The first time most people really learned Matthew Macfadyen’s name was when he was cast as Mr. Darcy in the 2005 film adaptation of Pride & Prejudice. It was the first time I saw him, although I’m sure British peeps will remember him from the work he did in British television before then. Playing Darcy could have set him up as a leading man for the rest of his career, but he chose a different path. He did that thing which so many British actors do – he continued to behave as a character actor and he just said yes to whatever he was offered on stage, TV or film. We’ve talked before about whether his version of Darcy holds up (it does) or whether Colin Firth is still the definitive Darcy. Well, as Macfadyen promotes Deadpool & Wolverine, he was asked about his most famous role (not Succession):
Matthew Macfadyen is looking back at his career and regretting not enjoying his experience filming 2005’s Pride and Prejudice. The Succession alum played Mr. Darcy in Joe Wright’s adaptation of the classic Jane Austen novel playing opposite Kiera Knightley.
“I didn’t really [enjoy it],” Macfadyen said on CBS Mornings of his experience filming. “I feel bad saying that. There were moments I had a good time, but I wish I enjoyed it more. I wish I was less worried about it.”
He added, “I felt a bit miscast, like, ‘I’m not dishy enough.’ But it worked out.”
Despite not feeling like he was fit for the role, the Deadpool & Wolverine actor added: “The most flattering thing that happens to me now is people say, ‘Were you Mr Darcy?’ It’s a good 20 years later. So I think, ‘I can’t be ageing that badly.’”
He actually looks the same, minus some hair and those sideburns. It’s crazy that he did THE romantic hero thing at the start of his career and yet his best work arguably came when he played a right-wing weirdo in an ensemble dramedy (Succession). As for his discomfort with the role… he’s said before that he didn’t like playing Darcy and he didn’t enjoy it, which sucks. It always felt like Firth really embraced it, plus I think Firth is more of a literature nerd, and he knew coming into it that he was playing a famous romantic hero.
Sidenote: it’s still so funny to me that Macfadyen bad-mouthed actors who sign on to superhero movies (he said they’re just doing it for the money) and then immediately ended up in Deadpool & Wolverine.
Photos courtesy of Cover Images & ‘Pride & Prejudice’.