I present for you, my fellow Pride and Prejudice nutjobs, your new Darcy.
That's
Matthew MacFayden. I'm sure everyone who's watched BBC America has seen
this guy more than a few times. I know I have. He also played the
horribly disfigured naval officer, Cave, in Enigma.
But you didn't know his name, did you? Well, you do now. And I have to
tell you, I don't think this is a bit of inspired casting: I think it's
lame. This guy is not Darcy. He's good, don't get me wrong. He won't
embarrass himself or me. But he's just not Darcy. The only
conceivable scenario for this guy play Darcy is if he were the fourth
or fifth understudy and everyone ranked above him caught a virulent
case of food posioning when they partook of a communal curry.
Particularly when compared to this guy.
Sigh. Ain't he just a dream? And worth ten thousand a year, too. I
suppose the thing that MacFayden is missing is the "hunk of burning
love" factor. I simply cannot picture him jumping into a pond to cool
off after a hot, long ride, then walking up to Pemberley, being
surprised by Miss Bennet and the Gardiners and managing to pull off the
charming awkwardness of the situation. That and have every female not
only rooting for him, but lusting after his wet bod in the meanwhile.
Most Austen males have some point in the movie where they get to be
dashing and heroic. Think of Willoughby in Sense and Sensibility,
carrying an incapacitated Marianne back to the cottage in the pouring
rain and I think you'll get what I'm driving at. Well, Darcy, despite
his Herculean task of bringing Wickham to the altar, is always dashing.
He just has that thing going on for him. To my mind, at least, it's
where he doesn't have a clue that he's at his most admirable. And
adorable. I just can't see Mac Fayden pulling that off.