Filmography: Colin Firth

Colin Firth is earning raves left and right for his portrayal of a gay man who loses the love of his life in A Single Man.

Amazingly enough, an Oscar nomination for this performance would be the first of his career. Firth has spent decades as an accomplished and impressive character actor who usually takes a backseat to the leads. One could argue, though, that without his solid supporting work, his costars would have had much harder jobs.

Firth turned in outstanding performances in The English Patient, Shakespeare in Love, and Bridget Jones's Diary and saw seven of his costars go on to Academy Award nominations. Hopefully this year it's his turn for a bit of Oscar glory.

1984 Another Country (Tommy Judd)
1987 A Month in the Country (Tom Birkin)
1989 Apartment Zero (Adrian LeDuc), Valmont (Valmont)
1993 The Advocate (Richard Courtois)
1994 Playmaker (Michael Condron/Ross Talbert)
1995 Circle of Friends (Simon Westward), Pride and Prejudice (Fitzwilliam Darcy)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To some, Firth is the definitive Mr. Darcy. The acclaimed TV miniseries version of Jane Austen's classic made him the thinking girl's pinup, launched him to stardom and had women everywhere wishing for a Mr. Darcy of their own.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1996 The English Patient (Geoffrey Clifton)
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In Anthony Minghella's wondrous, Oscar-winning masterpiece, Firth plays the jilted husband of Count Almasy's beloved Katharine. Somehow we manage to relate to him, even as he stands in the way of the lovers and ultimately ruins their chance at happiness.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1997 A Thousand Acres (Jess Clark), Fever Pitch (Paul Ashworth)
1998 Shakespeare in Love (Lord Wessex)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ As another antagonist to a pair of star-crossed lovers, Colin Firth gives one of the films's funniest performances (the other being from Geoffrey Rush). One of his best moments as Lord Wessex is as he announces to Lady Viola that they are to be married. She is devastated, of course, as she loves Will Shakespeare, but Wessex is utterly oblivious and says callously, "You are allowed to show your pleasure." This is a villain you love to hate.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1999 My Life So Far (Edward Pettigrew)
2000 Relative Values (Peter Ingleton)
2001 Bridget Jones's Diary (Mark Darcy)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Bridget Jones's Diary is a loose adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, and Firth again tackles the character of Mr. Darcy (this time a lawyer and a resident of modern-day London), perhaps as a bit of an inside joke. Firth is yet again pitch-perfect as the antithesis of Hugh Grant's smugly charming Daniel Cleaver, and he proves himself an actor who doesn't take himself too seriously to start an all-out brawl to the tune of "It's Rainin' Men".
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 2002 The Importance of Being Earnest (Jack Worthing)
2003 Girl with a Pearl Earring (Johannes Vermeer), Hope Springs (Colin Ware), Love Actually (Jamie Bennett), What a Girl Wants (Henry Dashwood)
2004 Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (Mark Darcy), Trauma (Ben Slater)
2005 Nanny McPhee (Cedric Brown), Where the Truth Lies (Vince Collins)
2007 The Last Legion (Aurelius), And When Did You Last See Your Father? (Blake Morrison), Then She Found Me (Frank), St. Trinian's (Geoffrey Thwaites)
2008 The Accidental Husband (Richard Bratton), Mamma Mia! (Harry Bright), Easy Virtue (Jim Whittaker), Genova (Joe)
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In perhaps the worst movie of 2008, Mamma Mia!, it's Firth, not Meryl Streep, who saves the day. His hysterical moments are the only ones in this musical disaster worth watching.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 2009 A Christmas Carol (Fred), Dorian Gray (Lord Henry Wotton), A Single Man (George Falconer)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ As a gay man who struggles to find value in his life after his lover dies, Colin Firth is said to be incredible. Snatching up the Best Actor prize from the Venice Film Festival and topping a list of best performances at Toronto over at indieWIRE, Firth's performance was described as "impeccable" and a "career-best" by EW's Oscar blogger, Dave Karger.

Colin Firth Had Better Win

I haven't seen the movie yet, and I don't realistically know what his chances are, but I'm not ashamed to admit I'm already rooting for Colin Firth this year.

Ten Toronto Tidbits

The Toronto International Film Festival - where the Oscar season unofficially starts - has come to a close. This year wasn't really revolutionary. Most of the big hits already had a substantial amount of buzz going in. There were a few great bits to come out of the fest, though. Here are the ten headlines that I'm most excited about.

10. An Education still getting great reviews. Carey Mulligan is the one I'm most excited to see make the rounds this awards season.
9. Drew Barrymore can direct! Whip It debuts to positive reviews and is a commercial success. Not an awards contender, but it proves Barrymore is a fun new talent to watch behind the camera, and Ellen Page is one phenomenal young actress.
8. Chloe is greeted favorably. Amanda Seyfried is touted as an up-and-coming actress who is pleasantly surprising as a call girl hired to tempt a woman's philandering husband.
7. Mother & Child star Annette Bening is getting great reviews for her role as a woman who gave a child up for adoption when she was 14. Ten years after her acclaimed performance in American Beauty lost to Hilary Swank, and five years after her turn as Julia Lambert lost to Swank again, Bening could be up against her if she gets a nomination for Mother & Child and Swank scores a nod for Mira Nair's Amelia. If I were her I'd be packing heat at the Kodak, just in case.
6. Ricky Gervais's The Invention of Lying does well. I will always root for whatever Gervais does. Can someone please book this man to host the Oscars?
5. Up in the Air continues to bowl people over. I've got a good feeling about this one and director Jason Reitman. For some reason they're striking me as the film and director to beat, so far.
4. The Coens' A Serious Man was really the only featival takeoff. Lots of talk of the film being their most personal and best film to date.
3. Tom Ford's A Single Man, which recently won Colin Firth Best Actor in Venice, gets picked up by The Weinstein Company. Currently looking at a December 4th release date, it's looking to be the actor's first big awards vehicle.
2. Precious is not showing any signs of slowing down. It doesn't seem like anyone has a negative thing to say about it. While Mo'Nique drew most of the praise earlier this year at Sundance, it was Gabourey Sidibe stunning Toronto audiences. Both actresses now seem on track for Academy Award nominations next March.
1. Robert Duvall delivers another stunning performance in Get Low. His turn as a Tennessee hermit who throws his own funeral was the talk of the festival. The film hasn't found a distributor yet, but if it does we'll be looking at a Best Actor campaign for Duvall, which I'd love to see.

What were you most excited about in Toronto? What Toronto films are you most excited to catch this year? Any major disappointments?

A Single Man Trailer

Above is the trailer for A Single Man, the first feature from director Tom Ford. Colin Firth took home the Best Actor prize from the Venice Film Festival.

Not much can be gathered about the plot from this trailer, which focuses primarily on the film's striking visuals, but from what I can gather from various Venice reviews, the film is set in Los Angeles in 1962. George Falconer, a British college professor, is struggling to find meaning in his life after the death of his long-time partner, Jim. The film follows George through a single day, in which George is consoled by his closest friend, Charley, and is stalked by one of his students, Kenny.

Sounds interesting, to say the least. No word on a US distributor as of yet, but I'm hoping one is found in time for an awards run, as I would LOVE to see Colin Firth getting a little love from Oscar. The poor man has never once been nominated despite several extraordinary performances. For shame.