Firth loves taking the lead

NEW YORK (MCT) — Thirteen years have passed since Colin Firth became, as Jane Austen might put it, "universally acknowledged" as the definitive Mr. Darcy in the lionized BBC TV miniseries of Austen's "Pride and Prejudice."

In the intervening time, the 47-year-old actor has established himself among worldwide audiences as a go-to guy when it comes to British romantic leads not played by Hugh Grant — who was, you'll recall, Firth's rival in 2001's "Bridget Jones's Diary."

Firth describes "Then She Found Me" as straddling the edge of both his "serious" and "comedic" projects. He plays a tightly wound, recently divorced suitor of a tightly wound schoolteacher (director-star Helen Hunt) who may still be hung up on the husband (Matthew Broderick) who abandoned her.

Movie audiences will see even more of Firth in the coming months. In "And When Did You Last See Your Father?" opening in June, he plays a middle-aged writer having a troubled reconciliation with his dying father. The romantic comedy "The Accidental Husband" opens in August. And in July, there's "Mamma Mia!," the much-anticipated adaptation of the ABBA musical, in which Firth plays one of two possible candidates for father of the bride.

Question: Is this how life happens to you generally? All these jobs coming at you at once?

Answer: Compared to most actors' lives and probably most creative people's lives, I think I probably have some degree of steadiness in that there's been a reasonably reliable work rhythm for me ... which is rather ironic, given how much my parents feared for me when I was entering this precarious profession. They said, "Well, are you sure you could live with that kind of insecurity?"

Question: So what did your parents imagine you doing, if not acting?

Answer: No ... they weren't prescriptive in that way. Acting was unfamiliar and frightening to them. And even though acting's familiar to me, I'd be frightened for my children if they went into it. It can mess with your mind unless you've got a very solid basis to put yourself.

Question: And did you have to work on that foundation before you dove into acting or did you do it along the way?