Pride and Prejudice

[pozorvlak]

I've just been watching the film of Pride and Prejudice (the one with Kiera thrice-Knightley as Lizzie), and had rather a shock when I realised that Mr Bingley was being played by someone I went to school with! I think he may even have been in my English class when I read the book for GCSE...

It's surprisingly weird watching him on screen - partly not having seen him for years, but mostly seeing someone I know in an actual film. Not at all like watching a friend on stage.

Anyway, he's a nice chap, so it's good to see he's doing well...

Comments

[mi-guida.livejournal.com]

The other strange thing about him? According to the director's commentary he and Rosamund Pike used to go out, and so they both got somewhat freaked out by the engagement scene, especially. Also, he says Simon's hair used to be blonde, and they dyed it ginger - and now it's still growing through ginger.

OK random useless facts. But the director said...

[pozorvlak.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I remember him as blond. Amusing about Rosamunde Pike :-)

[stronglight.livejournal.com]

Yeah - they were both at Oxford a little while ago. Actually, probably while you were, pozorvlak - I know that Mark knew them vaguely. He worked on a show with Simon, and "once asked Roz Pike where something was." Obviously, he's far more pleased by the latter because she was a bond girl.

Simon was at Magdalen and Roz was at Wadham. I suspect they knew each other through OUDS.

[hildabeast.livejournal.com]

was *everyone* at oxford?? such a small world...

[aftnn.org (from livejournal.com)]

I wasn't :-(.

My sister was though. So, in answer to your question, yes.

[pozorvlak.livejournal.com]

And your other sister's at Cambridge :-)

[pozorvlak.livejournal.com]

Actually, probably while you were, pozorvlak
Well, yeah - he was in my year at school, so he would have been either in my year or the year above at Oxford :-) Though I didn't know he'd gone to Oxford, tbh.

Roz Pike, a Bond girl? *imdbs* Ah, Die Another Day. I'd trauma-erased that one.

[hildabeast.livejournal.com]

ooh that's so cool! i love him in the film, i think he's awesome, even though everyone else seems to have hatred for the whole thing because it's not colin firth/jennifer ehle on screen...

[pozorvlak.livejournal.com]

I haven't seen the whole thing yet (we started watching it late, and only watched half-an-hour), but so far it seems pretty good. The trouble is that any version of P&P is going to suffer by comparison with the BBC version - not just because it was so good (though it was, with a couple of exceptions, and Ehle and Firth in particular nailed their parts), but because that's how we now see the characters...

[hildabeast.livejournal.com]

except if you're the one person in the UK who didn't watch it (IE me), and only ever read the book (somewhat obsessively)... :)

[pozorvlak.livejournal.com]

Watch it, it's good. Apart from the last episode, when the scriptwriter tries to cram the last third of the book into an hour and does so by cutting all the satire and humour to leave way for the chick-lit.

[hildabeast.livejournal.com]

oh i have watched it, 2 years ago, but i didn't grow up on it...

[half-of-monty.livejournal.com]

Not just because it was so good, but also so accurate to the book (in terms of dialogue etc).

Obv a merely feature-length film would have to cut more, but there's no need to actually change lines. There were several glaring mis-quote from the book merely in the trailer, which is why I didn't bother seeing the film.

It's not just that I know how it should go and don't like it being changed. It's also that, you know, Austen is doing clever subtle things with the dialogue. Changing them is daft.

[pozorvlak.livejournal.com]

I haven't noticed too much of that so far (though it's been a few years since I read the book). A couple of subtle changes, usually with an obvious rationale, but nothing glaring. I'll let you know how the rest of it goes...

[half-of-monty.livejournal.com]

Ah, but did you memorise the book in your day?

(TBH nor did I, but I GCSE'd it obsessively)

[pozorvlak.livejournal.com]

Damn near. Like you, I GCSE'd it obsessively, and back then my memory was almost photographic. Not like today, oh no... Sorry, do I know you from somewhere?

[half-of-monty.livejournal.com]

Ah, marvellous. In that case you can tell me how annoying or otherwise the script turns out to be. Might end up seeing it one day.

[hildabeast.livejournal.com]

i've got it on dvd if you want to watch. i think its very true to the book... but i am aware i am in the minority. my problem with colin firth is that he was so consistently fit all the way through, whereas matthew macfadyen actually repulsed me at the beginning but was super-hot by the end. if its all about the darcy, the film has to win. not even gratuitous lake scenes can win me over!

[steerpikelet.livejournal.com]

That's really weird. In the same film, the youngest bennet sister is played by someone *I* went to school with. She was in my writing class.

[mi-guida.livejournal.com]

.....one of the sisters is played by a friend of Sophie who's out here with me... which sister?

Theatre

[aftnn.org (from livejournal.com)]

I'm actually going to the theatre in March, for the first time in exactly one thousand years. To see Richard Schiff in Underneath the Lintel.

I posted on your blog! Check me out! (I finally plumped for an OpenID)

Re: Theatre

[aftnn.org (from livejournal.com)]

Wait, nobody mentioned theatre. Where did I get that from.

Sorry.

Re: Theatre

[pozorvlak.livejournal.com]

No, I mentioned theatre in my original post, saying that seeing a friend on screen is nothing like seeing one on stage.

And hello! Sorry about LJ's stupid "non-LJers/OpenIDers must post anonymously" setup.

Re: Theatre

[aftnn.org (from livejournal.com)]

It would be nice if it loaded my avatar image from MyOpenID, but that seems to be version 2.0.

OpenID is actually a great solution to comment permissions, read Simon Willison's post on social whitelisting.

[weaselspoon.livejournal.com]

Yes, he was at Oxford with us and I worked with him quite a lot, and Roz Pike briefly. Both of them I quite liked but never had much time for them as actors. If I ever have to sit throught the monologue Chip In The Sugar again I will scream. He directed the big Cabaret at the OPH as well.

[pozorvlak.livejournal.com]

I don't think I ever saw him on stage at Oxford, but the way he plays Bingley isn't a million miles from how I remember him being in real life... (though he's much brighter than Bingley, obviously).

The really odd thing is that there was an entirely different guy at school who we all called "Bingers", because of his resemblance to Crispin Bonham-Carter.