218 Quotes by Colin Firth

I think it helps to get a film made because people who put money in are nervous. They like to have something recognisable enough to make them secure that there’s a pattern there – that someone else put their money into something like this and made it back.

I think that London is very much like that. I find there’s humour in the air and people are interesting. And I think that it’s a place which is constantly surprising. The worst thing about it? I think it can be smug and aggressive.

The skill of a good actor is to make it always seem like you’re in that fantastically spontaneous moment. Very often, a stand-up comedian has a different instinct, which is to reinvent. Once you’ve laid down some material, and made them laugh, you move on and find some new material.

To be bothered wherever you go – it’s not a rational thing to want at all.

Sometimes to think about why some institutions are stable, it’s interesting to go one generation back and look at the author of that stability.

Some people come up to be directors by coming through the camera department and there’s not a lot of women in the camera department. The ones that are have to kind of prove they’re one of the boys, I think. I don’t want to get into trouble with generalisations but I think it’s a fair observation.

Comedy – particularly the frothy and frivolous – is notoriously neglected by festivals and awards. But it’s bloody hard to get right.

My primary instinct as an actor is not the big transformation. It’s thrilling if a performer can do that well, but that’s not me. Often with actors, it’s a case of witnessing a big party piece but wondering afterwards, where’s the substance?

If you’re playing someone who’s got marital problems, you have to play someone who’s trying not to have marital problems. So, you’ve got to get into the problem first.