I discussed all this with Colin standing on the street corner, and I found his answers to be genuine and thoughtful. ...
[Ed. note: Main Street still hasn't been released, having only been screened at a few film festivals. There's hope that Firth's Oscar win could compel a studio to take a chance on releasing the film.}
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“Mr. Firth, It’s nice to meet you," I said when he came up and introduced himself on the set during a outdoor nighttime shoot. "Thanks for taking time between takes to talk with me. Have you enjoyed Durham?”
He gave me a big smile. “Durham has been wonderful,” he told me in that perfect British schoolboy accent. “I love the downtown where we have done most of the shooting, but I am amazed that when you go one mile in any direction, it is like paradise.” I was not about to disagree.
There he stood in his blue tattersall western shirt, with the little snaps instead of buttons and a cowboy blazer. In the movie he portrays a not-so-nice Lone Star stater who wants to exploit Durham, but that character was in such contract to this very kind and engaging Brit standing before me.
“My family was here for a week and my kids loved it so much, they begged to come back during summer break.”
“What did you do with your kids?” I asked.
Colin went on to tell me about how they visited the Eno River State Park, a Bulls game (which his youngest son just did not understand), the Duke Lemur Center and the Museum of Life and Science several times.
“The place I was most surprised about that my 8- and 6-year-old sons liked as much as I did was the Nasher Museum of Art. We have friends here, and our kids played together and there was just not enough time to do all the things we wanted to do.”
To read the rest of Dana's interview with Mr. Firth, plus a behind-the-scenes account of how she landed the interview in the first place, pick up a copy of the April 2009 issue, available for purchase by calling us at 933-1551.
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