The Making of Pride and Prejudice (BBC)

This 120 page book was packaged with my 10th anniversary boxed set of DVDs of the BBC/A&E production of Pride and Prejudice. My expectations were quite low as I usually find books like this to be poorly written. So when it turned out to be an extremely interesting page-turner, I was pleasantly surprised.

The book covers all the details of putting making a film. I was especially fascinated by the part on finding locations. The costume design part was also very interesting. Each section is written by the expert who handled that section of making the film. And there's a whole chapter by Colin Firth on how he approached Darcy!

Jennifer Ehle (who played Elizabeth Bennet) had something very interesting to say about learning the dialogue: "It's show more the hardest dialogue I've ever had to learn. Shakespeare is a doodle compared to Jane Austen. I think this is essentially because the sense of the line comes at the end of it and also the lines are much longer. When I get to the end of a sentence I usually say 'Oh, I see!' and then I have to go back and read it again. Sometimes the thoughts are quite convoluted--you do all these hairpin bends--so it takes some getting used to. But it's like anything--by the end I found it much easier to learn. It's like learning another language." I think that captures the challenge of reading Austen that a lot of readers experience!

The book is chock-a-block with high quality colour photos, and from a graphic design standpoint, it is a delight. It looks as if no expense was spared.

Recommended for: Obviously, anyone who loves the film, but I also recommend it to anyone who is interested in the details of how films--especially period ones-- are made. show less

What an absolutely wonderful book this is. Far from the sort of fluffy, slap-dash "making-of" books one sometimes comes across and suspects were rushed together only to capitalize on fans' momentary hunger for a particular production, The Making of Pride and Prejudice lays out in detail, usually in the words of the artists and crew involved, the process of the making of the 1995 BBC miniseries production of P&P ("The Colin Firth One"). Adapting the script from the book, casting, location-scouting, make-up, costuming, composing, choreography, acting, lighting, editing--every aspect of the production gets its own section full of interesting information about how films in general--and this one in particular--are made, as well as full-color show more photographs of the actors, costumes, sets, locations, and so on. Of particular interest is an extensive interview with Colin Firth about his approach to playing Darcy. Recommended to fans of this film version of P&P, as well as film enthusiasts. show less

I love this book. There's a feast here for Austen geeks, film geeks, costume geeks, and probably bunch of other geeks - rich in detail, heavily illustrated, and just huge fun. (And I got mine from Wales, which leaves me chuffed.)

This is a behind-the-scenes look at the creation of the beloved BBC miniseries adaptation of Austen's novel.

Cons: I could have wished that the photos were larger - why give us a behind-the-scenes look at such a richly visual adaptation, and then give us tiny thumbnails of sets and production design?

It also seemed a bit odd how rarely Firth was mentioned until his big final chapter - it set him apart from the rest of the cast in an awkward way. Was it because of his subsequent stardom?

I did skip many of the technical details on planning, funding, shooting, editing, etc. the series.

Pros: I did enjoy many of the behind-the-scenes details; stories about the first read-through, the actors' dancing lessons, the difficult matter of finding show more locations for filming, and so on. I especially liked to hear about the intentional ways costume and makeup were designed to indicate certain things about the characters and their relationships to each other.

It's also obvious that for the director, producer, composer, and many of the production team, this was a labour of love, and there was a specific artistic vision they wanted to achieve. show less

Received this as a Christmas present. Lavishly illustrated with lots of photos of the set, shooting locations, and the cast relaxing away from the set. It's always very strange to see Jennifer Ehle as anything other than a brunette, though--she's fixed so firmly as Lizzy in my head that it's a moment of cognitive dissonance every time.

It's fascinating reading how they made this lovely version of Pride and Predudice. I watch it frequently, so I really know what they are talking about. I am particularly fascinated on the immense effort they went to to keep it accurate.

Great book to accompany the DVD set. Nicely packaged. Full of photos. Interesting behind the scenes information on what the various jobs are and how they are done - producer, location scouts, wig making etc. - that I found informative.