Matthew Macfadyen admitted to feeling miscast as Mr. Darcy in Pride and Prejudice–baffling the many fans currently sharing a room with a cardboard cutout of the besotted man himself. As part of the press tour for this year’s Deadpool & Wolverine, where he can be seen portraying Mr. Paradox, the actor discussed some of his previous projects. During an interview, Macfadyen reminisced about his Emmy-winning role as Tom Wambsgans in HBO’s Succession, and his feelings toward his highly regarded turn as Mr. Darcy in Joe Wright’s Pride and Prejudice.
Pride & Prejudice Uncertainties for Macfadyen
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Doing his part in the Deadpool & Wolverine promotion activities, the bearded actor sat down with CBS Mornings to reflect upon the highlights of his decades-long career. Many people know him first for his work as the smarmy Midwestern social climber Tom Wambsgans in Succession. They might be surprised to learn about his once best-known role undertaken 13 years before Succession’s premiere. Back in 2005, Macfadyen had risen to the peak of English romantic lead status by becoming Keira Knightley’s designated Mr. Darcy.
“I wish I’d enjoyed it more,” said Macfadyen of the experience. “I wish I was less worried about it. I just felt a bit miscast.” He went on to say that he was perhaps not “dishy” enough for the part, although these concerns may have proved unfounded. The 2005 film was not only commercially successful, but it remains a beloved adaptation of Jane Austen’s seminal novel. Years after its release, Macfadyen is still in contention for ‘Best Darcy,’ even considering Colin Firth’s classic outing as the character in the 1995 British TV series.
Emmy Awards Justice for Mr. Darcy
The love for Macfadyen’s Mr. Darcy is again coming to the fore through the now-grown former teenagers of 2005. Some of them are quite successful today, and in positions to help Macfadyen come to terms with his Mr. Darcy’s appeal.
Last award season, fans were treated to a delightful interaction between Macfadyen and The Bear’s Ayo Edebiri. At the Emmys, where Edibiri went to collect her own award, she had the opportunity to confess to Macfadyen that she was grounded as a teen for keeping a photo of Mr. Darcy as her laptop screensaver. For his part, Macfadyen agreed that the grounding was justified and showed good parenting skills.
From Romance to Succession to Deadpool
There’s a throughline of awkwardness and desperation in Macfadyen’s two most popular roles. Yes, Mr. Darcy is often held up as somewhat of a romantic ideal, and Tom Wambsgans can’t help but be the human equivalent of an oil slick. But there’s something to be said of Darcy’s painful discomfort as he attempts to court Elizabeth Bennet. This translates rather well into Wambsgans’s anguished plays to gain power as Shiv Roy’s prince consort. The nervous energy and desire for love (of a sort) are all there.
Spoken by Macfadyen, Darcy’s “You have bewitched me, body and soul” plays about as well as Wambsgans’s “I wonder if the sad I’d be without you would be less than the sad I get from being with you.” Surely fans can also expect to hear memorable turns of phrase coming from Mr. Paradox in Deadpool & Wolverine. There is little fear of being miscast here.
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