Darcy in Hollywood by Victoria Kincaid - Guest Post, Excerpt and Giveaway

Today we're welcoming Victoria Kincaid back to the blog with her latest book. As you can infer from the title, Darcy in Hollywood is a modern Pride & Prejudice variation which sees Mr Darcy as a Hollywood film star. Victoria has brought us an excerpt of the book and has also shared her thought processes in transporting Austen's characters to modern-day Hollywood while keeping them true to the characters the readers know and love. Victoria is also kindly offering a giveaway of an ebook of Darcy in Hollywood to one of you. Read on for more details!

Book Description

Rich and arrogant movie star, William Darcy, was a Hollywood heartthrob until a scandalous incident derailed his career.  Now he can only hope that Tom Bennet’s prestigious but low budget indie film will restore his reputation.  However, on the first day of filming, he nearly hits Bennet’s daughter, Elizabeth, with his Ferrari, and life will never be the same.  Okay, she’s a little sarcastic, but he’s certain she’s concealing a massive crush on him—and it’s growing harder to fight his own attraction….

Elizabeth Bennet has a lot on her plate.  She’s applying to medical school and running the studio’s charity project—while hoping her family won’t embarrass her too much.  Being Darcy’s on-set personal assistant is infuriating; he’s rude, proud, and difficult.  If there’s one thing she dislikes, it’s people who only think about themselves.  But then Elizabeth discovers Darcy has been doing a lot of thinking about her.

She might be willing to concede a mutual attraction, but events are conspiring against them and Darcy subject to constant public scrutiny.  Do Darcy and Elizabeth have any hope of achieving Hollywood’s elusive happy ending?


Guest Post by Victoria Kincaid

Hi Ceri! Thank you so much for having me back as a guest! I’m very happy to finally be presenting Darcy in Hollywood to my readers. It’s been a long odyssey. Darcy in Hollywood took me longer to write than any other book since my first, The Secrets of Darcy and Elizabeth. When I started, I had no idea it would turn out to be this difficult but there were many elements of the story that simply refused to fall into place. I wanted to stay true to Austen’s characters while having the story make sense in a modern context—and those goals sometimes clashed.

I eventually realized that Darcy didn’t really want to be a movie star. I thought a star’s fame and fortune would be a good fit with Regency Darcy’s wealth, arrogance, and social status. But I just couldn’t see Darcy as someone who would enjoy screaming fans or poolside L.A. parties or glitzy nightclubs. So I had to re-envision Darcy as someone who became a movie star without really craving those parts of Hollywood. I reinvented his character as a young actor who was known for serious Masterpiece Theatre-type movies, but he starred in one movie that made him a heartthrob for teen girls—which he’s rather embarrassed about. I actually did research on Leonardo DiCaprio since something similar happened to him with Titanic. This perspective turned out to be a much better fit for my vision of Darcy and made the book easier to write.

Below is a scene from an early chapter. Darcy is starring in In the Shadows, a film produced by Tom Bennet (Elizabeth’s father). This scene is from the table read where the actors meet each other and read through the screenplay. I hope you enjoy it!

Excerpt from Darcy in Hollywood by Victoria Kincaid

Finally, a hush fell, and Tom Bennet welcomed everyone to the table read of In the Shadows. The producer launched into a rambling speech that referenced his past films such as The Zombie Ate My Homework and Captain Succotash, a movie with the tagline “The world’s tastiest superhero.”

Darcy didn’t appreciate the reminders. Bennet was a bit of a Hollywood anomaly. A prolific director of B movies, he was a positive genius at raising money; he somehow always inspired others to open their wallets for whatever film he was making. What he didn’t have was talent. His movies, mostly cheap horror flicks, tended to be hack jobs that earned both cult followings and the scorn of critics.

But In the Shadows was a very different kind of movie, and Bennet would be producing, not directing. Darcy wasn’t sure how Bennet had become attached to a serious indie project, but the man’s daughter, Jane, would be playing Jordan, the other lead. No doubt, once Roberta Perez and Darcy himself were attached, funding had proven to be a lot easier.

Finally Bennet’s ramblings petered out. It was curious that the man was so good at raising money—or anything, really. With his perpetually rumpled suits and vague expressions, he always resembled someone who had wandered into the wrong place.

Fortunately, Perez spoke next. Her comments were as incisive and on point as Bennet’s had been diffuse and confusing, reminding Darcy why the movie might succeed. She mentioned the importance of the subject, the timeliness of the theme, and how many moviegoers would empathize with the main characters. By the end of her speech, Darcy was more enthusiastic about the project.

The next step was to have each person at the table introduce him or herself. Darcy focused his attention on each speaker, attempting to ignore the stares of starstruck actors. Ugh. It was bad enough to encounter such reactions at the coffee shop or airport, but from his fellow actors? Didn’t they have any self-respect?

Jane Bennet spoke. Slender and wide-eyed, she was perfect for the role of Jordan. Young enough to make a convincing teenager, she had her blonde hair in a pixie cut that emphasized her gamine qualities and suggested androgyny. Darcy hadn’t worked with her before, although she had graduated from Yale Drama School a year after he had.

Caroline, however, listened to Jane’s quiet words with a curled lip. She leaned toward Darcy, helping herself to one of his armrests. “Mousy doesn’t begin to describe her,” she said sotto voce in his ear. “I don’t know if she can carry this picture.”

Darcy hid his annoyance. He’d seen Jane Bennet’s movies; she had serious acting chops, although this would be her biggest role by far. “I’m looking forward to working with her,” he murmured, shifting his weight away from Caroline.

But he jumped when a toe touched his calf. Damn it! Caroline was running her sandal-clad foot along his leg, under his pants. Giving her a sidelong glare, Darcy cleared his throat meaningfully, but she just smirked at him. Sliding his leg out of range, he made a show of focusing his attention on the introductions.

Charlie Bingley was speaking. With a perpetually innocent expression, endearingly crooked nose, and shaggy blond hair, Charlie was a fellow Hollywood heartthrob, although he hadn’t quite reached Darcy’s level of stardom. He also happened to be Caroline’s brother, but Darcy tried not to hold that against the guy; the truth was that the siblings didn’t have much in common.

Charlie was great fun, with an almost instinctive knowledge of the best Los Angeles clubs and the hottest Hollywood parties. Privately, Darcy thought his friend’s acting skills could use a little…polishing; he didn’t have Darcy’s level of classical training, and it showed.

“I’m playing Stuart Nickels, the caring but bumbling director of the homeless shelter where Jordan stays.” Charlie’s smile revealed his trademark dimples. “I assure you that any caring I manage to demonstrate is completely due to the script while all the bumbling is likely to be my own.”

Everyone laughed, charmed as always by Charlie’s aw-shucks demeanor and self-deprecating wit. The guy sometimes suffered from actor-itis: the almost pathological compulsion to have other people notice him. That had never been Darcy’s problem—he was happy to do his job and go home at the end of the day—but the affliction was surprisingly common in Hollywood.

Lydia Bennet introduced herself with a great deal of hair flipping and giggling—and a thorough recitation of every movie she had ever appeared in, devoting much time to her “greatest achievement”: a bit part in her father’s recent movie, My Hovercraft is Full of Eels.

“I’ve been rehearsing my lines for In the Shadows,” Lydia announced with a smile in Darcy’s direction. He did not return it; every movie set had at least one starlet who thought the way to fame was through his bed. “I think it’s vitally important to try out different line readings in advance.” She assumed a very solemn expression—presumably getting into character—and intoned, “That will be $17.50,” closely followed by, “We don’t sell meatloaf.” The earnest “emotion” in her voice required Darcy to hide a smile.

With the exception of Jane Bennet, the entire family seemed completely devoid of talent—or even common sense.

Then it was Darcy’s turn to introduce himself. “I’m William Darcy, playing Eric Thorne, and I’m looking forward to working on this project.” No other introduction was necessary. He didn’t need to be witty or charming or self-deprecating; they all knew who he was.

He pretended not to notice the cast members exchanging knowing looks. Yes, Palm Springs hadn’t been that long ago. Yes, it would be the first thing you’d find if you googled Darcy’s name. Yes, he had crashed his Ferrari that morning. But Darcy wanted quite desperately to have his life amount to more than just his latest scandal.

Of course, Palm Springs was the primary reason he was at this table. So perhaps it was disingenuous of him to pretend it didn’t define him.

Once the introductions were finished, the cast read through the screenplay. They were a talented bunch for the most part, aside from Lydia as the wooden meatloaf girl. The story had a few charming, laugh-out-loud moments that Darcy had forgotten about and some well-written love scenes with Caroline that he was dreading. But the experience reminded Darcy of what he liked about the screenplay in the first place.

After the event ended, Darcy performed his obligatory schmoozing with Tom and Roberta—the only ones worth chatting up—and repeatedly exclaimed how awesome this film would be. Of course, Darcy would have said that even if they’d been gearing up to film Captain Succotash V: Revenge of the Lima Beans.

Buy Links

Darcy in Hollywood is available to buy now for kindle - Amazon UK / Amazon US / Amazon CA / Add to Goodreads Shelf

Author Bio

Victoria has a Ph.D. in English literature and has taught composition to unwilling college students. Today she teaches business writing to willing office professionals and tries to give voice to the demanding cast of characters in her head.

She lives in Virginia with an overly affectionate cat, two children who are learning how much fun Austen’s characters can be, and a husband who fortunately is not jealous of Mr. Darcy. A lifelong Austen fan, Victoria has read more Jane Austen variations and sequels than she can count – and confesses to an extreme partiality for the Colin Firth miniseries version of Pride and Prejudice.

Visit her at www.victoriakincaid.com

Goodreads • Twitter • Amazon US Author Page •

Giveaway Time!

Victoria Kincaid is giving away an ebook of Darcy in Hollywood to one of you lovely people. To enter, please leave a comment on this blog post by the end of the day worldwide on 7 July. Please include your name, and if I don't have your contact details, please follow comments on the post so I can give you a heads up there that the winner has been posted. You can also earn one additional giveaway entry by tweeting about the giveaway. To ensure that I see it, please tag me in the post - @frawli1978.

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