Colin Firth on why stripping in his 40s could net him an Oscar
FOR a man who got famous swimming through a pond in a smock 15 years ago, Colin Firth's career has been surprisingly long-lived.
But it's never been in QUITE as good a shape as it is now.
With this year's Bafta Best Actor gong under his belt for his new film A Single Man, the 49-year-old Brit is now in with a serious chance of picking up an Oscar next month.
So is he quietly confident? Of course not.
"I'm not very hopeful, I'm afraid," he tells me. "It's just nice to get the nomination, frankly."
We're at a hotel bash to toast another one of his awards - the London Critics' Circle's British Actor of the Year.
And Colin - with his tailored grey suit and a gramophone voice that crackles with sex appeal - seems totally unaware of the many women, and a good few men, who are swooning left, right and centre.
The last time he was the subject of such a global stir was when he appeared as a sexy Mr Darcy in 1995's Pride and Prejudice.
This time he's playing an academic coming to terms with his boyfriend's death in California in 1962 - when being gay was not OK, even in LA.
Mr Darcy, it ain't. But it is the best hour-and-a-half of acting that Firth's done in his life.
And it is also the shot in the arm that his career's been crying out for.
Drool
So what tempted Col to take the part? The chance to get his kit off, apparently, before he hit the big five-oh and things started to droop.
He says: "I pick up the script and it says, 'Naked man lies on bed.' And then a few pages in, 'Naked man jumps in ocean.'
"'Well,' I thought. 'It's time. One more push against gravity before I turn 50 and it's all downhill.'"
A brave choice - made all the braver by the fact that the shots of his bare backside will end up on the net about 0.2 seconds after the DVD comes out.
And they'll be drooled over by the millions of fans worldwide who warmed to Colin's reserved English charms in Pride & Prejudice, the Bridget Jones movies and Love, Actually. So what does he think of all those slavering admirers?
He ponders: "It's hard to judge an actor who is having his insatiable need for attention fulfilled, because he's probably at his best.
"It's that Tom Waits line, 'I don't have a drinking problem, except when I can't get a drink.'
"Check in with me when I'm NOT getting attention!"
But Colin's ego is kept in check by his lovely wife Livia.
To the frustration of many of his female fans, the couple have been together since meeting 13 years ago on the set of Nostromo - where Livia was a production assistant.
Colin says: "Acting is my day job, and I do have a life - I think I invest more in my personal life than I do in my professional life. My wife is SPECTACULARLY good at keeping my feet on the ground.
"She is an Italian beauty and the smartest woman on the planet." She's also mum to his two youngest sons, Luca, eight, and Mateo, six.
Colin has another son, William, who at 19 is just a year younger than Nicholas Hoult - the actor he did intimate scenes with in A Single Man.
But Colin has nothing but praise for Nicholas, who previously starred in Skins and About A Boy.
"I was very concerned," admits Col. "I would have been uneasy had he been uneasy.
"But he seemed so calm about everything and displayed no self- consciousness whatsoever."
Family has always been important to Firth. When he was with William's mum, the ex-actress Meg Tilley, he all but gave up acting for five years to live with her in Canada.
They split in 1995 - just before his Darcy role - and Colin now tries to spend three months every year in Italy with Livia and their boys. The rest of the time the family are based in London.
But for the next few weeks Colin will be schlepping round the awards trail - plugging a film he wasn't even sure about doing... until a fridge repair man made his mind up for him.
In Colin's Bafta acceptance speech last Sunday - the one decent bit in the driest awards bash in living memory - he revealed he wrote an email to first-time director and fashion designer Tom Ford refusing the part.
Firth said: "I was about to send this when a man came to repair my fridge ... I don't know what's best for me so I would like to thank the fridge guy."
He now wants to find the fella to express his gratitude face-to-face. "We have to find that fridge man!" he says.
"Although the fridge is still not fixed, by the way. So he has done better in terms of redirecting my destiny than he has on my fridge."
That dodgy appliance has set him on an awards-bagging path from Venice to London and fi- nally to the Kodak Theatre, Holly- wood, for the Oscars next Sunday.
There, his competition will be George Clooney, Morgan Freeman, Jeff Bridges and The Hurt Locker's Jeremy Renner.
A tough group. And Firth says of his chances: "I think it was one in five before (the Bafta) and I think it's probably one in five now - at best. The competition is pretty terrifying, quite frankly." He was shocked even to be on the shortlist.
With a sly nod to his 2008 Mamma Mia! role, he recalls: "I thought I was managing my expectations, but on hearing the news (about the Oscar nomination) I discovered new and unfamiliar vocal tones.
"Perhaps I should do another musical."
"I can't believe A Single Man only took three weeks to make and everyone loves it so much."
His newest pal on the awards circuit is Carey Mulligan, 24, who, like him, pulled off the Critics' Circle/Bafta double - winning British Actress of the Year and Best Actress last week.
Colin chuckles: "I don't know who's stalking who!
"You do see the same faces but there's something very reassuring about it."
He goes on: "Acting isn't a sport. And one of the things that can be disturbing about it is if it starts to feel like that. There are people we'd rather be collaborating with than in competition with.
"It might sound terribly luvvie, but it's true. I mean, getting to know Jeremy Renner and Andy Serkis and George Clooney has been incredibly calming in its effect.
"They're not such distant figures in the way they might have been had you just seen your name on such a luminous list."
Ghost
If he DOES snag the big prize, it will mean some big changes.
No longer will he be known as "that fit bloke from Pride and Prejudice" for a start.
It'll be "that fit bloke from Pride and Prejudice who won the Oscar for the gay thing".
Because no matter what he does for the rest of his career, Firth's name will always be associated with Mr Darcy. However, at the mere mention of the D word, Colin sighs. "I'm not remotely interested in Pride and Prejudice in any way, and haven't watched it since doing it," he says.
"But the word Darcy is like a phantom that won't leave me alone, like a school nickname that sticks with you for years afterwards."
So what else is he planning to shake off that ghost?
Well, in the near future, he's got the DVD release of A Christmas Carol to look forward to - complete with behind-the-scenes shots of him in a greenscreen gimp suit.
The skintight body stocking, covered in light sensors for the CGI effects, looked great on screen - but less attractive in the cold light of the studio.
Cringing, Colin says: "You're covered in dots and you're wearing a dreadfully unflattering Spandex suit.
"I curse DVD extras."
Don't worry about it, Col. If it's as tight as you say it is, it'll give those drooling fans even more to slaver over...
A Single Man is in cinemas now.
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I will now get a copy of Pride & Prejudice, but my wife and I were blown away by A Single Man. I have enjoyed Colin Firth from the time we saw Bridget Jones Diary, because he is so unassuming and low key.
We found A Single Man to be simultaneously powerful and tragic and we were both rooting for a new beginning for George when reality set in. Guess we expected something to stand in the way of this fresh, new relationship and just wondered as we left the theater how Kenny must have felt on waking up to having his hopes for connection dashed to pieces. After reading about Firth, we honestly felt he's someone we could have to dinner and truly get to know.
By steve gaynes.. Posted February 28 2010 at 11:32 PM.