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for18yearsandafine father—“we’renotgoingdown
that road in toomuchdetail,”hesayswithasmile,
adding, “I thinkour family lifewouldbeprettyrec-
ognizable tomostpeople”—Firth is looking toward
a futurewhere,now, asabonafidebig-screenaction
hero, theshacklesofgoodDarcyareshatteredat
lastand thereareno limits.He’scurrentlyshooting
Genius
,withNicoleKidmanandJudeLaw, afilm
recounting the life-changing, real-life friendship
between literary lionThomasWolfeandeditorMax
Perkins.After that, anythinggoes—even,perhaps,
a future inwhichFirthretires fromacting, vanish-
ing from the limelightwithhiswife to thequaint,
lakesideItalianvilla inwhichFirth’sheartsick
Love
Actually
character laboredoveranovel.PerhapsFirth
himselfcouldwriteanovel, becomeastoryteller
ofadierentkind, followup in fullonhisexquisite
short-storydebut, “TheDepartmentofNothing,”
included inNickHornby’s2001collection,
Speaking
with theAngel
. “I thinkI’veprobablycherished that
fantasyover theyears, but therecanbeahugegulf
betweenone’s fantasyandactuallyapplyingyourself
to it,”Firthsays. “Thenagain, ifyou’d toldmeonmy
firstfilm that30years laterI’dbedoingmartial arts
andusingadvancedweaponryandbeingdescribedas
‘bad-ass’ inamovie, I’dhave tosay, ‘Well, thatdoesn’t
makeanysenseatall.That’s impossible.’Exceptnow,
Imustsay, itallmakessense.”
Service
and
MyFairLady
aresofirmly locked inFirth’s
memorythathe jests, “Forsomereason,whenIthink
ofmychildhood, [
Lady
lead]RexHarrison’svoicerings
throughmyhead.”
Beforehittinghisteens, theHampshire-bornFirth
knewwhathewantedtobewhenhegrewup.School
playsand local theateronly furtherwhettedhisap-
petite.Then,atLondon’sprestigiousDramaCentre,
Firth’ssubtlebutradicallyrevisedtakeonthePrince
ofDenmark’s famoussoliloquy in
Hamlet
launched
hisprofessionalactingcareer.Hemadehisfilmdebut
in1984’s
AnotherCountry
,andhegaveswoon-worthy
performances in
Valmont
and
Shakespeare inLove
,
earningamantel fullof internationalawardsandhon-
ors forhiswork.But itwastheone-twoofBBC’s
Pride
andPrejudice
and2001’s
BridgetJones’sDiary
, 16years
apart, thatsent51percentof theEarth’spopulation
intoaromantic frenzy.
Astheactorhasmatured, sohavehis fans,orso
he’sfinding. “SometimeswhenI’dbeout, I’dbetold
bysomeonehowmuchtheirmother lovesmymovies,
which isquitenice,”hesays. “I’mbeginningtoheara
lotmoreoftenthat it’stheirgrandmotherwho loves
menow.Perhapsthatwillchangewith
Kingsman
.They
recentlytestedthefilmwithabunchofyoungmen,
andthey foundme inthefilmtobevery ‘bad-ass.’They
alsohadabsolutelyno ideawhoIwas,butwhywould
they?I’mnotsureIwouldhaveseenColinFirth’sfilms
whenIwas19yearsold.ButIdefinitelywouldhave
seen
Kingsman
.”
At lastwithahomeofhisown,happilymarried
LEADINGMAN:
Firth’s
portrayal of King
GeorgeVI in
TheKing’s
Speech
(left) earned
himanOscar in2011;
strollingwithEmma
Stone (top) in2014’s
Magic in theMoonlight
“IHAVEALWAYS
SENSEDTHAT
COLINMIGHT
GETVIOLENT.”
J. RENTILLY
is a frequent
AmericanWay
contributor and an award-
winningauthor and journalist. He isbased inLosAngeles.
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