Monday, August 19, 2013

Meet the Latest Darcys | guest blog from Maria Grazia of My Jane Austen Book Club

Admit it - we just can't get enough of Mr Darcy, can we? Maria Grazia of My Jane Austen Book Club has a few new ones for you to meet. Enjoy... ;) 


Meet the Latest Darcys  
by guest blogger Maria Grazia

Daniel Vincent Gordh  

Daniel came to the fore as Mr Darcy in the brilliant Youtube modernization of Pride and Prejudice, “The LizzieBennet Diaries”. He didn’t appear on screen before episode 60, but when he did, you really couldn’t ignore his gorgeous presence and wondered whether what you’d been hearing from the other characters – especially Lizzie - about him could actually be true. The chemistry between
Daniel Vincent Gordh and Ashley Clemens ( Lizzie ) did magic. Have you seen the series? Did you like it?
I’ve watched and re-watched episode 98 quite a few times now and I must admit it is my best favourite. Darcy and Lizzie are so sweet and cute … I know, you're right: I'm helplessly romantic!

To discover more about Daniel and his career, check his imdb page and follow him on twitter or facebook.

David Oakes

After playing wicked, ambititious villains in TV series like The Pillars of the Earth (William Hamleigh) , The Borgias (Juan Borgia) or The White Queen (George of Clarence), David Oakes has recently performed on stage as dashing Mr Darcy in a successful theatrical production of Pride and Prejudice (London, Open Air Theatre).

This is what he answered to the question “How did you approach the character of Darcy?”
I read the complete works of Austen at University and Darcy made a big impact on me - I always thought he was quite fun. But it's a big challenge to show the strength and warmth underneath his very austere outlook on things. So it's very much a role of subtlety and repression, more than of heartfelt wailing.

When asked about the wet white shirt David joked:
If I had a pound for every time I've been asked that in the past few months, I'd be very wealthy indeed! We have been joking that if it rains I'll take off my jacket and attempt to recreate it.
(more in this interview)

Unfortunately, no chances to see David Oakes as Mr Darcy for now, since the stage production has just wrapped up, but if you live in the States you have the chance to see him in action as George of Clarence in The White Queen, the historical drama set in the War of the Roses which is now on Starz.

Discover more about David Oakes on imdb or follow him on twitter.

Matthew Rhys


He is Mr Darcy in the upcoming adaptation of Death Comes to Pemberley by P.D. James. The mini-series is being filmed at present and should premiere around Christmas 2013 on BBC One. It’ll be aired by PBS in the States.
Matthew Rhys is a talented and versatile Welsh actor who has already worn elegant 19th century costumes before: he was John Jasper in the 2012 adaptation of Dickens’s Edwin Drood and John /Johnny in The Scapegoat based on Daphne Du Maurier’s novel. His most popular roles are Philip Jennings in the TV series The Americans or Kevin Walker in Brothers & Sisters.

“There will be no lake scene and no white shirt” , Matthew Rhys says, his Mr Darcy can't compete with Colin Firth's! (read this interview)



About me

Hello there! My name is Maria Grazia. I live in a small town near Rome. I've been a teacher of English to Italian students for a long time now and a blogger for 5 years. I love classic literature, reading, theatre, period drama and movies, art and that is what I usually write about on FLY HIGH and My Jane Austen Book Club.
 Graphics created by Cecilia Latella for My JA Book Club


I wanted my little Jane Austen corner in the blogosphere, My Jane Austen Book Club, to support my real life Jane Austen reading club. I was so happy and excited when I was chosen as the moderator of a reading group at the public library in my town in a project to read Jane Austen’s six major novels one each month from January to June 2010. It was inspired to the movie “The Jane Austen Book Club”, which I had loved.

My Jane Austen Book Club is now about 4 years old (started on January 16th, 2010) and goes on growing. I’ve added a daily twitter paper to it (The Everything Austen Daily) and a facebook page.

I hope you’ll have a great time in this Austen in August event! And many thanks to brilliant host, Misty for having me!

10 comments:

  1. I enjoyed Daniel Vincent Gordh's portrayal of Mr. Darcy. I would have liked to see David Oakes since I'm so used to him being a villain.

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  2. Adored Daniel Vincent Gordh's Darcy! I've yet to make it through reading Death Comes to Pemberley, but am looking forward to the BBC adaptation.

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  3. Hello Janeite friends! It's a great pleasure visiting here :-) Thanks for your lovely comments and thanks again, Misty, for hosting this great event!
    As for the Mr Darcys here in my post, I think they are all very good actors but the only one I've seen in action as (Fitz)William Darcy is handsome Mr Gordh and he was "soooo gooood" as his Lizzie would say!
    I really loved The Lizzie Bennet Diaries.
    As for the other two gentlemen, I could appreciate their talent in other roles, and they were ... goooood too!
    Have fun everyone!

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  4. This is great, Maria! I still haven't seen The Lizzy Bennet Diaries (I know, it's ghastly, but I'll get there someday), so you have the full honor of my introduction to all three of these latest versions of my favorite gentleman. What wonderful additions to my acquaintance! Thank you!

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  5. I haven't watch the Lizzie Bennet Diaries yet and I look forward to seeing some of the other adaptions as they come.

    Thanks for sharing!

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  6. Hello Alexa and Sophia Rose! Glad to meet you at Misty's :-) and glad to introduce you to the latest Darcys. Darcy/Gordh is always there, on Youtube, waiting for fond Austen fans eager to watch his lovely interaction with Lizzie; for Darcy/Oakes it's a bit too late, I'm afraid; as for Darcy/Rhys ... I can't wait!

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  7. I didn't know that David Oakes had been playing Darcy! Did you hear that Vincent Kartheiser has also taken on the roll in a live production?

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  8. I haven't met Darcy yet on the Lizzie Bennet Diaries but I'm almost there. As for the other two, I'll hope to catch either the BBC or the PBS versions of Death Comes to Pemberly, but of course, I'll want to read the novel first. Thanks for introducing us to some of the other Darcy's.

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  9. I just started watching The Lizzie Bennet diaries. I have yet to meet Mr. Darcy but I've heard a lot from Lizzie about how boring and stuffy "Will" is.

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