James with Colin
Since his film debut in 1984 in Another Country, Colin Firth has starred in a range of high profile films and his credits include Apartment Zero, The English Patient, Fever Pitch, and Bridget Jones’ Diary. However it is for his television performance as Mr Darcy in the BBC adaptation of Pride & Prejudice, that he is best remembered.
In his latest romantic comedy, The Accidental Husband, he plays Richard, the English fiancé of popular radio agony Aunt Emily Lloyd (Uma Thurman). But their marital plans are put on hold when it appears she has unwittingly married a New York fireman (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) who has a particular reason for scuppering her wedding plans. Thurman co-produces and Griffin Dunne directs.
You’ve starred in romantic comedies on both sides of the Atlantic. Is there much of a difference between doing them here or in America?
Not really. There’s a lot of stereotyping of American humour and English humour, but I think they overlap far more than people give them credit for. I think Americans do have irony, I think Americans can be very, very dry. I think the English can be very broad and very brash and very silly and very aggressive in their comedy. I really don’t know where to break that down. I think the stereotypes are often a complete nonsense.
How do you feel about playing the quintessential Englishman once more, as you do here?
I’ve decided the quintessential Englishman doesn’t exist. I play him but you don’t run into him very often. I think he’s a figment of our folklore, or film lore, but I do realise that there are some versions of that figure that tend to appear in my work. But if you actually look for examples of people who are really like that they’re usually rather overplayed arch versions of themselves.
It’s how non-English audiences often view classical English men though, isn’t it?
It was very interesting, I was being questioned by a group of Greek journalists while I was shooting Mamma Mia and they were insisting on the stereotypical Englishman. They felt no Englishman had ever grown his hair long, played the electric guitar, pierced his ear, it had never happened. There was no Johnny Rotten, no John Lennon. None of those things had happened, it was only Prince Philip, who – I pointed out – happens to be Greek! So I do think there’s an answer to all that. He may have existed once. Now he exists in the hands of actors but not so much in reality.
He’s a very nice guy here, was there ever a temptation to make him a bit more confrontational when he found himself caught in this love triangle?
The way it was presented to me was that it would never be that simple. Rom-com or not, and however many archetypes are brought in, the fact is that she had people to choose between with completely different qualities. I think if one person had been quite simply horrendous then it would make it very simple who to root for, quite aside from who you prefer or are attracted to. I think that Griffin and everybody making this film wanted to avoid that as much as possible.
A hacker profoundly affects the lives of the characters in the film. If you could fulfil any wish on the internet what would it be?
Since I was conscious, probably, I’ve had fantasies about what I would do if I could wave a magic wand, but it’s never involved the internet. If I thought ‘what could I do?’ it’s never been ‘what could I do with the internet?’. So if you’re giving me the magic superpower it wouldn’t involve a computer, it’s much more absolute and psychotic really.
Thirteen years on since Pride & Prejudice, it’s said that your female following goes from the young women to those much older. How does it feel to lusted after by someone of pensionable age?
I actually find I’m increasingly lusted after by people beyond pensionable age. Even when I was really quite young I was told a story of a woman in hospital being diagnosed with high blood pressure. She was 103, and was told not to watch any more Pride & Prejudice, so I’m used to reaching across the generation gap.
In the film, Richard eats in times of stress. How tough is it actually comfort eating on cue?
I don’t have trouble with eating large quantities, it’s not the biggest stretch for me. It’s very interesting though, I’ve never had to do that here but in New York you get ‘do you want low sodium? Do you want wheat, no wheat?’ They ask you about all your allergies. There were things I’d never heard of that I could forego, so it was probably the healthiest two or three days of stuffing my face that I’ve ever experienced.
There is a tremendous supporting cast on show here, from Isabella Rossellini to Sam Shepard and 2001 star Keir Dullea. How was it working with them?
I couldn’t believe what I’d walked into. I think I had 13 days on this film and to walk into this cast, I couldn’t move without bumping into a legend. Isabella, Sam, it was dazzling. It was kind of wonderful in a way, that we had this thing that was there to delight and entertain, something that was light fare with these incredibly weighty people carrying this legendary baggage and status. It was wonderful, and Keir was very forthcoming with anecdotes, all the stories that you’d want to hear really.
A cast like that presumably comes from having a producer such as Uma?
It does help, if it’s Uma and Griffin your ears perk up right away because of the stuff they’ve done. I was very largely there because of Uma.
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