--- title: Colin Firth 10 Questions description: The Academy Award winner talks about history, the horror of naked co-stars and that wet-shirt Darcy thing canonical: https://time.com/66281/colin-firth-10-questions/ author: Belinda Luscombe article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-04-17T10:26:08.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:01:25.412Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: Colin Firth 10 Questions og:description: The Academy Award winner talks about history, the horror of naked co-stars and that wet-shirt Darcy thing og:url: https://time.com/66281/colin-firth-10-questions/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt43b2de6224fbb7d4/69868afbe8524b74e96026a6/colin-firth-portrait.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1796 og:image:height: 1010 og:image:alt: Colin Firth Portrait og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Colin Firth 10 Questions twitter:description: The Academy Award winner talks about history, the horror of naked co-stars and that wet-shirt Darcy thing twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt43b2de6224fbb7d4/69868afbe8524b74e96026a6/colin-firth-portrait.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # 10 Questions with Colin Firth > Sponsored content. 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Terms and conditions apply. * Savings buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Savings Account. * No ATM fees from Ally Bank at Allpoint and Moneypass ATMs plus we reimburse for fees charged by other ATM owners nationwide up to $10 per statement cycle. * Early direct deposit offers eligible direct deposits up to two days sooner. * Spending buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Spending Account. ## Video: 10 Questions with Colin Firth [Watch (HLS stream): 10 Questions with Colin Firth](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/awsk8TvB.m3u8) (6:54)  _Published 2014-04-16. Academy Award-winning actor Colin Firth talks to TIME's Belinda Luscombe about his new movie,_  by [Belinda Luscombe](https://time.com/author/belinda-luscombe/)  ## Belinda Luscombe Editor at Large Apr 17, 2014 10:26 AM UTC  Peter Hapak for TIME  by [Belinda Luscombe](https://time.com/author/belinda-luscombe/)  ## Belinda Luscombe Editor at Large Apr 17, 2014 10:26 AM UTC **In your new movie** **_The Railway Man_** **, as in** **_The King’s Speech_** **, you play a historical figure. Is that your favorite kind of role?** Not necessarily. A good story is a good story. This one’s personal. It’s not trying to capture the whole of the fall of Singapore or the building of the “Death Railway.” It’s one man’s experience. I think a veteran’s story will probably always be interesting because it will be an experience very distant from mine. It becomes my job to understand it as best I can and hopefully relay something of it. I like my job when it’s just there for cheap laughs, but occasionally an experience like this makes you feel there’s some substance. **This movie looks like a love story. But really, it’s about a prisoner of war, Eric Lomax. Are you tricking people with your romanticism?** I think that’s what Patti Lomax felt when she met Eric. Like most people, she didn’t know much about the Thailand-Burma Railway. She met a charming, eccentric, rather brilliant individual who proved to be profoundly complicated and damaged. **Your co-star Stellan Skarsgard was in** **_Mamma Mia!_** **with you. Did you reprise any Abba?** I expected it to happen at any moment. It’s very hard to look at Stellan and not see him in Lycra. Actually, the last time I’d seen Stellan on a film set, he was naked. So if there was a haunted look in my eyes, it wasn’t because I was contemplating the war in Asia. It was because I’d seen horrors already beyond imagination. **Why do you always play emotionally repressed guys?** It probably comes across like that. I think there’s an immense drama in things being held back and hidden and unspoken. I’m the go-to guy when you’re doing something in that convention. But also, communication is never perfect. What you’re hearing isn’t necessarily what I’m imagining you’re hearing. That interests me more than repression. **Your parents were academics. Was that life ever tempting to you?** Certainly. I just would have had to have been better at school. I remember saying to my father in my 30s, “Should I go back to college?” He felt that it wouldn’t be as edifying as what I was already finding myself doing. I was able to discover Jane Austen by speaking the words of her character. **Speaking of which, did you keep the wet shirt from** **_Pride and Prejudice_** **?** No. That shirt’s been auctioned off more times than is actually feasible. For the sake of continuity it had to look like I’d been for a swim. The shirt was barely soggy or clinging or any of the things it’s mythologized to be. **Your career has been boosted by your reputation for dreaminess. Were you born dreamy, did you have to work to be dreamy or did you have dreaminess thrust upon you?** Perhaps it’s being thrust upon me now. It’s always in a context. There are so many people we thrust dreaminess upon who might not get noticed in the street. I think people will find somebody appealing in a film or story if someone else finds them appealing. **So, are you tired of being the thinking woman’s crumpet?** No. I don’t get it at home. I have a son. He might go, “Oi, thinking person’s crumpet, have a shave. We’re going to the football.” As time ticks on, it’s something I appreciate more. **Your wife’s Italian. Do you have a favorite word in Italian?** Stronzo is a wonderful word. It means “a piece of sh-t,” but it’s more specific than that. It means “a floating piece of sh-t.” **Reader question: What do you see yourself doing 10 years from now?** I always imagined I’d move beyond this rather infantile career choice. By this point I would have become a virtuoso on a musical instrument or written novels or become an astronaut. But I’ll probably be doing some version of exactly what I’m doing now. ## Transcript Colin Firth is an Academy Award winning actor. His new movie is Railway Man, and I'm honestly excited to say that he's here with me now. Mr. Firth, welcome. Good to be here. So, Railway Man is based on the story of, of a former POW who, who goes back to Thailand to kind of hunt down one of his torturers, more or less. Are veterans particularly interesting characters to you, or is it just the, is it just that's two great stories? One of the most interesting areas of my job is when I get asked to have a brush with someone else's extraordinary experience whether it's beautiful or horrific or inspiring or, or otherwise. It's nevertheless an exploration beyond anything that has has happened to me. And and it becomes my job, a very difficult job at the to to understand it as best I can. And then to hopefully relay something of it you know, through this particular medium. When I saw the movie I thought, oh, this is going to be a nice little romance between Colin Firth and Nicole Kidman. He's a wonderful man. I've seen it, but he's a mess. You couldn't possibly imagine what he's been through. And then suddenly, you're in a war movie. And I was like, oh, he's tricked me with his romanticness. Well I think that's what Patti Lomax felt when she met her Terry Lomax. I think, wherewith, we're walking a mile in her shoes. Because she didn't really have a clue when she met him. I love him and I want him back. As you see in the film, it wasn't really until they got married, that it very suddenly and abruptly became apparent. Because his nightmares were harrowing. For anybody who, who is present or even in the same house, they couldn't even have guests staying with them because his his screams were so distressing. So yes, she met a charming, somewhat eccentric rather brilliant individual who proved to be profoundly complicated and, and extremely damaged. Do you believe in revenge? It's a question that comes up, and I think it's a question that probably should come up. But I don't really think. I'm not in the business of answering that question. And I don't think the film really is trying to. It's not a morality tale. It's not a, a bromide for life. It's not a, a prescription. It takes the position though, I would say, on revenge. I don't actually think it does. I think it tells a story about how a man found healing and some peace. By letting go of his need for revenge. I asked Erik himself over lunch. It's a very strange thing to find yourself asking a question about someone's plans for murder. And his wife's sitting there, and we're having Shepherd's Pie. Tea? Yes. And you don't, I wasn't quite sure what the proper vocabulary is in polite company. But I have. I said, did you? I mean, did the people around you, the counselors, your wife, were they aware of your, your plan to to like he just said, kill him? Well, yes and he said, oh yeah. And he said it didn't matter whether they knew or not. And he said, I knew I was going to do it. He'd thought about it and it was like he'd seen in the film. And he said he'd nursed himself to sleep on the screams of his, his victim, in his mind. And, he had, he sustained himself on that. You know, and I think this story is meaningless unless we are honest about that, and those years spent completely compelled by those things. I think it, it makes it much more meaningful and it, and actually it, it adds. I think it adds in -, incredible weight to the, the decision he eventually made. At one point, Nicole Kidman's character kisses you unexpectedly. And I'm thinking, well, that's gotta be happening to Colin Firth all the time, though. No. Really, strange women coming up and kissing you awkwardly. Oh, no, no. If only. No. Oh, come on. No, no. And I, I can honestly say I think it has never happened. And and no, it's that way in my dreams. [ LAUGH ] And in my dreams, that it would look like Nicole Kidman. [ SOUND ] [ LAUGH ] Questions from readers. This one is from Kirstie Cameron from New Zealand. Did you keep the waterlogged white shirt [ MUSIC ] from Pride and Prejudice? No. There were probably about seven of them. Because, yeah, they came from a, a costume house called CosProp. [ MUSIC ] In London, very good, it was the most wonderful tailor there. Who, who made it all on a tiny, tiny budget. We had to rotate very few costumes to make them look as if I had a lot. And I didn't. And it was a moment when, for the sake of continuity, we had to look like I'd been for a swim. And this, this shirt is barely soggy or clingy or any of the things that it's mythologized to be. They've even got me coming out of a lake which I never did. And that got voted as the most memorable moment in television history. The thing that never happened. LAUGH And so I think it's been auctioned off. Oh. Probably more times than is actually feasible. Is your Italian good enough for you to do an Italian movie? yes, long as, as long as I'm playing an Englishman. LAUGH I couldn't be mistaken for an Italian. You have a favorite word in Italian? I love, I mean the insults are wonderful, because they use them more sparingly than we do. But they really do use them to great effect. Stronsa is a wonderful word, it's an insult. Is it clean enough to say? It means piece of ****. But it's more specific than that, it means a floating piece of ****. And there's the whole thing of Lafigura, because we don't really have that concept. It's about the impression you create. It's very important. It's important enough to have a word, which is in very, very common currency. So bella figura is, is when, you know, I've, I've made a good impression of myself. It's not as, we have to, I'm saying it in a way that's rather labored, but it's not. A bella figura. It means like that, that came across well. Or [ FOREIGN ]. Or [ FOREIGN ] if you put [ UNKNOWN ] on the end it means the bad version of something. And that'll mean when you've, there's been a gaffe or, or when you Messed up. Yes. So you've just you know if I, if I sat here and and made some idiotic mistake about who I was talking to or where I was, that would be a [ FOREIGN ]. And we don't really have that. And But we do it. When we just. We do it but we have to sort of anatomize it and create a phrase out of it and you know, INAUDIBLE for, for them. So you, you often find that there a lot of these things have a, have a precision in that language which, which we don't. Mr. Firth. Thank you so much. 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