Colin Firth is a solid choice for any ad. But a 12-foot-tall version of the Oscar winner rising from a lake, wet shirt sticking to his chiseled physique, is marketing gold. UKTV made the latter happen in London's Hyde Park this week—installing a giant statue of Mr. Darcy from Pride and Prejudice, as portrayed by Firth in the BBC's 1995 version, in the middle of a lake to promote its new TV channel, Drama. It's a fitting image to choose, as that scene was named the most memorable British TV drama moment of all time in a recent survey.
Three sculptors spent two months designing, constructing and painting the fiberglass model."We took Colin Firth's famous lake scene as a starting point for creating Mr. Darcy, but we also read the book and looked at performances of the brooding hero by Matthew Macfadyen, David Rintoul and even Laurence Olivier," says lead sculptor Toby Crowther. "The challenge for us was capturing the spirit of Darcy as handsome and noble but also aloof and proud. The Mr. Darcy sculpture is a real mix of the many portrayals of Jane Austen's most famous hero."
The statue will head next to Scarborough beach in North Yorkshire before finding a semi-permanent home at Lyme Park in Cheshire, where the scene was was originally filmed. It will remain there until next February. The campaign, including the survey, was orchestrated by Taylor Herring PR. Check out the case study here.
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