Interview: "Becoming a dad made a man of me" by Gabrielle Donelly (Reveal UK)

On the screen, he's every woman's romantic fantasy - the tall, handsome hero who makes everything all right in the end.
But, in real life, Colin Firth admits that it has taken him a considerable part of his 45 years to even become a proper adult.
 
"A lot of us actors grow up in a bit of a fantasy world, which can stunt our emotional growth," he confessess cheerfully.
 
"We all have imaginative worlds while we're children, and most people grow up and find their fantasy life dims a little bit als they have to deal with the realities of the world. But not us actors - we have to continue the fantasy in order to do our job."I know I grew up painfully slowly."
 
"I wasn't practical in any way and used to be untidy - really, I used to be quite chaotic. I just couldn't be bothered with what I saw as the boring realities of day-to-day life. In fact, I was quite proud of this because I felt it was a sign of loftier thoughts!"
 
What made Colin finally join the real world, he says, was becoming a father. "I can say definitely that no single event has changed me more than having a child," he admits. "It's the first thing to happen to me that I realised I couldn't go back on."
 
"Before I was a father, I alwasy had the rather juvenile attitude that everything I did was somehow undoable - that I didn't have to be absolutely, 100 percent committed to any of the things I said or did. I think that was an illusion because you are always committed to what you do - but nevertheless, it was what I believed."
 
"But when you have a child, it becomes very clear that this is a part of you that will be with you for a lifetime - no matter what. You can't walk away from it. Or, if you do,, then you do so at great cost."
 
Colin has three sons from two different relationships. Canadian actress Meg Tilly is the mother of htis eldest son, William, now 15. William divides his time between British Columbia, where Meg lives, and Britain, where he frequently visits Colin.
 
Then years ago, while making Nostromo - a BBC production of the epic Joseph Conrad novel - Colin met beatiful Italian documentary-maker Livia Giuggioli.

They married a year later and now have two sons, Luca, four, and Mateo, two. Being the father of three boys of varying ages means Colin has had to step into the real world with both feet.
 
He says:"I have had to learn to care about the real, practical world because it's the one I share with my children.
Much as I'd like to, I just can't take them into my imaginative world with me. They don't belong there, and it doesn't help them."
 
"As I can't  just sit around and wish them the life I want for them - I have to work to make it happen. If that is what growing up is, then that's what's been going on."
 
The Firths must juggle their lives skilfully to keep a balance of living together in London, visiting Livia's family in Italy whenever they are able to, and travelling wherever Colin happens to be making a film. The family has just returned from Slovakia, where Colin was filming his role as Aurelius in The Last Legion.
It's an adventure story set at the demise of the Roman Empire. Colin approvingly describes it as "a time of sex and violence from the beginning to the end!".
 
And, he says, while Mateo is too young to realise what Dad does for a living, Luca is now just about old enough to visit him on movie sets.
 
"He came to see me while I was making the film Nanny McPhee, but he didn't really have any concept of what we were doing there," Colin says.

"He seemed most interested in all the cameras and cables, so we have developed the idea with him that I work with cranes and heavy machinery. He did seem to like that thought, and I don't want to crush his idea that I do something manly with my life, instead of what I really do -  putting on costumes and make-up, and flouncing around in front of the camera!"

Interview thanks to Creamie

Interview: "Seriously Sexy" by Gini Brenner (Kurier Austria)

Archived completely due to unavailability on the internet

Interview thanks to Christina.
Translation German to English thanks to Anja

At the latest since Bridget Jones Colin Firth is the screen dreamguy at second glance. In Nanny McPhee he shows his fatherly side – a magical enjoyment for small and big girls.
 
"The worst guys get the best women“ – one of the eternally valid movie laws. Always but then when Colin Firth takes part in the movie. No other is so seductively reliable: In the face of his sensational sex appeal in both Bridget Jones movies even a experienced misbehaved charm-terrorist like Hugh Grant had to surrender.
But also during the exclusive interview in the luxurious Soho Hotel in London the 45 year old Brit proves that reservation is the absolute opposite to boring.
Being an hour alone with Colin Firth in a hotel suite might not be dangerous – but it is quite exciting indeed.
 
Nanny McPhee is your first family movie. How did you get your part of the father?
"Emma Thomson and I know each other for a long time. She asked me whether I would like to participate. She thought the character of Mr. Brown was made for me. I read the script and was really enthusiastic about it – but "my“ character I didn’t like at all in the beginning."
 
Why was that?
"Well, he is such a terrible coward. He loves his children before all but he cannot show it. He escapes in loads of work and expects someone else to take over his parental duties. Over this he ignores that the kiddies suffer a lot more over the sudden death of their mum than he does. But I have come to understand him: The movie takes place in a "Once-upon-a-time-"idyll and back then for men it was even harder to show their feelings than today."
 
You have three sons [the 15 year old Will with Meg Tilly as well as Luca, 4, and Mateo, 2, with his wife Livia Giuggioli]. Have they ever thought of such wild pranks like the Brown kids?
"No, thank God" (grins). "Will lacked the partners-in-crime and the other two are still too small. We will see what awaits me here"....(laughs).
 
And how about you? Were you a bad child?
I have never wantonly played tricks on someone to be able to laugh about him – I have rather tried forbidden things out of curiosity. But basically I was very good.

Many actors fear the filming with kids. In your case it even were seven of them....
"It were even eight! The baby was played by twins. And we even had a donkey in an important character on the set. It is said you have to beware of kids and animals at the business (laughs). It needed getting used to it but it was wonderful."
 
In which way was it wonderful?
"Well, firstly the laws are rather strict for kids on the set. Which is quite right by the way. Actually in my opinion the things permitted for small kids are even too many. In any case a child is only allowed to work a few days per week and just for some small hours with long breaks in between. And that with such a big bunch of children is terrible of course. Often it took days until one scene could be halfway completed according to plan. Director Kirk Jones was on the edge of reason on many occasions. Real kids have other priorities but costs of the set or a filming timetable and quite rightly so – but for successoriented adults it’s rather hard to understand that (laughs). Children always want to know everything exactly. One day when Kirk was rather worn out by the continuous questions he placed a new rule: “From now on you are only allowed to ask really, really important questions. Ok.?” All kids nodded keenly. And at once the first small hand shot up. “I do have a really important question!” Kirk sighed: ”Spit it out.” And small Raphael said with completely serious expression: “Which kind of sausage will be on the sandwich that I will have to eat in the next scene?” We all burst out laughing but for Raphael it was a real problem!"

You often play reserved characters with whom it sizzles beyond the surface. Why?
"This I’ve been asking myself quite often (laughs). For one part I have a rather average face/Visage that is more suitable for not so shining heartbreakers. On the other hand my big idols were actors who could express a lot with little means – like Paul Scofield for instance or Alec Guinness .... and funny enough I’ve came to understand that a lot of women regard just this reserved acting very appealing. Probably they think that behind this quiet facade unbelievably much is going on."
 
And is that so?
"Sometimes – but surely not always what you expect."

Your character in the BBC miniseries Pride and Prejudice made you a heartthrob in the U.K., since the Bridget Jones movies you are that internationally...I’m surprised myself. I would never have dreamed of becoming a sex symbol. Fame has caught up with me late – when I was offered the part in Pride and Prejudice I was 35. I remember well what my little brother Jonathan commented: “They want you as Mr. Darcy? Shouldn’t he be ----cough-, sexy and attractive?”

Bridget Jones 3?
“I am often asked whether there will be a third part of Bridget Jones. But I can hardly believe that. How should the story continue? Maybe Mark Darcy will develop into a heavy drunk and Daniel Cleaver will become sensible....”