Pride & Prejudice director reveals Matthew Macfadyen improvised this iconic Mr. Darcy moment

The hand that almost never flexed.“Pride & Prejudice” director Joe Wright revealed that the brief but powerful moment where Mr.Darcy’s (Matthew Macfadyen) hand trembles after helping Elizabeth Bennet (Keira Knightley) into her carriage was improvised by Macfadyen, 50.“It wasn’t in the script, but that was an important moment in the book,” Wright, 52, told People in an interview published Wednesday ahead of the film’s 20th anniversary.“This sudden realization, as they were parting, of what they meant to each other, or the kind of disturbance they caused in each other,” the British filmmaker explained.The moment when Mr.

Darcy’s hand flexes, which went viral on TikTok in 2021, was important for his and Elizabeth’s relationship and to “convey the intelligence of our bodies really over our minds,” Wright said.“Our bodies are so much smarter than our minds often.Although their conscious minds are fighting against each other, their bodies are two magnets drawn to each other,” Wright told the outlet.

“As they touch, even that little hand lifting helping her, which is pure etiquette of the period, somehow creates this kind of electronic shock wave through them both, and he has to shake it away,” he added.While the carriage scene between Macfadyen and Knightley’s characters is beloved today, Wright admitted that at the time he didn’t think it was that meaningful.“It had been a gloomy day when we shot it,” he recalled.“I felt like I hadn’t conveyed what I wanted to, and it’s odd and gratifying to find that we told our story, and people have responded.”“Because on the day, I thought, ‘Oh no, we didn’t get it.

It was rubbish.It didn’t work.’ Now, people are still posting it.

It’s odd and really nice.”The adaptation of Jane Austen’s classic came out in November 2005 and also starred Donald Sutherland, Tom Hollander, Brenda Blethyn, Judi Dench and Rosamund Pike.Last year, Macfadyen shocked fans by admitte...