“Sometimes to think about why some institutions are stable, it's interesting to go one generation back and look at the author of that stability.” ThinkingLooksSometimesInterestingGenerationsInstitutionsStabilityStableTime To Think Author:Colin Firth
“I think everyone is throwing happy stuff at you, and that's when you come over all humbug. It's happy stuff in your face, happy stuff is being sold to you.” ThinkingFacesStuffYour FaceThrowingHumbug Author:Colin Firth
“Doing a job, or even watching a film, can make a difference to your life, but I don't think it ever has an explosive impact where your life will never be the same again. It kind of seeps into your life, and perhaps realise you're a little more vigilant about certain things than you might have been.” ThinkingKindLittlesHas BeensMightJobsFilmCertainDifferencesImpactMaking A DifferenceRealisingMight Have BeenExplosivesVigilant Author:Colin Firth
“I find that at almost every press junket I get that comment, "this character's different from what you generally play..." And that's OK! But I think "generally play" stems back to Mr Darcy. I'm fine with it but I tend to find that if it's a departure, which in other people's words it always is, it's always a departure from that.” PeopleIfsThinkingDifferentPlayCharacterFinePressesCommentStemDepartureDarcy Author:Colin Firth
“I think the dictator director is based upon stories from the past. I don't think anyone would put up with it now. There are a lot of people on a film set with egos. So, to be completely authoritarian, you'd probably have to have a reputation like Kurosowa or somebody to get away with it.” PeopleThinkingStoriesPastFilmDirectorsEgoReputationGet AwayDictatorFilm Set Author:Colin Firth
“There's a paraphrase about Orson Welles saying: "Great films are made by great directors and the rest are made by everyone else." I've been very lucky... before I start insulting the profession of directing, but I think a good director is everything and a bad director really is nothing at all.” ThinkingMadeFilmLuckyDirectorsProfessionPhrasesInsultingGreat FilmGood Directors Author:Colin Firth
“It's entirely to do with personality, I think. There are good directors who talk a lot, bad directors who talk a lot, and good directors who don't say much and vice-versa. It just depends on whether people respond to that personality and whether people have a willingness to do something for them.” PeopleThinkingPersonalityDependsDirectorsVicesWillingnessVice VersaGood Directors Author:Colin Firth
“Some people come up to be directors by coming through the camera department and there's not a lot of women in the camera department. The ones that are have to kind of prove they're one of the boys, I think. I don't want to get into trouble with generalisations but I think it's a fair observation.” PeopleThinkingWantKindBoysTroubleDirectorsProveFairsCamerasCome UpObservationDepartmentGeneralisation Author:Colin Firth
“Less racist now but it has been. I don't think it's been completely stamped out. There's a class element to it. And who's supposed to do what. You're very unlikely to get a gay grip.” ThinkingHas BeensClassGayElementsRacistUnlikely Author:Colin Firth
“I don't think it's aiming at gags, I think the humour is woven into it. It's part of how the characters operate and how they deal with disaster because they're worldly enough to have a bit of irony and wryness about their own circumstances. So, I think the humour comes out of that.” ThinkingEnoughCharacterBitsDealsHumourCircumstancesDisasterIronyWorldlyWovenGags Author:Colin Firth
“I do also think it eludes genre a bit - not in any groundbreaking way but you can't quite call it a comedy and you can't quite call it a romantic anything. It's not quite a drama either really. But it has elements of all those things.” ThinkingWayBitsComedyDramaElementsGenreEludeGroundbreaking Author:Colin Firth
“I don't know if there's a problem with original ideas... I think a healthy film industry should have a good supply of good, original writing.” IfsThinkingKnowsShouldWritingIdeasProblemFilmIndustryHealthyShould HaveOriginalsFilm IndustryOriginal Ideas Author:Colin Firth
“I do think a good story in a novel is fair game and there's nothing wrong with adapting that. It sometimes gets a bit facile where they think: "Let's get the next best-seller and see if we can turn it into a film."” IfsThinkingSometimesStoriesFilmTurnsNextGamesBitsNovelFairsGood StorySellersAdaptingBest SellersFair Game Author:Colin Firth
“I think it helps to get a film made because people who put money in are nervous. They like to have something recognisable enough to make them secure that there's a pattern there - that someone else put their money into something like this and made it back.” PeopleThinkingMadeEnoughHelpingFilmPatternsNervousSecureMade It Author:Colin Firth
“So, I think there's a danger that good stuff can fall by the wayside if it doesn't conform to formula. But I think it comes down to money and they just don't know where it's going if they haven't got any precedent.” IfsThinkingKnowsFallStuffHavensDangerFormulasConformPrecedent Author:Colin Firth
“The way I've described Helen's sort of rigorous honesty I just think he also has tremendously. It's very strange... he just has this sort of way of making it happen really. You're not really aware of being directed, so much as being a part of this thing.” ThinkingWayHappensHonestyStrangeHelen Author:Colin Firth
“I have almost no memory of them [St. Trinian's films]. I don't think I've seen them since I was quite young. I was a bit frightened of the girls. I fancied them. Even though I was young, I found them attractive and rather frightening. I've always been attracted to frightening girls! I'm married to one!” ThinkingFilmYoungGirlFoundBitsMemoriesMarriedAttractiveFrightenedFrighteningNo Memory Author:Colin Firth
“I often think it can often be very difficult for comedians to revisit the same gag. I think Russell's a bit more than a comedian.” ThinkingBitsDifficultComedianOften IsGags Author:Colin Firth
“If I'd loved my chemistry teacher and my maths teacher, goodness knows what direction my life might have gone in. I remember there was a primary school teacher who really woke me up to the joys of school for about one year when I was ten. He made me interested in things I would otherwise not have been interested in - because he was a brilliant teacher. He was instrumental in making me think learning was quite exciting.” IfsThinkingKnowsYearsHas BeensMadeMightSchoolRememberJoyGoneTeacherTenGoodnessExcitingMathBrilliantPrimariesChemistrySchool TeachersPrimary SchoolMath TeacherChemistry Teachers Author:Colin Firth
“It's an unknown quantity. It's actually almost a cliché to say it, how hard comedy is. What's that famous quote? "Dying is easy, comedy's hard." I think the broader it gets, if you miss by a millimetre, you've missed completely. It's a very hard thing to do.” IfsThinkingHardEasyComedyDyingMissingThings To DoQuantityHard Things Author:Colin Firth
“But it's interesting being directed by someone who is a very good actor. There's nothing like it. It might sound like a territorial thing about what I do, but I don't think you can understand what it is until you've done it. I know that to be a fact.” ThinkingKnowsDoneFactsMightActorsSoundInterestingVery GoodGood ActorsTerritorial Author:Colin Firth
“It didn't have to be a newfound respect for the craft, I knew that it's notoriously difficult and frightens a lot of people off. I don't think anyone knows quite who to attribute it to, but the dying actor who says: "dying is easy, comedy is hard." I hear it.” PeopleThinkingKnowsHardActorsEasyDifficultComedyDyingCraftsAttributes Author:Colin Firth
“I have a great deal of respect for the craft, I don't know how much respect it has for me. But it's a precision process. Doing it on stage would be, I think, terrifying. Doing it on film has its own difficulties, because film is not conducive to spontaneity. You might have a run through and get a few chuckles at eight o'clock in the morning, but you don't keep laughing at the same thing all day long.” ThinkingKnowsLongMightWould BeRunningFilmProcessDealsMorningLaughingKnow HowStageDifficultyEightCraftsClockSpontaneityPrecisionChuckles Author:Colin Firth
“Just driving I just was in a car on flat ground and I couldn't make it go. Having ticked driving and taken three driving lessons, I just was unable to produce any motion whatsoever under perfectly normal circumstances. I think we've all been busted on driving, and riding.” ThinkingThreeTakenCarProduceCircumstancesLessonsNormalDrivingFlatsRidingBustedPerfectly Normal Author:Colin Firth
“I like playing strange characters. Some people might say it has something to do with a hidden part of myself, but I think it's a lot simpler than that: normal people are just not very interesting.” PeopleThinkingCharacterMightInterestingStrangeNormalVery Interesting Author:Colin Firth
“In filming you're waiting. You're waiting for lights. You're waiting for people set things up. And when you're not waiting, you're repeating. And neither is conducive to spontaneity, you know. Comedy makes you very, very neurotic because you think, I - but did I nail it?” PeopleThinkingWaitingComedyNeuroticSpontaneity Author:Colin Firth
“I haven't had to struggle very much. I haven't paid my dues. I think I have been lucky.” ThinkingHas BeensStruggleHavensLuckyPaidDues Author:Colin Firth
“I think England has served me very well. I like living in London for the reasons I gave. I have absolutely no intentions of cutting those ties. There is absolutely no reason to do so. Certainly not, so that I can have a swimming pool and a palm tree.” ThinkingWellsI CanReasonCuttingTreeEnglandIntentionLondonTiesNo ReasonSwimmingPoolPalmsSwimming PoolPalm Trees Author:Colin Firth
“I think that London is very much like that. I find there's humour in the air and people are interesting. And I think that it's a place which is constantly surprising. The worst thing about it? I think it can be smug and aggressive.” PeopleThinkingInterestingAirWorstHumourLondonAggressiveSurprisingWorst Things Author:Colin Firth
“I think it's quite extraordinary that people cast me as if I'm Warren Beatty: until I met my present wife, at the age of 35, you could name two girlfriends.” PeopleIfsThinkingTwoAgeNamesWifeMetsExtraordinaryCastsGirlfriendBirthday60th BirthdayBeatty Author:Colin Firth
“The English people, a lot of them, would not be able to understand a word of spoken Shakespeare. There are people who do and I'm not denying they exist. But it's a far more philistine country than people think.” PeopleThinkingCountryAblePhilistines Author:Colin Firth
