--- description: The Academy Award winner talks about history, the horror of naked co-stars and that wet-shirt Darcy thing title: Colin Firth 10 Questions image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt43b2de6224fbb7d4/69868afbe8524b74e96026a6/colin-firth-portrait.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [10 Questions](/tag/10-questions/) ## 10 Questions Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # 10 Questions with Colin Firth  by [Belinda Luscombe](/author/belinda-luscombe/)  ## Belinda Luscombe Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Editor at Large Apr 17, 2014 10:26 AM CUT  Peter Hapak for TIME  by [Belinda Luscombe](/author/belinda-luscombe/)  ## Belinda Luscombe Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Editor at Large Apr 17, 2014 10:26 AM CUT **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. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/66281/colin-firth-10-questions/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/66281/colin-firth-10-questions/"},"headline":"10 Questions with Colin Firth","datePublished":"2014-04-17T10:26:08.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T07:21:22.510Z","description":"The Academy Award winner talks about history, the horror of naked co-stars and that wet-shirt Darcy thing","url":"https://time.com/66281/colin-firth-10-questions/","keywords":["10 Questions","celebrities","Q&A","Colin Firth"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt43b2de6224fbb7d4/69868afbe8524b74e96026a6/colin-firth-portrait.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Belinda Luscombe","jobTitle":"Editor at Large","url":"https://time.com/author/belinda-luscombe/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt43b2de6224fbb7d4/69868afbe8524b74e96026a6/colin-firth-portrait.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Colin Firth Portrait","caption":"Colin Firth Portrait by Peter Hapak for TIME Magazine Academy Award Winner Actor The Railway Man","creditText":"Peter Hapak for TIME","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/10-questions/","name":"10 Questions"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/66281/colin-firth-10-questions/","name":"10 Questions with Colin Firth"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"10 Questions with Colin Firth","description":"Academy Award-winning actor Colin Firth talks to TIME's Belinda Luscombe about his new movie,","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/awsk8TvB/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-04-16T17:56:38.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/awsk8TvB.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/66281/colin-firth-10-questions/","duration":"PT6M54S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/66281/colin-firth-10-questions/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```