Colin Firth (25 page)

‘It’s more difficult to act violence than it is to act sex. It leaves you rather shaken. It’s not an easy place to go.’

Although it was never destined to be a huge box office hit, sitting more comfortably with the art-house set, the
film opened to rave reviews in October 2005 with
Empire
magazine praising ‘flawless performances from Bacon and Firth’. The
Hollywood Reporter
declared, ‘Firth may prove a revelation to those who have only seen him in period pictures and English comedies’ and Cosmo Landesman of
The Sunday Times
called it ‘a joy to watch’.

•  •  •  

Colin’s love of all things Italian was reciprocated in January 2005 when the country’s president, Carlo Ciampi, bestowed a rare compliment. This most English of actors was to receive the Commander of the Order of the Star of Italian Solidarity, an honour set up to reward those who helped in the reconstruction of the country after the Second World War, and now bestowed on foreigners who promote the country abroad.

As a result, he and Livia were invited to a reception at Buckingham Palace to honour the President and his wife, hosted by the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh, and attended by the Prince of Wales, the Duke of York and the Princess Royal, in March 2005, before he had officially received his title. Colin looked dashing in a black tailcoat but it was the ever elegant Livia who stole the show in a beautiful white dress overlaid with black lace. The Queen toasted the presidential couple with Bollinger champagne and fine Italian wine. But while she praised all things Italian in her speech, including the food, she laid on a very British spread of chicken and tomato soup, poached fillet of sea bass, saddle of lamb, new potatoes, carrots, broad beans, green and yellow baby squash, and salad, followed by vanilla and chocolate terrine, and dessert fruits.

As the Press Association’s royal correspondent Peter Archer wryly observed, ‘she may actually have a liking for spaghetti bolognese, but it is potentially too messy to eat in public and the Queen likes to treat her guests to traditional British fare’.

Colin was invested on 26 May, during a gala evening at the Italian Embassy in London. ‘We were delighted to honour Colin Firth in this way,’ said a statement from Italian ambassador Giancarlo Aragona. ‘He has made a significant contribution to the promotion of Italy’s image in the UK and has collaborated extensively with the Italian Cultural Institute in London in staging numerous literary events.’

The newly invested actor couldn’t have been more thrilled. It was a clear indication that the country he had grown to love so much had truly accepted him into their fold.

‘Italy has become a big part of my life now,’ he said. ‘I love it. It’s a huge blessing. I sort of married a whole family and a whole country. And learning Italian is a huge bonus that I didn’t expect. I thought I was doomed to be unilingual for the rest of my life, like most Englishmen.’

As well as considering himself fortunate to have learned a language, he is a huge lover of Italian food and admires their attitude towards dining.

‘I was very lucky to marry into the right cuisine,’ he told
The Observer
. ‘I’ve got nothing against Polish cuisine but it would have been a less joyous union if I’d married a Polish girl. Italians aren’t snobbish about food. But they have rules and they don’t understand when people break them – like ordering a cappuccino after dinner. I think the Italian attitude to food is genetic. Livia knows how to fillet a fish on the plate in a second. If we are having fish, everybody’s plate looks like a train wreck except hers.’

Like the Queen, however, he is reluctant to try and beat the Italians at their own game, and has revealed that being married to Livia has meant staying out of the kitchen rather than learning the art of cuisine.

‘I cook less now, because I am so intimidated by being surrounded by such cooking genius,’ he admitted to the
Irish Times
. ‘I am very cautious about putting in my own contribution.’

Whether Livia would want him banging about in the kitchen is debatable too. While he considers himself reasonably domesticated and tidy in most respects, his attempts at whipping up a family meal tend to mean a lot of clearing up.

‘I’m married to an Italian who is a phenomenal cook, and far more fastidiously tidy than I am,’ he told
The Independent on Sunday
. ‘I tend to make an outrageous mess in the kitchen. I like to think the results are OK but the process is pretty grisly.’

Colin’s principles, rather than his culinary skills, saw him taking on the catering trade in 2005. Shortly after being pictured covered in coffee for Oxfam’s Make Trade Fair campaign, the socially conscious actor became a director of a chain of coffee shops which aimed to do just that. Progreso, part owned by Oxfam, was to launch across London high streets and challenge the likes of Starbucks while giving coffee farmers in developing countries a share of the profits. And Colin was not just a famous figurehead. He took his responsibilities seriously, travelling to Ethiopia to meet the producers directly affected by the West’s tendency to pay below the odds for their beans.

It was, he told
The Independent
,
‘a very sobering education. ‘I’d read all the reports, done my homework, digested the
facts,’ he continued. ‘But actually meeting people whose dream is simply to earn enough to buy a tin roof or send their kids to school, makes it real. You’re faced with emotional implications, the sheer and simple unfairness of it all.’

Determined not to be just ‘another celebrity in Africa’, he also put his money where his mouth is, investing a lump sum into the set-up costs and even buying shares in the company for the farmers themselves. He also lobbied the World Trade Organization to put pressure on the high-profit coffee firms, such as Kraft and Nestlé, and handed in a petition with seven million signatures. He travelled to Glasgow to visit the roasting plant, and even did a day’s training so he could serve behind the counter in the Portobello Road cafe. ‘Having Mr Darcy serve the coffee is a practical way of using my profile without giving everyone earache,’ he remarked. ‘People seemed to think there was nothing more normal than having me serve their cappuccinos and espressos.’

A second trip to Ethiopia left him humbled by the attitude of the poverty-stricken farmers. ‘I was greeted with enormous grace and then their boss who was high in the union leadership said something that stayed with me for the rest of the trip. “Three times we’ve been visited by well-meaning people,” he said, “and nothing has changed.” It was very chastening and I came to see how close my visit was to being bogus and ineffectual. I knew I had to have something to say for myself or I’d just be another disaster tourist.’

Colin was honest with the man and told him he couldn’t guarantee change but would do his utmost to get the farmers’ voices heard. Then he asked what message his host, the leader of the Coche Co-op, would like to send. What he and his fellow growers asked for was not charity, just a fair price for their product. ‘Whenever we told Ethiopians that the price
of a cup of coffee on the high street is as much as £2.75, there was this incredulous laughter and then they shook their heads with worldly resignation. It takes twenty-four beans to make a cup of coffee and yet in a bad year the producer is selling a kilo of beans for just 5p. So who is making the profit? Not the farmer.’

Despite their poverty Colin was uplifted by the optimism of the Ethiopians he met: ‘It’s so troubled as a country but the people we met were friendly and eloquent, which made me feel even more useless. No one projected misery or despondency, far less than on Oxford Street, actually. I met the owner of a little wooden hut with “Art Gallery” written in crude paint strokes. He showed us his plans to build a million-pound hotel looking down over Addis. It struck me as remarkable that a man who was lucky to have enough to get him to the end of day still had this kind of dream.’

In June 2005 Colin and Richard Curtis made a surprise visit to the House of Commons to lobby the latest intake of MPs and to persuade as many as possible to attend a Make Poverty History march in Edinburgh. The rally coincided with the global concert Live 8, and was aimed at persuading the delegates at the G8 summit, which was due to meet in the Scottish capital the following week, to take action against Third World poverty.

One female MP, reported
The Independent
, was quite taken with her persuasive lobbyist. ‘It was all a bit preachy, but I’d much prefer to have dishy Colin Firth on my case than Bob Geldof,’ she said.

Colin did meet some opposition though. He commented, ‘Most of them seemed to listen carefully, but one young Tory was quite violently opposed. We’re trying to combat indifference.’

When not espousing worthy causes Colin was preparing for a period drama far from the niceties of
Pride and Prejudice.
In
The Last Legion
he was a Roman soldier charged with protecting a child emperor, played by his
Nanny McPhee
screen son, Thomas Sangster.

Coincidentally Thomas is just four months older than Colin’s oldest son, Will, so playing the paternal hand wasn’t too much of a stretch.

‘We’re in a bit of a father and son role there as well really,’ Colin revealed in October 2005. ‘It’s ancient Rome so I’m appointed to guard this last child emperor at the moment where the whole thing collapses. Apparently this is true, that the Goths, when they finally did sack Rome, spared the life of the Emperor because he was so young. We don’t know any more, but the writer just supposed, “Well, what about the guy who was sworn to protect him? Is he going to carry on protecting him even though he’s not the Emperor any more?” It’s about that kind of relationship.’

Shot in the autumn of 2005 in Slovakia and Tunisia, it meant months away from home. But it was not this fact that almost made him turn down the role. While Brad Pitt caused a sensation in a mini leather skirt in Troy, Colin was determined not to repeat the revealing outfit and almost backed out over the costume.

‘Whether you have the build or not, you can be killed in a costume,’ he fretted to the
Daily Record.
‘Russell Crowe didn’t look ridiculous, but even if you have the most incredible physique there is still the danger of looking comical flaunting it in a skirt. You might become some kind of cheesy erotic fantasy. It is dangerous if you have beautiful legs and dangerous if you have legs like pipe cleaners. I can leave you to guess what applies to me.’

Luckily, it seems the Romans had invented tailoring just before the fall of the Empire. ‘I’m not in a skirt,’ he sighed with relief. ‘Thank God, history was on our side. I was going to turn it down on the grounds of costume alone, then I got shown lots of fifth-century Romans in trousers. I thought, if that’s where we’re going it’s fine.’

Despite an impressive cast, which also included John Hannah, Kevin McKidd and Ben Kingsley, the £40 million Roman romp failed to light a candle at the box office.

While Colin was visiting ancient Rome, a new Mr Darcy was hitting the big screen. Matthew Macfadyen took on the role of the Austen hero opposite Keira Knightley’s Elizabeth Bennet for the movie version of
Pride & Prejudice.
Firth fans instantly dismissed the possibility that anyone could step into the tight breeches of their ‘dear boy’ but Colin was secretly hoping the usurper would steal the crown.

At the premiere of
Nanny McPhee
, Colin admitted he hadn’t seen the recently released film but added, ‘I hear Matthew is fantastic. I knew he would be. That role was terrific to me ten years ago but I think it’s other people, not me, who have found it weird that someone else should play it. I played Hamlet once and I’ve seen others play that, too. I don’t own the Darcy role and never wanted to. I’m very happy to let as brilliant an actor as Matthew take on the mantle.’

Sadly for Colin, the film was met with endless comparisons to his own legendary Darcy, and he usually came out on top.

‘I was hoping that would bury it at a crossroads at midnight with a stake through its heart but it didn’t quite do that,’ he said.

With ten years of Darcymania following him around like a ‘school nickname you can’t shake’, Colin was finally coming to terms with his sex symbol status. ‘At the time of the whole
Pride and Prejudice
thing I was at odds with it really,’ he reflected. ‘But now I’m ageing I say, “Enjoy it and milk it, man.”’

A
T
THE
AGE
of forty-five, Colin had over thirty films and several TV roles, including the dashing Mr Darcy, under his belt. But he insists he is far from a workaholic.

‘People think you never stop, but the reality is I have an average of two films a year,’ he explained in 2005 to the
Daily Record.
‘I used to do a lot more films back to back before I had a family of my own. They are my reason for paring it down a bit.’ He also wanted to avoid being too prolific, in case the public got tired of seeing his face on the screen. ‘I think people do need a break from you. If there is a Bridget Jones film out, you are on the side of every bus. I get sick of being stuck in traffic in London and getting overtaken by a bus with my face on the side.’

Having worked solidly since leaving drama school at the age of twenty-two, he was aware of how lucky he has been and has often noted that the ease of his path to fame, without
the years touring in rep that other actors often endure at the beginning of their careers, occasionally gave him pangs of guilt. ‘There is an unease,’ he told Sue Lawley on
Desert Island Discs
. ‘I was brought up with a lot of Protestant values and you’re supposed to pay your dues somewhere. Perhaps your soul needs a bit of hardship to develop so I do wonder when the catch is to come.’