I’m getting so bad at box office predictions, you guys. Like, my B.O. Prediction Mojo has been off for a few years, actually. I thought ‘mother!’ would do better than it did (it bombed). I thought IT would be a modest success, not the highest grossing horror film of all time. And I honestly thought Kingsmen: The Golden Circle would bomb. The reviews were kind of terrible and it just didn’t seem like there was a lot of interest in it. But it didn’t bomb – it was #1 at the box office with $39 million in North America. Not flat-out amazing, but good enough, probably. So that’s a “win” for Colin Firth. People really want to see a 57-year-old stuffy-yet-hot British man play an action hero type, apparently.

Meanwhile, most Colin Firth fans know that Colin has been happily married to his wife, Livia Giuggioli, since 1997. They have two sons together. They have homes in Britain and Italy, and both are bilingual (at the very least). I would have thought that Firth had become a dual Italian citizen long ago, but apparently he waited until after Britain left the European Union to become an Italian citizen. He even indicated that his decision was driven by Brexit.

British actor Colin Firth, who has often played the role of a quintessential Englishman in his many films, has become an Italian citizen, Italy’s Interior Ministry said.

“The very famous actor, who won an Oscar for the film ‘The King’s Speech’, is married to a citizen from our country and has often declared his love for our land,” the ministry said in a statement.

Firth said he would remain a dual national, adding that his Italian-born wife would also be seeking British nationality.

“We never really thought much about our different passports,” the actor said in a statement. “But now, with some of the uncertainty around, we thought it sensible that we should all get the same,” he added, in an apparent reference to last year’s British vote to leave the European Union.

Firth has been married to Italian film producer Livia Giuggioli since 1997 and the couple live with their two sons in Britain. Unlike some other EU countries, Italy and Britain both allow dual nationality.

“My wife and I are both extremely proud of our own countries,” Firth said.

A number of EU countries, including Germany, France and Ireland, have reported a surge in British citizens seeking a new nationality in the wake of the Brexit vote. The Italian announcement came just hours after British Prime Minister Theresa May flew to Florence to make a keynote speech to try to revive stalled Brexit negotiations and reassure worried business leaders.

[From Reuters]

In an interview previous to this announcement, Firth said: “Brexit is a disaster of unexpected proportions that does not have a single positive outlook. Many colleagues, including Emma Thompson, are, like me, enthusiastic Europeans, and we still cannot believe it.” That quote is cropping up a lot in the stories about Firth’s new Italian citizenship, because I guess Britain has some people who are crazy-nationalistic too, just like we have nationalists and jingoists here in America. So, Firth is being criticized for A) criticizing Brexit and B) seeking and receiving dual citizenship in Italy. Am I crazy for not really getting why this is a thing? People get dual citizenships all the time. And a lot of people thought Brexit was a f–king disaster.

Photos courtesy of WENN.