Thanks to CFFW

Has Colin Firth Got a Prejudice against Darcy?

He recently described the role that made his name and with which he will forever be associated as "a monkey on my back". Now, a decade after he iconically emerged from a lake in dripping wet shirt and breeches as Mr Darcy, screen heart-throb Colin Firth has declined to discuss his non-participation in a forthcoming BBC tribute to the show.
 
Firth, 44, who played the brooding hero in the 1995 television adaptation of Jane Austen's Pride And Prejudice - recently remade as a feature film with Keira Knightley, and Matthew MacFadyen as Darcy - was invited to participate in a documentary on the small-screen drama. However, producers have been informed that Firth will not be involved, with a spokeswoman blaming his "schedule". 
 
"Colin Firth has said no, " explains producer Toby Stevens, whose show will be screened later this year. "We obviously wish he would come on and we can't quite get to the bottom of it." Pride And Prejudice is to be among six shows featured in the forthcoming BBC1 series, with the working title Drama Connections, which takes a behind-the-scenes look at some of the nation's bestloved programmes.
 
Firth, of course, agreed to pay a tongue-in-cheek tribute to his 19th-century alter ego when he played the role of modern-day barrister Mark Darcy opposite Renee Zellweger in the Bridget Jones films.
 
Firth's spokeswoman insists:
 
"Colin was not able to participate in the documentary due to his schedule." But a friend says: "While grateful to what Mr Darcy did for him, Colin doesn't want that role to solely define his career. Mention wet shirts and he can get a bit touchy."
 
He is not the only prominent Pride And Prejudice cast member who won't be reliving his past. Director Simon Langton and actor David Bamber, who played Mr Collins, will be involved but Firth's main co-star Jennifer Ehle - who played heroine Elizabeth Bennet (and fell for Firth on set, though they split after a year) - has so far also turned down the programme-makers. However, it is still hoped that she can be persuaded to change her mind. "We're keeping our fingers crossed, " says Stevens.