The very best — and most enduring — second of Satisfaction & Prejudice is all because of Matthew Macfadyen.

You recognize precisely what we're speaking about: Mr. Darcy’s (Macfadyen) hand flex. That tiny, incremental hand motion had audiences shrieking in theaters when the 2005 traditional first got here out, and has since grow to be a viral meme showcasing the barely-restrained ardour between Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet (Keira Knightley) after he helped her into right into a carriage. And in accordance with a brand new interview with director Joe Wright, that second really wasn't even scripted.

"It wasn't within the script, however that was an essential second within the ebook," Wright advised PEOPLE. "This sudden realization, as they have been parting, of what they meant to one another, or the form of disturbance they brought about in one another."

The director actually needed the scene to "convey the intelligence of our our bodies actually over our minds," however he struggled with determining precisely how to do this throughout filming.

"It had been a dark day once we shot it," Wright mentioned. "I felt like I hadn't conveyed what I needed to, and it's odd and gratifying to seek out that we advised our story, and folks have responded. As a result of on the day, I assumed, 'Oh no, we didn't get it. It was garbage. It didn't work.' Now, persons are nonetheless posting it. It's odd and very nice."

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The 2005 huge display screen adaptation, which earned Knightley an Oscar nomination for her efficiency, is celebrating its twentieth anniversary this November, and is getting a particular re-release in theaters on April 20. The hand flex second particularly went viral on TikTok again in 2021 with romance lovers in every single place as soon as once more shedding their minds over the delicate but intense show of ardour.

"Our our bodies are a lot smarter than our minds, usually," Wright mentioned. "Though their acutely aware minds are preventing towards one another, their our bodies are two magnets drawn to one another. As they contact, even that little hand lifting serving to her, which is pure etiquette of the interval, in some way creates this sort of digital shock wave by means of them each, and he has to shake it away."

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Whereas Macfadyen's tackle Jane Austen's beloved hero — hand flex included — is broadly considered iconic, the actor himself felt he was "miscast" on the time.

"I didn't actually [enjoy it]," he mentioned in an interview with CBS Mornings final July. "I really feel dangerous saying that. There have been moments I had fun, however I want I loved it extra. I want I used to be much less nervous about it… I felt a bit miscast, like, 'I'm not dishy sufficient.' But it surely labored out."

Nevertheless, now Macfadyen wears being acknowledged as Mr. Darcy as one thing of a badge of honor. "Most likely probably the most flattering factor that occurs to me now could be folks say, 'Have been you Mr. Darcy?'" he added. "It's a very good 20 years later. So I believe, 'I can't be getting old that badly.'"

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