Interview with Colin Firth in The Times (London), August 2004:
“I have no idea what Tom Cruise’s fans feel about him,” says Firth, uncomfortably. “There are some actors who, wherever they go, people show up because they think they are fantastic. Then there are slightly marginalised [actors] who are like somebody’s secret.
“I feel like a second division football team that has this following who are more into it for the fellowship of each other.”
...Well, he does have a point...
Life Following the Team
“Colin Firth has meant too much to me, come to represent too many things. See, after a while it all gets mixed up together in your head, and you can’t remember whether life’s shit because Colin’s new movie is shit, or the other way ‘round. Been to watch far too many films, spent too much money, fretted about Colin when I should have been fretting about something else. I’ve asked too much of the people I love.
“Okay, I accept all that. I don’t know, perhaps it’s something you can’t understand unless you belong.
“But what about this? Three days to go and the previews are dicey and you look around FirthSisters and you see all those thousands of posts contorted with fear and hope and worry, every one lost, everything else gone out of their heads. Then the movie opens, and everyone goes spare. And just for those few minutes you’re at the center of the whole world.
“And the fact that you care so much, that the noise you’ve made has been such a crucial part of it all, is what makes it special. Because you’ve been every bit as important as the star — if you hadn’t have been there, who’d have been bothered about Colin Firth, really?
“And the great thing is that it comes around again and again. There’s always another film. Crappy opening in May? Well, there’s the new movie to look forward to in January. What’s wrong with that? It’s actually pretty comforting if you think about it.”
Apologies to Nick Hornby and Fever Pitch.
