Tuesday Trivia: The Wet Shirt

If Pride & Prejudice 1995 is remembered for nothing else, Mr. Darcy’s wet-shirt scene will live forever in the minds of females. In an interview with Andrew Davies, posted here on the Masterpiece Jane Austen site, the prolific screenwriter remarked on the unforeseen impact of that brief episode:

Q: Let’s talk about the infamous wet, ruffled shirt scene in Pride and Prejudice. Did you have any idea at the time that Colin Firth would become such a star after emerging from that pond?

A: I always thought that Colin Firth would emerge as a star, but I didn’t think that it would be that wet shirt scene that did it. I always thought of it as a scene about social embarrassment — two people having a polite conversation without referring to the fact that one of them was absolutely dripping wet. I was very surprised when it seemed like half the women in England had posters of Colin Firth in his wet shirt in the kitchen to cheer themselves up when doing their domestic chores.

Of course, years later it was revealed by the film’s director Simon Langton that Colin Firth didn’t actually jump into the water, but rather a dispensable stuntman dived into the lake, feared to be contaminated with a disease caused by rat urine.

It was originally intended that Firth should strip off and leap into the water naked.

But this had to be changed because the BBC felt nudity would be too much for a Jane Austen costume drama.

Lord, a nude Darcy would have been the death of half of the female population in America and England.

Then producers considered having Firth dive in wearing his underwear.

But that was decided this would be historically incorrect.

In the end they opted to have him leap in fully clothed, bar his waistcoat and overcoat. (Telegraph)

~ by Lady Ashley on July 7, 2009.