The Today Show

Matt: We're back at 8:30 on a Monday morning. The 8th day of December 2003 and we have a pre-holiday crowd here gathered at Rockefeller Center....toy gathering in full swing now in our tenth annual holiday toy drive...and that’s one of our favorite actors, British import Colin Firth, doing the honors.  He’s an elf this morning. Colin, thank you very much.

Colin: (silently mouths as he collects the toys) Thank you.

Katie: And he’s collecting toys to the tune of…

Matt:  Billy Mack.

Katie:  Yeah, Billy Mack. I’m not sure of the name of this song, but it’s from the Love Actually soundtrack. (someone in the sidelines prompts her) “Christmas Is All Around.” He was really funny in this movie. Colin and Billy Mack. So Colin’s gonna talk with us a little bit more in just a few minutes, but he has been very, very busy these days.

Matt: He really has, that’s right. You really loved that movie, by the way, Love Actually.

Katie: You know what, I did.  I have to say I did love that movie.

Matt: Good. One thumb up from Katie Couric. A lot of very generous people helping us in our toy drive 

[break for a Hasbro bumper and Toy Drive info]

Katie: Hi Colin.

Matt: Hi Colin.

Katie: How are you?

Colin: I’m very well, thank you. Nice to see you.

Katie: (reaching up kissing Colin on both cheeks) Little euro for Colin. Sorry, I have peanut butter breath. Nice to see you.

Matt: Hello. (mock eurokisses Colin's hand after shaking hands with him)

Katie: Anyway, how’s everything going?

Matt: It’s going very well.

Katie: You have been a busy guy.

Colin: I know.

Katie: You had Love Actually come out…

Colin: That’s right.

Katie: And I know, have you finished work on Bridget Jones 2 yet?

Colin: No, that goes on into, um, February of next year.

Katie: But you do have a new movie coming out very soon, The Girl with aPearl Earring, about Vermeer. And tell us a little bit about that movie, because I cannot wait to see it.

Colin: Erm, it’s a very, uh, it’s one of the most beautiful films to look at you’ll ever see. It all is shot like a Dutch painting from the 1700s, and it’s kind of a story of compressed internal passion and jealousy and wild emotions concealed in the household.

Katie: Tell us a little bit about Vermeer and why it was a particularly challenging role.

Colin: Well, nobody knows anything about him. Everybody knows everything, uh, around his life, but he’s a mystery. We know what everyone else looked like, what they said, what they did, but he’s this kind of shadow in the middle of it all. So everyone, I think, who’s encountered his story has been fascinated to discover something, and in fact, our story preserves that mystery in a way. He’s this kind of skulking figure in the shadows of the studio.

Katie: It’s a wonderful book, a lot of people looking forward to the movie, and Scarlett Johansson looks so eerily like the girl with the pearl earring, like the painting. It is freaky, isn’t it?

Colin: It’s quite a feat, you know. They went though lots of experiments where they tried to, um… Because we knew we had a famous painting, and we have an actress who actually physically doesn’t ordinarily look like that painting, we thought, “Well, are we maybe never going to be able to show the painting?”  So we tried all this computer morphing stuff where they made it look half like, like the painting and half like Scarlett, and it ended up looking little bit like Margaret Thatcher. [Colin, Katie and Matt all laugh].  So what they ended up with was in fact just Scarlett and then the painting, and we buy it, it’s, I think so.

Katie: Well, she really captured, or they really captured, the whole ess—, the true essence of the painting, in her face.

Colin: Very much so.

Katie: It’s beautiful.

Colin: It’s a feat of acting and filming rather than an accident that she happens to look like that. I think it was achieved, you know.

Matt: Well, good luck!

Katie: (stepping on Matt's line) Well, good luck with the movie.  It’s great to see you, Colin.

Matt: We're gotta get you some gloves…
 

Katie: I’ve been talking up Love Actually, by the way…

Colin: I’m in (Lifting his bare hands)… well, oh...that’s very kind of you.

Katie: Yeah.

Colin: Oh, well talk up Pearl Earring for us…

Katie: Okay, I think I just did…

Colin: You did?!

Katie: …for like four minutes, Colin.

Colin: You did, that’s a wonderful job you did there! (Katie momentarily takes Colin's hands in hers in an attempt to warm them.)

Colin: I’m in season shock, actually. I just got off the plane in a different season…

Katie: Oh, really? Where were you coming from?

Colin: Well, London. It’s just what I thought fall was supposed to feel like…this is the dead of winter.

Matt: (simultaneously pipes in the word as Colin pronounces it) Winter.

Katie: Welcome to New York anyway...You need to get busy and fill that up, honey.  (Katie indicates the empty red bag Colin has folded over his left arm.)

Colin: Well, I thought…I thought I did and now they’ve given me another one. (Colin turns and greets the cheering crowd with a smile and a wave with his back to the camera and Katie).

Katie: Have a great holiday, Colin! Great to see you. 

Colin: Thank you. (Colin walks out of camera range)

Matt: Very nice to see you.

Colin: Thank you. 

Matt: Alright, let's get a check on the weather with Mr. Al Roker who's got a hat and gloves on.......

Katie: (camera returns to Katie.) Thanks very much. Up next: Jessica Lange on Big Fish.  (Katie turns   to Colin, who is busy gathering more toys from the crowd not really noticing where Katie or the camera are..) You stalking me? (Colin, seemingly taken by surprise, jumps back dramatically and gives a laugh.)

Katie: Just kidding (also laughing).

Colin: I just made it onto LIVE TV!!! (Colin continues collecting toys and holding warm conversations with the toy donators)

Colin: Thank you so much. Thank you. Thanks. (Someone trys to stuff a very large Elmo toy in the collection bag.)  Wow! Head first, and down you go!

[end of segment]