Colin Firth

Possibly the wittiest novel ever written, Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray is a Faustian tale of a man whose portrait grows old and corrupted while he remains young and unsullied.

British star Colin Firth, who has several movies coming out now or about to be released (Genova, A Single Man, A Christmas Carol), plays the delicious role of Lord Henry Wotton, the Satanic figure who entices innocent young Dorian into a life of sin and self-indulgence. Oliver Parker (The Importance of Being Earnest) directs.

Dorian Gray [Ben Barnes] does a deal with the devil to stay young and gorgeous forever. The story is over 100 years old but do you think it's relevant today? Most definitely. Being in the film industry I often see such deals done. [laughs] If you want to look at the Dorianesque fixation with preserving your youth at all costs, my business, the film business, has some of the most terrifying examples you'll ever come across.

Wilde said that youth is wasted on the young. Was it wasted on you?
Well I'm an Englishman so I spent most of my youth in a state of embarrassment or regret.

This film is part gothic horror, part melodrama. Was it difficult to balance those different genres?
I think the melodramatic aspect of it for me was the hardest to handle just because that's not what I'm inclined towards normally. So I was challenged to relish the villainy a little more than I otherwise would.  It's like when I say the line ‘Yes I love acting... it's so much more real than life.' I liked the idea of a 'subtle' melodrama. I had the dialogue. I had the gothic lighting, the theatricality in the beard, and the wonderful lines. And the fact that the camera is there means you don't have to play to the gallery - you can do serpentine whispering instead and have some fun with it.

Are you a fan of Wilde?
Yes, definitely. I really do have some of the best lines you can find in terms of English wit and I think that's partly why I said yes to the role. When you read The Picture of Dorian Gray it is striking just how many of Oscar Wilde's famous lines come from that book and a lot of them are Lord Henry's, like: ‘The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it.' 'I like men who have a future and women who have a past.' Wonderful stuff. The problem is, they have been said by great actor after great actor long before you. And people remember them and they know them and they can all quote your dialogue. So you have got to make them your own. So that was the challenge, and the fun of it. Gaynor Flynn

Dorian Gray screens from 12 Nov.

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