By Amelia Harvey,Daniel Welsh

Copyright huffingtonpost

It’s now been 20 years since Keira Knightley and Matthew Macfadyen had audiences all over the world swooning in their film Pride & Prejudice.

Directed by Joe Wright, the movie took a more realistic and romantic approach compared to past screen adaptations of Jane Austen’s classic novel, blending traits from the source material with the filmmaker’s more modern approach.

Alongside Keira and Matthew, 2005’s Pride & Prejudice boasts a star-studded cast, including future household names like Rosamund Pike and Carey Mulligan, alongside the likes of acting legends including Tom Hollander, Dame Judi Dench and Donald Sutherland.

But even though many of us will have watched the film countless times over the last two decades, there are still plenty of facts about its production you probably never knew. To commemorate Pride & Prejudice’s 20th anniversary

Director Joe Wright actually had little knowledge of the world of Jane Austen when he signed on to make the film

When production company Working Title first pitched television director Joe Wright (who had impressed them with his TV movie Charles II: The Power and the Passion) Pride & Prejudice as his first film, he had never even read Jane Austen’s novel, or seen the 1995 BBC miniseries.

In fact, his only point of reference was the 1940s movie starring Laurence Olivier and Greer Garson – and he wasn’t a fan of that.

When he was approached about the film, he said that he “scuttled” away to read the Austen classic, which he quickly fell in love with.

“I was reading Charles Bukowski, and so Jane Austen was a kind of shock, really. I was shocked by how modern and how exciting and vital the book seemed,” he told Harper’s Bazaar in a 2025 interview coinciding with the film’s 20th anniversary.

Luckily, having already been won over the book, he also loved the Pride & Prejudice script, which became the 2005 movie.

“I took the script to the pub and by about page 60, I was weeping into my pint of lager,” he told The Harvard Crimson.

The director decided to set his film in a slightly different time to the Pride & Prejudice novel

You might not have picked up on the fact that the film isn’t entirely true to the era of the original Austen novel. Pride & Prejudice was first published in 1813, but was actually written even further ago, in 1797. Joe Wright decided to set the film in the year Austen wrote the original draft – and he had a few reasons behind that decision.

Setting the film in the late 1700s allowed the director to explore how the French Revolution had affected British society, and how the Reign of Terror still impacted the era. In that era, many aristocratic Brits had decided to integrate themselves more with the masses, in the hopes of defusing any rebellious sentiment towards them.

“Hence, the Assembly Rooms dances in village halls, which people of Darcy and Bingley’s class would now attend,” the filmmaker said in the lead-up to Pride & Prejudice’s release.

“I felt that the earlier period looked more interesting, it was a more interesting period socially and therefore those social changes were reflected in everything, including costumes,” he added in an interview with Indie London.

The film went through 10 different versions before the crew settled on the version we know and love

According to Joe’s interview with Harper’s Bazaar, screenwriter Deborah Moggach ended up writing around 10 drafts of the script.

In one earlier version, audiences would have followed Lydia and Wickham on their elopement, but budget constraints meant that Joe couldn’t film the couple galavanting on a trip, so he had them romancing inside the existing property instead.

“You are kind of trying to shape the script to not only creative necessities but also financial necessities,” he told the outlet.

In the same interview, Joe revealed that there had also been a wedding-party scene for Elizabeth and Mr Darcy, but he felt that would have been an unorginal way to end his film (not to mention one they couldn’t actually afford).

He recalled: “I remember there being choices about how to end it simply, and also I wanted the ending to be this kind of emotional catharsis without it being about lots of people – it just being about something quite simple.”

As for the actual way the film ended, that differed depending on which side of the Atlantic you were watching it on

Did you know there are two endings to Pride & Prejudice for American and British audiences? While the American version ends with a kiss between Elizabeth and Darcy, in the UK, the film concludes with Elizabeth discussing her engagement, without including the kiss that came afterwards in the US version.

The scene where Elizabeth and Darcy kiss was originally included in test screenings in the UK, but British audiences felt it was too sappy and cheesy. The sentimental closing scenes landed much better with American audiences, so they kept it in the final US cut.

The director told Harper’s Bazaar that he actually prefers the British ending but apparently “the Americans wanted something a little sweeter”.

He quipped: “They like sugar, you know? So we ended up with those two different endings.”

Pride & Prejudice director Joe Wright initially had reservations about Keira Knightley for one rather surprising reason

Keira revealed on The Graham Norton Show: “He initially thought I was too pretty, but then he met me and said ‘Oh, no you’re fine!’.”

In a 2005 interview with The Guardian, Joe opened up more about why he had been so unsure about casting the Bend It Like Beckham actor.

He claimed: ”I thought Lizzie Bennet maybe should be someone slightly plainer. Darcy’s attracted to her because of the liveliness of her mind.”

Upon meeting the future Oscar nominee in real life, though, he admitted he was pleasantly surprised.

“When I met Keira I discovered her to be this incredibly vital, independent-minded, scruffy tomboy. There are so many actresses out there who look alike with their perfectly ironed hair. I like actors who surprise me,” Joe said.

Luckily, Keira wasn’t too insulted by his comments as she and Joe have been friends since, and worked together again on Atonement and Anna Karenina.

Joe Wright had to get inventive when Matthew Macfayden had some difficulty with one particular sequence in Pride & Prejudice

When filming the scene where Mr Darcy broodingly walks through the fog, Joe had to use a red flag to ensure Matthew didn’t get lost due to low visibility.

The Succession actor has poor eyesight, and needed guidance to ensure he stayed in frame.

The sultry scene suddenly becomes less brooding when you realise the director is waving flags around, just out of shot.

Emma Thompson wrote select scenes for the 2005 film Pride & Prejudice

Fans have Emma Thompson to thank for some of the film’s best-loved moments.

Emma previously won a screenwriting Oscar for her work on another Jane Austen adaptation, Sense And Sensibility, and came on board unofficially to assist Joe Wright with one specific part of Pride & Prejudice.

According to the filmmaker, the scene where Charlotte talks about being 27 with no money or prospects came together after he and Emma went for a walk through London’s Hampstead Heath.

“I remember the Charlotte scene. Deborah Moggach wrote the script and did a beautiful job,” Joe Wright told People.“Emma Thompson came on and helped out with some of the dialogue.”

He added: “I trotted behind her, and at a certain point on top of a hill, she instructed me to sit on a bench and get out a notepad. She improvised that scene as I wrote down what she was improvising.”

Mr Darcy’s famous ‘hand flex’ didn’t even make it into the original script

Joe Wright has revealed he was actually the one who came up with unscripted hand flex, which has gone viral in recent years.

Speaking to People, he explained that while the scene was an important one in the book, it didn’t make it into the film’s script.

However, he wanted the scene to “convey the intelligence of our bodies really over our minds”, and when he struggled with how to convey this meaning on screen, he had the idea for Matthew’s tiny gesture of pent-up longing.

Joe admitted he was surprised the gesture was so well received, as he wasn’t sure it came across as he intended on the day.

“I felt like I hadn’t conveyed what I wanted to,” he admitted. “And it’s odd and gratifying to find that we told our story, and people have responded.”

Rosamund Pike turned down a role in another major British film in order to play Jane Bennet

Rosamund Pike was Joe Wright’s first choice for the role of Jane. She turned down an offer to play the journalist Rita Skeeter in Harry Potter And The Goblet of Fire to appear in the film

“I just regret not doing the movie because I love Mike [Newell, the director of the Harry Potter film in question] and I owe him a favour,” she told FTV at the time. “I don’t know who replaced me, but I wish her the best luck!”

The role would eventually go to Miranda Richardson, reprising the role in the seventh Harry Potter movie in 2010.

Keira Knightley was banned from doing one thing on the set of Pride & Prejudice

In 2014, Keira told Graham Norton that she’d picked up a habit of pouting around the time Pride & Prejudice was made, after being told by some rather harsh critics that her smile was “pout”.

Joe wasn’t having it, though, and banned her from pouting in his film – although she claimed that she still managed to “get one in” on a day when the director wasn’t paying as much attention.

Matthew Macfayden was the top pick to play Mr Darcy – but not everyone was in agreement about his casting

While Joe was concerned about Keira’s casting in Pride & Prejudice, he had no concerns about Matthew’s performance as Mr Darcy.

“He was our first choice,” producer Paul Webster told The New York Times. Still, despite him being the first choice by the film’s creatives, the studio execs wanted a more established name to act alongside Keira. “[The process] was exhausting and pointless, as we came full circle back to Matthew,” Joe explained.

Interestingly, to this day, Matthew is still unsure if whether was the right choice for Mr Darcy.

He told CBS Mornings in 2024: “There were moments I had a good time, but I wish I enjoyed it more. I wish I was less worried about it… I felt a bit miscast, like, ‘I’m not dishy enough.’ But it worked out.”

Carey Mulligan landed the role as Kitty in Pride & Prejudice thanks to another major name in the world of British period dramas

Having been rejected from acting school, Carey Mulligan told HuffPost in 2010 that she’d written a letter to future Downton Abbey creator – and Gosford Park screenwriter – Julian Fellowes, after he’d given a talk at her school “about winning the Oscar for Gosford Park and being a screenwriter”.

She further explained that Julian then invited her to a dinner for aspiring actors and writers, where she was introduced to the casting assistant for Pride & Prejudice.

“[That’s where] I met Joe Wright and auditioned about three times for Pride & Prejudice, and that’s how I got the job,” she revealed.

Donald Sutherland tried to quit Pride & Prejudice at one point

Donald Sutherland revealed in a 2018 interview with Rolling Stone that he tried to quit his scene-stealing role as Mr Bennet, but was talked down by the director.

“Joe wouldn’t let me [leave]! ‘Joe, goddammit, I’m not right for this, why the fuck did you hire me for this?’” the late Canadian actor recalled telling the director.

The Don’t Look Now star was ultimately thankful that he was convinced to stay, delivering one of the film’s stand-out performances – not to mention it being a highlight of Donald’s own filmography.

“It’s one of my favourite things out of all the movies I’ve done,” he later claimed.

Simon Woods improvised one of the film’s most memorable scenes

The original sequence where Mr Bingley asks for Jane’s hand originally went very differently. In the original script, the moment where he practices his proposal with Mr. Darcy was much briefer. However, the director loved how endearing Simon Woods was as Bingley in that moment, so they extended the scene with his improvisations.

This moment makes this adaptation version of Bingley more natural and endearing, just one of the reasons this film is so beloved 20 years later.

If Keira Knightly ever gave you hair envy in Pride & Prejudice, it might interest you to know she was actually wearing a wig for a lot of the film

Admittedly, in some scenes, Keira’s wig is distractingly noticeable. She had to wear one, though, after dramatically cutting her hair for another role in Tony Scott’s Domino.

In a 2006 interview with Pop Entertainment, Keira explained that she was struggling to prepare for the role as a bounty hunter, as she was too deep into being Elizabeth Bennett.

”I needed to look in the mirror and not see Elizabeth Bennet, because that’s what was doing it, my hair did, and so I had to cut it off. That was helpful. It was incredibly stupid, and putting a ridiculous pressure on myself, to do them that close together,” she explained.

Judi Dench amused herself on set by making rude embroidery

Actors are always looking for ways to entertain themselves on set, and Judi Dench had her own sweary way of passing the time.

“She makes these like needlework embroideries on set in the tedium of filming,” Matthew Macfadyen recalled.

These embroideries, it should be noted, were full of expletives.

“She gives them as presents,” Matthew added. “And it’s Dame Judi Dench. And she is doing this beautifully, intricate, ornate work. You kind of see the work materialising as the shoot goes on. Like, ‘You Are a Fucking Shit.’”

Keira also confirmed that she has “hundreds of them just covered in swear words or rude sayings”.

An interesting Jane Austen Easter egg appears at the very beginning of Pride & Prejudice

In the film’s opening scene, Keira’s character, Elizabeth Bennet, is shown reading a fictitious novel called First Impressions, which was actually Jane Austen’s working title for the novel, before its publication.

Pride & Prejudice is available to stream now on Netflix in the UK.