Trivia / Pride & Prejudice (2005)

• Breakthrough Hit: Joe Wright had mostly directed television before this. It launched him into the director's seat for the likes of Atonement and Anna Karenina.
• Dyeing for Your Art: Simon Woods dyed his hair red to play Mr Bingley. Unfortunately for him, the colour stuck and his hair grew as such for a while.
• Enforced Method Acting:
  • Judi Dench had only a week to shoot her scenes, and they were also the first week of shooting altogether - which adds to the nervousness and intimidation on display in scenes with Lady Catherine.
  • Positive case with the actresses playing the Bennet sisters. Kiera Knightley, Rosamund Pike, Carey Mulligan, Jena Malone and Talulah Riley really lived together in a large country house during the majority of filming, so it added to the illusion of being five sisters living a charmed country life.
• Fake Brit: Donald Sutherland (Canadian) as Mr. Bennet and Jena Malone (American) as Lydia.
• I Am Not Spock: This solidified Keira Knightley's typecasting in the late 2000s as the Spirited Young Lady ahead of her time in period pieces (beforehand her roles were quite varied, such as The Jacket, The Hole, Bend It Like Beckham and Love Actually).
• Playing Against Type:
  • Jena Malone as Lydia. She usually plays reserved good-girl types.
  • Judi Dench likewise as the Rich Bitch Lady Catherine de Bourgh.
• Real Life Writes the Hairstyle: Keira Knightley wore a wig to play Lizzie as she'd cut her hair short for Domino. Additionally most of her costumes have long sleeves to hide the muscles she'd built up for that movie.
• Reality Subtext: Simon Woods and Rosamund Pike had dated two years previously, and Joe Wright had been reluctant to cast Woods for this reason.
• Serendipity Writes the Plot: The film's time period was moved a couple of decades back to the late 18th century because Joe Wright disliked the high waistline of the Regency Era fashions.
• Stunt Casting: Joe Wright commented that Keira Knightley as a bankable star allowed him to cast the lesser known Matthew Macfadyen as Darcy.
• Throw It In!:
  • The crisscrossing dialogue between Jane, Lizzy, and Mr. Collins during the dance scene was actually the actors getting their lines out of order. The resulting awkwardness was so appropriate for the characters and the moment that the director chose to use it.
  • Mr Bingley's rehearsal of proposing to Jane was meant to be shorter, but Simon Woods improvised it - and turned out to be so good they let him go on longer.
  • The first dance between Lizzy and Darcy was got in one take. The camera was only supposed to take establishing shots, but it got the whole scene in - which Joe Wright did not discover until the editing process. Thus The Oner is used in the finished film.
  • Darcy and Elizabeth's Almost Kiss after Darcy's first proposal was an improvisation by Keira Knightley and Matthew Macfadyen when they were reading lines together during the casting process for Darcy. It was what made Joe Wright decide to cast him and the bit made it into the film.
  • Apparently the Geese taking off from the pond behind Elizabeth was not scripted and just happened when director Joe Wright shouted "Action!"
  • Darcy's famous hand flex after helping Elizabeth into the carriage was not written in the script, but something Matthew Macfadyen had done in rehearsal. Director Joe Wright caught it and made sure to include an extra shot solely for the hand when it came time for filming.
• What Could Have Been:
  • The first draft of the script had all scenes from Lizzie's POV, like the novel. Later drafts added scenes like Mr Bingley rehearsing his proposal.
  • Keira Knightley almost didn't get cast, as Joe Wright feared she was too glamorous to play Lizzie. Upon meeting her, he realised how much of a Tomboy she was in contrast to her Proper Lady characters.
• Word of God: According to Joe Wright in the director's commentary, Mary did in fact fall in love with Mr. Collins.