Who can forget that iconic lake scene, when Mr. Darcy, played by Colin Firth, emerges dripping from the lake, white shirt clinging to his body? Austen herself has several times been quoted as saying the scene fits so seamlessly into her story that she can’t believe she didn’t include it. (I paraphrased a little there.) Just for fun, here are a few facts you might not have known about the memorable scene from the 1995 BBC version of Pride and Prejudice.
- It’s been remade and remade again.
In Bridget Jones’ Diary, it’s Hugh Grant (playing Wickham!) who falls into the lake, while Colin Firth looks wistfully on, remembering his clinging shirt days.
In the Bridgerton series, male protagonist Anthony falls into a lake and emerges in a white shirt strikingly similar to the BBC original. Coincidence? Not at all. Chris Van Dusen, Bridgerton’s creator and director, states that a lot of thought and research went into that scene. “We tested that white shirt to make sure it was just the right amount of see through and clingy enough,” he says. “We worked really hard to make that moment magical and memorable.” Thank you, Chris. A loose, opaque shirt would have been ridiculously inconsistent with Austen’s vision.
2. YOU can buy the shirt at a London auction!
Well, you could have. You would have had to purchase your tickets to be in London on March 5th and bid on Lot 13–which many are terming the “wet shirt” lot. The downside is that the shirt is now dry and does not come with Colin Firth. On the upside, it does come with the cravat, waistcoat, breeches, boots, and a signed photograph of Colin himself. It is estimated to sell for £7-10,000, or $8,800 to $12,600.
3. The original lake scene called for Colin Firth to be naked.
After all, Regency men typically went swimming in the nude, so nudity would have been more historically accurate. (See Sidney Parker in Sanditon.) Both Firth and the BBC vetoed this idea, and the white shirt idea was born.
4. It’s not Colin Firth who jumps into the lake.
Filmmakers were concerned Firth would catch a disease from submerging his head in the dirty lake water, so a stuntman did the jump. Firth’s underwater footage was captured in a water tank in London.
5. There’s a 12 foot statue of Firth to commemorate the scene.
In 2013, British viewers voted the lake scene #1 on the list of all time most memorable moments in British TV drama. A British TV station was so inspired by this poll that they erected a 12 foot, fiberglass statue of Firth, rising from Serpentine Lake in Hyde Park, London, iconic shirt sticking to his sculpted chest.
Firth commented that he found the statue enlightening, noting, “I hadn’t noticed the nipple erections.”
Are you ready for me to blow your mind with this last one? I’m going to need a drum roll…
6. That scene that Britain voted as most memorable, of Firth emerging dripping from the lake, white shirt suctioned to his ripped chest? The one that they made a statue of? IT NEVER HAPPENED.
In an interview with The Tonight Show’s Jimmy Fallon, Colin Firth crushes romance like a bug under his foot, saying, “It never happened. I never got out of a lake in a wet shirt.”
I can’t believe it. Jimmy can’t either, but Firth is adamant. The stuntman dives into the lake, Firth tells us. Then there’s the inserted footage of Firth in the London tank, and then…the scene cuts to him in the shirt, already out of the lake! In fact, Firth says–because he is determined to break our hearts–when the scene cuts to him, his shirt isn’t even that wet and only looks like it’d been sprayed with a plastic spritzer bottle.
No, Colin. Just…no. I can picture the scene. I’m sure it’s there. I go back and rewatch it, and…IT’S NOT THERE. He never gets out of the lake! Firth himself was never even in the lake!
How can Britain’s most memorable scene of all time not exist? If this isn’t evidence for time travelling aliens messing with us, I don’t know what is.
Oh, and the shirt? That iconic beauty that Bridgerton worked so hard to recreate and that British TV made a 12 foot statue commemorating? Firth says it was “a soggy, cheap cotton shirt.”
You might have been right about the lake scene, Colin, but no one’s believing you about this–because that shirt that was supposed to go for a measly £10,000 just sold for £25,000.
A few websites I used, including links to the lake scene and Tonight Show:
Firth’s Tonight Show interview with Fallon
More reading:
Jane Bennet Married DOWN: A Peek at Social Class in Pride and Prejudice
The Sea Cure: Were Those Regency Doctors onto Something?
Mr. Darcy, What’s Your Sign?: Austen Characters and Their Zodiac Signs
Thanks for reading. I’d love to hear your thoughts!
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