Colin Firth Doesn't Think Actors Should Insult Their Bad Films

Colin Firth's IMDB page lists 75 credits for the decorated actor. Most of them are stellar; "The King's Speech" probably tops on the list, having won four Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Director and Best Original Screenplay. "Bridget Jones' Diary," "Love Actually," "Pride and Prejudice" and "Girl with a Pearl Earring" are also among the Englishman's outstanding achievements.

But, as with any actor, there have been duds. And someone with as much experience as the 54-year-old Firth is no stranger to making a promotional tour for what many consider to be a bad movie.

In a HuffPost Live interview Tuesday, Firth said that among the many lessons he's learned throughout his career, maybe the biggest one is to never badmouth a movie — even if the movie is really bad.

"You can't do it," Firth told host Ricky Camillieri. "It's not right. You're not on your own with this sort of thing. An awful lot of people have something invested in what you did. It's not just yours."

Firth stopped by the show to chat about his upcoming movie, "Kingsman: The Secret Service," with co-star Taron Edgerton. By all accounts, "Kingsman" is a good film — it's earned an 80 percent rating at Rotten Tomatoes, while Metacritic gives it a 66.

Firth said that holding back some of his true thoughts on other, poorer movies almost hurts him when he's promoting a movie he actually thinks is great.

"That's the problem: when you really do love it, you're having to use the same gushing language that you use when you don't mean it," Firth said with a laugh. "You're insincere so many times and then are like, 'This time I mean it.'"

Watch the full HuffPost Live conversation here.

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