Keira and Carey on the Red Carpet: Lizzie and Kitty Bennet Looking Hot

Carey Mulligan and Keira Knightley at the London Film Festival. Image @Tom and Lorenzo

Tom and Lorenzo, who are fabulous and opinionated, recently featured two of the Bennet sisters from Pride and Prejudice 2005 in one of their fashion posts. What do you think of the ladies' outfits? Yay for their youthful and playful quality? Or nay for misfiring their fashion choices?

Keira and Carey: Pride and Prejudice Alumni Reunite for Another Film

Keira Knightley and Carey Mulligan (r) are in Never Let Me Go, a film about three friends who grow up together and attend the same boarding school. In an interview with Mail Online, Carey, who was sixteen when she played the role of Kitty Bennet, "credits Knightley for being her 'acting coach' while they were on the set of Pride And Prejudice."

The film, which also features Sally Hawkins(Anne Elliot, Persuasion), is scheduled to be released in the U.S. in October. Interestingly, this drama has a sci-fic ending. (I have not read the book by Kazuo Ishiguro.) Watch a short video about filming the movie...

...and the film's trailer.

Jane Austen Movie Throwdown

As we read Pride and Prejudice all of us have imagined Pemberley. Which house best represents the Pemberley you imagined?

Wilton House (Interior) Chatsworth House (Exterior): Pride and Prejudice 2005

Lyme Park: Pride and Prejudice 1995

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Which house best fits the Pemberley of your imagination?

Wilton House (2005) Lyme House (1995)

Interview with Matthew MacFadyen

In this interview in the Telegraph.co.UK, Matthew Macfadyen discussed his role as Mr. Darcy:

He got slightly miserable having to prance about so gravely in Pride and Prejudice, he reveals. “All the Bennets were having a great time; it was all very cosy. Then I’d come along and be a bit sullen for a couple of days and then f--- off again! It didn’t help that my wife was pregnant at the time, but I wished I’d enjoyed it more.”

Posted by Vic, Jane Austen's World

Pride and Prejudice 2005 released on Blu-ray

Pride & Prejudice 2005 was released on Blu-ray today!

Description from distributor: Academy Award® nominee Keira Knightley stars in the greatest love story of all time. When Elizabeth Bennet (Knightley) meets the handsome Mr. Darcy (Matthew Macfadyen), she believes he is the last man on earth she could ever marry. But as their lives become intertwined, she finds herself captivated by the very person she swore to loathe for all eternity. Jane Austen’s masterpiece novel comes to the screen in the film critics said “makes you believe in true love and happily-ever-after” (Stephen Holden, The New York Times).

Follow this link to read a review for the Blu-ray edition of P&P 2005 at Monsters and Critics
Buy two DVD’s, including Blu-ray and get the 3rd free at Barnes & Noble (limited time offer)

Enjoy! Laurel Ann, Austenprose

Jane Austen Movie Throwdown

The winter holidays provide time for leisurely gatherings around the dinner table. In this week's throwdown we ask you to which elegant dinner party would you have liked to receive an invitation? Lady Catherine de Bourgh's in 2005's Pride and Prejudice? Or the Weston's in A&E's Emma, 1996? Neither gathering was particularly pleasurable, but so much was learned about the characters in both:

Lady Catherine de Bourgh's table, Pride and Prejudice, 2005

Dinner at the Westons, A&E Emma, 1996

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To which elegant dinner party would you have liked to receive an invitation?

Lady Catherine de Bourgh's The Westons'

Visit Beautiful Burghley House at My English Country Garden Blog

Burghley House, a stately English manor in Stamford, Lincolnshire, England served as Lady Catherine De Bourgh’s estate of Rosings in the 2005 film adaptation of Pride and Prejudice. Join one of my favorite Anglophile/gardening/Jane Austen inspired blogs, My English Country Garden Blog as they visit Burghley House and discuss their family experience with the movie production during its filming. Lydia would heartily approve of the snaps of the Militia in red uniforms. La!

Cheers, Laurel Ann

Jane Austen Movie Throwdown

Ah, it's the July 4th weekend in the Colonies when staggering amounts of peach pie, fried chicken, and fresh corn are consumed along with vast quantities of pale ale and ice tea. You have been invited to be a guest in a cozy house just outside the small village of Meryton and have received two invitations from two Bennet families. Whose invitation will you accept? A weekend with the Bennets from 2005's Pride and Prejudice or with the Bennets from Lost in Austen? Both families are, shall we say, a tad eccentric, and both can offer music, lively conversation, a turn around a pretty wilderness of sorts, lawn bowling, shooting, and ample food at mealtime.

I'd Like to Be Their House Guest

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I'd like to be their house guest for July 4th

2005 Pride and Prejudice Bennets Lost in Austen Bennets

Team Bennet 2005: Where Are They Now?

This is one of my favorite happy moments in the 2005 movie adaptation, Pride and Prejudice, where all six of the team Bennet ladies walk together arm in arm. So where are all of these talented actresses now? From left to right.

Mrs. Bennet (Brenda Blethyn) stars as a Sister Ignatious, a Benedictine nun in the movie The Calling, the story of a young university graduate Joanna (Emily Beechen) engaged in a modern lifestyle who shocks her friends and family by announcing she has a calling to join a closed order of Benedictine Nuns and give up the life they had all assumed she was planning. The cast also includes other Austen related actors, Susannah Harker (Jane Bennet in Pride and Prejudice 1995) and Corin Redgrave (Persuasion 1995).

Jane Bennet (Rosamund Pike) stars with a slew of other Austen actors in An Education, (screenplay written by Nick Hornby), a coming-of-age story about a teenage girl in 1960s suburban London, and how her life changes with the arrival of a playboy nearly twice her age. The cast includes Emma Thompson (Elinor Dashwood in Sense and Sensibility 1995), Dominic Cooper (John Willoughby in Sense and Sensibility 2008), Olivia Williams (Jane Austen in Miss Austen Regrets 2008, and Jane Fairfax in Emma 1996), Sally Hawkins (Anne Elliot in Persuasion 2007), and Carey Mulligan (Isabella Thorpe in Northanger Abbey 2007). Miss Pike is also engaged to her director from Pride and Prejudice, Joe Wright.

Kitty Bennet (Carey Mulligan) in addition to co-starring in An Education mentioned above, she has three major motion pictures in the queue, The Greatest, Brothers and Public Enemies.

Mary Bennet (Talulah Riley) has recently stared in Dr. Who and portrays Marianne in the movie The Boat that Rocked which is a period comedy about an illegal radio station in the North Sea in the 1960's. The cast also includes Emma Thompson (Elinor Dashwood in Sense and Sensibility 1995) and Gemma Arterton (Elizabeth Bennet in Lost in Austen).

Elizabeth Bennet (Keira Knightley) is currently staring as Georgiana Cavendish in the movie The Duchess and will be staring with Gwyneth Paltrow (Emma Woodhouse in Emma 1996) in Shakespeare’s King Lear.

Lydia Bennet (Jena Malone) portrays Kelly in The Messenger, the story of an American soldier (Ben Foster) who struggles with an ethical dilemma when he becomes involved with a widow of a fallen officer played by Samantha Morton (Harriet Smith in Emma 1996).

Pride and Prejudice - Harry Potter Style

This clever video by Karli Meaghan gave me a good chuckle.
Hope you enjoy it too!

posted by Laurel Ann, Austenprose

Unseen Austen on BBC4: Pride and Prejudice Rewritten by Lydia Bennet?

Unseen Austen on BBC4

If you are in need of a roaring good laugh to start off your weekend, listen to a Podcast of Unseen Austen on BBC4. Written by Judith French, here is their description.

Impertinent young Lydia Bennet discovers that it is her sister Elizabeth who is the heroine of Pride and Prejudice and that her own love life is all offstage. She sets about putting matters right.

Just imagine Monty Python rewriting Pride and Prejudice from Lydia Bennet's 'let's party and throw decorum out the window perspective' and you only have an inkling of how campy and clever this play is. The actress who portrays Lydia Bennet (Jodi Whittaker) sounds amazingly like Julia Sawalha who played the part in the 1995 BBC/A&E mini-series Pride and Prejudice.

With the conclusion of the ITV's mini-series of Lost in Austen this week, this play will perpetuate the Austen parody parade. Enjoy!

posted by Laurel Ann, Austenprose

Elizabeth Bennet (Keira Knightley) tours the Derbyshire Peaks again!

“What are men to rocks and mountains?” is what Jane Austen’s character Louisa Hurst wants to know in the novel and movie of Pride and Prejudice. Good question! Austen actress Keira Knightley who played Elizabeth Bennet in the 2005 movie might just know the answer after her filming in Derbyshire for the movie, and again for the new production Duchess which will be released on September 5th. Read this interesting article on the filming at Chatsworth, the palatial manor house where Georgiana, the Duchess of Devonshire resided and the movie was partially filmed. Here is an excerpt.

The Duchess, a sumptuous-looking costume drama about Lady Georgiana Spencer, wife of the 5th Duke of Devonshire. Married at 17, this beautiful 18th-century socialite, fashion icon and compulsive gambler was painted by Gainsborough and Reynolds, but has only now been granted the ultimate cultural accolade: being played by Keira Knightley.

Posted by Laurel Ann, Austenprose

Great Sales on Jane Austen Inspired DVD's

JANEITE SHOPPING ALERT

For those of you who are bored with television's summer re-runs, you might be interested in a few of the great selections of Jane Austen adaptations and spinoffs available at Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble. I have narrowed down the field based on the price of $9.99 or less, and their lasting appeal and curiosity factor. So check it out. Start the Austen collection that you have always wanted, or fill out your library, because one can never have too much of a good thing!

Persuasion 1995: Unarguably, the BEST version of this Jane Austen classic love story gone astray by bad advice and a bad family. Amanda Root is luminescent as Anne Elliot, a baronet’s daughter whose decision to decline the marriage proposal of the young unproven naval officer Frederick Wentworth (Ciaran Hinds) haunts her even after seven years. Now considered an old maid, and with her once-rich family on the verge of bankruptcy, Captain Wentworth returns with a new fortune under his cap and marriage on his mind. Will their bitter sweet reunion rekindle their romance, or has Anne lost her bloom and Wentworth only has eyes for younger women? Other standout performances are Corin Regrave as Sir Walter Elliot, Sophie Thompson as Mary Musgrove, and Samuel West as William Elliot.

Sense and Sensibility 1995: It’s easy to see why this visually stunning and emotionally captivating version of Jane Austen’s tale adapted by actress Emma Thompson, (who also stars), won the Golden Globe Award as Best Picture of the Year (Drama) in 1995. The Dashwood sisters, sensible Elinor (Emma Thompson) and passionate Marianne (Kate Winslet) chances for marriage seem doomed by their family's sudden loss of fortune. Alan Rickman, Hugh Grant and Greg Wise co-star as the well-intentioned suitors who are trapped by the strict rules of society and the conflicting laws of desire. Still my favorite of the three versions presently available solely due to Winslet’s searing performance.

Clueless 1995: ‘As if’ anyone could ever forget Alicia Silverstone as Cher, the rich and clever matchmaker of Beverly Hills high whose penchant for helping others with their relationships and self-esteem is a cover for her own loneliness. Director Amy Heckerling (Fast Times at Ridgemont High) made a smart, funny variation on Jane Austen's novel Emma, sweetly romantic and gently satirical of 90210 social manners. The cast is unbeatable: Dan Hedaya as Cher's rock-solid dad, and Paul Rudd as the boy who has always been Cher's surrogate brother—who is a real ‘Baldwin’ in disguise. Brittany Murphy is hilarious as Cher's ditzy protogee Tai and Stacey Dash shines as Cher's so hip friend Dionne who is also named after a 1960's pop star! 'Whatever'! If you don’t like it, we can shop on without you!

Emma 1996: Emma Woodhouse (Gwyneth Paltrow) might be handsome, clever and rich, but she is clueless about relationships! Against the better advice of her friendly neighbor Mr. Knightley (Jeremy Northam), she endeavors to match make for her young protégée Harriet Smith and makes a hilarious tangled mess in the process! This delightfully fun and lighthearted comedy is a lighter interpretation of Jane Austen’s masterpiece. Emma may be as silly as a goose, but you'll enjoy all the comic confusion ... until Emma herself falls in love. Hated Toni Collette as Harriet, but Northam as Mr. Knightley makes up for her with his charm and guile. Alan Cumming and Juliet Stevenson make the perfectly pompous Mr. and Mrs. Elton, and Greta Scacchi as Mrs. Weston rounds off an excellent cast.

Mansfield Park 1999: Imagine Jane Austen’s simple and strong heroine Fanny Price infused with the personality of her witty, sparkling and sharp Elizabeth Bennet from Pride and Prejudice, and you might understand writer/director Patricia Rozema’s unique interpretation of Jane Austen’s often misunderstood novel. Young and impoverished Fanny (Frances O’Conner) may have been sent to live with her rich and privileged cousins the Bertram’s at Mansfield Park circa 1800, but that is where the similarities in the stories end. At least the producers fess up on the DVD cover and admit that the story is based on Jane Austen’s novel, letters and journals. Since there are no known journals by Jane Austen, this may account for the creative script!

Bridget Jones’s Diary 2001: Loosely inspired by Jane Austen’s novel Pride and Prejudice, dear Ms. Jones may actually have very little in common with her doppelganger Elizabeth Bennet, but she will always be the ultimate singleton in search of a life and her Mr. Darcy (Colin Firth as Mark Darcy) to many fans of Helen Fielding’s best selling novel. Featuring a blowzy, winningly inept size-12 heroine, Bridget Jones (Renée Zellweger) is a London-based publicist who divides her free time between binge eating in front of the TV, downing Chardonnay with her friends, and updating the diary. Delightfully funny, watch this one with your friends, and escape into Bridget’s slightly booze hazed world! I love it when American actress Zellweger trys her best at a British accent, but ends up sounding like Audrey Hepburn as Eliza Doolittle with marbles in her mouth!

Bridget Jones – Edge of Reason 2004: Renee Zellweger is back as everyone's favorite witty heroine in Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason. Not that Bridget's counting, but it's been six wonderful weeks, four fabulous days, and seven precious hours with one flawless boyfriend, Mark Darcy (Colin Firth). But when mischievous and devilishly charming Daniel Cleaver (Hugh Grant) arrives on the scene claiming to be a reformed man, can Bridget find a way to make true love last forever? Not quite as fresh and funny as the first one, but the reprise of the Firth vs. Grant girly fight is well worth the money, and the laughs. Gemma Jones and Jim Broadbent star as Bridget's middle age maddness parents, and Shirley Henderson, Sally Phillips, and James Callis all return as Bridget's zany friends.

Bride and Prejudice 2005: A Bollywood musical of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice? Ok. This I had to see, - and - I did not regret it for one moment. All of Austen’s famous character’s are there, Mr. Darcy, Mr. Bingley, Lizzy Bennet and her sisters, but the story has been transplanted to modern India and it is a perfect match of the retelling of a young spirited girl Lalita Bakhsi’s (Aishwarya Rai) search for her Mr. Right (Martin Henderson as William Darcy). Some of you might recognize Marsha Mason as Catherine Darcy, Naveen Andrews as Balraj Bingley and Alexis Bledel as Georgiana Darcy. When this one ends, you might go buy yourself a sari and the CD of the music to continue the magic!

Pride and Prejudice 2005: One of the greatest love stories of all time is condensed to a slim two hour major motion picture staring Keira Knightley as Elizabeth Bennet and Matthew MacFadyen as Mr. Darcy. Tisk, tisk! The Bennet family are much earthier in this version, with pigs running through the house, and a grubby peasant-like appearance, but it makes for a deeper contrast to the wealth and social aspirations of their new neighbors the Bingley’s and the pomposity of Mr. Darcy. I understood where director Joe Wright was trying to go with this, but it was painful to see the Bennet’s brought down so low in society. The Netherfield ball dance between Darcy and Lizzy is stunning, and saves this version for me.

Happy Fourth of July to all. Laurel Ann, Austenprose

Seen on the Blogosphere: Pride and Prejudice

With apologies to the 1980 P&P movie version with David Rintoul and Elizabeth Garvie, click here to read Xena's comparison between the actors who portrayed the characters in Pride and Prejudice 1940, 1995, and 2005 (Scroll down a little). The 1980 movie has not been entirely forgotten. This blogger compares the 1980, 1995, and 2005 P&P versions, and prefers David Rintoul over Colin Firth, as does Kaye Dacus, who compared the actors in a recent post as well. This post from Writer's Digest compares these movie versions as well.


One of the best movie promos for the 2005 movie can be found on this youtube clip on Keira Web. And then there are these three fabulous posters advertising the 1940 movie, two of which sit on Miss Greer Garson.com. Ed discusses his favorite moments in the 1940 movie on this fabulous site. Click on his links to view the movie stills. Turner Movie Classics provides a P&P 1940 overview.

Pride and Prejudice, The Gay Comedy Hit!
When Pretty Girls Teased Men Into Marriage
Five Love Hungry Beauties in Search of Husbands.
Girls, Take a Lesson From These Five Husband Hunters!
(And my favorite) - Tsk. Tsk. Mr. Chip's Wife is in Love With Rebecca's Husband!

• Find a Greer Garson as Lizzy Bennet Paper Doll on Jane Austen's World.

• And want to see something fun? Click here for Pride and Prejudice Gilmore Girls Style

Posted by Ms. Place

Seen on the Blogosphere

On PBS's Remotely Connected, read a review on Lady Catherine de Bourgh by Seth Cassel, a 17-year old high school student. How refreshing to read these wise words by a young Jane fan who happens to live in my home town of Baltimore, MD.

Purchase Valentine Day gifts at the Jane Austen Centre in Bath, such as letter sets, soaps, a lace bracelet and a lavender and heart hanger.

Meanwhile, Virginia Solomon of the Northern California of the Jane Austen Society of America has a few choice words to say about the pig in Pride and Prejudice 2005. Click here to read the SFGate article.

Pride & Prejudice 1995

I have made no bones about it: I simply adore the 1995 version of Pride and Prejudice with Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle as Mr. Darcy and Lizzy Bennet. Yes, I still quibble with some minor points. The wet shirt scene, for instance, which was dropped in out of nowhere and which, as we all know, our Jane did not write; but all in all this adaptation of Jane’s touchstone novel still shines. This screen version has been around for such a long time, that I won’t bother to review it. I’ll merely make some observations about Pride and Prejudice productions in general.

Younger Jane fans tell me they prefer P&P 2005. Many of them argue that Colin and Jennifer were simply too old to play Darcy and Lizzy, and that Keira and Matthew are exactly the right ages. My, how our perception of starring roles has changed over time. As the movie 'Shakespeare in Love' so admirable demonstrates, for centuries women weren’t even allowed to play female parts! Once they were allowed to, the truly successful stars appropriated the best roles for themselves, including those of the opposite sex. During the 18th century, Sara Siddons scandalized Society by playing Hamlet. Most recently Cate Blanchett portrayed Bob Dylan and we didn’t bat an eye.
It was also not uncommon for middle aged actresses to play the role of a teenaged Juliet. In fact, Franco Zefferelli shocked the industry by using the more age-appropriate Olivia Hussey and Leonard Whiting in the lead parts of his marvelous 1968 version of Romeo and Juliet, thereby starting a trend. It was widely felt at the time that actors and actresses needed years of seasoning before they could tackle Shakespeare.

During the 1950’s, Mary Martin, who was born in 1913, played young Peter Pan on Broadway. The audiences at the time were so accustomed to seeing actresses play someone much younger than themselves that the play was a smash hit. In 1939, Greer Garson was a 35-year-old Hollywood studio mega star and Laurence Olivier was an up and coming 32-year-old romantic lead when they were contracted to play Lizzy and Mr. Darcy.

This 1940 version of P&P is now regarded a classic. Shown recently on Turner Classic Movies, I snorted and guffawed when I heard Carrie Fisher declare it to be the definitive cinematic version of Jane’s novel. Why, she asked rhetorically, were people bothering to make other adaptations when this paragon of filmdom had already been made? Why, indeed. Could it be that Jane’s plot for the 1940 version had been so altered; that the costumes were so wrong; and that the lead actress was more suited to playing a matron, that one alternately cringes or laughs when one watches this version? Food for thought, Carrie.

But I digress. P&P 2005 is also guilty of ageism, but in reverse. I love Brenda Blethyn and Donald Sutherland, two fine actors who I would pay to see in any movie in which they appear. But let’s face it. At 70, Donald is more suited to playing Lizzie’s grandfather than her father. And Brenda, bless her heart, was close to 60 when she tackled the role of Mrs. Bennet. We all know that Mrs. Bennet was a silly young thing when she married Mr. Bennet. According to my calculations she is closer to forty and no more than fifty when Jane Austen’s tale begins. I recall reading one comment last week about Jemma Redgrave being too young to play Lady Bertram. Actually, at forty-three she is just about the right age for the part.

As you can see our perception of age is a relative thing. The young viewer will always think that all people over 29 should be lumped together in the geriatric department, and those of us of a certain age will show more forbearance towards 26-year-old actresses (Jennifer Ehle) who dare to tackle the role of a 20-year-old. In fact, Jennifer was so successful in her portrayal, she received a BAFTA in 1996. For my own taste, Jennifer HAS become Lizzy. Her looks more closely resemble the regency ladies in George Romney portraits than Keira’s, who is too strikingly beautiful and modern looking for the role. As a reminder of the first impression Lizzy makes on Mr. Darcy, here is his view of her in conversation with Mr. Bingley:

"You are dancing with the only handsome girl in the room," said Mr. Darcy, looking at the eldest Miss Bennet.

"Oh! she is the most beautiful creature I ever beheld! But there is one of her sisters sitting down just behind you, who is very pretty, and I dare say very agreeable. Do let me ask my partner to introduce you."

"Which do you mean?" and turning round, he looked for a moment at Elizabeth, till catching her eye, he withdrew his own and coldly said, "She is tolerable; but not handsome enough to tempt me; and I am in no humour at present to give consequence to young ladies who are slighted by other men. You had better return to your partner and enjoy her smiles, for you are wasting your time with me."

When Matthew Macfadyen as Darcy echoed these words about the stunningly beautiful Keira Knightley, I laughed out loud. To be fair to Keira, her portrayal of Lizzy garnered an oscar nomination, and while I think her performance was fine, I thought the movie itself was much too short to fully develop the fine panoply of characters that Jane Austen created. Be that as it may, I will relish Sunday nights for the next three weeks, and will revel in seeing this version of Pride and Prejudice once again, thanking PBS Masterpiece Classic for bringing it back for a new audience to discover.

Click here to read this blog's posts about Mr. Darcy, including Mr. Firth and Mr. Macfadyen. - Ms. Place

Read more about Pride and Prejudice at Jane Austen's World and Austenprose.