Fwoar, that Mr. Darcy
(as Bridget Jones would say.)
Alert Janeite Lisa sent us a link in The Times about Colin Firth, in which he talks a little bit about probably his best-known role, which is kind of interesting because the article is in the automotive section. (She is indeed Everywhere.)
“I was working at edgy, serious stuff for years,” he says, “but a lot of it wasn’t seen. I remember doing Master of the Moor, playing a character who chopped people’s heads off.
“Yet it is things like Bridget Jones which stick to your skin, and I stepped on a timebomb with Mr Darcy in Pride and Prejudice.”
It was a life-changing experience for Firth, bringing instant fame and an adoring female fan base. Yet he was advised not to take on the role of the brooding Darcy. “I could not have been more wrong for it,” he says. “I am totally unlike Mr Darcy. I talk like a blue streak, I don’t own a horse or acres of property. I’m a secondary-modern schoolkid with no links to nobility. Yet I played this taciturn, dark, sexy guy and everyone remembers it.”
Dorothy? Pray send Mr. Firth the Understatement of the Millennium Award directly.
