Matthew Macfadyen stole countless hearts with his breakout role in “Pride & Prejudice,” but he recently admitted that he felt “a bit miscast.”
The Golden Globe winner might be most famous for his turn in HBO’s “Succession,” but he had already swept countless romantics off their feet as the charming Mr. Darcy in 2005’s adaptation of “Pride & Prejudice.” While the film is beloved by many, Macfadyen said he didn’t enjoy filming it.
“No, I didn’t really,” he told “CBS Mornings” in an interview released Tuesday. “I feel bad saying that. There were moments I had a good time. But I wish I’d enjoyed it more. I wish I was less worried about it. I just felt a bit miscast, or I’m not dishy enough.”
Macfadyen continued, “But it worked out. I think probably the most flattering thing that happens to me now is people say, ‘Were you Mr. Darcy?’ And it’s a good, good 20 years later, so I think I can’t be aging that badly.”
“Pride & Prejudice” has since become one of the most acclaimed Jane Austen adaptations of its time. With a romance between Macfadyen’s Mr. Darcy and Keira Knightley’s Elizabeth Bennet at the fore, the film mined themes of class and wealth in Victorian England.
While Knightley had already proven herself an A-lister with roles in “Pirates of the Caribbean” and “Love Actually,” Joe Wright’s romantic drama, which had a global gross of $121 million, marked Macfadyen’s first turn as a romantic lead in a major motion picture.
The actor, who previously revealed that his wife Keeley Hawes was pregnant with their first child during production, told Vanity Fair in 2022: “I did feel pressure — maybe it was a self-imposed pressure of, you know: ‘This is a big film, don’t get it wrong.’”
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Macfadyen added at the time that he “didn’t feel very Mr. Darcy-ish” while filming and instead “felt like a bit of a middle-aged dad.”
However, the impact of his role in the film apparently is held in a different regard by audiences as there was this candid moment at the 2023 Emmys: “She was grounded,” Macfadyen told “Entertainment Tonight” at the ceremony after “The Bear” star Ayo Edebiri made a backstage confession.
“She had a screensaver of me as Mr. Darcy on her laptop,” he said of Edebiri. “Yeah, good parenting! I haven’t heard that [before], but that’s good.”