Working Title finds its Darcy

Working Title Films hasfinally found its Darcy. The UK powerhouse has cast rising British actorMatthew Macfadyen as the arrogant but eligible male lead in its upcoming JaneAusten adaptation Pride And Prejudice.

Macfadyen will star oppositeKeira Knightley, who plays the central Bennet daughter, Elizabeth. The other Bennet sisters will include TheLibertine and Die Another Day's Rosamund Pike as Jane, the oldest,and Jena Malone, the US actress from Cold Mountain, The United States OfLeland and Donnie Darko, as Lydia, the youngest.

Macfadyen is best known asthe star of hitBritish TV spy thriller Spooks, which aired successfully in the US asMI-5. Along with starring in high-profile TV productions such as The Projectand Warriors, he recently wrapped his first starring role in a featurewith In My Father's Den, the story of a disillusioned war reporter. Hisperiod credits include his TV debut, Granada Television's Wuthering Heights,and BBC2's recent Anthony Trollope adaptation The Way We Live Now.

Shooting on Pride AndPrejudice is scheduled to start next month, with Working Title co-chairman TimBevan and Eric Fellner producing with Paul Webster. Joe Wright, whose creditsinclude BBC TV mini-series Charles II and Nature Boy, is making his directing debut from a script by BillyElliot writer Lee Hall and Tulip Fever novelist Deborah Moggach.