A dangerous liaison that led to love

by Tim Ewbank

QUITE understandably there's a contented smile on the very English face of actor Colin Firth when he talks about Milos Forman's new film, Valmont.

Not only is Mr Firth one of the stars but during the making of it he just happened to fall head over heels in love with his costar, Canadian actress Meg Tilly, now the mother of his baby son.

'Yes, it's a very special movie for me,' Firth says. 'I was probably in love with Meg from the moment I met her, but it took her a while to be convinced.

Seducer

'I don't think I consciously wooed her. But we had scenes of passion together, and we filmed in Paris and Bordeaux - dangerous places in which to film with a beautiful woman.'

Valmont is Forman's adaptation of Les Liaisons Dangereuses, with Firth taking the lead role of seducer Vicomte de Valmont cutting a sexual swathe through the boudoirs of 18th-century French aristocracy. Meg Tilly plays one of his conquests.

At 29, Firth was a footloose bachelor, tall, good looking. He did not lack for female company. Now at 31 he is a father to three - his own son William who is one, and Meg's two children aged seven and five by her marriage to film producer Tim Zinnemann.

Firth says: 'I'd never had a particular love of children but I was there at the birth of my own son and I knew beforehand that I would cry. It was an experience that engulfed me.

'He's wonderful but we're not going to have any more. It you are an actress like Meg in Hollywood and you get pregnant, everyone thinks of you as pregnant for 15 years.'

Meg's screen credits include the films Fame, Psycho II and an Oscar nomination for Agnes Of God, in which she was sandwiched between Jane Fonda and Anne Bancroft.

Award

Firth was recently in the West End in Pinter's The Caretaker and made waves on TV in the BBC play Out Of The Blue - partly through sharing intimate love scenes with a topless Catherine Zeta Jones from The Darling Buds Of May.

Now he is the star of another new film opening shortly called Femme Fatale. He plays a newlywed whose bride disappears; this leads him on a search among Los Angeles' oddballs.

Behind him Firth nas a BAFTA award nomination for his TV portrayal of a Falklands war hero in Tumbledown, and critical acclaim tor cinema roles in Another Country and A Month In The Country.

'I have to say I'm very pleased with Valmont. It's sword fights, horse-riding, romance, heartbreak and wonderful old-fashioned film-making.' He smiles: 'It also has Meg Tilly ...' *****

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