• Title:Shakespeare in Love 
• Year: 1998  
• Running time:  
• Rated:   
• Company: Miramax Films 
• Colin's Character: The Earl of Wessex 
• Other cast (alphabetical): Ben Affleck (Ned Alleyn), Judi Dench (Queen Elizabeth I), Joseph Fiennes (William Shakespeare), Gwyneth Paltrow (Viola), Sandra Reinton (Rosaline), Geoffrey Rush (Henslowe) 
• Producers: Donna Gigliotti (executive), Julie Goldstein, II (executive), Marshall Herskovitz, Marc Norman, David Parfitt, Meryl Poster (executive), Bob Weinstein (executive) Harvey Weinstein, Edward Zwick 
• Director: John Madden 
• Writers: Tom Stoppard, Marc Norman 
• Casting: Michelle Guish 

THE EARL OF WESSEX (Colin Firth) FICTION 

Wessex, the man betrothed to the young Viola is another contemporary invention; there was no such man and indeed the county of Wessex did not exist in Elizabethan times. However this type of character is similar to the many English aristocrats who held titles, behaved with grand arrogance, yet had no wealth. His marriage of convenience to Viola de Lesseps would net him a large dowry and so absolve him of his financial difficulties. The naming of this character might lead one to confuse him with the historical figure, the Earl of Essex, another rather arrogant man who considered himself to be a military and political genius and later was beheaded by the Queen.

•  Filming began March 2, 1998. Locations include London, Holkham Hall, and Shepperton. 
• Producer associations: Bob and Harvey Weinstein; producers of The Advocate (1993),  The English Patient (1996), My Life So Far aka World of Moss (1998) and Shakespeare in Love (1998) 
• Casting Director, Michelle Guish was also casting director for A Month in the Country (1987) and The English Patient (1996) 
• Other cast members include Rupert Everett as Christopher Marlowe, Antony Sher as Dr. Moth, Imelda Staunton as Viola's Nurse, Jim Carter (Imelda's real-life husband) as Ralph Bashford, Adam Barker , First Auditionee, Joe Roberts as John Webster, Gregor Truter as James Hemmings, Jill Baker as Lady de Lesseps, Nicholas Le Prevost as Sir Rober de Lesseps, Timothy Kightley as Edward Pope, Roger Morlidge as James Armitage, and Daniel Brocklebank as Sam Gosse. 
• Gregory Truter and Roger Morlidge were also in TEP. Jim Carter, who holds the record for appearing with Colin, appeared with him in Lost Empires, AMITC and The Advocate. 

Quoting Colin's sister Kate: "Colin and I used to dress up, I was the princess in jumble-sale ball gowns, he was the prince in cloak and breeches. I knew Colin was talented because I'd seen him in school plays and in productions at the Drama Centre. In my first year at London University he did Hamlet. I sat there mesmerised, feeling terribly proud and jealous at the same time. It wasn't horrible, destructive jealousy, it was just that he was doing exactly what I wanted to do. After that his career took off. It's an odd experience watching Colin act. He really becomes the character. Most of the time I forget it's him, then suddenly I see a smile or hear a tone of voice and think: "I know that person".

Quoting Gwyneth Paltrow: I'm doing a film called "Shakespeare in Love," which Tom Stoppard wrote. John Madden's directing it, who directed "Mrs. Brown." Geoffrey Rush is in it, Judi Dench, Simon Callow, Colin Firth. It's really an extraordinary cast."

Variety: The supporting cast is a dream, filling out a potpourri of character parts with undiluted strength. Rush, who gets some of the catchiest quips, is sympathetic and funny. As the smarmy Wessex, Firth is hateful without overdoing his part.

Film Journal International: Colin Firth swaggers about in brocaded finery, having to suffer the loss of his lady to yet another Fiennes brother. (It was Ralph who got the girl in The English Patient.)

James Berardinelli: Colin Firth, the British heartthrob who played the male lead in the recent, superlative Pride and Prejudice TV mini-series, is Lord Wessex, the cold-hearted noble who stands between Will and Viola's love.

Salon: Her parents intend to marry her off to one Lord Wessex (Colin Firth, reprising the uptight sourpuss role that made him a heartthrob in the BBC's most recent version of "Pride and Prejudice"), who plans to take his bride to Virginia.

People Online: The course of true love never does run smooth, though, for Paltrow has a fiancé (Firth, stuffily amusing) who is hot to get his hands on her fortune by putting a ring on her finger.

In New York last weekend, a huddle of typically hard-boiled American film critics gathered for a private screening of a new release, Shakespeare in Love. It's Oscar-dash time, with films squeezing in to meet the end-of-year deadline. Here was another contender, a little period-costume film that cost its producers, Miramax, a measly $25m. But then, these are the guys who pulled off triumphs such as Mrs Brown and The English Patient against the odds. By the time our bunch of jaded viewers left the screening room, they were convinced they had seen a masterpiece, the most finely written and acted romantic comedy of the year: an Oscar cert. ....(Review continues HERE )

More reviews (1)(2)(3)(4)

For an excellent link to many online reviews, go HERE.

A picture of the excavation of 
The Rose Theater

Visit the original Friends of Firth website

Visit Lisa's overview of Colin's career and web page

Visit An Extra's View of SIL

Visit Lisbeth's Colin Firth Timeline

The Official Site for the Globe Theatre

Three D Trip Into The Globe Theater

Elizabethan Costume

Jane's articles page

Elizabethan Costume II