Transcript of Joe Wright's P&P DVD Commentary (Part 5)

Continue reading the very last one here ... from parts 1-4 here!






 

[Bennets preparing for bed]

Mr. and Mrs. Bennet love each other and still fancy each other.

Now Kitty has to find a new friend in Mary,
now that Lydia's gone away.
And they'll grow closer.

And even the maid is dreaming of her beau.

And these two are back together again.

And Lizzie is so gracious in this scene.
 
She doesn't take up any emotional space,
she gives it all to Jane.
She knows it's Jane's night.

"Perhaps Mr Collins has a cousin"
I think that's the most endearing line of Elizabeth's throughout the film.

-----------------------

[Lady Catherine's Nightly Visit]

Lady Catherine can just enter that house like that
because she's aristocracy.
Basically, she believes that she ... has a right
to enter the house like that.

The lighting is very harsh on Judi there,
which I feel slightly bad about.
That's a really, really unfair close-up.
But I like it.
Again, it's from Keira's point of view,
from Lizzie's point of view.

"I am not (engaged to Darcy)"
Though she wishes that she was.

"I will not and I certainly never shall"
But if I ever get the chance to be, I will.

I love how silent this moment is.
She's not even breathing.

She's forgotten to breathe.

[Darcy's 2nd proposal]

This was a magical morning.
We all got up at 3.00am or something, and went out
and we prepared in the dark.
And then waited for the first light.

And then we had about 50 minutes to shoot this scene in.
It felt really special doing it.

I battle with myself over this scene
cos it's probably a bit over the top
and over-romantic and slushy,
but if we haven't earned it by now,
then we never will have.

Again, this shot, I hold it for such a long time,
I've probably gone too far,
but if Matthew hasn't earnt this moment, then...

One of the make-up artists was stood beside me while we were shooting this.
And she whispered very quietly,
''I wish that was my life.''

And I think wish fulfilment is...
wish fulfilment serves a purpose.
A lot of people consider it a cop out
or a... or a cynical act,
but I think wish fulfilment's
really important in drama.

And it's important for the people who
watch it and the people who make it.
We need to have something to reach for.
To not settle for less.

I think Matthew plays this beautifully.
The three ''I loves''.
I just asked him to do it really simply.
You can't fake that.

And then, just as we got to this part of the scene,
uh, the sun began to rise,
and we realised that the sun was coming
up just exactly between the two actors.
And, uh, again, it was a fluke.
Well, it was kind of prepared for,
but we were very lucky.

So the film is completely circular.

You start and end with the sunrise.
 
This is basically the end of the film.
What follows is a coda.

And I like the fact that they never actually kiss.

[Mr. Bennet's permission]

They're embarrassed of each other there
and she turns to look at him,
and this is the last moment they look at each other in the film
as their former selves.

And she can't keep her eyes off him.

This is why I cast Donald.
cos I knew that he had an access to his emotions
that very few actors, especially of his age, have.

It was a lovely, lovely scene to shoot.
There were very few people in the room.
Everyone was asked to leave and it was
just me and the director of photography
and the camera operator and the sound recordist,
and, um, we were very quiet with each other
and very gentle with each other.
I wish I'd put a camera inside the room with them here.
We ran out of time.

It's all about the actors.
You can do flashy shots,
but all anyone cares about is the performances and the actors.
I think this is a case in point.


We had big ideas of how to end the film,
and big kind of, you know, weddings,
and lots of extras and big flashy stuff,
but really, at the end of the day,
what's important is the tender... honest emotions.

And she's gone.

Elizabeth disappears from the film so fast.
I like not lingering on her at the end of the film.


And it's gone.

Thanks.

And finally -- the US version (with "Mrs Darcy, Mrs Darcy..." ending)! (Thanks to dozeoff from IMDb for the link)

US DVD - Director's Commentary:

{Lizzy: No. You mustn't tell anyone. He wouldn't want it.}

It's a nice little behavioural thing they do here,
they both use their hands in the same way.

And Donald does, using his hands to hide his teeth,
which are a bit white and big, and modern.

{Lizzy: He and I are so similar. We're both so stubborn. Papa, I...}

I like that there's a lot of family similarities...

Donald cried on every take!

I think he's kind of genuine.
I knew that Donald could do this scene
That's one of the reasons why I cast him
'cause I knew he could do...pull this off

He has, a great ability to, to tap into his ...tender side.

I like the way, Mr. Bennet starts on the periphery of the story
and slowly, comes closer and closer into the centre,
until he's really, at the end, kind of like the heart of the film.
I really love it.

{"Mrs. Darcy" Scene - US Extended Ending}

I like the idea that those four swans there are,
the other sisters, that have been turned into swans.

Think Lydia is probably the swan with her head in the water.

This is all ADR, this dialogue...
Which means additional, er, dialogue recording,
and, er, so you sit in the studio, very much like I'm now,
and, er, speak the lines, at the same time
as they are saying it on the screen.

Losing the light here quite dramatically
and all those stars are obviously put in digitally afterwards.




Didn't tell them to do this final kiss in a, lingering way actually.
They just kind of did it
I guess it felt right.

{END CREDITS ROLL}

I used to, at the very end, have the camera pan up to the stars
But that was just too cheesy, too sentimental.

So we'll end it there!

And to add to JW's very last comment from the DVD commentary, this concludes here as well... THE END! Thanks to all the readers and visitors of this Blog for being patient and taking the time to read. Hope everyone enjoyed reading this transcript.