Pride & Prejudice for a new generation

Pride & Prejudice for a new generation

Mr Darcy & Mr Bingley turn heads in Working Title's new Pride & Prejudice

Tue, 6 Sep 2005

Designed to show an audience of filmmakers and film fans that there are a million ways to make a movie, The Script Factory, in cahoots with our colleagues at the National Film & TV School, stages regular preview events and masterclasses with some of the finest filmmakers working today. Just last week we presented Jim Jarmusch in a conversation about creating some of the greatest US indie films; next up it’s the turn of the Brits to show what we do best as we showcase Working Title’s brand new Pride & Prejudice, and hear from its screenwriter, the award-winning novelist Deborah Moggach.

Based on the beloved Jane Austen novel, the classic tale of love and values unfolds in the class-conscious England of the late 18th century. The five Bennet sisters - including strong-willed Elizabeth (Keira Knightley) and young Lydia (Jena Malone) - have all been raised by long-suffering father (Donald Sutherland) and interfering mother (Brenda Blethyn) who has one purpose in life: finding a husband for her girls. When a wealthy bachelor takes up residence in a nearby mansion, the Bennets are abuzz. Amongst the man's sophisticated circle of friends, surely there will be no shortage of suitors for the Bennet sisters. But when Elizabeth meets up with the handsome and - it would seem - snobbish Mr. Darcy (Matthew Macfadyen), the battle of the sexes begins.

With its all-star cast and a warts-and-all feel for its 2005 incarnation, Pride & Prejudice is directed by Joe Wright, a newcomer to film who cut his teeth in Brit TV, and is scripted with relish by Deborah Moggach, whose ‘Tulip Fever’ found fans the world over and whose previous screen credits include the celebrated BBC adaptation of Nancy Mitford's Love In A Cold Climate.