Gwyneth Paltrow and Keira Knightley are too "nasal" and not "lovable" enough to have been allowed to star in Jane Austen adaptations, according to an expert on the novelist.
Despite being Oscar-nominated for her role as Elizabeth Bennet in Joe Wright's 2005 adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, Paula Byrne said Knightley was "completely wrong" and too "wooden" for the part.
Meanwhile, she claims that Paltrow's "nasal whine" ruined her depiction of Emma.
Speaking at the Hay Festival while promoting her book The Genius of Jane Austen: Her Love Of Theatre And Why She Is A Hit In Hollywood, Bryne said (via The Telegraph): "I didn't like Keira Knightley at all. I thought she was completely wrong for Elizabeth Bennet.
"She has a great back, a beautiful back, and all we can see is her back. I found her quite wooden and she doesn't articulate very well," she went on.
"And she is way too beautiful for Elizabeth because the one thing we know about Elizabeth is that her sister is very beautiful but Elizabeth just has 'fine eyes' and that's all we know about Elizabeth, that she has fine eyes.
"Elizabeth Bennet is a very interesting character for her vivacity. She is a very unusual character for the 18th century. But she is not beautiful."
She added: "Jane Austen made it clear she was not writing heroines who were drop dead beautiful, she was writing about a new kind of heroine. Keira Knightley was not just right for the role."
Bryne admitted that Paltrow's "whine" as Emma drove her mad, adding: "Then there's Gwyneth Paltrow in Emma - that voice, that nasal whine.
"It just drives me mad! It's like Keira Knightley - she's got that nasal thing going on too.
"You don't really want to feel like strangling Emma - you get annoyed with her, the character, because she's such a horrible snob and gets things wrong. But we find her lovable as well and Gwyneth Paltrow was not lovable enough for me."
Naomi Gordon is news writer mainly covering entertainment news with a focus on celebrity interviews and television.
