Susie Conklin

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 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.… (mer)

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 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.… (mer)