Colin Firth was an obvious choice for the part as Mark Darcy in BJD, the film where Renee Zellweger and Hugh Grant have the other major roles. Anyway, the author of BJD, Helen Fielding, insisted that Colin Firth play the part as Mark.

Fielding even announced it publicly before he had even heard of the project. A very strong engagement, many journalists thought, and hinted that Fielding  was in love herself. Just like Bridget.

- I never noticed any such feelings from her, says Colin Firth to "Dagbladet". Fielding denies the speculations. -Sorry, it's nothing more than a half-good rumour. But I think most women in England had a kind of *relationship* to Mr.Darcy - and Colin Firth - after P&P was on television.

He appears like a nice, caring, wise and charming brit. In films he often has a distinct Hampshire accent. But it was as Mark Darcy he became an internationally known name. When women of all ages find him a real heart-throb, it helps his career in Britain and in the rest of Europe - and in Hollywood. 

It seems like Firth has a reflective distance to the fuzz about him. He is a typical European actor, but has grown up with parents who are teachers, and grandparents who were missionairies in Nigeria. Missionairies of "the kind that did'nt beat the locals while reading from the Bible", he explains.

-Hollywood and I have a mutual relatinship that is OK. Not too good. I like my family and friends in London too well, says Colin Firth and looks at the palms outside the window of Forth Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills.

- Sometimes I hate the fog and aggresiveness in London, but I like London being an international city with a vide variety of offers. A city where you can hide, if you want to. Where I live, in a narrow, almost Italian street, there is a button shop, antique shop, hat shop, tax lawyer and of course a pub. All this, mixed with a little bit of British humour, is perfect for me.

British press is very aggressive, even more than the Hollywood press, and has frightened Firth out of his wits. - I have a paranoid attitude towards the press, he says. He dislikes talking about his Italian wife Livia Giuggioli and their first-born, and about his ten year old son with actress Meg Tilly.

-What's private I have no intention telling the press. I try to enjoy life with the ones I love, and adds that he's very content that he managed to fool the paparazzis when he married Livia in 1997.

-I'm a very private person, and I will protect my family. My kids hardly know that I'm an actor. I was scared when my son pointed at the TV screen and said, Look, there's my dad! I don't want them to be confused, seeing me in strange situations which they have no chance to understand.

-Are you comfortable seeing yourself on the screen?

-No, it's awful. I'm getting annoyed very easily. Even if he now is discovered by Hollywood, the experienced actor has long been a star in Great Britain. It is said that he even has groupies hanging around
theater performances and film sets (sic!).

-People can make themselves say a lot of strange things, and many don't know where the limit is. Most people are nice. They bring all kinds of gifts. Shoes and socks, for instance. I have got a carpet with a big bird - and lots of pictures of myself. As if I needed that. Sometimes this attention is spooky, sometimes it's just sweet.

-But I never had a sexual relationship with any of those people, Firth emphasizes.

-"Those people"? You mean slightly desperate and neurotic Bridget Jones kind of women?

-Well, Bridget is just sweet, a girl that, like many of us, struggle to find a boy friend. It's not that easy. Not for men either. I know many men who are confused about the roles women expect from them. Now men must be masculine types in "Gladiator" costume, and at the same time have strong feminine sides. Obviously it's easy to get lost.

-Are you often confused?

-No, I'm fine.

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thanks KB
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