Colin Firth said on Friday that playing a sex and drugs addict in a competition film at Cannes was less than a stretch for him than his turn as the dashing Mr Darcy in "Pride and Prejudice".
Asked at the film festival how he prepared for his role as a "pill-popping, oversexed bisexual" in Atom Egoyan's Where the Truth Lies, the 44-year-old Firth said it came naturally.
"A role like that is not usually a stretch for most actors," he quipped.
"Lord of the manor riding around Derbyshire requires much more research. I just sort of go where I find it most interesting. I feel very comfortable in this sort of drama really."
Firth said he was still coming to terms with the fame he acquired from the wildly popular BBC mini-series and the hit Bridget Jones films.
"The romantic comedy thing came relatively late in my life and took me by surprise and I'm still rather surprised that I'm so associated with that," he said.