Trivia / Pride and Prejudice (1995)

• The Cast Showoff: The characters seen playing the piano - most often Lucy Briers as Mary, but occasionally Jennifer Ehle as Lizzie or Emilia Fox as Georgiana - are not miming; they're really playing what we hear.
• Cast the Runner-Up: Lucy Davis auditioned to play Lydia, but lost out to Julia Sawalha. She was cast as Maria Lucas instead.
• Dawson Casting: Most of the leads were played by actors a few years older.
  • Julia Sawalha was a full ten years older than the fifteen-year-old Lydia Bennet, and a year older than Jennifer Ehle, even though Lizzie is supposed to be the elder of the two by five years.
  • Emilia Fox was 20, playing Georgiana Darcy at ages 15-16. She definitely doesn't look young enough in a flashback to when Georgiana is 12 or 13, but then again, she's only on screen for a few seconds.
  • Adrian Lukis at 37-38 was nearly a full decade older than his character George Wickham, and unfortunately looked it. ^note  Wickham's exact age isn't specified, but he's supposed to be around the same age as Darcy, who's 28.
  • Lucy Briers was 28 when she played Mary, who was 18/19 years old. Susannah Harker as well was nearly 30 when she played 23-year-old Jane.
• Dyeing for Your Art:
  • Jennifer Ehle is naturally blonde. Although she wore a wig to play Elizabeth, she still cut her hair short to help it fit under the wig better. This hilariously caused even more problems for the stylists, as little wisps of blonde hair kept escaping from under the wig - and they mused it would have been easier if her hair had been long.
  • Colin Firth also dyed his light brown hair a shade of black. This is because producers had always imagined Darcy as dark-haired, despite the book not commenting on hair colour.
  • Susannah Harker lightened her hair so that Jane would better contrast to Lizzie.
• Fake Brit: Jennifer Ehle traded her North Carolina accent for a high-end British one as Lizzie Bennet.
• Hide Your Pregnancy: Susannah Harker was pregnant during filming, but was able to continue due to the cut of the costumes and some cleverly placed shawls.
• Promoted Fanboy: Jennifer Ehle claims she had literally wanted to be Elizabeth when she first read the book, and lists playing her as one of her favourite roles.
• Real-Life Relative: Joanna David (Mrs Gardiner) and Emilia Fox (Georgiana Darcy) are mother and daughter in real life.
• Romance on the Set: Although people only learned about the romance after it had ended, Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle became romantically involved during the 1995 production.
• Star-Making Role: Colin Firth was a mostly obscure actor in his mid-thirties at the time of filming. Everyone outside of the UK instantly knew who he was afterwards.

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