We also took some twitter questions which fans submitted to @hypable.
@maramawhyte @danielvgordh @hypable How were Darcy and Gigi cast SO PERFECTLY? Are you two related somehow?
— Katie H (@abcdkatie) March 22, 2013
Everyone wanted to know about the resemblance between you and Allison, and the casting of Gigi. How involved were you in that audition process?
I was in the first reads with Gigi, so I read with a whole bunch of Gigis who came in. It was actually interesting – because I was already cast and they needed to find someone who resembled me, almost everyone who came in looked strangely like me. So to Allison’s credit, although she looks remarkably like me, it was absolutely not the overriding factor that made the team choose her. Because there were a lot of people who could have easily passed for my sister.
It’s funny because we had had the entire day, and we were packing up. We had read for all the Gigis, we were about to leave, and Allison comes in. She’s like, “I’m so sorry, I was running really late,” and she was so sweet about it but she barely made it on time. The space we were using, we had to get out of there soon, and Margaret [Dunlap, consulting producer] and Jenni [Powell, producer] were both there with me and had both had a long day. We were all trying to get out of there.
But we read Allison, who was just like a pro. She didn’t let the energy of the room throw her at all, and she did a great read and at the end, although we had a number of girls who could work and we liked already, it was like “Well, glad we read her, she’s great.” Then the callback I think she did with Ashley, and eventually I was secretly like, “So who’d you guys pick?” and when they said Allison, I was not at all surprised.
@maramawhyte Question for Daniel: Was there anything challenging about playing Darcy?
— Éponine Thénardier (@charliecharmer) March 21, 2013
What was the most challenging thing about playing Darcy?
I have said this other thing before, which was that jumping in the middle of his character arc was the most challenging thing, because so much of my story happens offscreen. But I would say that actually the most challenging thing, now that I think about it, was the writing of Darcy. Because when I first got the script, having watched the show, if you took Darcy’s dialogue out of context, you would think it was taking place in its original period almost.
He is so overspoken, and using antiquated language, and he doesn’t speak like someone of our time, he really doesn’t. So that was one of the biggest challenges, was finding the need to say those words specifically. What is it about me that makes me choose to say “That was illuminating,” instead of “Thanks for letting me know,” or something that I [Daniel] am more likely to say. Especially when I very first got the script, that was one of the first challenges. How do I take these words and make them real for me in this time period.
What I ended up doing was the only thing I could do as an actor, which was to be someone who felt a little bit out of his time period, who felt a little conservative, and like he’s from another period. And that choice ended up working for me because there was an amount that everyone was like, “Well he’s so pretentious.” Those things kind of seem pretentious, so I thought, “Oh, it works.”
Now that you’re finished with The Lizzie Bennet Diaries, what is next for you?
Right now I’m filming this other webseries called Hipsterhood, and we’re still filming. If you haven’t seen that show, Julia [Cho, Charlotte Lu] helps produce it, and that’s been fun. I’m doing a guest arc on that, I think it will be out come Summer, and that’s a really fun show. The actors, Kit Williamson and Elizabeth Ferraris are really funny, and it does exactly what it wants to do – very digestible, short segments that are very poignant and well observed about hipster culture in L.A.
I’m writing some projects, I’m putting together a pitch for one webshow with my sketch group, The Natural Disastronauts, which we’re going to be pitching around. I just finished doing the audiobook for House of Secrets by the director Chris Columbus, who you may know did the first two Potter films, and Ned Vizzini. That audiobook will probably be coming out late April, and that was really fun. It’s an adventure young adult series about three kids who get pulled into a magical world, and I get to do a lot of voices and I had a good time doing that.
And the last project that I know I’m doing right now, I don’t know how much I can say about it yet, but I can say that Craig Frank [Fitz Williams] will also be involved, and this will be our fourth time working together – we keep running into each other somehow.
You must be getting sick of him.
Oh yeah, he’s such a jerk. And it’s also pilot season in L.A., so there’s auditions everywhere.
You’ve been going out for pilots?
Yeah. It’s funny, all the Lizzie Bennet kids are all keeping in touch and we will see a lot of each other, but I’m excited to see what will happen in everyone’s careers. Everyone is really talented and I think we’re going to see a lot of movement in everyones careers in the next few years.
Episode 100 of ‘The Lizzie Bennet Diaries’ airs on Thursday 28 March at 9am PT
Image credits: The Lizzie Bennet Diaries
We want to hear your thoughts on this topic!
Write a comment below or submit an article to Hypable.