DJHH
THE MAKING OF
SUE BIRTWISTLE &c SUSIE CONKLIN
The Making of Pride and Prejudice reveals in compelling detail ho...
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DJHH
THE MAKING OF
SUE BIRTWISTLE &c SUSIE CONKLIN
The Making of Pride and Prejudice reveals in compelling detail how Jane Austen's classic novel is transformed into a stunning television drama Filmed on location in Wiltshire and Derbyshire, Pride and Prejudice, with its lavish sets and distinguished cast, was scripted by award-winning dramatist Andrew Davies, who also adapted Middlemarch for BBC TV. Chronicling eighteen months of work - from the original concept to the first broadcast - The Making of Pride and Prejudice brings vividly to life the challenges and triumphs involved in every stage of production of this sumptuous television series. Follow a typical day's filming, including the wholesale transformation of Lacock village into the minutely detailed setting of Jane Austen's Meryton. Discover how Colin Firth approaches the part of Darcy, how actors' costumes and wigs are designed, how authentic dances are rehearsed and how Carl Davis recreates the period music and composes an original score. Piece together the roles of many behind-the-scenes contributors to the series, from casting directors and researchers to experts in period cookery and gardening. Including many full-colour photographs, interviews and lavish illustrations, The Making of Pride and Prejudice is an indispensable companion to the beautifully produced series and a fascinating insight into all aspects of a major television enterprise.
DESIGN CONSULTANT: GERRY SCOTT Front cover photograph shows Luckington Court, Chippenham, Wiltshire © George Wright Back cover photograph by Neil Ccnower shows Colin Firth as Darcy and Jennifer Ehle as Flizabeth Bennet © BBC Screenplay by Andrew Davies • Executive Producer: Michael Wearing Producer: Sue Birtwistle • Director: Simon Langton
Pride and Prejudice is available on video from
PENGUIN
ISBN 0-14-025157-X
Film/Television
U.K. U. S. CAN.
£10.99 $22. 00 $31.50
9"780140"251579
THE MAKING OF
PRIDE ^PREJUDICE SUE BIRTWISTLE & SUSIE CONKLIN
P E N G U I N BOOKS BBC BOOKS
P E N G U I N BOOKS BBC BOOKS Published by the Penguin Group Penguin Books Ltd, 80 Strand, London W C 2 R ORL, England Penguin Putnam Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, USA Penguin Books Australia Ltd, 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, Victoria 3124, Australia Penguin Books Canada Ltd, 10 Alcorn Avenue,Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4V 3 B 2 Penguin Books India (P) Ltd, 11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New D e l h i - 1 1 0 017, India Penguin Books (NZ) Ltd, Cnr Rosedale and Airborne Roads, Albany, Auckland, New Zealand Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd, 2 4 Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank 2 1 % , South Africa Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London W C 2 R ORL, England www.penguin.com First published 1995 30 Copyright © Sue Birtwistle and Susie Conklin, 1995 All rights reserved All photographs copyright © BBC The moral right of the authors has been asserted 1 0 0 1 S ™ BBC used under licence Printed in China Colour reproduction by Saxon, Norwich Except in the United States of America, this book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher's prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser
0 NT E N T S
Introduction
V
CHAPTER 1
The script
1
CHAPTER 2
Pre-production
14
Casting
15
Location Hunting
22
The Production Team
27
CHAPTER 3
Production design
35
CHAPTER 4
Costume, make-up and hair design
47
CHAPTER 5
Music
61
CHAPTER 6
Dancing
67
CHAPTER 7
Two weeks to go . . .
73
CHAPTER 8
Filming
79
CHAPTER 9
A conversation with Colin Firth
97
CHAPTER 1 0
Post-production
107
APPENDIX
Cast and crew list
116
Acknowledgements
120
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that it looks exactly as it did before: wine glasses filled to the same level, bread rolls unbroken, cheese uncut and so on. The The Netherfield supper party. 'In the first dinner scene, I was placed in front of what looked like a large undercooked sheep. Being vegetarian, I found it a bit disturbing. From then on, I was tactfully placed in front of the decorative fruits.' (Lucy Briers)
continuity supervisor will remind the actors what they were doing during the shots - when they
t hveet meat ft/es
lifted their spoons or cut their carrots. In the kitchen the film
contrast with the simple dishes at the assembly-room
chef may be reheating the potatoes so the steam will rise
dance. On screen, we will see events that happen over a
as the lid is lifted. It was decided that wherever possible
period of half an hour, but we knew they would take three
we would see the beginning or end of a meal, a s soup or
days to film. Obviously the food can't age. Any food actually
custard are easier to eat and replace than lamb cutlets. This
eaten by the forty actors would be replaced for each shot.
doesn't mean that the tables look impoverished; at that
But because the centrepiece displays were so elaborate,
time it was accepted that many dishes, from different
they had to remain untouched and reappear each day look-
courses, would be laid on the table at the same time.
ing a s fresh a s when they started, even after many hours
Everything had to look a s if it had been made with equip-
under the hot film lights. At the end of each filming day
ment that was available in 1 8 1 3 . For instance, baking a loaf
everyone's plate or glass would be photographed with a
of bread on a griddle stone in front of a fire creates
Polaroid camera, so that it could be recreated the following
imperfections that won't be seen in modern cooking. The
day. Everything was wrapped in cling film and refrigerated.
fruit and vegetables would have been organic and not
The next morning all the dishes were re-garnished and
uniform in size. For the Netherfield ball supper scene, we asked chef Colin Capon to provide a sumptuous feast for forty to
sprayed with a scented herb oil. This was partly to make them look fresh and partly to disguise the smell that became very noticeable by the third day!
The Bennets do a lot of eating in the film, so Ron, the stand-by props man, asked me what I liked to eat. I told him gooseberry fool was my favourite pudding and he kindly provided it for me. It was so delicious that during the first two takes of the scene I gorged myself. At the other end of the table Alison Steadman cannily toyed with a couple of grapes. It took two days to shoot this and I shall never be able to eat gooseberry fool again!' (Ben Whitrow).
/'•' The Making of Pride and Prejudice
VISUAL EFFECTS: Graham Brown and Mark Haddenham For Pride and Prejudice the visual effects team provid-
the modern paraffin lamp and
ed a range of effects from candles and gas fires
burned an oil that is very simi-
through to changing weather conditions, including rain,
lar to modern cooking oil.
snow and frost. Candles required the most attention to detail, as many of the locations had chandeliers and other light
Traditionally, snow has been made using either firefighting foam or, even more
fittings incorporating modern features. Most of the time
harmful to the environment,
it was impossible, and sometimes forbidden, to remove
salt. Both of these options
these, so we had metal tubes manufactured, in a vari-
would have been out of the
ety of sizes, to cover all manner of light fittings so that
question at most of the loca-
they would appear to be candles. A recess was built in
tions, so the alternative we chose was paper. To get
at the top to allow us to light a stub of candle, and a
the snow effect, one needs reasonably coarse frag-
drip tray was added to the bottom. The whole thing was
ments of paper, but for the frost, which we used in the
painted in heat-resistant paint of approximately the
final wedding sequence, one needs a very fine, almost
right colour, and then dipped in genuine beeswax to
dust-like, grade of paper. The whole location is
make a perfect match with the candles of the period.
sprayed with a fine mist of water where the frost is
During a day's filming, these 'candles' would need con-
required, and the paper dust is blown on top of this.
stant monitoring, and the stubs in the top would often
The water then holds it in position. Clearing the area
need to be replaced ten or more times a day. We were also involved in simulating flambeaux and
after filming is not so bad as it might sound, as the whole location can simply be hosed down, and
Argand lamps, which were the other methods of lighting
the paper disintegrates in the soil without doing any
used during the period. The latter was a predecessor of
damage.
From winter to summer in one step: our snow effects cover only the filming area.
c h a p t e r
4
OSTUME, AND
MAKE-
HAIR
DES
D
inah Collin, the costume designer, and Caroline Noble, the makeup and hair designer, had worked together before on other films, and this was a bonus, as they were familiar with each other's working methods. They kept closely in touch during the pre-production period, often exchanging research material, which was important, as their two design areas overlapped. For instance, they needed to know that the hats and headdresses that Dinah provided would work with the wigs that Caroline was having made. During this research time, both would meet with the director and producer to discuss their ideas, and agreement would be reached on the direction to follow. Simon Langton explains what he was looking for: 'There are few better-documented eras than the classical/romantic age of Jane Austen. What struck me most of all was the obvious sense of freedom afforded by the light, soft materials. I wanted pale colours or creamy whites for the girls, to reflect both their zest and their innocence. This meant we could keep the darker, richer colours and exotic fabrics for characters like the Bingley sisters or Lady Catherine de Bourgh.' THE COSTUMES: Dinah Collin
I was contracted about eight or nine weeks before filming began, but I actually got to work unofficially the moment I knew I had the job. I started going to museums and collecting pictures straight away; I don't think I could have done it in eight weeks. With a period project you can generally go to see whichever costumier has the best available stock. Financially, that is the most practical thing. But there wasn't any stock for me to use - the rails of clothes from the 1850s and 1860s went on forever, but the early 1800s rail was empty, which was terribly frightening. This meant that I was going to have to make most of the costumes, which is not only more expensive but also entails such a lot of effort and meant that I'd have to find all the fabric.
48 The Making of Pride and Prejudice
ABOVE: Source picture for hairstyles. RIGHT: Lydia, Lizzy and Jane in simple frocks in contrast to those of the Bingley sisters.
Miss Bingley and Mrs Hurst were 'very fine ladies ... but proud and conceited' and were 'in the habit of spending more than they ought' (Jane Austen).
EARLY RESEARCH I phoned various museums and worked out a plan of action. It is a very laborious process, gaining access to collections - you have to write letters and arrange appointments because they have very limited time for viewings. I visited many excellent collections in Bath, Brighton, Manchester and Worthing. A woman named Alison Carter in Winchester was terribly helpful, as was the London Museum. Unfortunately, the V&A was closed at the time, but I had a very interesting chat with Avril Hart, their expert on men's clothes. She told me that they had just been given a coat made out of a fabric they had never seen before. It's called partridge - a sort of fleck with a stiff cotton weave. When I went to Cosprop, the costumier I used, I found they had been making a 1780s coat out of a fabric called India, which
Costume, make-up and hair design 49
Miss Bingley: designer's sketch with notes; finished costume and make-up.
72. ^ ?
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Tew &~v^ *ajx-irnt&
(\rs ^ i ^ s c CAS. ,V The Making of Pride and Prejudice
had left before filming. When it was long enough we dyed it and his eyebrows and lashes. His eyes are dark, so his adopted colouring certainly looked natural.
Colin Firth as Darcy.
'Dinah and I discovered that we both wanted to base Lady Catherine on a portrait we had seen of Queen Caroline.'
Jennifer Ehle Because her hair is fair and was the wrong length we knew right away that we would have to wig her. We thought we'd have at least two wigs, so one could be prepared while the other was used, but in fact we ended up with three. As she was going to be wearing a wig for five months, she decided that she wanted her own hair cut really short to make it more comfortable. But it made our job a lot more difficult because we didn't have any of her own hair to use to cover the nape of her neck where the wigs fitted. The front of the wigs would be relatively easy because they were knotted on to very fine lace, rather like the lace a ballet tutu is made of, but because of the shape of the head wigs don't fit in quite the same way at the back. I felt sorry for Philippa, who was Jennifer's makeup artist, because there were a lot of nape shots in which the camera was shooting right up behind her ear. Philippa and I drew some sharp intakes of breath at various stages, but Rob Southam, the focus puller, who is married to a make-up artist, would always call us when he knew we needed to adjust things before a shot. Contrasting the Bennet sisters There wasn't a huge amount of variety in hairstyles during that period, so I had to work hard to make distinctions between the Bennet girls. Dinah Collin very much wanted to keep Lizzy's look simple, so I went along with that - beautiful and unadorned. By contrast, I wanted Jane to look classically Greek, a style that was popular at that time and is terribly elegant. I wanted to give her the most beautiful and ornate hairstyle of the Bennet girls'. Susannah Harker's hair was her own, though we did make it a tiny bit lighter to contrast with Jennifer's. Mary, of course, is meant to be ugly and there's a reference to bad skin, so we did put her through a little spot phase! Lucy Briers was very game. She told us that her ears naturally stick out a bit, so we chose a hairstyle that would make them visible all the time. I was very cruel with the front of her hair: to make her look very plain we used quite a bit of grease on the roots so it looked unwashed. As for Lydia, very early on I said that I'd really like her to be lopsided - sort of imbalanced, messy and tomboyish. I had found some lovely illustrations of this lopsided look. So Dinah and I worked on that. Julia Sawalha has this wonderful curly, slightly frizzy hair, which looks very right for the period, so she was really very easy. Kitty is a shadow of Lydia, and not as lopsided, though she wasn't as neat or precise as Jane. Both she and Lydia are very young anyway and consequently would have been given less time for the maids to do their hair.
'Mr Bennet was so odd a mixture of quick parts, sarcastic humour, reserve and caprice' (Jane Austen).
'Our life has few distinctions, Mrs Bennet, but I Benjamin Whitrow as Mr Bennet.
feel I may safely boast that here stand two of the silliest girls in England' (Mr Bennet in Andrew Davies's adaptation).
Lydia (Julia Sawalha) and Kitty (Polly Maberly).
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