Colin Firth defends violence in Kingsman: The Secret Service - 'It's not glamourous, it's silly'
The Oscar-winning actor believes violence is an inevitable part of storytelling
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Colin Firth’s latest film, Kingsman: The Secret Service, is jam-packed with action, adventure and - perhaps inevitably for a spy movie - violence.
The Oscar-winning actor plays badass secret agent Harry Hart who, in one particularly brutal scene, takes out an entire congregation during a church massacre.
But while many of Kingsman's most violent scenes involve a heavy dose of comedy, there is always the question of whether actors should stop short of glamourising bloodshed. Did Firth ever contemplate refusing the role on these grounds?
“That’s a question that has to be kept alive,” he told The Independent. “The simplest approach would be to say there should be no violence in any storytelling whatsoever but the trouble is, you’re taking away a great deal of Shakespeare, Greek drama, Punch and Judy, Westerns.”
Firth insists that cinema-goers should not be deterred by the movie’s violent elements as “conflict is inevitable and it’s in comedy as well”.
“I think this is more in that category,” he said. “[Kingsman] reminds me more of the old Batmans with the word bubbles saying ‘Pow!’ or even Monty Python where the violence is actually absurd. I don’t think it’s glamourous, I think it’s silly.”
Based on the comic book by Dave Gibbons and Mark Millar Firth believes that Kingsman was created “in the spirit of pastiche”.
“If you channel search through things about aliens and zombies, or conflict in the Middle East, you’re going to see an awful lot more cruelty in that material than you see in this,” he added. “This is actually kind of a technicolour cartoon.”
Kingsman: The Secret Service reaches UK cinemas on 29 January.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments