BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — Colin Firth was nominated for an Oscar for best actor this year for "A Single Man." As we know, Hollywood insider Jeff Bridges took home the Oscar, but Firth was "genuinely thrilled at the nomination and genuinely relieved when it was over. The stress is something else. So are the questions posed after you're nominated."
The movie, of course, is the long- delayed screen version of Christopher Isherwood's acclaimed 1960s novel (dedicated to fellow gay author Gore Vidal). And it marks the directorial debut of openly gay American fashion designer Tom Ford, who also adapted the book and coproduced the film.
In the movie, Firth, a native of England who is himself heterosexual, played a grieving professor living in '60s Los Angeles. He notes: "I got to play British. Had I played American, well, I can do it, but . . . One question I got a lot at nomination time was, 'How difficult was it to play a gay character?' They still ask that. A lot. I would reply with something like, 'That's a very Hollywood question,' and most of them didn't know what I meant."