For anyone who has enjoyed the outstanding rendition of Jane Austen's classic novel starring Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle, this delightful, informative, eye-opening (and often humorous) behind-the-scenes book is a must have. I for one had no idea of what is involved in successfully adapting a classic period novel, and I am grateful to producer Sue Birtwistle and script editor Susie Conklin for taking us through the entire process.Chapters include "The Script," which deals with the many difficulties that had to be overcome in adapting a novel effectively to an entirely different medium, while "Pre-production" deals with casting the actors and finding and securing suitable locations (no mean feat in itself!). We also discover what many senior behind-the-scenes personnel do. "Production Design" deals with the hands-on task of getting the locations ready--whether it's designing and creating a set or stripping a real-life location of all its 20th century trimmings (from unsuitable flowers, antennae and phone lines on the exterior to central heating pipes, light switches, electric light bulbs, and inappropriate furnishings on the inside). Tremendous research was involved in both "Production Design" and "Costume, Make-Up, and Hair Design". The latter chapter deals with decisions that had to be made concerning the palettes and styles of costume and hair for each actor. One also learns about the expensive and painstaking wig-making process and discovers that not only were the costumes made, but so were the fabrics!
The chapter entitled "Filming" chronicles the steps to be taken and the difficulties often incurred on the day of filming--things like checking the weather (and having contingency plans for rainy days) or requesting local air force bases not to fly over the location. With 12- to 16-hour workdays per person, the filming day is long indeed. For the actors, it's two-hours in make-up followed by 10 or 11 hours of actual filming. After filming, the crew must then prepare for the next day--with chores like washing and setting wigs, cleaning costumes, and packing up props and horses! Finally, "Post-production" deals with the months of work involved in editing, inserting sound tracks, and so on, to get the final product ready for the screen.
It's always nice when the authors of behind-the-scenes' books have the full support of all involved in the production (from cast to crew), and such is most certainly the case here. In fact, the book is rife with their many quotations and anecdotes, with certain members of the crew even contributing paragraphs describing the work they do and the process by which they achieve their goals. Last but not least, there is a full nine-page "Conversation with Colin Firth," set in question and answer format, wherein Firth provides an insight into how he went about capturing what he felt was the essence of Darcy and the difficulties he experienced along the way.
This is a beautiful 9 3/4" x 7 1/2" 117-page softcover. Good quality paper is used, and it is simply filled to the brim with lovely fine-quality colour photos--stills from the series, posed photos of some of the actors in full costume, photos of the actors being made up and the sets being prepared, photos of the filming process and of various crew members, and so on. A nice touch was the tiny b/w studio photos of the actors' faces--how they look in real life (which is very different in most cases!)
In conclusion, I found this to be a simply fascinating book, and one that without a doubt increases one's appreciation of this (and indeed all period dramas) tenfold. It's a book to be treasured, and I highly recommend it. If I have but one word of advice, it is this: Get this book now--before it goes out of print (as companion books so often do)!
