In Retrospect: Principal Photography for Pride & Prejudice (2005) begins on this week 20 years ago!

The 4-time Academy Award (6-time BAFTA and 2-time Golden Globe) nominated 2005 film, Pride & Prejudice starring Academy Award nominee Keira Knightley and Matthew Macfadyen began filming 20 years ago this week (July 19th, 2004). The film was shot entirely on location in the UK, including Derbyshire, Wiltshire and Kent. The P&P cast and crew spent their most fun and "happiest" summer (3 months!) filming the movie from July to October 2004.

In retrospect, here are a compilation of various cast interviews (mostly, you've read/heard them from interviews and the P&P DVD extras) and what the cast said their experiences were like filming P&P movie and bonding with each other...

Did you enjoy working on location in the British countryside?
Yes, definitely! I really enjoy traveling and the opportunity of doing a film in Britain was definitely a huge bonus. Actually partly because I really don't know the British countryside. It's weird, I know Devon and Cornwall but I didn't know Derbyshire, I've never been to Kent before and it was a really great opportunity to actually see my own country for a change as opposed to seeing other people's. So it was a fantastic summer and I'm so glad to have seen all this beautiful places. -Keira Knightley

"Filming Pride & Prejudice (2005) was a joy and made for one of my happiest summers ever. "It could well be that the story brings out the best in people - and it sounds so cheesy, but we really did behave like a family. The girls playing the younger sisters had never been on a film set before and wanted to socialize all the time, so we picnicked, hung out in a beautiful country house and went swimming naked in a lake. It was idyllic." - Rosamund Pike

About her Pride & Prejudice (2005) co-stars: We were like one big family. We took over the house. It was so much fun. Brenda Blethyn (Mrs Bennet) mummied us all - when we had days off she took us on day trips to a llama farm. - Carey Mulligan

What do you remember about that filming experience?

I walked on and had never acted professionally, let alone in a film, so I got coached through it by Joe Wright and I copied everything that Jena Malone did, because she played almost a twin, so I basically did everything she did. And that was how I got through it ... It was an incredibly tight gang of people. Joe Wright does that brilliantly, he builds families while he builds his casts and he makes you spend a lot of time together, so you do kind of form those relationships. And that comes off in his films really well. - Carey Mulligan (via movie fone)

Carey told the press that working with Keira in 2005’s “Pride and Prejudice” helped her develop her acting style in a major way.

“I was a real tomboy until was 15 – I didn't have my first kiss until a month away from being 16. So I just copied everything Keira did for weeks. She is still amazing to me.”

“That was a mad hippie summer – a party every weekend, lots of jumping naked into the lake. And I ate everything; my face ballooned. I realized catering is a very dangerous thing!”- Carey Mulligan

Tom Hollander: It was just me and Keira and Talulah... and all the girls playing Sardines in a cupboard. That was one of the happiest days of my life. [laughs...and dances in the background as Mr. Collins, lol]

Talulah Riley: To bond and to get to know the house... we decided to play the game Sardines... where one person hides and then everybody goes to look for them.

Brenda Blethyn: It's been so happy, a kind of idyllic in that house. And the friendships and the camaraderie, it's just heaven. And I don't want it to end, to be honest.

Brenda Blethyn: We've become such friends, all of us, for real.

Brenda Blethyn: I've loved every minute of this film.
Talulah Riley and Carey Mulligan: [nods at Brenda in agreement]

Read More...
Behind The Scenes: Conversations with the Pride & Prejudice Cast
More Carey Mulligan Interviews

Also, here's an interesting timeline (from KeiraWeb's P&P Promotional Page) to when it all started back in 2004...

Pride & Prejudice (2005) Timeline

2004 - January. Working Title announce plans for a big screen version of Pride and Prejudice, the first since 1940. Joe Wright is confirmed as director, with the screenplay written by novelist Deborah Moggach.
April 27th - Screen International announce Keira Knightley is in advanced negotiations to star as Elizabeth Bennet in the Working Title production.
June 8th - Keira is confirmed in the role of Elizabeth.
June 11th - Matthew MacFadyen is announced as Mr. Darcy.
July 14th. Dame Judi Dench, Penelope Wilton, Donald Sutherland and Brenda Blethyn are confirmed as co-stars in the movie. A budget of $28million is revealed.
July 19th - Principal photography begins at Burghley House, near Stamford in Lincolnshire. It will be seen as Rosings, the home of the De Bourghs.
August 15th - Filming moves to Groombridge Place near Tunbridge Wells in Kent, which will be seen as the Bennets' home, Longbourn.
August 23rd - Filming takes place at Wilton House near Salisbury, to be seen as the interior of Pemberley - (This was the location for Colin Firth's famous wet shirt scene in the 1995 BBC production). Stourhead Gardens and Martin Down were other places utilized while in Wiltshire.
August 31st - Filming returns to Burghley House, and its local town of Stamford, with hundreds of locals used as extras. This will be seen as the village of Meryton in the movie.
September 8th. The cast and crew film Netherfield scenes at Basildon Park in Berkshire. The West Front, dining room and Octagon Drawing Room will be featured in the movie.
September 13th - Keira is confirmed to play Domino Harvey in Domino, which starts filming in early October. Her hair is cut short in preparation for the role, and the remaining scenes as Lizzie see her sporting a wig.
September 27th - Filming concludes at Chatsworth House in Derbyshire. The exterior shots of Pemberley were filmed here, and the grand staircase and Sculpture Gallery will also be seen. While in Derbyshire, dramatic clifftop scenes were filmed with Keira in the Peak District National Park.
October 8th - Filming wraps on the movie, as early release date speculation suggest September 2005.

Pride & Prejudice On Set/Behind The Scenes Photos

(In Burghley House aka Rosings)

Also, check out and view the following...

"Shooting [Pride & Prejudice] through the summer of 2004 was a delight. We made the film all across England in half a dozen counties using seven different stately homes. It was like being plunged and into a bucolic past and reminded us all of how beautiful a country England can be. The attention to detail paid off and cast and crew felt themselves immersed in the story...It's sickening to say but the production did go very smoothly. The sun did tend to come out exactly when it was required to and hardly anybody moaned about the catering. True, there were always the ever present paparazzi keen to document Keira's every sock change, but all in all the making of 'Pride and Prejudice' was a remarkable experience for everyone involved. We feel we have honoured Jane Austen and all are very proud of the film we have made. It just goes to show what happens when you work with a director who has a vision and understands that realizing that vision is all about team work." (Paul Webster, P&P Producer; from P&P Companion Book)