Colin Firth Career Timeline - Apartment Zero article

His handsome, GQ-ish looks notwithstanding, he plays the warped film fanatic in Apartment Zero, a psychological, political thriller that has made a favorable sweep at several international film festivals. Firth also plays the equally twisted womanizer in Forman's Valmont, another adaptation of Choderlos de Laclos' novel, Les Liaisons Dangereuses.

"I feel much safer playing guys who are not supposed to be good, or good-looking for that matter," said the 29-year-old Firth in a quiet British accent while he reclined on a folding chair during a recent Chicago visit. "It is kind of scary playing someone who comes out and says, `You know, you are supposed to like me.' "

Firth hasn't often gotten those kind of willies. His resume is not exactly filled with the roles of charming, thoughtful, devoted heroes who are drowning in warm wishes. On the contrary, he has done his share of pouting - first, as a depressed boarding-school student in Another Country, and then as a shaken World War I veteran in A Month in the Country.

Has he gotten the short end of the stick by not finding roles that would propel him into the Rob Lowe school of young film turks? "No. I thought I was getting the pick of the most interesting characters around," he said. "It is a joy to be an actor and be able to get your hands on some neurotic and get to do all the twitches, stutters, paralysis and all that kind of thing. It's actually easy, you know."

And getting easier all the time, especially after taking a walk on the darker side of Buenos Aires to film Apartment Zero, which revolves around the meeting of a mentally unbalanced Argentinian (Firth) and a mysterious, magnetic American (Hart Bochner). "He is a loner who might appear vulnerable to people," Firth said. "In a sick mind, appearing to be needy, though, is one of the most controlling, manipulative things anybody can do."

Firth is in all his controlling, manipulating fury in Valmont, where he assumes the John Malkovich role of Dangerous Liaisons - that of a cad who has nothing better to do with his 18th century time than seduce every woman within sight."If anyone should be completely liaisoned out, it should be me," Firth said. "I've seen two versions of this play. I've read the book twice. I've seen another movie, and I've spent six months working on this one."

"You never at any time think these men are Satan personified," he said. "In Valmont, you think he is a nice guy who really enjoys life. You see him playing with kids. That 14-year-old girl is the same kid he takes to bed upstairs. He is kind of like Bochner's Jack in Apartment Zero. He deliberately appears to be what they want to see."

Firth, however, was not always what everyone thought. His British parents are scholars, and he sounds like the recipient of a Ph.D in literature. The truth is that he was never wild about school and nixed any college plans. Instead, he made tea in the wardrobe department of the National Theatre before quitting for a three-year tour of duty with the Drama Centre London, a famed acting training center.

With one year left to go, Firth checked out to take the lead role in the London play Another Country. After two short months, he was cast in in the movie version, which is where Apartment Zero director Martin Donovan noticed him.

Up until this point, Firth's track record of playing neurotics and the generally repressed obscured the fact that he is good-looking and extroverted. "I nearly lost the role in Apartment Zero because I was told that I was too attractive," said Firth, obviously embarrassed. "So I brought out my bag of tricks, which include smiling painfully and acting awkward in the film. Of course, I do worry that these mannerisms can be a crutch. They can really just be something to latch on to and lean on in a performance."

Forman pretty much told Firth to leave his trick bag home, because he wanted Valmont to appear "to be doing everything absolutely guilelessly. He said, I want you to appear to have no premeditation in anything you do. You are just having a conversation about nothing in the world. So these women think, How can this be the guy they're talking about? How is it possible that this is the man? "

Firth shrugged. Given his druthers, he would rather unearth the role of some murky sicko. "Someone who suffers from profound immaturity," he said. "Someone who has a problem. Someone involved in the world of sexual play or sexual manipulation. Someone who finds how extraordinary, dangerous and explosive an apparently innocent situation can be."

While he pries these types out of the woodwork, Firth is content to keep a low profile and occupy his time with some left-of-center pursuits such as his penchant for African and Cajun music.

"I don't have a clue what's in store for me," he said. "Really, no clue."

Maybe he could play the new, new James Bond.

"Maybe that is it," he said and laughed.