INDEPENDENT WOMAN
Colin Firth has had a stellar year, winning an Oscar for Best Actor in February for his performance in the The King's Speech, and following up that success with a juicy role in a new adaptation of John le Carré's classic spy thriller Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.
So the Irish Independent took no pleasure in putting a damper on the 51-year-old's lucky streak by having to inform him that Formula One driver Jensen Button had just displaced Firth as Britain's best looking bloke in a new male celebrity-ranking poll.
Even worse, Firth dropped from first place in last year's poll to third, with Spooks star Richard Armitage taking second position (that said, Firth still ranked higher than David Beckham, Jude Law and Daniel Craig).
"I'm crushed by the news," the actor once most famously known as the clingy-wet-shirt-sporting Mr Darcy of Pride and Prejudice fame quipped as he settled into a sofa in London's Soho hotel.
The upside is that Time magazine also recently named Firth one of the most influential performers in the world, with Helen Mirren praising him in the accompanying tribute for his "innate decency, self-discipline, and self-deprecation".
Firth's response to that honour is, suitably enough, self-deprecating to a fault.
"One of my children has pointed out to me that I'm not even the most influential person in my household -- or the best looking person in my household for that matter," he said.
Such utterances are, of course, utter rubbish. Firth is still an intimidatingly handsome -- not to mention tall (standing almost 6ft 2in) -- man. His dark hair has only flecks of grey. As evidenced by his garb when we meet, he can still wear a suit like few others can (and, thanks to his good pal Tom Ford, he's well stocked), plus he is well-spoken, polite, and smart to boot.
Right now, there are other things on his mind apart from his looks, starting with his nostalgic concerns for the fate of sherbert fountains, about which he was conferring with an assistant as he came into the hotel suite.
"They still make Curly Wurlys, or are they gone too?" he continued. The assistant replied that the chocolate bar had been briefly discontinued but has since made a comeback. "Must make a note of that," Firth said, with a slight smile.
Confectionary concerns aside, Firth is just one member of the heavy-hitting 'who's who of British talent' cast of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, appearing alongside Gary Oldman (in a role made famous by Alec Guinness in an iconic 1970s TV adaptation), John Hurt, Tom Hardy, Sherlock star Benedict Cumberbatch, and Irish actor Ciarán Hinds.
Set in drab 1970s Britain, the plot of the movie concerns the hunt for a supposed Soviet spy within the British intelligence establishment.
"I think enough time had passed from the Alec Guinness TV series, as well from the era depicted, for us to do something interesting with the story," Firth said. "My character [Bill Haydon] enjoys life. He's vain, arty and bohemian." Firth paused before adding: "And he's sexually active, let's say. Very active."
Firth believed that the movie's themes of public betrayal and distrust of the establishment makes it a thoroughly current story, even though it's set 40 years ago. "Take the Soviets versus the west out of this, and all the other elements are pretty pertinent," he said. "We're still just as paranoid, freaked out, and jumping at shadows as we always were. If it's not 'Reds under the beds', then it's 'who's a terrorist'?"
What kind of spy would Firth make? Surely it's quite similar to being an actor? "I think I'd be crap," he replied.
"It's all very well to draw parallels with actors in terms of the fact that we might be capable of duplicity and inhabiting other roles, but that doesn't mean we'd be very good if someone pointed a gun at us, or we have to go through any personal physical discomfort."
Discomfort -- of the professional kind anyway -- isn't something that Firth has to endure much of anymore. Since his Oscar win, he has become one of the movie world's most reliable leading men, currently attached to several projects including the comedy Gambit opposite Cameron Diaz, the World War Two drama The Railway Man, and a mooted remake of My Fair Lady.
Firth will also apparently return for any third movie instalment of Bridget Jones' Diary, in which he plays the title character's love interest Mark Darcy. The actor is none-the-wiser on the plans for that proposed movie, though he did reveal to a US magazine last month that the likely plot would see Bridget (Renée Zellweger) once again lured astray by her bad-boy ex Daniel Cleaver (Hugh Grant).
"I can tell you that Bridget and Mark can't have children -- I think that's the way it goes on," Firth said at the time. "So then she makes the huge mistake of going back to Daniel Cleaver for long enough to get pregnant."
In the meantime, Firth maintains that winning an Oscar hasn't changed his career that much.
"In terms of one's attitude to it, you can either see it as pressure to live up to something, or you can see it has taking the pressure off, where you can go, 'Okay, I got that now, I can do whatever the hell I please'. That's a far more pleasant way to see it. It's far too soon to assess the impact it has had on my career."
Presumably he can demand more money for his services though? He laughed and replied: "Briefly, you probably can. It's far more likely when the economy is healthy, but that's supposedly what you do."
There was just time to ask him what was going through his mind as he collected his Oscar?
"It's very odd, I don't remember winning or being up on stage," he said. "I remember thinking at the time, 'I'll probably wake up in July and get very excited about this'. And about two months ago I did get very excited. But it was all a bit lonely because everyone had gone, and the party was over."
*Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is in cinemas now.
So the Irish Independent took no pleasure in putting a damper on the 51-year-old's lucky streak by having to inform him that Formula One driver Jensen Button had just displaced Firth as Britain's best looking bloke in a new male celebrity-ranking poll.
Even worse, Firth dropped from first place in last year's poll to third, with Spooks star Richard Armitage taking second position (that said, Firth still ranked higher than David Beckham, Jude Law and Daniel Craig).
"I'm crushed by the news," the actor once most famously known as the clingy-wet-shirt-sporting Mr Darcy of Pride and Prejudice fame quipped as he settled into a sofa in London's Soho hotel.
The upside is that Time magazine also recently named Firth one of the most influential performers in the world, with Helen Mirren praising him in the accompanying tribute for his "innate decency, self-discipline, and self-deprecation".
Firth's response to that honour is, suitably enough, self-deprecating to a fault.
"One of my children has pointed out to me that I'm not even the most influential person in my household -- or the best looking person in my household for that matter," he said.
Such utterances are, of course, utter rubbish. Firth is still an intimidatingly handsome -- not to mention tall (standing almost 6ft 2in) -- man. His dark hair has only flecks of grey. As evidenced by his garb when we meet, he can still wear a suit like few others can (and, thanks to his good pal Tom Ford, he's well stocked), plus he is well-spoken, polite, and smart to boot.
Right now, there are other things on his mind apart from his looks, starting with his nostalgic concerns for the fate of sherbert fountains, about which he was conferring with an assistant as he came into the hotel suite.
"They still make Curly Wurlys, or are they gone too?" he continued. The assistant replied that the chocolate bar had been briefly discontinued but has since made a comeback. "Must make a note of that," Firth said, with a slight smile.
Confectionary concerns aside, Firth is just one member of the heavy-hitting 'who's who of British talent' cast of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, appearing alongside Gary Oldman (in a role made famous by Alec Guinness in an iconic 1970s TV adaptation), John Hurt, Tom Hardy, Sherlock star Benedict Cumberbatch, and Irish actor Ciarán Hinds.
Set in drab 1970s Britain, the plot of the movie concerns the hunt for a supposed Soviet spy within the British intelligence establishment.
"I think enough time had passed from the Alec Guinness TV series, as well from the era depicted, for us to do something interesting with the story," Firth said. "My character [Bill Haydon] enjoys life. He's vain, arty and bohemian." Firth paused before adding: "And he's sexually active, let's say. Very active."
Firth believed that the movie's themes of public betrayal and distrust of the establishment makes it a thoroughly current story, even though it's set 40 years ago. "Take the Soviets versus the west out of this, and all the other elements are pretty pertinent," he said. "We're still just as paranoid, freaked out, and jumping at shadows as we always were. If it's not 'Reds under the beds', then it's 'who's a terrorist'?"
What kind of spy would Firth make? Surely it's quite similar to being an actor? "I think I'd be crap," he replied.
"It's all very well to draw parallels with actors in terms of the fact that we might be capable of duplicity and inhabiting other roles, but that doesn't mean we'd be very good if someone pointed a gun at us, or we have to go through any personal physical discomfort."
Discomfort -- of the professional kind anyway -- isn't something that Firth has to endure much of anymore. Since his Oscar win, he has become one of the movie world's most reliable leading men, currently attached to several projects including the comedy Gambit opposite Cameron Diaz, the World War Two drama The Railway Man, and a mooted remake of My Fair Lady.
Firth will also apparently return for any third movie instalment of Bridget Jones' Diary, in which he plays the title character's love interest Mark Darcy. The actor is none-the-wiser on the plans for that proposed movie, though he did reveal to a US magazine last month that the likely plot would see Bridget (Renée Zellweger) once again lured astray by her bad-boy ex Daniel Cleaver (Hugh Grant).
"I can tell you that Bridget and Mark can't have children -- I think that's the way it goes on," Firth said at the time. "So then she makes the huge mistake of going back to Daniel Cleaver for long enough to get pregnant."
In the meantime, Firth maintains that winning an Oscar hasn't changed his career that much.
"In terms of one's attitude to it, you can either see it as pressure to live up to something, or you can see it has taking the pressure off, where you can go, 'Okay, I got that now, I can do whatever the hell I please'. That's a far more pleasant way to see it. It's far too soon to assess the impact it has had on my career."
Presumably he can demand more money for his services though? He laughed and replied: "Briefly, you probably can. It's far more likely when the economy is healthy, but that's supposedly what you do."
There was just time to ask him what was going through his mind as he collected his Oscar?
"It's very odd, I don't remember winning or being up on stage," he said. "I remember thinking at the time, 'I'll probably wake up in July and get very excited about this'. And about two months ago I did get very excited. But it was all a bit lonely because everyone had gone, and the party was over."
*Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is in cinemas now.
- Declan Cashin
Read more: http://www.independent.ie/lifestyle/independent-woman/celebrity-news-gossip/colin-firth-bestlooking-man-in-britain-im-not-even-no-1-in-my-own-home-2882464.html#ixzz1YamotCn6
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