2010 best actor nominee looks poised for another Oscar nod.By Eric Ditzian, with reporting by Josh Horowitz
Colin Firth in "The King's Speech"
Photo: The Weinstein Company
For the second year in a row, Colin Firth finds himself at the center of awards-season chatter. And after losing out on a best actor Oscar for "A Single Man," the 50-year-old actor has again established himself as one of the frontrunners in that category, thanks to his turn as the stammer-afflicted King George VI on the verge of Britain's entry into World War II in "The King's Speech."
It seems Firth is an actor at the top of his game, but to hear him tell it, it's as much a matter of good fortune as it is great talent.
"It's just dumb luck," he told MTV News at the Toronto film festival in September. "That's all: Just getting a crack at it. Sometimes you just take roles to stay in the game or pay bills and hope the good ones are going to come along.
"I was never in a world of perfect choice, and now I feel like I've had a couple of real plums landing in my hand," he added.
It was at fall film festivals in Toronto and Telluride, Colorado, as critics first began to catch screenings of "King's Speech," that it became clear we'd still be talking about Firth's performance come awards season. He's been faithfully making the publicity rounds ever since, and as he told us when we chatted earlier this month in New York, he's not bored with the experience.
"Funnily enough, I find it easier than many things," he said. "There are so many angles you can approach it from, to do with the way people are reacting to it to the surprises we've had along the way to nuances about the actual history itself. I think this has a lot of mileage in it.
"It's been very gratifying for audiences to have howls of laughter and be open to crying," he continued. "To see that happening in the same film is a triumphant feeling. When you're in Telluride, you can put it down to altitude — one glass of wine amounts to 10. So we had to test it at sea level as well to see if people enjoyed it, and they did."
Did you see Firth's performance as King George VI? Give us your review in the comments below.
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