Jane Austen discussion
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Colin Firth or Matthew MacFadyen; that is the question?
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Sophie, Your Lovely Moderator
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Nov 05, 2012 04:26AM
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Hands down Matthew MacFadyen. He has that proud and shy look of Mr. Darcy, his small expressions capture the character very well (his smile, his frown, his uncertainty, hid walk). Notice, I did not go on a marathon about how unfit Firth is as Mr. Darcy, so please give Mac a break.
Hands down Colin Firth! :)He really shows Darcy's proud, unapproachable, you-are-beneath-me side. Then, as the story progresses, he shows his softer, sweet, shy, considerate side. I think that lets you get to know Darcy the way you do if you read the book. Some people think that Firth was too stiff, but Darcy was pretty stiff.
I'm not going to bash MacFadyen. Honestly, he was my favorite actor in the newer P&P -- the only character I liked at all, actually. I just really prefer Firth as Darcy.
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Valid point from you both. And I can't decide! In fact, to hear my opinion I will direct you here...
http://laughingwithlizzie.blogspot.co...
To a post I did on my blog about this very question!
I prefer MacFadyen, but I think that is because he was the first Darcy that I saw. When I saw Colin Firth, I just didn't believe him as Darcy, to me he was too "pretty". Although I must say it was while watching the BBC version he is in that I started to make a turn to even tolerating Darcy so that is a point in his favor.
Marren wrote: "Hands down Matthew MacFadyen. He has that proud and shy look of Mr. Darcy, his small expressions capture the character very well (his smile, his frown, his uncertainty, hid walk). Notice, I did not..."I TOTALLY AGREE WITH YOU AND BACKING YOU UP A %100 PERCENT!!!!
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What? Are you offended that people seem to really love MacFadyen? is it such a shock to see people who like him more than the perfect Mr. Flirth?
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Sorry, Sophie! I have been in an extremely judgmental mood lately especially since Liz has been treating me lower than dirt and plus she doesn't even care about my feelings and says all kinds of things that are hurtful.
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There are many Firth people but they are too scared to speak up!
Sophie, you should speak up for Mr. Perfect!
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My view is split down the middle, completely down the middle! Both great!
I am a huge Firth supporter :-). But I will say, I think MacFadyen looked more age appropriate for the character (whether or not that was the case in real life)
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Age appropriate. I will do some research.... Give me a minute!
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Firth 35 (born 1960, filmed 1995)
MacFadyen 31 (born 1974, filmed 2005)
I was doing research on ages before of the actors and I was very surprised. I will post my results on another thread.
I don't know if this is true, but I think a lot of actors are older than the characters they play. Also, judging by photos I've seen, younger people tended to look older & more mature than younger people of the same age look today (if that makes sense). That's why I'm okay with the cast being older than the characters.
None of them. Even though the screen adaptation wasn't faithfull to the novel, the best Mr Darcy I've ever seen was Laurence Olivier in P&P 1940.
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Laurence was great actually! I enjoyed his performance! I also liked David Rintoul's performance - 1980.
I have been looking for more period drama and Laurence Olivier name came up a bit. He must have been a hot in demand actor :)
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Irene Aprile wrote: "None of them. Even though the screen adaptation wasn't faithfull to the novel, the best Mr Darcy I've ever seen was Laurence Olivier in P&P 1940."I really loved Mr. Olivier! He was fabulous!
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I like them both but prefer Colin Firth slightly because:1. I saw that version 17 years ago so he's more firmly routed as Darcy in my mind.
2. The film is so different than the book that I don't like it as much (MM's lines are not 'real' Darcy lines).
However, MM is cute and plays the part well...
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Okay, there have not been very many Firth supporters here, so I figured I had to say something. If you haven't guessed already, I vote for Colin Firth.
I'm with Sarah Louise, even if I really appreciate Laurence Olivier, BBC P&P is the most faithfull adaptation I've ever seen and Colin Firth is Mr Dary in my immagination.
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Colin Firth! Hated the movie with a passion!
Kim wrote: "Colin Firth! Hated the movie with a passion!"Ah, someone who shares my feelings... ;)
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My Mr Darcy will always be Matthew Macfadyen. I thought he was perfect. I went against my usual strict rules against watching more than one adaption and had a look at a couple of clips of the other P&P/Colin Firth - I honestly really disliked it. What I love about both Macfadyen and the 05 version is that it took Austen - which some people think is a bit dry in terms of language and sounds very restricted (not me!) - and made it all come wonderfully, emotionally alive. The other version, with the exception of a couple of moments, I could see why some people might find Austen boring. Macfadyen just seemed to convey far more passion than Firth. I don't know, maybe my opinion would change if I watched the whole thing, but even so, I'm sure it will always be Macfadyen for me. :)
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I did think 05 was very ... What's the word.... Sort of ... passionate. They changed the vocabulary (quite a lot) and one of the best scenes to show this would be the first proposal - a huge difference between that one and the series!
I did find the 05 version very passionate! But it is true I did see that 95 had more accurate vocabulary, but the changed vocab in 05 never annoyed me, it still sounded Regency-ish. And in my defense, the scenes I watched were the first proposal scene, the lake scene, the last proposal scene and the wedding, and it still came off like that.
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After seeing the build up to the proposal in the series it is in fact very passionate, the way Firth says the words, and Lizzie's reaction!
So I see where you are coming from having only seen clips.
Haha, is this the start of your campaign to make me watch more adaptions? I told you how stubborn I can be!!! Therefore I doubt my opinion would change much after seeing the whole thing. In any case - I've had a look at your blog post for this, and you know how you said Macfadyen took the "shy" route while Firth took the "proud" route? If that is true I would always prefer shyness to pride anyway, but I think Macfadyen did a great job of combining both (perhaps a little more shy). How well, in your opinion, did Firth combine the two attitudes?
ive only ever watched the 2005 one...but i loved mr darcy a whole lot even if firth is better looking
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Did you like my post?
I think it is like that, that Firth goes for more proud and MacFadyen shy - the timing being the reason 5hours vs. 2 hours.
Of course, they both do some of each but I don't see that much pride in MacFadyen as Darcy, definitely more shyness, which I said I don't mind. Firth does show more pride but he does get the shyness in there. Some examples.... The line 'I do not have the talent of conversing easily with those I have never met before' and that whole bit with Lizzie, Col. Fitzwilliam and Darcy around the piano discussing his social behaviour is done very well. Firth, as well as MacFadyen, is good at the subtle facial expressions. During that scene you can see him becoming very awkward and embarrassed at his shyness and uneasiness among stranger and he finds it hard to say that line (it's so sweet!)
There are also times when you can see him among company (which is a lot more as it is so accurate) and sometimes you can see he thinks he is above his company but others you can see how really he is very nervous and worried about how he knows no one. Those are just 2 examples. And you can see both throughout, maybe more pride so maybe he is more like the book as pride is weighted in the book (pride and prejudice ;) ) so he does have a good balance I think. (backing MacFadyen up, I don't think it would have worked for a 2 hour film if he weighted pride as it would make his change very unrealistic)
That's another thing, as it's longer, you see more of a build up to everything, so more proud(/shy) Darcy but also more 'changed' (hate using that word as it is the right word really!) Darcy and when he runs into Lizzie at Pemberley and shows her round and invites her to meet his sister (and then the piano scene with the heart melting look!!!) are some of my favourite scenes!!
I'll stop there for now ;)
Haha. In my post I was defending MM and now I'm defending CF! ;D
Well put, Soph! Firth definitely had more time to show the change in Darcy. (I don't think Darcy even changed as much as he just let some other emotions show that he used to cover up because he was too proud to show them before) Anyway, I can understand why MacFadyen had to concentrate on the shy side of Darcy. And I don't mind that. MacFadyen isn't the reason I... disliked the 2005 P&P --- it was, for the most part, all the other characters!Everyone seems to hate that Firth was proud, but they are obviously missing the point! Fitzwilliam Darcy was a very proud man! That's why it's called "PRIDE and Prejudice", not "SHY and Prejudice"... That's one reason that I prefer Firth to MacFadyen -- Yes, Darcy was shy; but he was too proud to let that show. So, his shyness ended up coming across as total arrogance. Firth portrays this really well!
Darcy was attracted to Elizabeth, but he didn't want to be. Socially, she really was beneath him and I think he kinda judged her by her family too. So, to mask his attraction, he says things like, "She is tolerable; but not handsome enough to tempt me". I'm not trying to excuse his rude behavior (yes, I admit he was rude! But so were several other people, including Elizabeth.), but I can kind of understand it...
Then, when he really began to respect & admire her, it showed in his remarks & attitude. And... he lets some of that shyness show, too. Firth portrays this really well too!
Okay, I'll stop now... I feel like I kinda went off on a bit of a rant. :P
I just wanted to explain a little further that I think (esp if you read the whole book & watch the whole mini series) you can appreciate the little things (as well as the big things) that Colin Firth does really well as Mr. Darcy.
I don't know why people keep saying Macfadyen came off as just shy and not proud! I certainly thought of him as proud! Of course, at times he seemed shy as well, but it's not like he completely abandoned the Pride of "Pride and Prejudice!" Soph, you are completely valid in stating that the time frame probably made a difference in their performance, but still! Why does no one else think the pride was done well by Matthew? *grrr face*
I have been trying my best to stay away from this thread but I can't :D. Mac had nuff pride: the ball, his nose seem to believe that everyone was beneath him to dance with. At that same time, he was also uncomfortable, he does not know how to mingle. You know I keep hearing that Mr. Darcy is the 'pride' one and Lizzie is the 'prejudice'. I believe they both displayed pride and prejudice. Mr Darcy was prejudice against Lizzie when he thought "the circumstances of her birth". Lizzie was very proud to hear Mr. Darcy side about Wickham and much more. Lizzie was vunerable and also a poor judge of character. Wait, I digress....yes Mac showed both pride and prejudice.
wowyyyyyy u all are turning this into a fall on debate lol! i have to watch collin firth first to have an accurate opinion but macfadyen...i think he did a good job personally oh my this is so funny
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I totally agree with what you said!
I don't like saying changed either as he didn't change, he just, as you said, sorted out the gravity of his pride and became a bit more confident to sort out the shyness! ;)
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Did I say that? No! Haha. I said the proudness was still there with Matthew, just not as much (because of the timeframe)
I love MacFadyen's attitude when he says the classic tolerable line to Bingley - great scene and really proud followed by a great put down from Lizzie!
