This Dutch interview is translated to English by Debby.
Colin Firth, the actor who got his real break by playing the charming and tender, but very stiff Mr Darcy in Bridget Jones Diary, plays at the moment a desperate father of seven very naughty children in the film Nanny McPhee.
Metro talked with the Englishman about the film, his image and paparazzi. He doesn't like to talk about his private life, but he tells us a little bit about his relation with Sylvia Millecam.
It's very cold in Amsterdam, the city which Colin visits with fellow actor Emma Thompson for the Dutch premiere of Nanny McPhee
(1 February 2006). But Colin is sick and suffers from bronchitis. Still he makes time for interviews in a hotel room at the Keizersgracht.
Did a lot of photographers follow you around Amsterdam this time?No, this time it's a bit disappointing (smiles). Last year that was different. Someone with a camera followed me all afternoon. Eventually I went back to my hotel, because I didn't feel at ease.
They are not interested in me. They were for a while, when I got married. It's hard to tell what it does to you, but it is exceptional offensive to have pictures made you didn't ask for. I don't care if they place a picture of me with a vacuum cleaner. But if they make pictures of my children, I can't control myself.
About Nanny McPhee. I think it was hard to play with 7 children at the time.
It wasn't that difficult. In the film they play a bunch of horrendous children, but they are not related. They're actors. Whatever you say, the 14 year old doesn't spend time with the baby off set. And besides that, we worked with one or two children while the others were in school.
In the film there's a great scene where you throw with cakes. Emma Thompson (Nanny McPhee) was in David Letterman's show and she threw a cake in his face. Is she a tough woman?
Emma is really great. She's a very clever and honest woman. I took the role of Mr Brown mainly because of her. She wrote the script and wanted to put in some of her idea's about a family. By the way, this scene looks more spectaculair than it was to shoot. It took us three hours to tape one scene in which one person threw a cake. Trying to stay spontaneous is not easy then.
In Nanny McPhee you play, like in Bridget Jones Dary, a charming shy person. Rumors go that you are going to play a serial killer in the new Brian de Palma film. Are you happy that you can get rid of this charming though reliable image?
No, I killed so many people in so many films. In Trauma I killed a woman by putting a spider in her mouth. In Master of the Moor I killed lots of women with blonde hair, and so on. It doesn't give me a feeling of relief to play a bad guy. Maybe it is for you to see me as killer, but that doesn't work for me. The audience created that image around me, not me. And by the way it is not sure yet if I do the new Brian de Palma film.
Does it bother you that the image of Mr Darcy is still around you?
I don't try to escape from it nor to confirm it. I take what I can get. And as long as no one tells me: we don't want you to play that part because we think you can only play a shy character in a romantic comedy, I don't feel restricted. I can keep my image at a distance. I mean, nobody at home calls me Mr Darcy. And if I read something about myself I have the feeling that I read about someone else. I know that my work is in front of the camera and I love to tell stories , I like getting good critics, I want the film to be a succes and I want the applause, but then I want to go home.
You were on the big screen a lot, don't you feel like directing a film yourself?
You know, the problem with actors is that they are a bit spoiled by short term contracts. If you take a part you go for it, nothing is more important than the film you are working on. The people you work with are all great and the moment the shooting is over it is heartbreaking. But two weeks later you forgot all about that. Probably because something else comes along .A director works on a film two or three years at least. After twenty years of acting I am used to short term contracts.
To finish this interview, recently the book "Sylvia Millecam op gevoel" came out in which was said that you had a relationship. Did you really had one?
I met Sylvia while we were shooting the film Dutch Girls in 1985. During that period we were very close and I adored her. We kept in touch for a while but not the last 10 to 15 years. When I heard, two years ago, that she had passed away I was very shocked. Sylvia was a delighted person,a walking theatre performance, great.
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Nanny McPhee.
In the film Nanny McPhee Firth plays a father of seven naughty children who are desperate in need of a nanny. this is easier said then done as the children got rid of all their nannies. But then Nanny McPhee with her magic stick arrives.
Firth facts:
Firth is born on 10 September 1960 in Hampshire, England.
Had his first son Willy with actress Meg Tilly in 1990.
Married documentary film producer Livia Guiggioli in 1997 and has 2 more sons with her: Luca and Matteo.
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