BRIDGET Jones's Diary star Colin Firth has spoken of the enmity that once
 existed between himself and rival British actor Rupert Everett. 
 The handsome pair, who co-star in the forthcoming film adaptation of Oscar
 Wilde's The Importance Of Being Earnest, first worked together playing
 rebellious public schoolboys in the film of the stage hit Another Country
 in 1984. They did not get on, ultra-serious Firth finding Everett
 "ghastly" and the flamboyant Rupert finding Colin "boring". 
 Firth, 41, recalls: "We didn't have the smoothest of relationships in the
 beginning in Another Country. Rupert was pretty ghastly! No, I mean, I was
 ghastly. I was extremely dull and terribly serious and rather worried
 about the business and not sure whether I belonged in it. 

 "He wasn't having these sorts of worries at all and he was far more
 sophisticated than I was. 

 I think I bored him to death, to be honest. And he wasn't very tolerant to
 people who bored him." 

 Last week Everett, 42, admitted: "Colin was very serious... very left
 wing, he was going to give all his money to charity. I couldn't deal with
 him except to bad mouth him." But working together again after nearly 20
 years has healed many wounds. 

 "This time everything was fine, " says Colin. 

 "Even though there was an 18-year gap, there was a bizarre familiarity
  immediately. I do remember a strange look of recognition between us when
 we met again. We were a bit like an old married couple." 

 Are they now best buddies? "We haven't really had much chance, " says
 Colin. "We're both constantly on the move but we would and will
 (socialise) this time. 

 Absolutely. We've spoken on the phone and we've tried to get together. Our
 relationship definitely has social potential now." 

 But 6ft 1in Firth, who towered over tiny Renee Zellweger in Bridget
 Jones's Diary, still has one bone of contention with 6ft 4in Everett. 
 "I always feel short when I work with Rupert, " moans Colin, fondly
 remembered as smouldering Mr Darcy in the TV adaptation of Pride And
 Prejudice. 

 "I think that Rupert has grown in the last 18 years! Everyone thought I
 was a little short, stocky person when we did the film of Another Country
 together." Diddums. 

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