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pegkerrWe got free tickets, all four of us, to see a preview of the soon to be released new movie version of Pride & Prejudice (the release date here in the States is November 18; click here to see the dates in other countries). What made this pre-release event particularly special was that it was attended by the director, Joe Wright, and he did a fifteen minute Q&A afterwards. He was quite young; I would hazard he looks like he's about twenty-four or so? (That's a total guess, I'll admit--you'll see a number of pictures of him here.) Here is an interview of him done by the Guardian. I took furious notes, and here is my rough transcript, subject, of course, to any transcription errors due to the fact that I couldn't write quite fast enough. I do believe I caught the gist, however.
Question and Answer session with director Joe Wright
How long did it take to make the movie?
I started work almost exactly two years ago and have worked every day on it since. The pre-production took six months, and the shoot was 13 weeks.
Is this the final cut?
Yes.
There have been a number of previous versions. How did you make your version your own?
I have not seen any of the previous versions. I deliberately avoided them because I wanted to filter the story through my own experience, my own sensibility, be myself, stay true to the novel. I had read the book, of course, and found its youthful exuberance stunning.
Was the comedy planned out ahead of time, or did that happen serendipitously during the shooting?
Both. For example, the actor who played Mr. Collins, Tom Hollander, we had that great shot of him standing behind Darcy at the Netherfield ball [the disparity in their heights is striking, and very funny]. Tom Hollander showed up the first day with platform shoes, saying that he thought Collins should be taller. I said no. By the end, of course, he was willing to have the mickey taken out of him.
[This is the question I asked:] What did you want to capture the most about the character of Elizabeth and the character of Darcy?
For Elizabeth, her strength. For Darcy, his nobility. In spite of the fact that he's an aristocrat--I mean that in fact in our country being an aristocrat can actually work against developing your better nature, but Darcy is a noble person..
We were struck by the cinematography of the transitional shots. Tell us about your thinking about transitions.
I really like transitions; you can get poetry in them. I like--film is a montage. There is that shot of Elizabeth, sitting on a swing in the yard at Longbourn and twisting around and around [the camera actually takes Elizabeth's p-o-v for a moment, making the surroundings spin] I thought of that one night when we had had a long day shooting [didn't get the scene] and it was late at night and I was sitting and spinning on a swing, rather drunk. [audience laughs] I deliberately chose a crew from a very diverse background, not necessarily with experience doing period work, because I wanted to get the perspective of people with outside eyes.
Do you have Keira Knightley's mobile phone number, and can you give it to me?
I do have it, and I'm certainly not going to give it out to you lot..
Did you select the cast? They were tremendously effective.
Yes, 99% of the director's job is getting the right cast in the first place. It was a lovely cast. The actors were people I've liked for a long time, on stage and on TV. Matthew Macfadyen is someone I wanted who ordinarily wouldn't have a chance to play a role like this. I knew he wasn't going to walk in and try to play it like a sex god; he's a serious actor and he did a wonderful job.
What Americans might you like to work with?
I'd love to work with Denzel Washington. About the best American actor there is. Very noble man.
Where did you film it? Tell us about that shot of Elizabeth on the cliff [shot during the trip with her aunt and uncle to Darbyshire, a stunning money shot of Keira Knightley standing on a scenic cliff overlooking rural Darbyshire).
A half hour before we shot that, you couldn't see ten feet in front of your face. And then abruptly it cleared up, and we fastened Keira in the harness and took the shot.
I loved the scene where we saw Georgiana playing the piano, and then abruptly she rises to greet Darcy and you see the warmth between them, and it's a side of him we haven't seen up until now.
Yes, Darcy, like a lot of young men, is faced with responsibility very early. His parents died when he was very young, and he woke up to enormous responsibility. He had to put on his adulthood too early, and that had a lot to do with forming his character. Its the story of how this young woman enters his life and makes him a gentle man.
Why did you choose to film Pride & Prejudice of all of Jane Austen's work?
It's perfectly structured. It's a phenomenal book; she was only 21 when she wrote it, and there had been nothing like it in the English novel up until then. And an amazing heroine.
What qualities did you see in Keira Knightley that made you cast her in the role?
Well, actually I was dubious at first about casting Keira. I thought she was too beautiful to play Elizabeth. But then I met her, and I discovered that she is a real tomboy, all spiky elbows and knees, and that really fit Elizabeth. She didn't seem too overly feminine at all. Perfect for Elizabeth, who is a really strong person who is pushing at her boundaries and constraints. Then we talked, and I discovered that she is bright and funny and strong. The strongest actor of her age I've ever met. Perfect for Elizabeth.
Why did you choose so many times to use just one camera and follow one tracking shot?
The book made me feel that I was right in there, living in that world. Everything was shot right on location, which was rather unusual for this sort of project. The design team went right in and created a complete world in, for example, Longbourn. The audience experiences a 360 degree world.
What was your favorite scene? Least favorite?
My favorite was when Bingley proposed to Jane, when we see her profile, waiting for her future. That caught quite a bit of the pathos of women in that situation at that time. Least favorite, I think was the shot between Wickham and Lizzie under the tree. We were losing the light, and I rushed and harried the actors.
Tell us about the music. There were two early scenes where the music didn't seem to be authentic period.
I don't write the music, but of course I have control over it. My composer wrote that opening piece [that Mary is playing as the movie opens], and I love it; we used variations on it throughout the movie. We were listening to a lot of Beethoven sonatas. The piece played at the assembly ball was period, it was Purcell, but the instrumentation was not period. We tried it first on period instruments, but it sounded tinny and thin. We needed that energy that came from using modern instruments.
The license you took was wonderful. I loved that first ball, the energy the actors had. It was wonderful.
I like a party myself. Just because these characters lived 200 years ago doesn't mean they can't have fun! We went up to Lincolnshire and hired our extras there, people who had no experience being in movies. London extras are rather cynical, talking about what movies they have been in already. It was a fantastic four days.
What location did you use for Pemberley?
Chatsworth, which is owned by the Duchess of Devonshire. It was supposed to be Jane Austen's model for Pemberley; she went on a tour in the area and very likely viewed it. The Duchess of Devonshire has decided views on the mattter, that Pemberley is supposed to be Chatsworth. Very odd family.
I was struck by the emphasis you put on the issue of privacy. How much of that was you, and how much was Austen?
My best friend has four daughters, and in some way this movie was for them, particularly the ending. That house is so loud, full of raging hormones. I love it when I go over there for Sunday dinner; that energy is what I thought Longbourn was like.
What made you want to become a director?
My parents were puppeteers. The first movie I actually saw was Bambi, and I was traumatized by the whole thing. Went under the seat, swore I'd never again see another.
Actually, while this was showing, I was next-door seeing the movie "Thumbsucker," which I highly recommend. I loved it, it brought me to understand other people. That's why I want to make films, to talk to people that way.
Anyway, I do recommend the movie. When you know every frame of the A&E Colin Firth/Jennifer Ehl version as I do, it does feel truncated, not as in depth, but it was well acted and (mostly) true to the book. I do have some quibbles about period details, but we did enjoy it thoroughly, all of us (the people in the row in front of us said that they enjoyed it even more because of all the laughing that my girls did). So: see it when it comes out! (I would have preferred it to see it with the non-American ending though.)
I got Joe Wright's autograph. See here and closeup here.
Edited to add: I must add a caveat for those who will see it and complain, "But you said it was true to the book!" Yes, there were some decisions that were puzzling--Lady Catherine DeB. comes in the middle of the night and scolds Lizzie in her nightgown! (I mean Lizzie in her nightgown, not Lady C.) And I winced at the way the proposal scene was played: Darcy would never have gone to get Mr. Bennett's consent in such a state of deshabille! But there were nice touches throughout that really worked, at least for me. And I think they did a good job in scripting it to streamline the story to bring it under the proper running time: after all the A&E version was six hours, but we don't have that kind of time in a movie theater. Will discuss at length when more of you have had a chance to see it.
Question and Answer session with director Joe Wright
How long did it take to make the movie?
I started work almost exactly two years ago and have worked every day on it since. The pre-production took six months, and the shoot was 13 weeks.
Is this the final cut?
Yes.
There have been a number of previous versions. How did you make your version your own?
I have not seen any of the previous versions. I deliberately avoided them because I wanted to filter the story through my own experience, my own sensibility, be myself, stay true to the novel. I had read the book, of course, and found its youthful exuberance stunning.
Was the comedy planned out ahead of time, or did that happen serendipitously during the shooting?
Both. For example, the actor who played Mr. Collins, Tom Hollander, we had that great shot of him standing behind Darcy at the Netherfield ball [the disparity in their heights is striking, and very funny]. Tom Hollander showed up the first day with platform shoes, saying that he thought Collins should be taller. I said no. By the end, of course, he was willing to have the mickey taken out of him.
[This is the question I asked:] What did you want to capture the most about the character of Elizabeth and the character of Darcy?
For Elizabeth, her strength. For Darcy, his nobility. In spite of the fact that he's an aristocrat--I mean that in fact in our country being an aristocrat can actually work against developing your better nature, but Darcy is a noble person..
We were struck by the cinematography of the transitional shots. Tell us about your thinking about transitions.
I really like transitions; you can get poetry in them. I like--film is a montage. There is that shot of Elizabeth, sitting on a swing in the yard at Longbourn and twisting around and around [the camera actually takes Elizabeth's p-o-v for a moment, making the surroundings spin] I thought of that one night when we had had a long day shooting [didn't get the scene] and it was late at night and I was sitting and spinning on a swing, rather drunk. [audience laughs] I deliberately chose a crew from a very diverse background, not necessarily with experience doing period work, because I wanted to get the perspective of people with outside eyes.
Do you have Keira Knightley's mobile phone number, and can you give it to me?
I do have it, and I'm certainly not going to give it out to you lot..
Did you select the cast? They were tremendously effective.
Yes, 99% of the director's job is getting the right cast in the first place. It was a lovely cast. The actors were people I've liked for a long time, on stage and on TV. Matthew Macfadyen is someone I wanted who ordinarily wouldn't have a chance to play a role like this. I knew he wasn't going to walk in and try to play it like a sex god; he's a serious actor and he did a wonderful job.
What Americans might you like to work with?
I'd love to work with Denzel Washington. About the best American actor there is. Very noble man.
Where did you film it? Tell us about that shot of Elizabeth on the cliff [shot during the trip with her aunt and uncle to Darbyshire, a stunning money shot of Keira Knightley standing on a scenic cliff overlooking rural Darbyshire).
A half hour before we shot that, you couldn't see ten feet in front of your face. And then abruptly it cleared up, and we fastened Keira in the harness and took the shot.
I loved the scene where we saw Georgiana playing the piano, and then abruptly she rises to greet Darcy and you see the warmth between them, and it's a side of him we haven't seen up until now.
Yes, Darcy, like a lot of young men, is faced with responsibility very early. His parents died when he was very young, and he woke up to enormous responsibility. He had to put on his adulthood too early, and that had a lot to do with forming his character. Its the story of how this young woman enters his life and makes him a gentle man.
Why did you choose to film Pride & Prejudice of all of Jane Austen's work?
It's perfectly structured. It's a phenomenal book; she was only 21 when she wrote it, and there had been nothing like it in the English novel up until then. And an amazing heroine.
What qualities did you see in Keira Knightley that made you cast her in the role?
Well, actually I was dubious at first about casting Keira. I thought she was too beautiful to play Elizabeth. But then I met her, and I discovered that she is a real tomboy, all spiky elbows and knees, and that really fit Elizabeth. She didn't seem too overly feminine at all. Perfect for Elizabeth, who is a really strong person who is pushing at her boundaries and constraints. Then we talked, and I discovered that she is bright and funny and strong. The strongest actor of her age I've ever met. Perfect for Elizabeth.
Why did you choose so many times to use just one camera and follow one tracking shot?
The book made me feel that I was right in there, living in that world. Everything was shot right on location, which was rather unusual for this sort of project. The design team went right in and created a complete world in, for example, Longbourn. The audience experiences a 360 degree world.
What was your favorite scene? Least favorite?
My favorite was when Bingley proposed to Jane, when we see her profile, waiting for her future. That caught quite a bit of the pathos of women in that situation at that time. Least favorite, I think was the shot between Wickham and Lizzie under the tree. We were losing the light, and I rushed and harried the actors.
Tell us about the music. There were two early scenes where the music didn't seem to be authentic period.
I don't write the music, but of course I have control over it. My composer wrote that opening piece [that Mary is playing as the movie opens], and I love it; we used variations on it throughout the movie. We were listening to a lot of Beethoven sonatas. The piece played at the assembly ball was period, it was Purcell, but the instrumentation was not period. We tried it first on period instruments, but it sounded tinny and thin. We needed that energy that came from using modern instruments.
The license you took was wonderful. I loved that first ball, the energy the actors had. It was wonderful.
I like a party myself. Just because these characters lived 200 years ago doesn't mean they can't have fun! We went up to Lincolnshire and hired our extras there, people who had no experience being in movies. London extras are rather cynical, talking about what movies they have been in already. It was a fantastic four days.
What location did you use for Pemberley?
Chatsworth, which is owned by the Duchess of Devonshire. It was supposed to be Jane Austen's model for Pemberley; she went on a tour in the area and very likely viewed it. The Duchess of Devonshire has decided views on the mattter, that Pemberley is supposed to be Chatsworth. Very odd family.
I was struck by the emphasis you put on the issue of privacy. How much of that was you, and how much was Austen?
My best friend has four daughters, and in some way this movie was for them, particularly the ending. That house is so loud, full of raging hormones. I love it when I go over there for Sunday dinner; that energy is what I thought Longbourn was like.
What made you want to become a director?
My parents were puppeteers. The first movie I actually saw was Bambi, and I was traumatized by the whole thing. Went under the seat, swore I'd never again see another.
Actually, while this was showing, I was next-door seeing the movie "Thumbsucker," which I highly recommend. I loved it, it brought me to understand other people. That's why I want to make films, to talk to people that way.
Anyway, I do recommend the movie. When you know every frame of the A&E Colin Firth/Jennifer Ehl version as I do, it does feel truncated, not as in depth, but it was well acted and (mostly) true to the book. I do have some quibbles about period details, but we did enjoy it thoroughly, all of us (the people in the row in front of us said that they enjoyed it even more because of all the laughing that my girls did). So: see it when it comes out! (I would have preferred it to see it with the non-American ending though.)
I got Joe Wright's autograph. See here and closeup here.
Edited to add: I must add a caveat for those who will see it and complain, "But you said it was true to the book!" Yes, there were some decisions that were puzzling--Lady Catherine DeB. comes in the middle of the night and scolds Lizzie in her nightgown! (I mean Lizzie in her nightgown, not Lady C.) And I winced at the way the proposal scene was played: Darcy would never have gone to get Mr. Bennett's consent in such a state of deshabille! But there were nice touches throughout that really worked, at least for me. And I think they did a good job in scripting it to streamline the story to bring it under the proper running time: after all the A&E version was six hours, but we don't have that kind of time in a movie theater. Will discuss at length when more of you have had a chance to see it.
