Have you heard that Pride & Prejudice is 20 years old? The movie returned to theaters earlier this year to celebrate that fact, but Keira Knightley and Rosamund Pike also reunited to swap stories about shooting the romance based on the Jane Austen classic. I certainly wouldn’t have guessed Knightley’s story that involved Donald Sutherland turning up to a party in a gas mask, but it’s actually a sweet behind the scenes bit.
Sutherland has no longer been with us for almost a year now, following his death at the age of 88 in June of last year. When remembering the late actor, Keira Knightley recalled a funny story about what it was like to be his co-star. As she shared:
So he had it in his contract that nobody on set was allowed to smoke anywhere near and you couldn't smell of smoke, but of course, everyone smoked back then anyway. So we'd be running off and everyone would be smoking and then you'd be sort of spraying yourself.
In a new conversation for Vanity Fair, Knightley shared Sutherland’s grounds for being on Pride & Prejudice, which wasn’t an easy clause to follow considering most of the actors on it were 20-somethings who found smoking all the rage at the time. But, here’s the best part:
But the party he came to, he came to the center of it in a gas mask. He stood in the party, because he knew. He was like 'I want you to be able to smoke, and I wanted to come to the party.' So we were there smoking, and him in the gas mask.
Donald Sutherland certainly set some clear boundaries when it came to being around smoke on set, but that didn’t mean he didn’t want to be part of the fun with his co-stars. Can you imagine the sight of Sutherland casually with a gas mask on at a party alongside the likes of Knightley, Pike, Carey Mulligan, Mathew Macfadyen and Tom Hollander? If only there was a picture somewhere.
Apparently Donald Sutherland used to be heavy into cigarettes, allegedly smoking four packs a day “back in the ‘60s and ‘70s” (per RadarOnline) before he decided to quit. Then, he became so against it he’d regularly ask to keep cigarette usage at least 100 yards away from him on movie sets.
When he died last year, it was due to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), which is a type of long-term lung disease that makes it hard for the person to breathe. Smoking is the main cause of COPD, so it sounds like Sutherland’s decision to vehemently stay away from smoking was due to serious health concerns.
Pride & Prejudice not only remains one of the best Donald Sutherland movies 20 years after its release, but one of those beloved movies people rewatch all the time (such as the guy who went viral for doing so three times in a row on a plane). These days, people are always talking about the iconic hand flex scene and quoting the movie’s romantic moments left and right. Keira Knightley’s memory of Sutherland on set is totally unexpected, but kind of amazing. You have to love how the actor balanced doing what's best for him and having a good time.
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