Matthew Macfayden steps into Colin Firth's breeches in the new cinema treatment of Pride and Prejudice, and finds them a good fit, he tells Michael Dwyer
Just 10 years have passed since Colin Firth caused hearts to flutter in untold numbers of women when he strode in his famously tight breeches through the role of Mr Darcy in the BBC production of Pride and Prejudice. With that memory still so fresh, it takes a brave actor to step into Firth's breeches, so to speak, and play Darcy in the new cinema treatment of Jane Austen's enduring novel.
Full credit, then, to Matthew Macfayden, who has taken on that challenge. His Darcy is admirably developed and has such sensitivity and subtle complexity that it transcends Firth's portrayal.
Elizabeth Bennet - radiantly played by Keira Knightley - first sets eyes on the aloof, forbidding figure of Darcy at a ball, and her instinctive reaction is to describe him as miserable. Her feelings for him turn even colder as the story continues, although she later realises that he has been a victim of lies and misinformation. Driven by love for the first time in his life, Darcy is forced to break out of his emotional repression, and we see him melt gradually before our eyes, like a snowman in winter sunshine.
Joe Wright, who directed this enthralling, impeccably acted new treatment of Austen's novel, had not seen any of the earlier screen versions. "So I was able to cast the Darcy that was in my head," he says, "and Matthew Macfayden was the only one for me. Darcy is 28, and Matthew was 29 when we were shooting." He adds: "Matthew, unlike many actors, is not vain and so was not afraid to be disliked by audiences at the beginning of the story." Macfayden, who joined Wright and several of the film's cast in Dublin for its Irish premiere last weekend, had only played a leading role in one feature film before Wright cast him - the brooding New Zealand drama, In My Father's Den, which enjoyed a long run at the Screen cinema in Dublin this summer.
"No, I'm not a vain actor," Macfayden says. "I know there are actors who don't want to play unsympathetic roles, but I don't understand that. I see every role as part of being an actor. That's our profession and what we get paid to do." As for the Firth factor, he avoids the comparison, stating he hasn't seen "the telly version", as he puts it. "I've always been a fan of Colin Firth," he says. "Did you know he didn't want to do it? He had to be cajoled into it because he felt he was wrong for the part."
Austen's novel continues to exert a remarkable fascination for screenwriters and filmmakers. There have been five television adaptations, including a 1980 production scripted by Fay Weldon and a 1952 version with Peter Cushing as Darcy. Brave New World author Aldous Huxley worked on the screenplay of the 1940 movie featuring Greer Garson and Laurence Olivier as Elizabeth and Darcy. Last year, the book got the Bollywood musical treatment in Bride and Prejudice. And the relationship between Elizabeth and Darcy hovers over the two Bridget Jones movies.
"One reason I think so many people are drawn to it," says Macfayden, "has a lot to do with the fact that you can see how young Jane Austen's hand is behind it. I found that particularly touching when I read it. And then there were those stories about how she kept it hidden in a desk drawer after writing it. She wasn't telling anyone about it. It's a young love story, yet very mature and insightful for a writer her age at the time."
Macfayden was drawn to Joe Wright's film version for several reasons. "I like that it's been given this gritty treatment that doesn't sentimentalise it, and Darcy is not attractive at the beginning, is he?" he says. "I know a lot of actors didn't put their hats in the ring. Because it's one of those iconic parts, you can make a tit of yourself easily and you can set yourself up for failure. But then, if everyone played safe all the time, no one would ever play Hamlet again.
"It was a lovely part to play. There were some moments where I could hardly wait to play the next scene, and it's nice when that happens. My favourite was what we called the car crash scene, when Elizabeth and Darcy meet in the rain and he's finally getting over himself and wants to tell her that he loves her, but it all goes so badly wrong."
The movie retains a great deal of Austen's elegant, witty dialogue, which is delivered with flair by a fine ensemble cast. At the premiere in Dublin, five teenage girls left the cinema about 20 minutes into the movie, and I assumed that they were thrown by the formality of the dialogue, the type of which is never heard on, say, MTV. However, all five returned very shortly, and it would seem they had gone en masse to the ladies' room.
When I mention this to Macfayden, he recalls director Joe Wright's experience when he and his editor attended the first of those test screenings Hollywood organises in cinemas at US shopping malls to assess initial reactions to a movie. "This was the first time the film was seen by a public audience anywhere, and after the film started Joe and the editor slipped outside for a smoke. This man stormed out of the cinema and asked them, 'Were you watching that piece of shit, too?' and they pretended they, too, had walked out. But that person was the only one to walk out and the reaction from the rest of the audience was very positive."
Joining Macfayden in the cast are several inveterate scene-stealers, among them Judi Dench as the imperious Lady Catherine de Bourgh. "The very first scene I shot was the dinner scene with Judi Dench," he says. "I think she's great, and I didn't know what to say or where to look. It was quite funny at the hotel where we were staying. The receptionist was so paralysed to be dealing with Judi Dench that she just called her Dame the whole time."
Brenda Blethyn gleefully chews up the scenery as Mrs Bennet, whose every breathing minute appears dedicated to finding husbands for her five daughters, while Donald Sutherland plays her ever-patient husband. "My mum's in love with him," says Macfayden. "He knew my wife was pregnant at the time, and the very first thing he said to me when we met was to ask if I was going to deliver the baby by myself. I said I would be there for the birth, but that I would not be physically involved in the delivery. He said he delivered all his children, and he gave me a book called Husband Coach Childbirth. He's a very sweet man."
As for his co-star Keira Knightley, Macfayden says: "She's remarkable. She was 19 when we did it and she's an extremely good actress. She's so self-possessed without being in any way starry or bombastic. She came straight on to this film from shooting something else, and the day after we finished, she was off right away on to her next film, Domino. My hat is off to her. She's lovely. She makes me feel very old."
Matthew Macfayden is 31 and from Great Yarmouth in Norfolk. "My mother did some acting and trained as a drama teacher," he says. "As long as I can remember, I never thought about doing anything else but acting. When I got into drama school, it was like a red letter day. It was blissful. I knew then this was my life." Turned down by the National Youth Theatre, he was accepted at RADA. Shortly before his 21st birthday, he made his professional debut, being thrown in at the deep end in Cheek By Jowl's acclaimed production of The Duchess of Malfi. "Before we went to the West End with it, we did it for a week at the Gaiety in Dublin. I remember it like it was yesterday. It was fantastic, a really lovely week."
On British television Macfayden has featured in some of the best TV drama of recent years - Perfect Strangers, Warriors, The Project and his favourite, the Anthony Trollope adaptation, The Way We Live Now, along with the dark, uncompromising series, Spooks, dealing with a counter-terrorist unit of MI5.
He starred in Spooks for three seasons before he "retired gracefully" from it last year, and it holds a very special significance for him because he married one of his co-stars, Keeley Hawes. They have an eight-month-old daughter, Maggie. "She's bliss," says her proud father.
Two nights before coming to Dublin for the premiere last week, Macfayden finished a run in repertory at the National Theatre in London, playing Prince Hal in King Henry IV, Parts 1 and 2, with Michael Gambon cast as Falstaff. "I hadn't done a play for four years, so I was a little nervous about it," he says. "But I felt like an actor again. After doing a lot of filming, I was feeling tired with myself. Because Michael was playing Falstaff, it was sold out every night and it's great to play to full houses.
While he awaits news on his next project, which may be a low-budget film in Northern Ireland, Macfayden comments that he's "on the scrap heap again - maybe I should send my wife out to work and mind our baby." Reflecting on his first 10 years as a professional actor, he says that he worries more than he ever did. "The more work you do and the longer you do it, there are different worries. It's a curious thing. There's more stress, and there's always the question of what you should do next, and you worry about what people expect."
Before we part, I ask Macfayden how he feels about Keira Knightley's description of him as "a man who is sexy in the mode of Richard Burton, with a bit of Alan Rickman". He laughs out loud. "Is that what she said? I have nothing to say to that. A bit of Alan Rickman! I see . . ."
Pride and Prejudice goes on release on Friday