Matthew Goode found his Single Man co-star, Colin Firth, "incredibly moving." The 32-year-old actor, who plays the role of Colin's character's deceased boyfriend in the Tom Ford-directed movie, admits he was impressed by the Mamma Mia! star's ability.
"One of the finest bits of acting I've seen in a while was Colin's character getting this phone call about his partner Jim's death," Goode told the Metro newspaper. "I find it incredibly moving. Colin has been a great actor since the beginning of his career but with this performance people are going to be surprised -- which they shouldn't be -- that he's really a terrific actor."
Matthew, who has previously starred in Woody Allen's Match Point and 2008's Brideshead Revisited, admits he is unlikely to ever be cast in a leading role.
"I'm not really that leading man thing," he said. "I'm sure I'm more likely to end up playing a teacher on some sort of Rhodesian farm in the 1930s drinking gin Martinis. I hope so, actually, that will be quite fun."
Matthew Goode who portrays Colin Firth’s deceased lover in A Single Man, chatted with Brandon Voss for The Advocate and he seems to be someone very comfortable in his own skin.
The actor, who has starred in such films as Brideshead Revisited, Match Point, Imagine You and Me, Watchman, Chasing Liberty and the upcoming Leap Year opposite Amy Adams, appears as Jim, the deceased lover that Colin Firth’s college professor mourns in a series of intimate flashbacks.
Here are some excerpts from the interview:
Tom Ford has said that A Single Man is “not a gay film.” As the actor kissing Colin Firth on-screen, how do you see it?
I kind of agree with him. He wasn’t making it as a political piece, and the theme of love and loss is fairly universal. Obviously you can’t escape the fact that these are men kissing, but what’s lovely about George’s remembrances of Jim is the fact that it’s not a sweaty clinch — which would’ve been fine, because I would’ve been very happy to snuggle up to the rug on Colin Firth’s chest. It was remembrances like sitting on the sofa reading books together, and there’s a beauty in the banality of those scenes that also speaks to their universality. You can call it a gay film, but what’s really nice it is that it shows the intimacy between two adult males as absolutely normal and exactly the same as heterosexual intimacy.
Colin told me that you were a good kisser. What did you think of his skills?
Right back at ’im. Sometimes you see straight actors trying to portray gay men as very aggressive, so the kissing is superaggressive and rough. I’m sure that does exist, but we liked that our kissing was sensitive.
Compared to shooting love scenes with a woman, do you find it more challenging to get intimate with another straight man?
Well, I’ll let you know when I have to do something with full-frontal. But I don’t think you can have an erection in a scene, and I always find that funny: If you’re going to have sex, you can’t suddenly have the man springing into bed with a floppy knob. It should be a little bit saturated with semen and standing out at an odd angle with a few veins involved. [Laughs] Obviously I’m a man who likes women and has a child now, but I’m not squeamish and I love all people. If you’ve been entrusted to do the job, then you find something to love in the other character and you do your job.
Young American actors sometimes shy away from gay parts for fear of being pigeonholed or mistaken for gay in real life. As a British actor, is that something you’ve ever been concerned about?
I’ve never looked at those kinds of roles as something to be avoided. I somehow ended up doing three in a row, really, with Brideshead, Watchmen, and A Single Man, so I steadily got more gay. I was “full gay” in this one. But the parts were all so good. I wouldn’t do a bad story with a character that was just gay for gay’s sake — which sounds like a porno, which I’m not particularly into. But I know what you mean about Americans. There’s a real problem with masculinity and sensitivity in Hollywood. I don’t blame actors for not coming out because America might then have a problem with watching them kissing Cameron Diaz. And then there are certain actors who don’t want people to think, I wonder if he’s really gay, because he did terribly well in that gay part. America’s a slightly harder country, where men are constantly trying to be men. And it’s not just Hollywood; everyone goes to the gym.
To read the entire interview, go to http://www.advocate.com/Arts_and_Entertainment/Film/A_Single_Mans_Goode_Kisser/.
We’re going to be hearing and reading a lot about A Single Man which is getting a lot of awards buzz. A lot of the buzz surrounds leading man Colin Firth who lucky Brandon Voss from The Advocate got to chat with over coffee at Manhattan’s swanky Carlyle Hotel for an interview.
Here are some excerpts:
A Single Man is about a gay character based on a story by a gay author and directed by a gay man who grafted parts of his own life onto the story, but Tom Ford has repeatedly said that “this is not a gay film,” a statement which has understandably disappointed some members of the gay community who hunger for the next Milk or the next Brokeback Mountain.
I know. But as militant as you can get on this issue is to actually say that it’s incredibly important that we get to a place where we don’t care one way or another. The world is full of battles where a minority is struggling for its rights, so of course I certainly get that you need a militant front. I’m not saying that all gays should be depicted in a way where it doesn’t make an issue of it, but it should be considered a triumph when you finally have a character whose sexuality is secondary to the plot. It’s just about human feeling, and I think that’s wonderful.
There’s been some controversy over the “de-gaying” by the Weinstein Co. of the film’s new one-sheets and trailers, which focus less on the gay love story and more on the platonic relationship between George and Julianne Moore’s character, Charley. Do you think that does a disservice to the film?
Yes, I do. It is deceptive. I don’t think they should do that because there’s nothing to sanitize. It’s a beautiful story of love between two men and I see no point in hiding that. People should see it for what it is. 
Whether you’re flirting at a bar or just reading together on the sofa, you appear so comfortable on-screen with Matthew Goode, who plays George’s partner, Jim, in flashbacks. Because you don’t share the same sexual experiences with men in real life, is it any more challenging to achieve that truthful level of intimacy with a man than it is with a woman?
No, I didn’t find it difficult. Matthew’s a good kisser, for a start, but there’s not that much of a difference, quite frankly. If you really dislike or aren’t attracted to your acting partner anyway, it doesn’t make much difference if it’s a man or a woman. I’m still channeling something that comes from myself about what it is to ache for somebody or want to have sex with somebody, so you use your imagination regardless.
Matthew Goode found his Single Man co-star, Colin Firth, "incredibly moving." The 32-year-old actor, who plays the role of Colin's character's deceased boyfriend in the Tom Ford-directed movie, admits he was impressed by the Mamma Mia! star's ability.
