P&P Fan Encounters

Have you met Keira Knightley, Matthew Macfadyen, Rosamund Pike, Carey Mulligan or any of the ? Do you want to share your fan story here (like Sylvie Valente did with her amazing story of meeting Matthew Macfadyen six times!)?  If so, please contact and email me and I'll post your story here on the main page of this blog and archived it here on this extra page as well. Also, if you have written/sent a fan letter to any or one of them and got a reply (like yours truly with A Lovely Surprise from Mr. Macfadyen on my mailbox! and A lovely and unexpected reply from Miss Rosamund Pike!) and you want to share your autograph photos here, feel free to contact me with your fan mail story.

P&P Fan Encounters

• Silvia Basile's Meet & Greet with Matthew Macfadyen at Roma Fiction Fest 2012  
• A lovely and unexpected reply from Miss Rosamund Pike! 
• Maia's Keira Knightley Signed Autograph Photo!
• Maia's Rosamund Pike Autographed Photos
• P&P Fan Encounter: Jodie met Claudie Blakley!
• A lovely surprise from Mr. Macfadyen on my mailbox!
• Sylvie Valente's amazing Meet & Greet experience with Matthew Macfadyen 

Matthew Macfadyen in Rome...between a dream and reality!

by Silvia Basile

For several months I tried to write a review of Matt's coming in Rome for the Roma Fiction Fest 2012, but it's not easy to sum up so many emotions in a report. I hope to share with you all here what I've written below, the excitement I had felt and experienced in those unforgettable moments of that day.

Thanks to the promotional tour for the series Ripper Street, the last Fiction Fest in Rome has seen, amongst its guests, even the actor Matthew Macfadyen. How could I miss it or Matthew?! ;) Let's get to that fateful day, October 1st, 2012, when I was thrilled and excited to witness seeing Matthew (up close and in person) coming to Rome.

The day already promised to be full of trepidation, at least for me. In this occasion of BBC's worldwide promotional tour, two special guests were invited: Gillian Anderson (who co-starred with Matt and Tom Hollander in the BBC mini-series Any Human Heart) and Matthew MacFadyen. I was really happy for both. Gillian, because I had followed and admired her since her unforgettable performance as Agent Scully in The X-Files, and Matthew, who won me over in 2005 with his performance as Darcy in Pride and Prejudice.

The emotions that day were so many. I will try to summarized them here. The thrill to find oneself in front of Matthew suddenly, he was tall and elegant in his blue suit. While all the attention of the cameras were on Gillian, he dedicated himself to the audience of the pink carpet. And like in a dream, I turned and found myself in front of two huge blue eyes that left me breathless. The first thing I did was, a shrill scream with his name, and he stopped right in front of me, as if to say “Wow, somebody recognized me.”

Okay, this was the first gaffe of the day, but I was taken by surprise. Some moments to catch myself and finally I succeeded with a trembling hand, to show him my DVD copy of Pride and Prejudice with a marker pen to get an autograph. Still not satisfied and with a totally dry mouth, I succeeded to mumble something about getting a picture with him. And was surprised that he was happy to oblige (not sure about happy to get in a photo with me, seeing that day I looked terrible, due to abdominal pains cured with a huge dose of painkillers, so I looked more like a slowpoke zombie than an human being).

He descend from his 6'3” (190cm) and try to put his face as near as possible to mine for a decent picture. Well decent... the results are horrible (well...my face at least, but I got a breathtaking closeup of Matthew which can be seen at the beginning of the video, which I am sharing here with you all to see below). Even today, looking at that picture I am amazed by his courage to approach me, instead of fleeing as fast as possible!! :D:D:D

After this breathless moment, some other meter catwalk, still autographs and photos and then running into the room for the interview and the screening of the first episode of the (Ripper Street) series. Obviously, I was on the front lines and watching a relaxed and playful Matt with his wonderful British accent. I would have liked a longer interview (his voice is so sexy that one could listen him to infinity), but seeing it was not me to organize the event, I had to be satisfied with what I got. ;) For the grand finale, finally with my mind a bit more polished (the effects of the painkillers was finally fading), I got near the stage and asked to shake his hand.

This had been, maybe, the most emotional moment, at least for me. I hope he understood, with that handshake, as his way of acting and his coming to Italy, have meant for me. What more can I say? It was a wonderful experience, and I did met many new friends, fans of Matthew, people I've met on the net and had shared that day with me. I hope to have other opportunities to see Matt, not just to have him back in Italy, but also to continue sharing special moments with friends I have known or rather have come to know because of him.

A big hello to all the friends of Matthew Italian Fan Club.:)

Silvia "Italia" Basile

Watch Silvia's Matthew Macfadyen - RFF 2012 video below...


(source: Silvia B)    Matthew Macfadyen - RFF 2012 Screen Captures

 Silvia's Roma Fiction Fest 2012 Photos

Silvia's P&P DVD - MM Signed Autograph Photo

~*~*~*~*~*~

All Matthew Macfadyen photos and video courtesy of Silvia Basile. THANK YOU so much to lovely and wonderful Silvia for sharing her MM fan story here on the P&P Blog. Visit Silvia's blog here.

My Keira Knightley's Signed Photo!
by Maia, from Hungary

This is a short story, because to my biggest surprise, the respond letter arrived exactly just within a month. The whole story started when I thought of writing a letter to the lovely Keira Knightley, in which I searched for her fan mail address (which was the same as Rosamund Pike was) and suddenly I decided to write her. I did. I enclosed two pictures of her, a self-stamped address white envelope and my letter, of course, where I told her of all my love, respect, admiration for her. :)) I posted it on 9th November, 2012.

Then, I was sure that she will answer to me at once. I wanted to encouraged everybody to write to the person they want, because I think (as I also mentioned to Keira in my letter for her) that my love for her is for eternity, so it does not matter when her reply will arrive, and was sure that one day it will. So, I do not care about when, because I'll love her always and for eternity!!!! I'm a huge fan, can't you tell?!

So I continued this way, I have been very busy with university and was never thinking of getting a reply so soon. Then, exactly one month later, on 10 December 2012, my father called me on my mobile and told me that I got a letter from England, as he saw it in the envelope (he does not understand very much English, ahaaahaha). I immediately asked him, "is this a white envelope"? (Cause I knew that I enclosed a white one for her) and he told me that yes, it was a white envelope. Then I realized that I received Keira's reply! I am studying in a different place where I live, so I had to wait a whole week until that Friday when I got home and opened the envelope. The result was sooo lovely!!!

I got a signed picture of her and a very nice letter from her office. Although it was not personalized, but I am much more satisfied that they had taken into consideration, my letter, as they said Keira had read my letter and sent that picture of her with her best wishes. Should I wish for more??? No!!! I am very happy with it!!!! Also, I do not care about if everybody who write to her, get this same picture or this letter, never mind that, this is mine, and I am very happy with it!!!! My pride, my treasure:))

Thanks for reading!!!! I highly recommend everybody to write her or any of her P&P co-stars. P&P (2005) actors (especially Keira and Rosamund, whom I had a pleasure of writing and had gotten a reply from both!) are so lovely, I am sure that they all are!!!!

Check out all of...

Maia's Keira Knightley signed (and scanned) autograph photos

(All KK autograph scanned photos courtesy of Maia | Thanks)

My Rosamund Pike's Signed Photos!

by Maia

Hello everyone! I am Maia from Hungary and I'm glad to share my fan story here at Pride & Prejudice Blog with everyone. :) As those who submitted their fan stories here, I suppose we are greatest fans and devoted to the movie and the cast of P&P 2005. :) Yeah, me too. :) My "fan story" is in connection with the loveliest Rosamund Pike aka the beautiful Jane Bennet in the [P&P] movie. As I live so far away from P&P actors, unfortunately, I haven't been fortunate enough to meet with them personally, but I am writing fan letters to them, who are really nice and important to me. :) I cannot explain why, but from the first moment I felt Ros' (short for Rosamund) Jane Bennet character to be most near to me, and my soul. From my "first impression" of her, I knew that she was really lovely and her character is the closest to mine. Of course, the other is Keira Knightley's Lizzie character too. :) I must say, Ros is like an angel, and I really felt like writing her a fanmail. So, I did...

The whole story began when I searched for Rosamund and found a twitter account. To my biggest surprise that account started to follow me back (you can imagine my enthusiasm) and sometimes she would reply to my tweets on twitter. I was so happy! But later, it turned out that this account was a fake one (and has since been deleted) and I felt myself really disappointed, not in her, but in the world, that someone could do it...so bad. :O My friend, who lives in Liverpool (England) in connection with it, wrote her a fanmail also and she got back a handwritten letter from Rosamund!!!! :O That was back in April, Ros wrote to my friend, that yes, it was true she had not been at twitter...no, never. So it was fake and at that time she has just given birth to her first child, Solo. :))) It was a secret, but yes, everyone, her child was born in April, not in May, when she announced this news in front of the journalists. :))) So, apart from this, she (my friend) encouraged me to write her a fanmail also. So I did and had a luck with it. I searched for her mailing address and wrote a letter to her where I can write about my admiration for her and her personality and how I like her in P&P movie :))) and so on...I posted/sent it on the day, 2nd of May!!!

I remember when I left my RP letter at the hand of the postman, I was crying :)))) then, no more...just left to wait for her reply. I was certain and believed she'll likely to reply, 'cause I knew that time, she was at home with her newborn baby, so she may have a little bit more time to just signed two photos I sent and requested her to sign. :))) And yes, (a thousand times yes!) she did!!!! :)) When I was in London, I thought I would search for the street where my letter was posted/sent, ahaha...but could not find it. :))) Then, I got back home and within 3 months, last 17th of July my mother woke me up with a scream and told me: "Ros answered to you, Maia, Ros, answered to you!!!!! That is from her, that is from her, isn't it???" I immediately woke up and started to scream and answered, yes, yes, it is from her. :)))) So I was so happy. :))) Now, I have the two signed personalized pictures with her lovely signature on them, which I had them framed and are on display on the wall of my room. :)))

So yeah...that is my Rosamund Pike fan story.

 Here are the pics. Enjoy them! Thanks for taking the time to read this post. :))

Maia's Rosamund Pike 

Signed Autograph Photos

(all RP autograph photos courtesy of Maia)

Also, Maia met Judi Dench and Keira Knightley in London...sort of...

Maia poses with Judi Dench's wax figure
at Madame Tussauds in London, England (UK)

Maia poses with Keira Knightley's wax figure
at Madame Tussauds in London, England (UK)

I met Claudie Blakley!

by Jodie

Hello, I met Claudie Blakley last year 2011 at the Hampstead Theatre for Di, and Viv, and Rose as I flew over from the States. I have a review of the play on the Nicola Walker Forum I went to see the play because of Nicola Walker (who previously co-starred with Matthew Macfadyen in Spooks/MI-5 series). 

After the play, Claudie was standing outside the theatre waiting for her taxi to arrive. We chatted a little bit about the play and I told her she was brilliant in it. At one point she asked me if I could see Nicola Walker through the glass door because she wanted to make sure her taxi didn't forget her as Nicola ordered it for her. She said she was very nearsighted. I told her I could go back in and ask for her, but Nicola was with some friends. As she was about to have me do it, her taxi arrived. She said thanks. I told her I didn't want to leave her standing alone at night by herself waiting. She said she was grateful. She left and I went on the tube. I have talked to her a few times since on Twitter. Didn't get a picture with her as I actually forgot to do so.

That is my experience in meeting her, very short. But enough that she knows who I am on twitter and responds to which she and I have exchanged tweets since.

Unfortunately, as Jodie said, she forgot to take a photo with Claudie when they met, so there's no photo of them to share here, but she does have other P&P related photos to share with you all here. She recently visited Chatsworth House and Haddon Hall, which are 5 miles apart from each other on September 3rd, of this year!

Check out her beautiful photos she sent me to share with you all from two of Pride & Prejudice's filming locations she visited...

Chatsworth House (Pemberley)

 Haddon Hall (Lambton Inn)

 (all Chatsworth and Haddon Hall photos used here
were taken and courtesy of Jodie. Thanks a lot!)

I met Matthew six times!

by Sylvie Valente

(all photos courtesy of Sylvie Valente. Please do not use Sylvie's MM photos
without contacting this blog for permission. Thanks.)

I did not know who Matthew Macfadyen was before watching P&P2005 sometime in 2007. Not being a fan of Jane Austen (I have to be honest!), I bought the movie (Pride & Prejudice DVD) because I like Keira Knightley and my fellow Canadian Donald Sutherland was also in the movie. It took me a couple of viewing before I could understand what the story was all about... and more before I could really appreciate Matthew's talent... and good looks! ;-) It started with his voice... then his blue eyes... then, his hands. Before I knew it, I was under the spell of Matthew and I wanted to know more about that young British actor (I am proud to say I have seen most of his movies and TV shows/mini-series except for two! :-) ). I joined four websites in order to know more about him - something I had never done in my life! - and I read any fanfiction novels/stories based on P&P2005 that I could find! Strange, isn't it, when you think that Matthew could be my son??? LOL! But my dream was to see him on stage. Did I really dream of meeting him in person? To be honest, I did not think that could be possible!

I still remember the night I found out Matthew would be on stage, in Bath and in London, in Private Lives!!! All the women on the website went crazy! LOL! We then started planning to go to Bath or London, to meet each other, etc... I was not sure at the time if we could go, my hubby and I, but we finally managed to booked our tickets thanks to a dear American friend K. (love you, hun!), we booked some tickets for the play on April 1st (2010)! Hubby and I had decided to spend 2 weeks in glorious England (one week in London  and one week touring different parts of the country in order to visit the sights and locations, where P&P had been filmed). Time could not go fast enough for me! Finally, on March 28, around 6 in the morning, we landed at Heathrow Airport and managed to go to King's Cross where we would be staying for the first five days of our trip. On that day, in the course of the afternoon, we met dear K. with her lovely family and another dear friend from Germany, M., who had already had the pleasure of seeing the play! We talked about many things, of course, but Matthew was at the center of our discussions most of the time while our hubbies, very patiently, listened to us! (My hubby is not the jealous type!)

K. was going to see the play for the first time on the next day. When we got to our B&B, the landlady was waiting for us with a note in her hands: "I met Matthew!!!" The note was from dear K.! I think I envied her just a bit that night! LOL! Meanwhile, I had been able to get in touch with some other friends and we had all agreed to meet at the backstage door of the Vaudeville on March 31. We, K. from the States, Hubby and I, got there on time on Wednesday afternoon to meet with C. from Spain, K. from Austria and D. from Germany. Very unfortunately, Matthew was already in and we could not see him. We then decided to come back the very same night after the show to try to see him...

We were there again after the show with another friend of ours, S. from Britain, and we all waited patiently in the cold, with all the other people who were there mostly to meet Kim Cattrall. In our group, I could feel the pressure mounting. Would he come out through that door? What would we tell him? I remember trembling a bit out of emotion and nervousness! I was finally going to see Matthew in person! I was going to meet this "unattainable star"!!! Simon Paisley-Day was the first one to come out (lovely man!) followed by Lena Olsonn, the French maid (with whom I talked for a while in French... Lovely woman). We did not see the elusive Lisa Dillon and, if I remember well, Kim Cattrall did not come out through that door that night... Finally... finally Matthew came out!!! (thud! thud! thud!) He was there, standing tall and looking handsome and younger in person than on the screen, with a shy smile.... He was sooooo sweet to our group! When C. told him where we were from (Austria, Germany, Spain, Britain, the States and Canada), he looked at us all and said "Wow! And are you all from the same family?" Of course, we all laughed with him. He signed the calendar a friend of mine had made for our P&P2005 group... I could not believe it! Matthew was standing next to me! After a group picture taken by my sweet hubby who had managed to say a few words with Matthew (my hubby does not stop telling everybody since then that Matthew and he are the best buddies in the world!!! LOL), we all went to a pub to celebrate that incredible encounter! but there is more!...

On the next day, Hubby and I went to the beautiful British Museum but, even though I am an Ancient History freak (still studying in the field), I could not stop thinking that we would see the play on that night... and that we would try to meet Matthew again on the very same afternoon! I wanted to give him something, a gift of some sort. He loves wine (something he and I have in common, LOL) so, before going to the backstage door, I bought him a bottle of red wine. We got to the door where K., D. and C were already waiting for him, with some KC's fans who were very disappointed to find out that Kim Cattrall was already in. But Matthew had yet to arrive!!! It wasn't long before we could spot him at the corner of the street, holding a coffee in one hand, walking very slowly. I had a shock: I was seeing THE man in daylight for the first time. My hubby's comment was "He is a big boy!" Yes, ladies and gentlemen, Matthew is tall and solid! He was almost at the door and now was my "cue": I had the gift for him, I wanted a picture with him... How I mustered enough courage to talk to him is still a mystery! LOL! But talk to him, I did; he seemed genuinely happy to received the bottle of wine and thanked me profusely. When I asked him for the picture, he very kindly agreed but said, at the same time that he was bending (he is tall... I am short! LOL), that "his hair was a mess!" LOL, I think I told him something as well but, feeling the way I was, I can not remember anything I said!! Matthew was very close this time!!! Be still my heart! As in a dream, I saw him with my other friends who had brought gifts for him and his kids - he was really, really happy about that and told D. and K. I don't know how many times that they should not have done that! A few more minutes and Matthew was out of our view. Once again, we had to celebrate!

A couple of hours later, hubby and I were at the front doors of the Vaudeville where we were supposed to meet K., C. and K. and her hubby. We kept walking back and forth, our friends were nowhere in sight. I was growing very nervous (I hate waiting!) and I kept walking when someone came out of the door, someone tall into whom I almost bumped. That "someone" apologized and kept going... I then realized that "someone' with whom I nearly collided was... Matthew himself!!! Wow! I mouthed the words "It's him!!!" to my hubby who then got his camera ready! We spent maybe another fifteen minutes in front of the theater, still waiting for our friends... and, let's be honest, for Matthew... Hubby kept taking pictures of the Strand very nonchalantly when we spotted Matthew coming back to the theater with three bags!!! Hubby then took the picture!!! I could not wait for my friends to arrive to tell them what had just happened!!! And we had the picture to prove it!!! They thought we were very fortunate and we could not stop talking about that latest event until the play started!!!

Ah! To see Matthew on stage with a tuxedo!!! To see him dance, sing, "play" the piano, fight with Kim Cattrall! To see him wear silk jammies!!!! The play was really funny, very "physical" (no wonder Kim and Matthew were exhausted at the end of the play!). We loved it! Now, guess what we did after the play? We all went to the back door and waited for Matthew again! And we saw him again! And we had his autograph on the playbill, more pictures with him... I congratulated him on his excellent accent in French (the play takes place in France) and Matthew does say a couple of lines all in French. He then looked at me with a big smile and said "Merci!" We all laughed, of course. Before leaving our group (a friend of his was waiting for him... another actor with whom he had run the marathon the previous year... Alastair Petrie, I think), he touched my hand (I haven't washed it since then!!! LOL! Of course, I am joking! ;-) ) and, after making sure I was the one who had given him the wine earlier, he said "Thank you again and take care! Cheerios!" How can you not like a man like this??? All the way back to King's Cross that night, all I could talk about to my husband was how nice an evening that had been... and how a sweetheart Matthew was! And my hubby agreed wholeheartedly with me! Isn't he a sweetheart himself?

Sylvie with Mr. Darcy

Sylvia poses with Mr. Darcy in Basildon Park
(P&P's Netherfield Park) and Jane Austen Centre in Bath

We, then left for our tour of England and visited beautiful places such as Chatsworth, where I met another friend of mine, S. from Britain and her lovely husband J. S. had met Matthew in Bath when the play opened and she wanted to know everything about my encounters with Matthew, how he was dressed, what he said, what I told him! We spent a wonderful day at "Pemberley" and I don't know how many times I had the impression that Matthew's Mr. Darcy would come out on the balcony running after Keira's Lizzie!!! At that point, I was sure I would not seen Matthew again before flying back to Canada. But I was wrong!...

We spent the last two days of our trip in London, meeting more friends who were going to see the play on that night (April 9th). After a lovely meal with them, we decided to go back to the backstage door. Meeting Matthew was becoming an obsession of ours by that time! Hubby and I lead the way since we had been there so often. L. from France. U. from Germany and S. and her hubby K. from Australia just followed us. When we got there, we were told that the actors were resting (double header on Saturdays) but that Matthew did not mind coming to meet us! And he did come out, even though he was tired! What a shock it was for all of us! In broad daylight - the sky was so blue and the sun so bright -, Matthew was in jeans with a blue shirt. He looked sooooooooo young and handsome. My friend S. was literally petrified! She could not talk, she could not move... I think she could not breath! "Talk to him, S.! He is about to go back inside!"... "I can't," was her answer. I literally had to take her by the shoulders and pushed her towards him: "Sir!," I told Matthew who was heading back inside, "my friend came all the way from Australia to see you and the play!"..."Is that right?" Matthew asked my mystified friend. She, then found her voice to answer and they chatted together for a while before he left us. I thought that S. would faint!!! She was sooooooooooo happy! "I talked to him and he talked to me!" The six of us went back to the hotel, the ladies holding each other by the waist and chatting like 4 schoolgirls (U. could not stop talking about Matthew's eyelashes! LOL), the two men following us!

Since the play was sold out, I could not see it that next night, but we agreed to meet after the play to see Matthew once more. Hubby and I spent a lovely evening on the Strand while our friends attended the play. I, then decided that I would like to give something to Matthew, something simple, something nice... Hubby and I bought a nice bouquet of pink tulips to give him. We were there on time to see him again after the play, the last time for me. He smiled when he saw me. I gave him the flowers "This is to thank you for all the beautiful work you do for your fans!" I told him. Another group picture (another friend from Belgium had joined us) and before leaving, he put his hand on my shoulder to thank me again! He left as we did, we went to celebrate one more time.... Friendship and Matthew, a very powerful combination!!!