A Single Man was adapted from the book by Christopher Isherwood, which was loosely based on his relationship with artist Don Bachardy. Prior to taking on the role of George, Firth watched the 2007 documentary Chris and Don. A Love Story twice. "I don’t know that it helped me with the role," said Firth. "It was interesting. Whenever I embark on a project, it’s an opportunity to plunge into a particular world, or a different perception, to learn about a time or a place I don’t know as much about. Love is love. I don’t feel there’s anything different to play because the partner happens to be male. The person I’ll be playing opposite is unlikely to be my lover anyway. It’s the job description; you find these emotions from somewhere."
"I think one of the things I appreciate greatly about Isherwood’s writing is that he doesn’t make the sexuality an assailing feature. I mean, sexual love is part of it. He was writing at a time when other writers were covering that up," offered Firth. "Isherwood didn’t feel a need to do that. His characters just happened to be gay. I don’t really define myself by my sexuality, either. George struggles with many things, but one of those things is not his sexuality. I think he’s fairly happy with who he is in that respect."
Firth's been working steady in films since the mid-1980s, but this is Ford's first venture into the tricky world of directing. Asked how it was working with a rookie, Firth replied, "He has a great gift. He’s never made a film before, but it didn’t feel like working with a man who was a novice. There were a couple of pieces of film parlance he was unfamiliar with, but it didn’t seem to matter. He would just add them to his vocabulary and carry on. People treated him with the most enormous respect. There was such a strong sense that he could be trusted, in terms of his taste and his judgment. It actually relaxed people."
Firth said Ford handled himself like a seasoned veteran, chalking his ability to control the set up to what Ford has learned while working in the fashion industry. "A film set can be a neurotic place, and can be rampant in security. People are frightened of falling short, of failure, of miscommunication, all kinds of complications. A good director smoothes that out, unites the set, and creates a unity of vision, which everybody wants to fulfill. He has that gift, and I think he’s learned that over many, many years working in fashion. He’s always felt that fashion has something to say. It may not be a popular thing to hear. But even as Tom said, 'I must make this woman wear this dress,' or 'This woman must feel that she has to wear this dress. I have to get that across in a few seconds on the runway.' You’re still using your creativity, still having to get a group of people to share a vision, and still working toward an impact. This time it was narrative drama, and it was something very different for him, and it was very clear to me that this was not a vanity project."
The costumes of A Single Man are gorgeous and completely in line with the clothing of the 1960s. But just because Ford comes from the fashion world doesn't mean he took the opportunity to show off the costumes to the detriment of the actors or the story. "Just his choice of material indicated to me that this was not just a chance for him to show off his spring collection: 'Lonely college professor in 1960'. Yes, the clothes look beautiful, and yes, it’s wonderfully designed, but it’s very much at the service of the story, as far as I was concerned," said Firth. "The way George dresses, so fastidiously, is a sign of his desperation. It’s very clear at the beginning of the film, when he says it takes a long time to become George, you get the feeling that if he took off his cufflinks, he’d fall apart. That he’s actually getting his body armor on, and he’s hanging on by his fingernails. It’s only his exterior world that he has any control over, that is ordered, because inside it’s all a mess. To me, that was the purpose of the costumes."
Continued Firth, "It was the same with everything else. The house told me about him, the bedroom, the way everything was designed. When I walk into Charley’s house, you understand a lot about her the minute you walk into all that pink and orange and gold. He didn’t give us a lot of verbal instructions, so a lot of the film really was things being explained to us through the senses."
Firth's character isn't much of a talker, and much of what we learn about this man we discover just through Firth's body language. Actors often ask for more dialogue to help them explain their character's motivations, but that's just not Firth. He was perfectly fine with letting the audience discover George for themselves.
"I love a scene without dialogue," admitted Firth. "When you first get a script – a blank page is a blank page, so you’re not really sure what that’s going to be. You know that’s going to come from the sensibility of your director, or whatever he’s going to allow you to do. One of the most depressing things that I think can happen for an actor is when the material is incredibly coherent and elegant and you feel inspired by it. You don’t want to go through a series of hugely demonstrative gestures, particularly when you believe in the power of just thinking things onto the screen. I love that kind of cinema."
