{"id":33985,"date":"2025-04-19T22:04:09","date_gmt":"2025-04-19T22:04:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/33985\/"},"modified":"2025-04-19T22:04:09","modified_gmt":"2025-04-19T22:04:09","slug":"matthew-macfadyens-pride-prejudice-hand-flex-was-unscripted","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/33985\/","title":{"rendered":"Matthew Macfadyen&#8217;s \u2018Pride &#038; Prejudice\u2019 Hand Flex Was Unscripted"},"content":{"rendered":"<p data-journey-content=\"true\" data-node-id=\"0\" class=\"body-dropcap css-6l08qt emevuu60\">It was the hand flex that launched a thousand swoons and even more fan fiction. The moment Mr. Darcy walks away from helping Elizabeth Bennett into a carriage in the 2005 Pride &amp; Prejudice, flexing his hand as if hers still lingered there. Lives were changed. A classic romance meme was born. Now, in honor of the film&#8217;s 20th anniversary, the Pride &amp; Prejudice director confirms that the hand flex was unscripted and reflected on actor Matthew Macfadyen&#8217;s viral gesture in a new interview.<\/p>\n<p data-journey-content=\"true\" data-node-id=\"1\" class=\"css-auya5i emevuu60\"> \u201cIt wasn&#8217;t in the script, but that was an important moment in the book,\u201d director Joe Wright told <a href=\"https:\/\/people.com\/joe-wright-shares-infamous-pride-and-prejudice-hand-flex-scene-wasn-t-scripted-exclusive-11715833\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" data-vars-ga-outbound-link=\"https:\/\/people.com\/joe-wright-shares-infamous-pride-and-prejudice-hand-flex-scene-wasn-t-scripted-exclusive-11715833\" data-vars-ga-ux-element=\"Hyperlink\" data-vars-ga-call-to-action=\"People\" data-node-id=\"1.1\" class=\"body-link css-egnagj emevuu60\">People<\/a>. \u201cThis sudden realization, as they were parting, of what they meant to each other or the kind of disturbance they caused in each other.\u201d  <\/p>\n<p data-journey-content=\"true\" data-node-id=\"2\" class=\"css-auya5i emevuu60\">Joe explained that he filmed the close up of the gesture because he wanted the physicality in the scene to show how Mr. Darcy&#8217;s body recognized his feelings before he did. \u201cOur bodies are so much smarter than our minds often. Although their conscious minds are fighting against each other, their bodies are two magnets drawn to each other,\u201d Joe said of Elizabeth and Darcy. \u201cAs they touch, even that little hand lifting helping her, which is pure etiquette of the period, somehow creates this kind of electronic shock wave through them both, and he has to shake it away.\u201d<\/p>\n<p data-journey-content=\"true\" data-node-id=\"5\" class=\"css-auya5i emevuu60\">Of course, real ones have known that the hand flex was Matthew&#8217;s idea for a while. In a 2022 interview with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2022\/01\/26\/1075741669\/succession-actor-matthew-macfadyen\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" data-vars-ga-outbound-link=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2022\/01\/26\/1075741669\/succession-actor-matthew-macfadyen\" data-vars-ga-ux-element=\"Hyperlink\" data-vars-ga-call-to-action=\"NPR&#039;s Fresh Air\" data-node-id=\"5.1\" class=\"body-link css-egnagj emevuu60\">NPR&#8217;s Fresh Air<\/a>, the actor was asked about the iconic moment, revealing that it was just a choice he made while rehearsing. Joe apparently noticed it and decided to get an extra close up of the hand flex. <\/p>\n<p data-journey-content=\"true\" data-node-id=\"6\" class=\"css-auya5i emevuu60\">\u201cIt&#8217;s credit to Joe, because he&#8217;s\u2014I think, he doesn&#8217;t miss a trick, and he&#8217;s so alive to things, and he saw me do it in a rehearsal take and I remember him just going, \u2018Get that!\u2019 So they just did an extra shot on the hand,\u201d Matthew said. <\/p>\n<p data-journey-content=\"true\" data-node-id=\"7\" class=\"css-auya5i emevuu60\">To say the moment has taken on a life of its own would be an understatement. The hand flex is now synonymous with yearning. It&#8217;s so huge that Focus Features is selling <a href=\"https:\/\/www.focusfeatures.com\/article\/pride-prejudice_shop-merchandise\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" data-vars-ga-outbound-link=\"https:\/\/www.focusfeatures.com\/article\/pride-prejudice_shop-merchandise\" data-vars-ga-ux-element=\"Hyperlink\" data-vars-ga-call-to-action=\"Pride &amp; Prejudice\" data-node-id=\"7.1.0\" class=\"body-link css-egnagj emevuu60\">Pride &amp; Prejudice<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.focusfeatures.com\/article\/pride-prejudice_shop-merchandise\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" data-vars-ga-outbound-link=\"https:\/\/www.focusfeatures.com\/article\/pride-prejudice_shop-merchandise\" data-vars-ga-ux-element=\"Hyperlink\" data-vars-ga-call-to-action=\" hand flex merch\" data-node-id=\"7.2\" class=\"body-link css-egnagj emevuu60\"> hand flex merch<\/a> to celebrate the film&#8217;s anniversary.   <\/p>\n<p>Pride &amp; Prejudice Mr. Darcy Yearning Oversized Unisex T-Shirt<\/p>\n<p><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" data-theme-key=\"base-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.focusfeatures.com\/product\/pride-prejudice-mr-darcy-yearning-oversized-unisex-t-shirt\" aria-label=\"$36 at focusfeatures.com for Pride &amp; Prejudice Mr. Darcy Yearning Oversized Unisex T-Shirt\" data-href=\"https:\/\/www.focusfeatures.com\/product\/pride-prejudice-mr-darcy-yearning-oversized-unisex-t-shirt\" data-product-url=\"https:\/\/www.focusfeatures.com\/product\/pride-prejudice-mr-darcy-yearning-oversized-unisex-t-shirt\" data-affiliate=\"false\" data-affiliate-network=\"\" data-vars-ga-call-to-action=\"$36 at focusfeatures.com\" data-vars-ga-media-role=\"\" data-vars-ga-media-type=\"Single Product Embed\" data-vars-ga-outbound-link=\"https:\/\/www.focusfeatures.com\/product\/pride-prejudice-mr-darcy-yearning-oversized-unisex-t-shirt\" data-vars-ga-product-id=\"9a85c3bd-332d-43fb-ad1a-be735ea58d11\" data-vars-ga-product-price=\"$35.95\" data-vars-ga-product-retailer-id=\"c339556d-fea1-4b24-b8c0-6252e1300327\" data-vars-ga-link-treatment=\"(not set) | (not set)\" data-vars-ga-sku=\"pride-prejudice-mr-darcy-yearning-oversized-unisex-t-shirt\" data-vars-ga-magento-tracking=\"1\" class=\"product-image-link ebgq4gw0 e1b8bpvs0 css-g6od0w e1c1bym14\" data-><img  alt=\"Pride &amp; Prejudice Mr. Darcy Yearning Oversized Unisex T-Shirt\" title=\"Pride &amp; Prejudice Mr. Darcy Yearning Oversized Unisex T-Shirt\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/1744995080-image.jpg\" width=\"1000\" height=\"1000\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p data-journey-content=\"true\" data-node-id=\"9\" class=\"css-auya5i emevuu60\">Pride &amp; Prejudice will be <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fandango.com\/pride-and-prejudice-20th-anniversary-re-release-2025-239700\/movie-overview?date=2025-04-20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" data-vars-ga-outbound-link=\"https:\/\/www.fandango.com\/pride-and-prejudice-20th-anniversary-re-release-2025-239700\/movie-overview?date=2025-04-20\" data-vars-ga-ux-element=\"Hyperlink\" data-vars-ga-call-to-action=\"rereleased in theaters\" data-node-id=\"9.2\" class=\"body-link css-egnagj emevuu60\">rereleased in theaters<\/a> for a limited engagement on Sunday, April 20. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It was the hand flex that launched a thousand swoons and even more fan fiction. The moment Mr.&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":33986,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3935],"tags":[1380,19802,1331,77,1381,3943,19801,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-33985","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-movies","8":"tag-content-type-news","9":"tag-contentid-57372431-67fe-46e2-ac7c-ff55f818e57e","10":"tag-displaytype-standard-article","11":"tag-entertainment","12":"tag-locale-us","13":"tag-movies","14":"tag-shorttitle-the-pride-prejudice-hand-flex-was-an-improv","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114366897486350786","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33985","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33985"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33985\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33986"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33985"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33985"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33985"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}