Introspect – William Darcy Talks Love, Life, and Happiness
Charter Chronicles takes a closer look at Derbyshire-born superstar William Darcy as he looks back from the height of his recent successes. Since being discovered by Christopher Nolan right out of college, the young actor has excelled year after year, opening doors for his fellow Brits in the golden triad of stage, screen, and silver screen. Who exactly is the dashing, enigmatic leading man of the wildly acclaimed By the Numbers series? Charter Chronicles sits down with the decorated artist for a heart-to-heart discussion of the deeper things in life.
CC: What do you believe has changed the most about you since your days in local theatre?
WD: Many facets of me have changed, but what I think has altered the most about my character is my perspective on how little one can take things for granted. As a young actor with a bold dream, I often thought the world was within my grasp. I have since learned that one must be grateful for the opportunities that life does throw your way.
CC: Have any of your recent projects brought about this change? What has been your favourite among your works so far?
WD: Each project has contributed somewhat to the artist I've become. It's all about the right work at the right time. I've been fortunate enough to have built a career on acting early on in life. I understand that not many people have that kind of opportunity.
CC: Do you enjoy being an actor?
WD: I don't think I would have lasted in this profession if I didn't like it. [chuckles] I do enjoy the process of creating these performances and bringing characters to life.
CC: Any favorite roles?
WD: I enjoyed playing Benedick in West End. It is such a classic, witty role to embody. With regards to the movies, I must say I am partial to Fitzgerald Dunst. One doesn't get to work from home very often in this line of work.
CC: And I'm sure the role helps with the ladies.
WD: [chuckles] Not that it matters to me very much.
CC: Ah, are we to assume that you are off the marriage market then?
WD: I wouldn't say that.
CC: Any reason we shouldn't start a line for the ladies, then?
WD: There really have been only three significant women for me in my life.
CC: Should we assume that Miss Anne de Bourgh is one of them?
WD: [smiles] Anne is a good friend, and I wish her every happiness in her upcoming marriage. I'm certain she'll make someone a terrific wife. One of the women I am talking about is actually her mother, my godmother Catherine de Bourgh. After my parents untimely demise, it was my godmother who tried her best to be there for me and my sister. I have not always been the most appreciative of her more traditional forms of expressing concern, but I have since come to learn that it takes a lot to invest yourself in another person that way.
CC: Are you close with your sister?
WD: Definitely. She has been infinitely helpful in helping me stay grounded and is without a doubt one of the most important people in my life.
CC: Dare we ask about the third lady then - this woman who is significant in your life outside of your godmother and sister?
WD: [sighs, then smiles] The third one - the only other woman I would count as significant in my life is actually my co-star Lizzie Bennet.
CC: I see.
WD: There is something about Lizzie. She is - sincere and genuine in a way so many of those in our industry is not. She is an excellent actress as well as an outstanding sister and friend. I would want her in my corner any day.
CC: Does she know it? How important of a role she plays in people's lives?
WD: I don't know. She can be very self-deceiving. [smiles] But, maybe, at least with regards to my life - I can hope that she reads this and realizes that she's shaped me to become a better person, to think of people as people instead of just faces that come and go or, worst yet, can be manipulated to play a certain narrative that you need them to play. She's taught me the importance of being genuine, by being genuine herself.
CC: Do you have anyone else you would like to acknowledge?
WD: I would love to give a shout out to my friend Charles Bingley, who is marrying in a month's time. I wish him every joy with his bride, who truly is the best possible match for him.
CC: Thank you for sitting down with us, William.
WD: It's my pleasure. Thank you for the honour.
She's not the type to be keen on traveling for traveling's sake. But her job has taken her to some pretty sweet spots, and she's not one to complain.
But this trip, among all her others, is just that much more special - because it's for her sister rather than any fancy media event. And with Pod 705's run near its tail end now, she feels genuinely off the clock for the first time in ages.
"Room 802," Lizzie mumbles as her eyes scan the doors on the hallway. Thanks to the Bingley family, they get to hold this wedding at a five-star location rather than a friendly B&B.
"Found it yet?" Kitty hollers down the hall.
"Over here," Lizzie replies before she uses her left hand to scan the keycard, what with her right hand loaded with maid of honor thingamabobs. "I'll just get in first and - wow!"
She stops short at the entrance.
Jane and Bingley have gotten all out.
From the ornate curtain rod to the very high ceiling to the endless closets to the plush patterned carpet - every single thing in the room screams luxury. Heck, not even her tour stops had accommodations like this.
"Lizzie, you didn't answer when you - " Kitty swings into the room behind her cousin. Then she stops too. "Huh."
"I know, right?" Lizzie replies without turning around. "Now I feel like my gift was silly."
"You're Lizzie Bennet. Celebrities get away with being cheap." Kitty oversteps Lizzie to enter the main area of the room, shrugging along the way. "Man, I could get used to this."
"I can't imagine what the bill is going to look like."
"Hey, anything for the big day, right?" Kitty smirks as she backs into the king bed. "I don't even care about them running out of twin bed rooms now. I won't even see you on the other side of this."
Lizzie laughs. "You are just totally not self-centered, are you?"
"Of course." Kitty smirks.
Here, tucked away in the Rockies on a mountain resort - all the usual worries of life feel just that much more far away. She's with her sister, her cousin, her friends. All that celebrity nonsense is just a joke, not a taxing reality.
Lizzie wanders close to the window to take a peek. The dramatic mountain view is enough to take her breath away. She's pretty sure she'll be bawling during the ceremony tomorrow.
"What time are we supposed to be ready again?" asks Kitty.
"We start at 6:00," Lizzie answers. "So 5:30, I guess?"
"Okay." Kitty jumps off the bed and starts unpacking.
Never let it be said that Kitty Brown is inefficient.
"Oh yeah, I got something for you." Kitty reaches in her backpack for something square a flat.
It takes a second or two for Lizzie to realize it's a foreign magazine.
"What's that?" Lizzie frowns when it's held out to her.
Kitty smiles. "I'm gonna take a shower - and I suggest you start at page 21."
The striking image of her leading man on the cover, under the bright lettering of Charter Magazine, is enough to have Lizzie's fingers shake even as they close around the item.
It takes a few minutes for him to dare to knock again.
He's checked the room number thrice, and the metal number on the door still says 802. It's not the wrong room, and his encounter with Kitty in the hallway just now confirms that Lizzie is alone inside.
It's not the wrong room.
It's not the wrong girl.
But is he the right guy - approaching at the right time?
His hand feels weighted as he closes his first and lifts it up against the door, a door that suddenly feels wider and taller than before.
He knocks, in three short, polite knocks in a row.
This time, he hears movement inside.
Is he dressed appropriately - in this particularly jacket, with this particular shirt, and with these particular shoes? Is his hair the way it's supposed to look? What would be the best thing to say if and when she finally -
"Hey."
He looks up from his shoes.
She's beautiful.
She always has been.
But today, she's not the type of beautiful that you see on the red carpet - the type that's all glitz and glamor for the camera.
This version of her is beautiful in a decidedly sweeter way - from the gentle waves of her chocolate hair to the way her soft pink dress drapes her shoulders, all the way to the beige heels on her feet that are allowing her to be much closer to his face than any flats would.
He tries to smile in a way that he thinks will be considered gentlemanly and gallant.
"I was sent to retrieve you," come his very, very clumsy words.
"Oh." Her face falls immediately, the sparkling smile snatched away from her face. "I, uhm, I knew - "
"I mean I - " He scrambles. She looks up.
For a man who's played half a dozen roles that women around the world swoon over - he can be so ridiculously bad at this.
He straightens. He lets a sigh settle on his chest.
"May I come in?"
She just looks at him for the longest time.
Then she nods, gently, and backs away from the door.
He tries not to look too eager, but he follows her in as agilely as he can - before she can change her mind. They're going to have to talk fast if they don't want to be late for the rehearsal dinner - but he's not about to let this chance to have a real conversation, away from their fake, staged life, slip away.
"I volunteered to come," he starts with some very necessary explanation. "I figured the best man should have the privilege of escorting the maid of honor."
He tries a wry smile.
The door sinks close behind him. She meets his eye, arms still crossed, but at least she doesn't run away.
"I wanted the chance to talk to you," he goes on. Every word feels like an extra cookie he gets to sneak away from the cookie jar - just that much more he's getting away with. "May I have that chance - Lizzie?"
This time, she uncrosses her arms and threads her fingers together before nodding.
"I'm sorry," he blurts. "I'm sorry about Anne, about Caroline - about the entire mess that came before the premiere. I'm sorry I trusted the wrong people and the wrong advice at the wrong time - even though all I wanted was to be right with you.
"I realize now that my very poor attempt at trying to separate what's real and what's fake - to make sure that my intentions aren't mistaken to be just a promotional tactic - ended up making the wrong impression. Georgiana and I have been talking, and thinking, and spending a long time together in Pemberley away from it all just to help me sort it out. And the thing is - I've always liked you - ever since, Lizzie. I don't think I've been able to stop thinking about you since our first casting call two and a half years ago. The room just felt brighter and the role felt righter with you in it."
"Sure," she replies - but the sarcasm is tempered with a soft smile.
He dares to smile himself, though just a little.
"I wanted to wait to date you - or to at least try to get you to agree to date me - until after the movies because I wanted it to count for something." He hopes and hopes that she can feel how much he means every bumbling, stumbling word. "It's probably misguided, and I think it's led me to cause my own heartache more than anything else - but I hope you see where I'm coming from."
She shrugs. Then she looks down.
He's suddenly very unsure where all of this is going.
"Lizzie - "
"I get what you meant," she replies. When she looks up, she crosses her arms again. "But what do you mean? Now?"
"That I love you," he says, without a hint of hesitation. "I've loved you since the first time I saw you in Pemberley - period costume and all. I've loved you since the first time you snarked at me as Kaitlyn Jones, with all that fire in your eyes and spunk in your body. I think I've loved you a bit even way before that - but I just didn't know yet."
She looks at him with round, glistening eyes.
He's not sure if she's walking closer to him, or if he's drifting closer to her.
He just knows that he's the one who says, when their faces are just two inches apart, "I was in the middle before I knew I had begun."
And they kiss, then and there, with lips that were always meant to be together. She melts against him - her soft body pliant within his arms. He pulls her close, and closer, as they kiss again, and again, and again some more.
Every moment grows sweeter, every touch feels warmer, every nerve in his body feels more and more alive as they make up for all the lost time.
She pulls back a little after some time, her arms still locked around his torso, just to whisper, "I love you too" - and he's never been more in danger of reducing her very pretty outfit to shreds on the carpeted hotel floor.
He kisses her again, his tongue in her mouth and his hands primly on her waist - until her own hands start mapping their way down his chest.
It's a miracle, really, that they still managed to have any clothes on when the banging on the door grows too loud to ignore - all accompanied with Kitty Brown's chirpy voice reminding them of just how late they are for dinner.
"Tonight?" He whispers, still on the breathless side, after she pats his re-clothed shoulders - maybe admiring her handiwork. She looks flushed, and drop-dead gorgeous.
"Tonight." She smiles.
They leave the room with her arm looped in his, grinning the entire way down. And it doesn't even occur to Darcy until halfway through the rehearsal dinner, after playing footsies under the table for an hour and a half like a couple of high schoolers, that Kitty had a key all along.
There's no question they're going to his room for the after party.
One Year Later
Corina Lopez madamespider 2h
Charles Bingley just confirmed the photos on his insta. #Dizzie married!
| Louisa Grey mrswilldarce 2h
| The dress looked absolutely stunning on her.
| Louisa Grey mrswilldarce 2h
| Not that anyone marrying William Darcy deserves any less.
-Twitter-
Ashley Lu pinknperiwinkle 4h
The collective income of that sneak peek guest list is probably in the billions. Lol. Congrats #Dizzie
-Twitter-
Melinda supertrash19 2h
That honeymoon gonna be liiiiiiiit. William Darcy in a tuxedo is my entire sexuality. LOL.
| Melinda supertrash19 2h
| Super congratz to all. They're going to have some over attractive babies
-Twitter-
By the Numbers Fan bythenumbs 1h
Charles Bingley just confirmed that he was in Bali this weekend to be William Darcy's best man as he weds co-star & gf Lizzie Bennet. The romance is real. #CongratzDizzie
-Twitter-
Maiden Maddie thequeenashley 1h
#CongratzDizzie ! This is all my dreams come true and that Swarovski dress is (cry face) beautiful
-Twitter-
By the Numbers Fan bythenumbs 30m
Kitty Brown just confirmed that Lizzie's returning to Broadway this season. Looks like they're settling down in NYC. #CongratzDizzie
| Louisa Grey mrswilldarce 20m
| I always thought she was more suited for theater. Hollywood is a soul-sucking black hole.
| Louisa Grey mrswilldarce 15m
| Though Hollywood did give us #Dizzie, so I'm not complaining.
-Twitter-
Corina Lopez madamespider 10m
#CongratzDizzie! Let's get this trending.
-Twitter-
Jacob King animebuff 5m
#CongratzDizzie
-Twitter-
Paula Munch kissmekatepls 5m
#CongratzDizzie! *heart eyes*
-Twitter-
Lili Lepinski fairygirlprincess 3m
#CongratzDizzie
A/N: Thanks for taking this fantastical fan journey with me! I hope you enjoyed the quieter ending :)