Announcer: New York City 2 p.m. 
Hobnobbing it with Rupert Everett, Reese Witherspoon, Colin Firth and Frances O’Connor
To talk about their new film The Importance of Being Earnest
There’s no stinkin’ host
And they don’t have any idea what the questions are....
And we have no idea what they’re going to say
It’s VH1’s cast party.
(The four stars file in and sit: Rupe in a chair, Reece and Colin on a couch, Fran in a chair to their left. Colin wears a blue
shirt, blue jeans rolled up a few inches, black blazer)
Rupe: Good evening and welcome to VH1’s backstage after cast party. My name’s Rupert Everett and we’re here to…
Colin: …entertain you.
Rupe: Entertain you and we’re going to talk about our new motion picture TIOBE.
Next to me is petite Reese Witherspoon and next to her is even more petite Colin Firth and next to her is Frances
O’Connor. We’re going to answer some questions given to us by our butler here about the making of TIOBE.
Reese: OK, what’s in a name? Why do Rupert’s and Colin’s character both claim the name Earnest? I don’t know,
Rupert, why do you?
Rupe: I don’t know, really. It was in the script, right Col?
Colin: I think we were told to say those words, yes. That was the brief, basically, and we don’t usually question these
things.
Reese: What’s in a name? Isn’t that Shakespearean?
Colin: (A little dismissively) Yes.
Rupe: Why does everyone like the name Earnest in the film? I guess what..
Colin: Well, I think I always felt the title is ironic, isn’t it. It’s about not being earnest, isn’t it.
Reese: About the dishonesty of courting people
Colin: Yeah, the irony of those things. We’re all sitting here in a row being expected to answer these questions and the real
authority’s sitting on a giant bed in the next room.
(shot of people in next room---camera people, etc., having a big laugh)
Rupe: We shouldn’t be asked questions like this. We don’t know anything.
Colin: It’s our ignorance because we don’t know the answers.
Rupe: What’s in a name, uh..
Fran: Who writes these questions. You know all of you have interesting first names. If VH1 had a show “what’s the story
behind the names,” would you have a story for the show?
Rupe: I’d name the show “name the behind.”
(laughter)
Colin: That’s what makes you special.
Reese: Why is your name Rupert?
Rupe: Why is your name Reese then?
Reese: Because it’s my mother’s maiden name. It’s a very poignant story. Do you want to hear it?
Rupe: Yes, well go on then.
Reese: My mother’s mother passed away very early in her life and she decided to name me after her mother. Laura Jean
Reese.
Rupe: Laura Jean?
Reese: Laura Jean. I’m very Southern.
Rupe: Laura Jean? Are you called Laura Jean as well?
Reese: Laura Jean, yeah.
Colin: Is that your real first name?
Reese: Are you called Earnest?
Rupe: Laura Jean
Colin: Does anyone think Colin is an interesting name? Where we come from it’s not.
Rupe: No, it’s a ghastly name. It’s got absolutely no pizzazz. I’m surprised you could manage to make a career with a
name like Colin.
Colin: That’s what happened to me, this sort of beige mediocrity in my name. It’s been something that’s been given to me
as a perverse gift.
Reese: Do they call you Colin? (long o)
Colin: yes (short) They call me Colin (long o). They call me Colin (long o) in this country.
Reese: Can I call you Colin?
Colin: I’d rather you didn’t.
Rupe: Here’s one for you, Reese. What’s the funniest pet or nickname you’ve had and how did you get it?
Reese: I guess probably Reese’s Pieces because they have, you know, that candy over here in America and I was teased
just horribly as a child.
Rupe: And you, Colin?
Colin: Frothy
Rupe: Frothy. Ha ha. What was that about?
Colin: I don’t really know. I was baptized with that name on this film.
Reese: I know Rupert calls Colin Frothy.
Fran: Well, Franny, which is very dangerously close to another name so…
Ha ha ha
Rupe: Well, that’s a normal name, that’s a nice name, Franny
Fran: Not in Australia
Rupe: Franex (?)
Fran: Yeah, Fanny
Rupe: (pours wine) Frances, we’re going to need another glass of wine for this supernaturally humorous questions. Col?
(offering him more wine)
Col indicates he’d like a little more.
Fran: We want some good gossipy questions.
Rupe: Do you feel sexy and attractive (reading Reese’s question over her shoulder)
Reese: Shut up. It’s my question. Do you feel sexy and attractive wearing Victorian era wardrobe? Describe your
experience. Sure, yeah, I thought it was kinda sexy.
Rupe: What confidence she oozes.
Reese: Sure. What about you? Did you like that corset? (to Frances)
Rupe: You had very nice costumes.
Fran: I had wonderful costumes.
Rupe: Although you complained about them endlessly, both of you.
Reese: No I didn’t
Rupe: Yes you did.
Reese: Oh come on. You were the one that was complaining constantly about that suit of armor. 
Rupe: yes, but you were complaining about your costume always and they were gorgeous. They were lovely.
Reese: We hardly got anything done with your winching (?) And that’s the truth.
Colin: Rupert was very happy with his costumes because he hand picked every single fabric.
Rupe: Ladies, which do you prefer, Victorian era or Victoria’s Secret?
Reese: Hmmm I don’t know. A little bit of both.
Fran: A little bit of both.
Rupe: Victoria’s secret. You know a couple of lace… you’re probably wearing lace underwear now aren’t you? (to Colin)
Colin: Well, I mean, you know it’s…
Rupe: Colin always wears…
Colin: It depends on how well it feels…
Rupe: You always feel better in a nice piece of sheer lacey panties (?)
Colin: Well, when I’m working, I mean I feel, you know, when one is trying to enter the spirit of the Victorian era, it is in keeping, don’t you…
Rupe: A lace jock strap
Colin: Absolutely
Rupe: Alright, who wants to do an imitation of Colin kissing?
Colin: Oh (fingers pinch bridge of nose)
Reese: You go ahead.
Rupe: OK, I’ll do it.
(He and Reese do cheeky imitation. Colin with big smile, looks on)
Rupe: Do you remember?
(Laughter)
Colin: (indignant) That was the result of very strict direction.
Rupe: You’re like a chicken pecking 
Colin: The person responsible for that is sitting on that bed in the other room. (People laughing in the bedroom.)
Rupe: No, nobody told you to pick at poor Francis’s mouth like a chicken, scratching for grain in the chicken hutch.
Colin: My Auntie Doris thanked me from the heart for the chasteness of that kiss at the end of the film. 
Fran: That’s very dodgy in itself.
Colin: I want to move on very quickly.
With the formality of relationships in marriage in the Victorian era, do you think it was harder to fall in love than it is today?
(sigh)
Fran: Could you fall in love with someone based solely on their name? Well, if the name was Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise or…
Colin: That’s the first first good answer.
Rupe: Reese. What’s it like for a girl from Nashville to be on such an English movie with classically trained British actors?
How did you get into the mind set of an English teenager?
Reese: Well, you guys weren’t much help.
Rupe: Tell a little about your coach and how much you hated your dialog coach and you tried to get her fired the first
week.
Reese: Shhh. Quiet. I loved her.
Rupe: And then you fell in love and suddenly a little bit beautiful happened between you.
Reese: Oh my god. I was lucky to have a dialog coach. She was so tough.
Rupe: I know. That’s not what you thought the first week or so.
Reese: She was tough.
Fran: She was thorough.
Colin: You undermined her all the time by mocking her.
Rupe: I did never.
Colin: That’s what I heard.
Fran: Behind her back.
Rupe: I did never.
Reese: (reads question) Francis, your character gets a very special tattoo for the love of the film.
Colin: For love, in the film.
Reese: Would any of you get a tattoo for love and where would you put it? Do you?
Fran: No, I don’t. Do you?
Reese: Yeah, I do.
Fran: Really? Where do you?
Reese: I don’t know if I want to tell you.
Rupe: I know where it is.
Reese: You don’t.
Rupe: You told me that evening.
Reese: I told you, OK, I have a tattoo on my hip. 
Fran: Oh, that’s nice.
Rupe: What’s it of?
Reese: It’s a blue star.

Cast Party VH1
                                        May 21, 2002
                                           Part 2
Fran: the great Dame Judi Dench who plays Frances O’Connor’s mother in the movie, endearingly referred to Rupe
and Colin as complete bastards. What did she mean by that?
Reese: I distinctly remember you guys trying to goad her into gossiping with you about one person in particular.
Rupe: Who?
Reese: And she would have none of it.
Colin: No, well, good.
Colin: If your characters were living today, what would their favorite style of music be? For example, who would
Moncreif be listening to?
Rupe: Who would he be listening to?
Colin: Yes
Rupe: probably Phil Collins. I don’t know.
Reese: I thought it was particularly fun listening to you guys sing in the film.
Rupe: Really?
Reese: Yeah.
Rupe: Well, I was number one last year with Madonna, you know. I’ve been doing…
Reese: You were like humming in the background of that song.
Rupe: Oh, I was so not humming in the background of that song. 
Reese: Come on. It’s like American Pie?
Rupe: I do all the background vocals. It’s like the Mamas and the Papas. It’s not humming in the background.
Colin: You were humming in the background on our song in TIOBE. His way of stealing a scene. He hadn’t learned a
single line of either the melody or the lyric.
(They all sing. Nobody knows the lyrics.)
Rupe: Have you ever been in a music video? If not, are there any music videos you wish you’d been in?
Colin: Wait a minute. I was in Gerri Halliwell’s. It’s falling men, or raining men, or whatever…
Reese: Were you in that?
Rupe: No, I wasn’t in that.
Colin: (indignant) I was!
Reese: Oh, you were.
Colin: I’ve just done another luminous moment in your career, darling…
Rupe: When I was in Geri Haliwell’s…
Colin: How could you possible have left out that glorious moment? (posh accent)
Rupe: Oh, you were in Geri Halliwell’s raining men, were you?
Colin: I was.
Rupe: Were you a raindrop?
Colin: Yes, they used it in the film. So I can answer yes, yeah. Oh, that’s true. Thank you.
Reese: Hey, we’re on VH1 right now and since we’re not being paid, how about some free CDs? Which artists would
you like to have? What’s your favorite CD right now?
Rupe: I’d like to have…um…Cole Play (?)
Reese: I’d like any CDs. I never have time to go to the music store. But I heard that JZ Unpluggd album is good. What
about you, Col?
Colin: Umm, yes, I like Cole Play (?)
Reese: What is Cole Play?
Fran: I like Travers (?) They just did a live concert and they were brilliant.
Reese: Travers is good too.
Colin: Doves. Do you know Doves?
Fran: They’re good.
Colin: There’s a new album. Very nice. These are good bands.
Fran: If you like guitary kind of things.
Colin: There’s a band called Alfie just came out with a nice album. And I’m a Ryan Adams fan.
Reese: Brian Adams?
Colin: No! Ryan. It is in fact Ryan, not Brian. He’s an American sort of Americano.
Rupe: Keeping a diary of one’s thoughts is featured in the film. If you could read anyone’s diary, who would it be? (to
Reese) Your husband’s?
Reese: Probably, yes.
Rupe: Exactly. (To Colin) You, your wife’s
Colin: Yes.
Fran: Yeah
Colin: Tell us your best day in making TIOBE. (to Reese) I was very sad when you left.
Rupe: What was so marvelous about Reese leaving was how unsad she was.
Reese: That’s not true. No, I really had a great time.
Rupe: Do you want to do an imitation of Reese saying she’s going to cry, or shall I? (to Colin)
Colin: You do it.
Reese: Go ahead.
Colin: We really did miss you. We were all cut up when you drove away and it just wasn’t the same again. It was like,
you know, an amputation for us.
Reese: It was so fun. I have to be honest with you. This was one of the best experiences I ever had on a film. Yeah, I
had a great time. Not because of you… I really enjoyed working with Rupert and Frances, and Judi was the best.
Colin: You really have singled me out.
Rupe: You are not a very polite gentlemanly gentleman
Colin: I like to…
Rupe: If there’s a door and there’s two ladies, you’re going to barge through like a…. You’ve no manners.
Colin: It’s very nice to be in group therapy.
Rupe: You don’t have any manners. But Reese pretended valiantly that she was very upset to leave the film and I think
I’d like to do the imitation because VH1 viewers…
Reese: I can tell you guys have been working on this, so just bring it on.
Rupe:  You guys. I’m going to cry (imitating Reese)
Colin: OK, If I don’t leave now I’m going to cry. (Also imitating Reese) 
Big laugh.
(There’s a nice shot of Colin looking at Reese. His middle finger is across his mouth and his index finger is pointed
toward his ear. Nice gaze)
Reese: Rupert can take it. I was like sobbing all over you. What would you do?
Rupe: It’s absolutely fascinating, darling, we loved it that you were sobbing all over. That’s all we wanted. Just a little bit
of real feeling.
Colin: (to Rupe) You were quite emotional. You were quite emotional, I remember.
Rupe: I can’t remember.
Colin: No, he didn’t cry. Champagne? Box of Champagne?
Rupe: No, very emotional. For an English person, very emotional. We got Champagne. We sat there. Nobody came to
drink it. Felt tragic. Star tries to dispense largesse, and no one shows up, standing there.
Reese: You mean you got Champagne for the whole crew and all the actors drank it?
Colin: No, no one came at all.
Reese: We were like such a clique on this movie. After every shot we’d all huddle and laugh and giggle and gossip.
Rupe: Anyway, it was very emotional, but the thing is it was a very fun film.
Fran: It seems like the best day for everybody was like the last day. I was talking about the last day of shooting.
Rupe: My favorite day was when I teased Colin Firth ‘cause there was a smudge of make up on the side of his neck
and I said Colin you’re so brave to wear so little make up. He said, “Am I?” And disappeared to make up for about
three hours and then came out looking like Bette Davis from Elizabeth the First with this huge ha ha ha…
Colin: Listen *to *who’s *talking! Four hours every day. They put make up on me so I didn’t look like a ghost next
to…
Rupe: Cause you had like dirty protest smears up and down your neck.
Colin: They’ll have to scrape an inch off her when she dies. (referring to Rupe)
Fran: You looked like Joan Crawford in Whatever Happened To Baby Jane.
Colin: Absolutely. She’s Bette Davis.
Rupe: You did spend three very ominous hours in make up and came out and I mean your face was out to here (holds
hands a foot from face)
Colin: They’ll scrape an inch off you when you die. Well, I remember when we fought over the muffins. I was wearing
white linen, I was covered with your make up, layers and layers of the stuff. I was dripping with it every time I went
near you and I’ll tell you something, I recognized shades of that make up from Another Country, 18 years ago. Sort of
the sub soil that had been applied to your face.
Fran: I liked working on …? I thought it was really fun.
Reese: I was going to say that.
Fran: That was my favorite scene. Because we had a bitter cat fight with words.
(Scene from movie where girls are having tea…sugar or no sugar, cake or bread and butter)
Colin: I’ll tell what I remember with great joy is when you two had gone and we needed an eye line for the song.
Rupe: Oh my god, and we had Beverly with the huge double D cup.
Colin: Gwendolyn and Cecily.
Rupe: And she had one cross on one and one cross on the other.
Colin: No, she had G and C (pointing to breasts …his own)
There was this stage. Bum ba bum ba bum. There was this…it was frightfully clever. I’m singing my heart out.
Rupe: You know, it’s all you, your singing voice, your guitar, your attention to detail in your guitar learning were kind of
fantastic.
Fran: Your piano work
Rupe: Yeah, well, I did study classical piano and god I was so lucky…what..
Reese: You weren’t really playing.
Rupe: Course I was. Be positive.
Reese: OK, yeah, you played the piano so well.
Rupe: Right. Thank you.
Reese: I feel really positively about this movie.
Rupe: So do I.
Reese: I think people think of period movies as very dramatic and heavy and this movie’s very light and sort of
digestible.
Colin: It is. It’s not what people expect at all. I mean I felt it lasted ten minutes. I almost felt cheated really.
Reese: I want more.
Colin turns to Fran: What do you think about that?
Rupe: Oh look here, we are…thank you very much for watching VH1’s cast party. Grab your friends and turn off the
lights. Well, the movie’s coming out everybody, so everyone please go and thank you for watching VH1’s cast party.
This is Rupert Everett…
Reese Witherspoon…
Colin Firth…
Frances O’Connor…
Saying Good night to you and good night to you. 
Close…Rupert and Colin’s song from TIOBE as the cast leaves the set.

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