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Here are some photos of lovely Colin Firth and his lovely wife Livia at the Venice Film Festival. Colin and Livia came out to support their friend Tom Ford at the premiere of Nocturnal Animals, then they attended the premiere of Franca: Chaos and Creation the same night. Livia started her red-carpet “Eco Challenge” years ago, and she’s still doing it here. She challenges celebrities to wear clothes made from sustainable materials, or to rewear older clothes that have been reworked by designers. At Venice this year, Livia wore a Jonathan Saunders gown from 2012 which was made from organic silk georgette and printed with natural dye. She also noted on her Instagram that Colin was re-wearing his Tom Ford tuxedo for the 30th time!

While in Venice, Colin chatted with media outlets, and because he’s Colin Firth, of course he had to answer questions about Mr. Darcy. I mean, he’s promoting Bridget Jones’s Baby, so of course he’s going to be talking about Mark Darcy, but Colin will still get questions about Pride & Prejudice’s Mr. Darcy for the rest of his life. And Colin still doesn’t understand why women have such affection for that character. He said:

“Women being attracted to him took me by surprise. I thought it would be quite fun and liberating to play someone who was completely and utterly dislikeable, unsympathetic, judgemental and snobbish. I didn’t have to think about bringing charm to the role – the way I saw it, I just had to stand there and make everyone hate me … then this weird thing happened where people liked him, which wasn’t what I was expecting at all! We’re 20 years on and I still don’t understand it.”

[From The Daily Mirror]

I think he’s being too cute by half there – Mr. Darcy is widely considered one of the greatest romantic heroes of English literature, and Firth knows that. Of course women are still obsessed with Mr. Darcy, because most of it has to do with the character, not so much his portrayal (although he was a great Darcy). Women love Darcy because of the dream of transformative love, that his love of a poor Lizzie Bennett can make him less cruel, less selfish and more of a gentleman. It’s that Mr. Darcy is still flawed but works to improve himself in the eyes of the woman he loves. And it’s the fantasy of the sullen bastard who secretly has the heart of gold, a la Rochester in Jane Eyre.

Photos courtesy of WENN.
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