‘I kept trying to quit that damn job’: Donald Sutherland’s scene-stealing role in Pride and Prejudice

Donald Sutherland enjoyed a career spanning seven decades, during which time he starred in the anti-war satire M*A*S*H, the action drama series The Hunger Games, and the 1973 thriller Don’t Look Now.

Following the Canadian actor’s death, aged 88, many fans are paying tribute to his staggering filmography, with one performance in particular resurfacing as a standout role.

In Joe Wright’s 2005 adaptation of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, Sutherland offered a scene-stealing turn as Mr Bennet, the weary but gentle father of five unmarried daughters, including his evident favourite: the intelligent and lively Elizabeth (Keira Knightley).

Sutherland was responsible for several memorable scenes in the film, as his character played the foil to his wife, Mrs Bennet (Brenda Blethyn), who is determined to marry all of their daughters off to suitable (and wealthy) husbands.

In arguably the most moving scene of the movie, he gives his consent to Elizabeth to marry Mr Darcy: “I cannot believe that anyone can deserve you, but it seems I am overruled,” he says.

“So, I heartily give my consent. I could not have parted with you, my Lizzie, to anyone less worthy.”

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“I kept trying to quit that damn job,” Sutherland said of the role in a 2018 interview with Rolling Stone. “Joe wouldn’t let me! ‘Joe, goddammit, I’m not right for this, why the f*** did you hire me for this?’ ‘You’re fine, you can do it.’

“It’s one of my favourite things out all all the movies I’ve done,” Sutherland said.

He recalled how the film originally ended with his character waving off Elizabeth, or Lizzy, after giving his blessing for her to marry Mr Darcy (Matthew Macfayden), chuckling as he calls after her: “If any young men come for Mary or Kitty, send them in, for I’m quite at my leisure.”

“Focus groups said, you can’t end it this way. You need a romantic ending,” he recalled. “So they added that extra scene, which Joe fought like crazy. If you see it in England, I think it still ends on me... be sure you see it there.”

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The British version of Pride & Prejudice does indeed close on his character, while American audiences are shown a more saccharine scene between Elizabeth and Mr Darcy, newly married at his estate.

In behind-the-scenes footage reshared on social media, Sutherland was full of praise for his co-stars.

“You’ve no idea when you come into a picture, what Keira Knightley is going to be like,” he began. “And it turns out, she is as extraordinary an actor as I’ve ever met in my life.

“Rosamund [Pike] was... it’s indescribable, how ethereally beautiful she was. Tallulah [Riley], just... I embraced her. Carey [Mulligan]... they were like children. And Jena [Malone], she just became this silly child [in her role as Lydia Bennet].”

“They were wonderful, it was just a wonderful family,” he continued. “Petted and embraced and supported, and catalysed by Brenda Blethyn.”

Knightley received an Oscar nomination for Best Actress for her performance in the film, which was also nominated for Best Art Direction, Best Costume Design, and Best Original Score.

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Sutherland’s death was announced in a poignant statement from his son and fellow actor, Kiefer Sutherland, who called him “one of the most important actors in the history of film”.

“Never daunted by a role, good, bad or ugly,” he wrote. “He loved what he did and did what he loved, and one can never ask for more than that. A life well lived.”

His Pride & Prejudice co-star Malone shared a tribute on her Instagram Story, writing “rest in peace, you kind-hearted legend” alongside a photo of her with Sutherland during filming.

You can read The Independent’s Kevin E G Perry’s tribute to Sutherland here.