (including Colonel and Mrs Forster) and various military officers and townspeople; and the elimination of several sections in which characters reflect or converse on events that have recently occurred—for example, Elizabeth's chapter-long change of mind after reading Darcy's letter. Moggach and Wright debated how to end the film, but knew they did not want to have a wedding scene "because we didn't want Elizabeth to come off as the girl who became a queen at this lavish wedding, or for it to be corny". Shortly before the North American release, the film was modified to include a final scene (not in the novel) of the married Darcys enjoying a romantic evening and passionate kiss at Pemberley in an attempt to attract sentimental viewers; this became a source of complaint for the Jane Austen Society of North America (JASNA). After watching a preview of the film before its wide release, former JASNA president Elsa Solender said, "It has nothing at all of Jane Austen in it, is inconsistent with the first two-thirds of the film, insults the audience with its banality and ought to be cut before release". It had been removed from the British version after preview audiences found it unintentionally humorous, but later audiences complained that they were excluded from viewing this version, causing the film to be re-released in the UK and Ireland 10 weeks after the original UK premiere. The original British version ends with Mr Bennet's blessing upon Elizabeth and Darcy's union, circumventing the novel's last chapter, which summarises the lives of the Darcys and the other main characters over the next several years. == Major themes and analysis ==