No. I can assure you I've never folded a pair of underpants in my life.
Would you be willing to alter your physical appearance/weight like Renee did for a role?
I didn't give it as much thought as many people do. The degree to which I'm asked questions about it and the sheer level of fascination on the subject is, I think, really a symptom of how this issue affects people, particularly women. The fact that women are in utter disbelief that anyone would consciously go the other way -- to actually try to do that -- is mindblowing. And I think they look at Renee with the same kind of awe that people watch someone on a high-wire or something. “Are they going to fall? How could anyone jump across the Grand Canyon on a motorcycle? Put on weight on purpose? What's that like? Tell us about it.”
She did it. It's not that unusual for actors to alter their appearance to play a part. Put on a bit of weight, lose a bit of weight. I mean, I have done that before, advertently and otherwise. Not to perhaps quite that extent. But I think if I did it, it wouldn't get anywhere near the amount of attention.
Wouldn't it depend on how many pounds you’re asked to gain?
Yes, it would. I think that the most spectacular example that I think that I can remember, the first example that I know of, is what DeNiro did in "Raging Bull." And I think that did get a lot of attention from people. [They were] astonished, partly because of the extent to which he did it. It was a sacrifice made. I think he talked afterwards about having damaged his health to some extent.
Or Tom Hanks going the opposite way...
These are dangerous things to do. I think that's probably the thing that occurred to me most. I just hoped Renee was under the proper supervision, and I think she was.
I think you are taking your health in your hands. I think it's a very courageous thing to do. But the reason why people are really interested isn't because of that. I just think it's absolutely fascinating to think that a woman would dare to do that on purpose, particularly someone who's very attractive and has a Hollywood-based career. It just seems almost reckless. So I think that's been admired and I think that, to be honest, Bridget doesn't have to be particularly overweight. I mean this is about women that think they are whether they are or not. But on the other hand, I think if she'd been, if she'd had the kind of leanness that only Hollywood actresses have, I think it would have been quite hard to accept her as representing that kind of neurosis. So it was important that she did it.
What was the experience like reuniting with Renee Zellweger?
She makes it terribly easy for everybody, basically, on two fronts. On a personal level, if you're a leading actor, you are enormously responsible for the tone on a shoot in terms of the level of peace and happiness and harmony. And the leading actor can make, literally, all the difference. It doesn't matter what anyone else is like. If that person's a sh*t, then the whole thing's just a struggle. She was actually ridiculously generous. I've never seen anything like it. I've never seen punctuality like it. I've never seen devotion to off-camera performance, which is essential.
To have someone who's that talented is obviously useful to us all. It reflects well on you. It makes you raise your game. But if that very, very talented person is not giving you very much once they're off camera, their use becomes limited. She gives as much off camera as [onscreen]. If she was crying in a scene on camera, she'd do it again off camera. She would do it for the cutaway to Uncle Bob. She'd be there no matter what, no matter how jetlagged from her trips around the world. She's incredibly busy. This sounds like a gush, but it was so astonishing to all of us that we were gobsmacked by it really. She was even off camera - this is going back four years now - but she was even off camera, after three weeks of night shoots, about five o'clock in the morning when she could have gone home, for a shot on my feet. "My feet don't need you. This is fine." "No, no, no. I'll be here. It makes a difference. It makes it real." And so that's what we're talking about.
[She] was good-natured, involved with everybody on the unit no matter what their role was. Film is a very hierarchical environment. The pecking order is very strong. People can profit from that, in all sorts of negative ways. She made it very egalitarian. It was wonderful.
PAGE 3: Colin Firth on "Bridget Jones 3," "Where the Truth Lies," and "Nancy McPhee"
