Pride, prejudice and location

From the Salisbury Journal, first published Wednesday 21st Sep 2005.

IS Colin Firth about to lose his place in the female bosom of the nation as the quintessential Mr Darcy?

A new screen version of Pride and Prejudice opens in cinemas across the country tomorrow and, with it, the possibility that the dashing Mr Firth might have to hang up his flouncy white shirt and skin tight knee breeches as young pretender Matthew Macfadyen makes his bid for the hand of Lizzy Bennet and the collective heart of British womanhood.

It's only the second time the country's favourite novel has been brought to the big screen - the original version starred Laurence Olivier and Greer Garson back in 1940 - but there have been a number of television series, including the hugely popular 1995 version which paired Firth with Jennifer Ehle as Darcy and Elizabeth.

The Darcy debate is already raging on Jane Austen fansites across the web, but some residents of south Wiltshire and west Hampshire will have made up their minds already after catching a glimpse of Mr Macfadyen in action when filming for some of the key scenes in the movie took place at locations in the area in the last year.

Wilton House entertained actors and crew for several days as the Earl of Pembroke's home doubled for Pemberley, Mr Darcy's family seat.

Chatsworth was also used for much of the filming of the exterior of Pemberley so filming called for some cosmetic work at Wilton to ensure that the two venues matched.

Wilton House manager Nigel Bailey explains: "The props people made French windows to match the ones at Chatsworth and we had to replace our sash windows - it took about six men to lift them out.

"The French windows looked absolutely brilliant - they spend extraordinary amounts of money to reproduce these things for what amounts to only a few seconds of film.

"They've left them here should we ever need them again.

"We also had to take down two large and valuable paintings to be replaced by a mirror that took six people to lift for a reflection shot."

The Pride and Prejudice crew descended on Wilton for four days - two days of preparation and dismantling with two days filming in between.

Around 120 members of the film crew swarmed around the ornately decorated rooms while the stars strutted their stuff for the cameras.

Head guide Carol Kitching was one of those charged with ensuring that none of Wilton's beautiful Chippendale furniture and priceless paintings came to harm.

"We were there to watch out for the contents of His Lordship's house," she says.

"You get hundreds of film crew rushing about with mics and cameras and you have to make sure a boom doesn't go through a Van Dyck.

"They always want to borrow our furniture, so it's always hairy at the end of a long day when they are packing away.

"I was day-dreaming over Mr Darcy before I realised that one of our tables had been taken out."

Wilton's glorious Double Cube Room became the drawing room where Darcy introduces Elizabeth, played by Pirates of the Caribbean star Keira Knightley, to his sister Georgiana.

Newcomer Tamzin Merchant plays Georgiana.

"Apparently, she's never acted before but she loves Pride and Prejudice," says Nigel.

"She literally wrote into Universal Studios and said she'd love to be Georgiana.

"They invited her to the auditions and she got the part.

"She shot her final scene here at Wilton and the director and crew burst into spontaneous applause when she finished it."

Nigel was also tasked with ensuring that Ms Knightley got from A to B in the house without being waylaid by autograph hunters.

"She was very interested in the house and I took her round for a quick tour," says Nigel.

"She's been in the public eye for so long that you forget how young she is, but she was very pleasant."

Filming moved to Stourhead, owned by the National Trust, where its Temple of Apollo stood in for the Rosings Garden where Darcy's proposal of marriage to Lizzy is rejected.

Stourhead's Palladian bridge provided the setting for one of the few "bonnet" scenes that director Joe Wright permitted in the film.

"I really wanted to avoid the Jane Austen bonnet thing, but for this scene where's she's leaving church, in the rain, I was persuaded she would have to wear one," he said.

Tamsin Frost, Stourhead's estate warden, said the stars were very polite.

"They thanked me every time I lugged them around the grounds in the NT landrover," she says.

"Probably not the sort of transport they are used to, but that's how we do it here."

Journal photographer Roger Elliott came upon filming on Martin Down on his way to another job and took some informal shots as actors Keira Knightley, Rosamund Pike (Jane Bennet) and Brenda Blethyn (Mrs Bennet) prepared to shoot more scenes from the film.

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