Monday, February 27, 2006

"Two left feet"

Here's an article written by Baz Bamigboye about the dancing in Pride and Prejudice.
FACE THE MUSIC, COLIN

MEANWHILE, I have learned of the two left feet of that other celebrated Darcy, Colin Firth.

When Colin was shooting the 1995 BBC version of Jane Austen's famous tale with Jennifer Ehle, Anna Chancellor, Alison Steadman, Lucy Briers and Emilia Fox, there were occasions when Colin had to dance.

Trouble was, Colin -- a brilliant actor -- had absolutely no sense of rhythm. 'He was hopeless! We had to take him off set and get a choreographer to work with him solidly for an hour,' someone who worked on the film with him told me. 'What we discovered was that once in character as Darcy, he did know how to move, but as Colin Firth he couldn't dance if his life depended on it. It was all psychological.' Sue Birtwistle, who produced the award-winning series, refused to comment, but did tell me that the DVD of Pride And Prejudice continues to sell hundreds of thousands of copies annually. Having seen the series again, I think it holds up beautifully. Many of the cast and crew met recently to celebrate the drama's tenth anniversary over cake and champagne at the Century Club in London's Shaftesbury Avenue.

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