Interview: "Firth things first" by Fred Topel (The Wave Magazine)

TW: You take a pie to the face like the best of them.
CF: That was fun, but what wasn’t fun was the extraordinary popularity of the job of throwing the pie at the leading actor. I’ve noticed, not just on this film, but on almost every job I’ve ever done, if something humiliating has to happen to me and any assistance is needed, the line of volunteers is huge. Very often, because rank is pulled, it’s the director who actually is the one to throw the porridge, stand next to the camera and make sure that the pie/cake hit.

TW: What does that tell you?
CF: Exactly. You can draw your own conclusions.
I don’t dwell on it......more

Interview: Colin Firth Talks About His Starring Role in the Family Movie, "Nanny McPhee" by Rebecca Murray (About.com)

I mean, I think this is one thing that actually is quite truthful about the film. I think that if you’re ruled by fears, it means you don’t judge clearly the way you handle those fears. Kids don’t just need financial protection, which is what he’s obsessing over. He hasn’t sung for them. He hasn’t read them stories. He hasn’t held them. He hasn’t done all those things that they’re actually coming to believe he doesn’t care for them. It blinded him to that so I think that’s the furthest horizon he can see.

…He’s not only blind to what his children need, he’s got this girl who works for him who clearly adores him and he can’t even see that either. He’s never registered that feeling. Although he does say something which is slightly paradoxical, which means that on some subconscious level he has. It’s when they say, ‘Evangeline doesn’t look anything like her,’ or whatever it is. And he goes, ‘Nonsense, she’s always looked like that.’ It’s as if he’s only just realized he’s always seen her that way. So he’s obviously functioning on some different levels, but I think that in a situation like that, romance is the last thing on his mind....more