Austen Pride

A Tribute to the Books and Characters of Jane Austen

Has Colin Firth Finally Outrun Darcy?

January 16, 2011 by virgvv

Colin Firth as George V.

Colin Firth as George VI.

It’s been quite a week for Colin Firth. The 50-year-old British actor got a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He won Best Actor honors at both the Golden Globes and the Critics’ Choice Awards for his performance as the stammering King George VI in “The King’s Speech.” And critics and fans predict that he’ll take home the Best Actor Oscar in March. (The nominations won’t be announced till January 25, but Firth is sure to be on the list.) UPDATE: Colin Firth did indeed win the Oscar for Best Actor, though the Academy passed over Geoffrey Rush for supporting actor.

For three decades, Firth has given solid performances, ranging from comic to tragic, in a wide range of films, including “Valmont,” “Bridget Jones’ Diary,” “The English Patient,” “Shakespeare in Love,” “Love Actually,” “Fever Pitch,” “Nanny McPhee”, “Mamma Mia,” “Girl With a Pearl Earring” and “A Single Man” (which garnered him an Oscar nomination and a BAFTA win in 2009 for Best Actor).

But the role for which he has been most famous is that of Mr. Darcy in the BBC’s beloved 1995 production of Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice.” Firth brought Mr. Darcy to life, and sent legions of female fans into a swoon when he emerged from a pond in a wet shirt. He followed up with a modern version of Darcy in “Bridget Jones’ Diary” and “Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason.” For many (mostly female) fans, Colin Firth is Mr. Darcy, and vice versa.

In a 2007 London Times interview, Firth said: “Every single film since there’s been a scene where someone goes, ‘Well I think you’ve just killed Mr. Darcy.’ But he is a figure that won’t die. …I’ve never resented it – if it wasn’t for him I might be languishing, but part of me thinks I should do this postmodern thing, change my name by deed poll to Mr. Darcy. Then people can come up to me and say, ‘But you are not Mr. Darcy,’ which would be different.”

Firth’s George VI won’t kill Darcy, but he may finally overshadow him. “The King’s Speech” is a great movie, and the give-and-take between Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush (as speech therapist Lionel Logue) is hugely entertaining. Ironically, George VI bears quite a few similarities to Darcy as played by Firth. Both are repressed, isolated men who bury their emotions–and a dry wit–beneath regal, unsmiling surfaces.

No wet shirts for George VI, though.

Filed Under: Events and News, Movies of Austen Novels Tagged With: colin firth, mr. darcy, pride and prejudice

Comments

  1. K. Wasylowski says

    July 14, 2011 at 2:47 pm

    It would be easier to feel sorry for Colin Firth being typecast as Mr. Darcy if he hadn’t made so many movies as Mr. Darcy. And there is another Bridge Jones in he works?

Categories

  • Austen Biographies and Criticism
  • Austen Book Adaptations
  • Austen Characters
  • Austen Novels
  • Austen Quotes
  • Biographies and Criticism
  • Early Works
  • Emma
  • Events and News
  • Jane Austen
  • Jane Austen's Life
  • Mansfield Park
  • Movies of Austen Novels
  • Parodies and Other Fun
  • Pride and Prejudice
  • Romance and Austen
  • Sense and Sensibility

Pages

  • About Me
  • Contact Us

Tags

1940 alan rickman amanda price austen biography books bronte chick lit ciaran hinds colin firth dashwood david rintoul edmund bertram elizabeth bennet elliot cowan Emma greer garson heathcliff henry crawford hugh grant jane jane eyre jemima rooper jeremy jeremy northam jonny lee miller laurence olivier lost in austen marianne dashwood mark strong marriage matthew macfadyen movies mr. knightley mr. darcy novels parody pride and prejudice romance rupert penry-jones Sense and Sensibility wickham willoughby wuthering heights zombies

Copyright © 2021 · Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in