Nostromo

Charlie Gould from the Video box - Nostromo
Charlie and Emilia Gould (RAI site)		Charles Gould and Mr. Holroyd at the Mine
Interview with Colin Firth, in the Irish Times: COLIN FIRTH is Charles Gould, the young, enigmatic owner of the San Tome silver mine, who is willing to sacrifice everything for the sake of his precious metal. He became one of British television's most sought-after leading men after playing Darcy in BBC Television's aware-winning adaption of Pride And Prejudice. Colin made his London stage debut in Another Country and his screen debut in the 1984 film version. Explaining why he chose to play Charles Gould, Colin said: "I wanted to be apart of the Nostromo experience because I knew it would be just that - an extraordinary experience. You can't spend five months in a totally alien country like Colombia without going through some amazing personal changes. When we all started out on this voyage of discovery, no-one had any idea what kind of film Nostromo would be. It has remained the same throughout the entire journey. And I'm proud to admit it too. When you are far away from home in a place such as Cartagena, with the stress, the on-set disagreements, the cultural paranoia, the over-heating and the tropical sensibilities - everything gets thrown into the weird and wonderful mix. "When I read John Hale's marvellous script, I was swept away by the high adventure, the chivalry and the honour that it encompassed. I love all that kind of stuff with panto dictators, huge battle scenes and lots of guns."
From another interview, conducted a month before Nostromo finished shooting: "even though Pride and Prejudice seems so incredibly far away now I recall the places we filmed at for that little whiff of nostalgia. It was a really happy, very relaxed shoot."
From an interview in the Orange County Register (see directly below) "Yet it's very clear what happens to Charles Gould in 'Nostromo' - he becomes a man who loses his soul," Firth explains. "Still, Conrad never allows his characters to be simple. Gould wants the silver to civilize what is regarded as an uncivilized country. He wants all those turn-of-the-century ideals - beauty, order, truth - to come from the silver. He sticks with that even when it's quite clear that he's turning into a monster."

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