Mr. Darcy never wore lycra
Ooooh, lookee what we found! Remember ages ago when we asked for submissions for questions to the cast of The Jane Austen Book Club? For one reason or another, we forgot to follow up on the article, but found ourself on the Redbook website for various reasons tonight, decided to do a little search, and there it is! Just in time to enjoy with your brand-new DVDs. (You did get your DVD, didn’t you?) Question 7, by the bye, was submitted by the Editrix. 
We really love Hugh Dancy’s comment about this being the “meta” movie for Janeites. How true!
February 12th, 2008 at 12:20 pm
Is it just me, or does Grigg make much more sense as a Tilney than as a Darcy (even if one is so clever as to say “an anti-Darcy” ;P)?
February 12th, 2008 at 12:47 pm
I think he makes more sense as Mr Tilney as well. Not sure, I haven’t seen the film, but I’m judging from the clip I saw, and from the book of course! In the book he isn’t refered to as Mr Darcy at all, from what I can remember.
Loved the remark about Mr Darcy never wearing lycra!
February 12th, 2008 at 1:22 pm
Well, Henry Tilney IS kind of an anti-Darcy–in a good way. Darcy and Elizabeth are complementary personalities, and Henry and Lizzy are alike in many ways, so it makes sense.
And in the book Grigg is Mr. Darcy ever-so-briefly at the library dinner–remember, he gets to say “Every savage can dance.” I was disappointed that line wasn’t in the movie, though the scene is, complete with Angry!Dancing.
Really, part of what I consider the genius of the book (and the movie to an extent) is that each character represents one Jane Austen character in the main, but they shift and take on different characters throughout.
February 12th, 2008 at 3:55 pm
“Really, part of what I consider the genius of the book (and the movie to an extent) is that each character represents one Jane Austen character in the main, but they shift and take on different characters throughout.”
Whew! I need a moment to absorb that! I was just overwhelmed by the scope your statement entails. What would Jane have said if told that 200 years hence we would be examining the whole population of characters in her body of work — comparing … dissecting … looking for “our own private Austen”? I think she would have been highly amused and shared some snarky comments with her sister. Thank God her little stories got published! But can any other writer ever aspire to such admiration? One can only hope and dream.
We now return you to the regularly scheduled discussion. Carry on.
February 13th, 2008 at 6:18 am
To clarify: most JA paraliterature, modern updates of the stories at least, have each character take one character from the original and stick to it throughout, making the stories predictable even if they are enjoyable. JABC wasn’t as predictable (I guess the ending was, but not so much how they got there), which was one of the reasons why I liked it. I used “genius” as Jane Austen did, meaning “cleverness”–which is slightly different from the modern usage.
February 13th, 2008 at 3:29 pm
Mags, I am not too sure that I feel comfortable with you submitting questions to my pretend boyfriend.
I will forgive you this time, because your question was so darn good.
February 13th, 2008 at 4:50 pm
What about Grigg as Catherine - the avid reader? And his book was Northanger Abbey, after all. And, to continue the cross-genderization, I thought I saw some of Wentworth in Prudie (as well as in Sylvia’s husband), and even perhaps a bit of Edmund Bertram (in going for the sophisticated, worldly, witty, attractive guy instead of the nice Dean).
February 14th, 2008 at 4:28 am
Yes Grigg was definitely Catherine at the beginning of ‘his’ chapter in the book, before he turned into a Mr Tilney. I loved it how in the book that chapter started with some things Grigg learned from reading science fiction, just as NA starts with some things that Catherine learned from reading several books.
I can’t remember him saying ‘every savage can dance’ though, but I read the book a long time ago. I can’t wait to see the movie, especially because most people (mostly Janeites) are very enthusiastic about it!
February 14th, 2008 at 11:40 am
I just watched this lovely movie again and was able to watch the great ‘extras’ that I enjoy when they are thoughtfully done. It just adds to our understanding. Regarding Grigg. Robin Swicord refers to him both as Katherine Morland and as ‘the misunderstood men’ in Jane Austen’s novels. But, at the library dinner where Grigg and Jocelyn are in heated discussion Elizabeth and Darcy style, Karen Joy Fowler said in an online book discussion that he’s Elizabeth and Jocelyn is Darcy. It seems Fowler was always gender switching him!