Colin Firth on Regis & Kelly Show 2001

Our next guy is a tremendous, tremendous success in Great Britain. He's making quite a name for himself here in the US, playing Renée Zellweger's sexy love interest in Bridget Jones's Diary. Please welcome Colin Firth.

Kelly Ripa: Welcome! How are you?

Colin: I'm well, how are you?

Kelly: I'm well, thanks. You know, I have to apologize to you...

Chevy Chase [noticing how tall Colin is]: I'll just stand!!

Kelly: Please Chevy, you have a seat too! I have to apologize to you. Yesterday I called you "Sexy Colin Firth"...

Colin: That's ok.

Kelly:... without ever having met you. I did that simply because, um, Hugh Grant was here last week and he calls you "sexy Colin Firth", so I sort of just assumed that your name was Sexy Colin Firth. I like the way it sounded...

Chevy (lisping): Well I call you "Thexy Colin Firth" because I.... don't know... I understand you grew up as a child of tholars? ...er, scholars??

Colin: That's correct. I have scholarly, academic, wise parents. Well adjusted people, so I have no excuses.

Kelly: That has to be horrible for you. I mean, was that a tremendous deal of pressure?

Colin: No, I just... I suppose it made me confused enough to become an actor!

Chevy: Ha.ha,ha...

Kelly: Did they stress homework and you know...

Colin: No, they weren't very disciplinarian. They were fairly, sort of liberal, imaginative people so I got away with murder.

Chevy: Teachers?

Colin: Yes... mmm.

Chevy: There's a lot of academia in my family too.

Colin: There is?

Chevy: You can't walk the street anywhere, can you?

Colin: No, you can't move for them. No...

Chevy: I don't mean because of your parents.

Colin: He, he...

Chevy: Because of you!

Colin: 'Cause of me?

Chevy: You've become so...

Kelly: ...in England.

Colin: ...ubiquitous? Is that the word?

Chevy: No, not really.

Colin: No?

Chevy: Famous. Famous and sexy.

Kelly: Do the paparazzi bother you a lot over.... in London?

Colin: Yyyyyes. There have been moments of intense activity. They've followed me to Rome actually, at times. It's led to some very exciting chases through the streets of Rome on motorbikes.

Kelly: Really?

Colin: I wasn't on the motorbike. They were on motorbikes.

Kelly: Those Vespas?

Colin: Well no; big motorbikes. And we were in a little Cinque Cento [Fiat] driven by my wife, who fortunately drives like a Bond girl, so.....

Kelly: Ha, ha, ha.....

Chevy: You know here it's the same thing. I mean, here in New York... at a restaurant with my wife and kids or something... they're out there. With pictures! No one knows how they know you were going to be there.

Colin: And where do they get the pictures?

Chevy: Pictures that I've never seen...

Colin: Exactly.

Chevy: ...that I could use...

Colin: ...that you're ashamed of sometimes...

Chevy: ... sometimes...

Colin: ... you were young and you needed the money...

Kelly: Ha, ha, ha.....

Chevy: Anyway, in this picture, Colin, you play a guy who's the good guy, and... Hugh plays the bad guy...

Colin: ... yea...

Chevy: ... is that fair to give away? And how do you like that? Do you like being the good guy?

Colin: You know, I sort of prefer being the bad guy. I think it's a lot of fun. You know, we've got all these anti-social and nasty qualities that we keep inside us, and we can't flaunt them. If you're Daniel Cleaver or Lord Wessex, then you can! Then you can go back to being this wonderfully nice person that you are in real life.

Chevy: It's richer for the actor, really.

Colin: I think so. Mmmm.

Kelly: Tell us about the fight scene 'cause I heard that you and Hugh both wanted to have a sissy fight scene so you tried to make it as feminine as possible. Your fight scene... slapping and kicking...

Colin: ...biting and scratching. We actually ourselves wouldn't...

Chevy: One of these? ("scratching" and "slapping" in front of Colin's face)

Colin (laughing): Exactly! We would fight like that.

Colin [as Chevy continues "fighting"]: Very good! I'll take you on. No, we ourselves would never fight like that, because we're quite butch ourselves.

Chevy: That's not what I read!

Colin: We're militarily trained. No, Hugh actually... I've heard that he's been here ahead of me telling everybody that it's only me that fights like a girl, and I want to clear up the fact that that is actually a strategy that I have.

Chevy: Yeah, he'll be looking backwards through the rest of his life?

Colin: Absolutely!

Chevy: He'll be spitting Chiclets.

Colin: I'll tell him to come see you.

Kelly: We're going to take a look at a clip of the movie when we come back with Colin Firth.

[Commercial beak]

Chevy: Colin was just telling us he has a 2 1/2 week old son.

Colin: That's right.

Kelly: Congratulations! [Applauds] Born in Rome, this baby? A Roman baby?

Colin: A little Roman boy...

Kelly: How nice!

Colin: His name is Luca.

Chevy: Did you eat the placenta??

Colin: Pffth...!!?? he, he....

Chevy: Don't they do that in Rome??

Colin: No! They don't. They're really not into that stuff there... they put it in a pie...

Kelly: Well... I mean.... the food is so good in Rome. Why do you have to bother with the placenta?

Well, we've got a clip from your movie. Let's take a look at this scene where Mark (who you play) tells Bridget Jones (played by Renée Zellweger) that he likes her.

Laughter

(The "despite appearances... I like you... just as you are" scene.)

Kelly: Wonderful! Thank you so much, Colin Firth - Sexy Colin Firth! Go see Bridget Jones's Diary - in theaters now!