Colin Firth set to make the ladies sigh once again in latest period drama Aug 29 2009 Rick Fulton
TRY as he might Colin Firth just isn't the same without britches or a stiff, white collar.
The tousled-haired actor has made a generation of women weak at the knees in period dramas.
Whether it's as Darcy, dripping wet in Pride and Prejudice which made him a heartthrob 15 years ago, or as Tommy Judd in Another Country, The English Patient, Shakespeare in Love, Girl with a Pearl Earring or even The Importance of Being Earnest, Colin is a man out of time.
Sure he's been in modern-day films like Fever Pitch, the two Bridget Jones movies, Mamma Mia! and St Trinian's (the sequel of which he's filming) but he's at his best when dealing with the confines of a bygone age.
This year he has two more films that place him in the past - next month in Dorian Gray then in an animated version of A Christmas Carol.
From being the spurned lover or romantic lead, Colin has grown into father roles in films like Nanny McPhee, Mamma Mia! and now Dorian Gray, a film adaptation of the famous Oscar Wilde book The Picture of Dorian Gray.
In it, he plays father figure Lord Henry Wotton who introduces Dorian, played by Prince Caspian star Ben Barnes, into the guilty pleasures of London - with awful results.
When a portrait of Dorian is unveiled, such is its beauty that he makes a pledge - he would give anything to stay as he is in the picture, even his soul.
While many insist that in films Colin is often portrayed as Mr Reliable - the man who offers stability rather than fireworks - director Oliver Parker reckons the British actor is becoming "more and more exciting".
Parker says: "He moves forward in an almost relentless way, looking for new ways to challenge himself.
"Henry Wotton is a fabulous role for him and not necessarily an obvious one considering the way people perceive Colin."
Then he jokes: "But I know he's a dark b*****d at heart with evil thoughts so it was an easy choice in the end."
Colin, 48, and a father of three, laughs when he hears Parker's words. He says: "The older I get, the less inclined I am to do something I don't enjoy, simple as that. I don't care what masterpiece comes out of it - if I'm not enjoying it. it's not worth it, but Ben Barnes and I had lots of fun on set.
"One of the great draws for me was that Ben was doing this. It helps us and it helps the work. There's a playfulness between Dorian and Henry and a bit of our relationship spilled over into that."
As the film progresses and Dorian stays the same age while Wotton ages, Colin has to look much older than he is. And after make-up the cheeky younger actor took pity on Colin.
He says: "As soon as Ben Barnes saw me with a bald wig he wanted to help me to my chair, give me some medication and help me change my colostomy bag.
"He couldn't help patronising me when I looked old."
Clearly the two had chemistry on and off set. And Colin, cutting a dash as Wotton, claims to see much of his younger self in the up-and-coming Ben. The pair starred in last year's film adaptation of Noel Coward's play Easy Virtue.
Firth says: "I'm reminded of certain aspects of myself at the time - you have to really look for roles that have texture when you're in your 20s.
"Dorian Gray's the perfect part for someone like him because he starts off as a callow youth then turns into a homicidal mass murderer at the end.
"I found it desperately dull being 25 as an actor. A friend of mine, an older actor, told me when I was that age that the hardest role in Shakespeare is not Hamlet or Lear, it's Ferdinand in the Tempest, the earnest lover with no sense of humour.
"The older you get the more they let you be jaded, or witty, maybe you're bad, maybe you're just disappointed - layers of experience. There's more to be had, so yeah, bring them on!
"If it's dad or grandfather, I'm in no hurry to get to that age. I don't relish the ageing process any more than the next person in any other aspect but it has brought me kids, which I love, and the roles are more interesting."
It's the second Wilde story adapted to the big screen Colin has been in in a decade and, like the first, he reckons the critics will have the knives out again. For starters, his character has a daughter in the film
He says: "The version we did of The Importance of Being Earnest angered a lot of purists and I recall thinking that is as it should be.
"It is not supposed to be a museum piece. The original copy has not been harnessed on the shelf and it can be interpreted and read.
"I think it is a wonderful film and it opened up Oscar Wilde to a lot of people who normally wouldn't read him or go to his plays.
"And this is a virtue of this film too - it was precisely the intention of the director Oliver Parker.
"He wants everybody to have a crack at it and everybody to enjoy the thing, rather than it being the preserve of a few highly educated people."
Colin, who was born in Hampshire but spent part of his childhood in Nigeria where his father taught, remembers reading it as a teenager, although he insists he can't actually recall many details.
While he admits being able to tell you the plot of Oliver Twist, David Copperfield or Great Expectations, he, like many others, can't decide whether it's because he read Gray as a child or just watched the film or television adaptations.
He says: "I read Dorian just before making the film and again it was impossible for me to know whether I had read this before or whether I had heard every quote somewhere else."
Although he may have read the book, he didn't watch any of the past adaptations of Wilde's only published novel Dorian Gray, including the Oscar-winning 1945 film with George Sanders as Wotton
He says: "I stayed away from it because George Sanders casts a very long shadow and I didn't want to make it any more difficult for myself.
"But Ben is by far the best Dorian there's ever been.
"He has got more complexity, partly in what he has been given. He has a very interesting quality.
"He is clearly very beautiful. "He has a lot of the right physical qualities, obviously, but he has also got these very, very dark eyes.
"The pupils of his eyes are about as black as anyone's I have ever seen."
As Ben becomes one of Britain's best new actors, Colin continues to show versatility with a raft of new work on the horizon from Main Street with Orlando Bloom to the new 3D film version of A Christmas Carol with Jim Carrey as Scrooge and Colin as the miser's nephew Fred.
Colin has seen a few minutes of it and says: "You are catching your breath. It's an extraordinary visual spectacle. Jim Carrey is brilliant in it."
With a foot in the past and in the modern day in his career so far, Colin will get the best of both worlds in the latest film by Irvine Welsh.
The Meat Trade has been written by the Trains potting novelist and, while set in modern-day Edinburgh, it is based on the tales of infamous 19th century body snatchers Burke and Hare. It has been on the to-dolist for a couple of years but seems to be finally getting off the ground.
So are we going to see Colin in it? He says: "I can tell you now, I'm very excited about that script - I want to do it, Robert Caryle wants to do it, and I'd love to see it come together."
Until then, luckily for Firth fans, there always seems to be something to see him in.
В то время как многие настаивают, что в фильмах Колин часто изображает мистера Надежность – человека, который предлагает стабильность, но не фееричность, режиссер Оливер Паркер считает, что британский актер становится «все более и более потрясающим» Паркер говорит: «Он непреклонно продвигается вперед, в поисках новых путей, чтобы испытать себя. Генри Уотон отличная роль для него и не обязательно по причине особого зрительского восприятия Колина. Он шутит: «Но я знаю, что внутри он мрачный мерз.. с дурными мыслями, поэтому мой выбор составил труда».
Колин: «Чем старше я становлюсь, тем меньше склоняюсь к тому, что должен делать что-то, что мне не нравится, поэтому мне все равно, получится ли в результате шедевр или нет, если мне это не доставляет удовольствия, дело не стоит того, чтобы им заниматься, но но мы с Беном Барнсом прекрасно развлеклись. Одной из причин, почему я согласился сниматься, было то, что в фильме участвует Бен. Это помогло нам и помогло работе. Между Дорианом и Генри идет игра, и часть наших взаимоотношений перетекла в фильм».
По ходу действия Дориан остается молодым, а Уотон стареет. Колина пришлось сильно состарить. И после нанесения грима молодой актер выразил жалость к Колину.
Ферт говорит: «Как только Бен увидел меня с лысиной, он кинулся подавать мне стул, лекарство и помог мне поменять судно. Ему было трудно удержаться от опеки надо мной, старым человеком».
Определенно, между этими двумя есть химия и на съемочной площадке, и вне ее. Колин, играя Уотона, утверждает, что видит самого себя молодого в Бене. Ферт говорит: «Дориан Грей – отличная роль для него, потому что образ изменяется от неоперившегося птенца до законченного убийцы. Когда мне было 25, я считал, что это безнадежно скучно. Мой друг, актер более зрелого возраста, сказал, что самая трудная роль у Шекспира не Гамлет или король Лир, а Фердинанд из «Бури», очень серьезный влюбленный без чувства юмора. Чем старше вы становитесь, тем больше вам позволяют быть усталыми или язвительными, возможно плохими, либо разочарованными – наслоения опыта. Вы многое имеете, так используйте это!»
People may have been celebrating the sale of Tom Ford's directorial debut, A Single Man , to the Weinstein company for $1-million (U.S.), but it was the first big sale at TIFF, and $1-million is a whole lot less than the $30-million paid for Little Miss Sunshine at Sundance a few years ago. Plus, supporting Tom Ford is a no-brainer: The former Gucci head is a media magnet, and his film stars Colin Firth, who in addition to being extremely dishy is also a master line-deliverer. “It's not the film of a stylist,” Firth told me. “It's the film of a man with something to confess.” (Harvey Weinstein, you have your tag line.)
Firth has a second film at TIFF, Dorian Gray , which has been less well received – partly because it gets melodramatic, but mainly (for me, anyway) because Firth's face is obscured behind a forest of facial hair.
“The hair was really mine,” he said. “Well, mostly mine. I had to keep it for two months, but it was more my wife suffering it than I. Shaving it was a great day. And even better, because I age in the film, was scraping off the prosthetic wrinkles. Though there are one or two that didn't come off.”
Народ, конечно, может праздновать продажу режиссерского дебюта Тома Форда, фильма A Single Man, компании братьев Вайнштейн за 1 млн. долларов США, но это была первая крупная продажа на нынешнем Торонтском фестивале, не говоря уж о том, что 1 млн. гораздо меньше, чем 30 млн., которые заплатили за «Маленькую мисс Счастье» на фестивале Сандэнс всего несколько лет назад. К тому же, поддержать Тома Форда — это вам не бином Ньютона: бывший глава модного дома Гуччи — медиамагнат, а в его фильме снялся Колин Ферт, который не только выглядит чертовски соблазнительно, но еще и блещет афористичностью слога. «Это не фильм модельера, — сказал Ферт в беседе со мной, — это фильм человека, которому есть в чем исповедаться.» (Харви Вайнштейн, вот тебе и готовый слоган для рекламы).
У Ферта на Торонтском фестивале есть и второй фильм, «Дориан Грей», который приняли не так хорошо — отчасти потому, что он слишком уж мелодраматичен, но в основном (для меня, во всяком случае) из-за того, что в нем лицо Ферта скрыто за целым лесом растительности.
«Волосы действительно были мои собственные», — сказал он. «Ну, во всяком случае, большая их часть. Мне пришлось ходить в таком виде около двух месяцев, но этого больше страдала моя жена, чем я. День, когда я смог наконец побриться, стал настоящим праздником. Не говоря уж о том, что, поскольку в фильме я старею, я заодно содрал с себя и искусственные морщины. Хотя, боюсь, одна-две из них так в результате и не сошли.»
Carrie ну прям букет от Нашего афористичного Фсе! Боюсь, что я тоже не смогу содрать все улыбки от прочтения твоего перевода, одна-две останутся до вечера. А для тяжкого последнего дня недели это - исключительно замечательно!!!
Romi
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Отправлено: 18.09.09 17:57. Заголовок: Это такое эссе. clic..
Это такое эссе. click here Во всяком случае, я так для себя его оценила, пробежавшись по диагонали. Ссылку позаимствовала у Сестер, потому что гугл выдает в эти дни море адресов, а на все не зайдешь... Сестры хвалят. Как сказала hallemae, «He never disappoints».
Colin Firth was in the lobby the other day waiting to exit. I only saw him from behind at first. Noticed the suit. And the height. He is a tall, tall man. And he carries himself so beautifully it’s instantly recognisable.
Stationed at the side entrance so as not to be mobbed by the throng outside, his publicist led him out to the sedan waiting to pick him up. He was not rushed, he strolled with purpose but not panic, past photographers and fans and calmly stepped into the Audi and on to the next stop. Sigh. Breathtaking.
And that’s just the beginning.
Colin was at TIFF for Dorian Gray and A Single Man with Tom Ford. He was dressed in Tom Ford, he was at the press conference with Tom Ford, and he was outposed by Tom Ford.
Tom Ford posing makes my f-cking life. Look at these shots. He’s perfect in all these shots!
On Tuesday night, Colin showed up at the annual In Style party. He spent several minutes walking up and down the fan line, taking photos, signing autographs, hugging them, talking to them, accepting their birthday wishes, while his wife Livia waited patiently on the carpet, so elegant, such a lady, and more chic than most of the celebrities who were there that night.
After spending time with the crowd, Colin came over to the press line to chat. He’s a handsome man, yes. But it’s even better his personality.
Very dry, very sarcastic, funny as sh-t.
He came into our etalk lounge this week for an interview in support of Dorian Gray. When asked what it was like working with Ben Barnes, he replied – pffft. He’s boring. I don’t want to talk about him. He’s boring. People with faces like that are boring. And it doesn’t move from all that Botox.
You have to imagine it, with his accent, and a twinkle in his eye…
I’m telling you, it’s like foreplay.
Laura needed him to stop talking. She already loves him, and he was making her love him even more, and at that rate, she would have blocked the door and claimed him for herself.
It was the same on the carpet. We talked about wearing a Tom Ford. He said Tom Ford is a genius but even Tom Ford can’t make him as pretty as Ben Barnes. Heh. I also asked him about being Mark Darcy for the 3rd time. According to Colin Firth, that’s a “phantom report”. He knows nothing of a third Bridget Jones film. And he’d be willing to do it, except that right now, it’s not happening. Those clips will air on etalk tonight.
MTV Canada’s Jessi Cruickshank had a great moment with Colin too. She wanted to know what he smelled like. And he let her lean in. F-ck. That should have been my question.
Needless to say, he had us. He has us for life.
And then he put his arms around his wife and they went inside where he was friendly and funny and sweet all night, did not hide in a private booth like Nicolas Cage, and held hands with Livia virtually the entire time.
Such a relief when the ones you admire don’t let you down. Posted on Thursday, September 17, 2009 at 3:59 PM
Romi
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Отправлено: 18.09.09 19:20. Заголовок: Colin Firth doesn..
Небольшое интервью. Colin Firth doesn't always have to play the romantic
Colin Firth doesn't always have to play the romantic By Katherine Monk, Canwest News ServiceSeptember 18, 2009 11:02 AM
TORONTO - Within seconds of meeting Colin Firth, you can tell why he was destined to become the era's leading romantic male actor - and it has nothing to do with him being tall, dark and handsome.
Sure, he's talented, and all. And yes, he played the archetypal ideal husband Mr. Darcy in the English TV version of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, but the likely reason Firth emerged as the object of desire for an entire group of women of "a certain age" has to do with his reluctance to take on the role in the first place.
Truth is, Firth doesn't really like playing romantic leads all that much, and it's his very reluctance to throw himself into the role of ideal man that makes him feel even more real, more flawed and made entirely from flesh.
We buy Firth as Henry Dashwood (What a Girl Wants) or Mark Darcy (Bridget Jones's Diary) without a hiccup because he's got dimension and depth without losing his masculinity. But there's also a slight degree of disconnection - a mysterious aloofness and unattainability that makes men undeniably attractive to women.
It's a natural gift for Firth, because at some level, you can tell he doesn't care about all this entertainment business hullabaloo. You can see it as he sits quietly and ever so elegantly in his deco chair at the Toronto International Film Festival.
He's just rolling with the punches as he greets the non-stop parade of reportorial inquisitors.
"I want to engage," he says, affirming his commitment to the job at hand.
"But there's only so much that can happen in a (10-minute) interview. I'm here because of the work. I want to support it in whatever way I can."
Firth is appearing in two high-profile movies at the festival. The first is Dorian Gray, a new adaptation of Oscar Wilde's book from stage director Oliver Parker opening in theatres this weekend.
The second is A Single Man, the Christopher Isherwood novel about a gay professor mourning his dead partner that was brought to the screen by fashion icon-turned director Tom Ford.
"There are certain times in one's career when you take a role out of necessity. You just need a job. That's a very real concern for almost every actor. But the luxury of being employed on a regular basis is you can afford to, you know, evaluate each project and what it means to you," he says.
"That's not to say I think I've made some shabby choices in the past. It just means I can make a noble choice over a shabby one."
The eyes smile. The mouth does not.
"These two choices, I think, were noble ones. They were both risks, to some degree."
In Dorian Gray, Firth plays Lord Henry Wotton, an old roue who corrupts the innocent Dorian with his taste for liquor and women. In A Single Man, Firth goes even further against his regular type as a homosexual moving through Los Angeles in a mournful daze.
"I often play very nice people, and I have to say it's really nice to play someone who isn't so nice. Nice people are boring, usually, but playing someone with a little edge is really fun. It's intriguing."
Firth chews up the scenery and brings a little dark humour to the Wilde-inspired film in the role of Lord Henry, but he wasn't so convinced he'd be good until his old buddy Parker yanked him aboard just weeks before the shoot.
"I wasn't the first choice for Henry. But I've known Oliver for a very long time and he thought I'd be good, but I had a hard time making my mind up about it. In the end, I'm glad I did it because Henry is probably one of the best roles in the English-speaking world. Unfortunately, George Sanders still casts a long shadow from the 1945 version," he says, with seemingly genuine deference.
"But it wasn't much of a stretch for me, really. Oliver knows how cranky I can be. And I actually find it easier to play this type of role than a romantic lead, because the character is far more interesting," he says.
"Romantic leads are rather featureless. There's nothing to really sink your teeth into as an actor and tear out. I supposed (Bridget Jones's) Darcy has a pompous side, but he seems to have become the romantic ideal quite by accident," says Firth.
"I don't quite understand that, really."
Firth looks down at the circular granite slab covering the round table between us with a slight look of disapproval, then talks about playing the gay professor in A Single Man.
"That really was a one-off, but it was incredibly rewarding because it meant a lot to everyone involved. It may involve a homosexual character, but it deals with issues that couldn't be more universal, such as death and mourning," says Firth.
"Tom (Ford) and I took a huge risk on each other. It was a huge leap of faith because there was no guarantee any of it would work. Tom was a first-time director, and I got to watch him become a filmmaker, but we both walked into it knowing we weren't doing it for the money," he says.
"That movie, for me, was about the experience. I had no idea how it would end up. I had to put my trust in Tom, and in the end, it turned into something very special."
Dorian Gray opens in UK theatres and TIFF Sept. 18; North American dates to follow. A Single Man was acquired by the Weinstein Company at TIFF and as yet, has no release date.
Romi
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Отправлено: 22.09.09 18:04. Заголовок: The rebirth of Colin..
The rebirth of Colin Firth Could Colin Firth finally lay Mr Darcy to rest? A Single Man has catapulted him to the front of the race for a best actor Oscar. About time, too
The most enduring image of Colin Firth is still as Mr Darcy, wet blouse dripping, emerging from a lake. But come next March, that image could be knocked off the top spot by another: Firth beaming, on stage at the Kodak theatre in LA, clutching a golden statue.
Almost out of nowhere, Firth has emerged from the Venice-Toronto festival doubleheader as a serious contender for an Oscar, just as Mickey Rourke did last year. Firth won the best actor prize at Venice for his role as a grieving gay professor in Tom Ford's debut A Single Man. Then the film was the subject of a bidding war among US distributors in Toronto, won by that ferocious Oscar hound Harvey Weinstein, who pushed Kate Winslet to the podium last year.
We all know that Oscar loves Brits, particularly posh, self-deprecating ones; and it loves gay guys, so long as they are suitably tragic. Morgan Freeman as Nelson Mandela in Invictus still looks like the race is his to lose (even though no one has seen it yet), and Clooney, Damon, Day-Lewis and Duvall will be heavyweight competition. But if Weinstein can get Firth to tout himself around the chatshow sofas and the Hollywood tea parties, it could be a close thing.
So why does the idea of Firth as this year's Winslet or Helen Mirren, a British national treasure as Oscar frontrunner, seem so incongruous? He's always been a fine actor, sometimes better than that. But unlike Winslet or Mirren, he has never been awards bait. His mantelpiece is bare, apart from a European Film Academy audience prize for Bridget Jones' Diary back in 2001. The public likes him, which is why he gets cast in virtually every Brit pic with commercial ambitions. But his career lacks gravitas.
Since his breakthrough as the ultimate thinking woman's crumpet in Pride and Prejudice, Firth has spent most of his time subverting his brooding Mr Darcy image by horsing around with amiable skill in a string of often mediocre, but sometimes very successful British comedies.
He sent himself up as Mark Darcy in the Bridget movies. He's a regular trouper for the revived Ealing Studios, which landed him in critically-derided fare such as Dorian Gray. When Mamma Mia! producer Judy Craymer came to casting, she knew exactly who her middle-aged female fanbase wanted to see as Meryl Streep's old lovers: "James Bond and Mr Darcy, who else?" According to Craymer, Firth loved the fact that his repressed English Romeo ended up in arms of a Greek boy, although she had to cut those scenes short for fear of upsetting her audience too much.
Firth was always a reluctant sex symbol, and an ambivalent star who sometimes had to be talked into playing the frivolous media game by his producers. He certainly comes across as someone who thinks there are more important things in life than prancing around in slap and spangles. Despite his flair for comedy, Firth is a serious fellow. At next month's London film festival, he will launch his project Brightwide (a website dedicated to political cinema) and host a panel to discuss how politically-engaged directors can change the world. Yet his own weightier performances in films such as Michael Winterbottom's Genova have gone largely unseen.
"I happen to think he's the finest actor of his generation," says Barnaby Thompson, the head of Ealing Studios who also directed him in two St Trinian's films. "He moves between drama and comedy, which some find confusing. The people who get nominated for things tend to be earnest 24/7. But when you see something like Genova, he's fantastic, so he was always going to have his moment when one of those serious things sparked."
A Single Man looks like that moment, and not before time.
olja
Зарегистрирован: 17.05.05
Отправлено: 22.09.09 19:03. Заголовок: Romi пишет: The reb..
цитата:
The rebirth of Colin Firth
"ворчливо" Для кого rebirth, а для кого почти все роли, как маленькие и большие шедевры...
marisha
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Отправлено: 22.09.09 19:09. Заголовок: rebirth... что-то ма..
rebirth... что-то мало справедливости. Ощущение, что совсем немногие видели то, что он создавал на протяжении стольких лет. Ведь список шедевров не назовешь скромным, разве не так?
совсем немногие видели то, что он создавал на протяжении стольких лет
А так и есть. Откуда? Большинство привыкли смотреть и помнить лишь последние кассовые хиты. Так что запомнили лишь с ДБД, и знают его ромкомы. Заметили, как аттестуют ВСЕХ актеров? Называют лишь 2-3 последних хита. Уже узаконенное упрощение.
Romi
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Отправлено: 23.09.09 23:28. Заголовок: click here I've..
I've always thought Colin Firth a superb thesp, yet never suspected in him the incandescence and depth he brings to the title character, using his voice like a Stradivarius.
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