Here are some photos of Colin Firth and Nicole Kidman at the Edinburgh photocall for The Railway Man, which will kick off filming in Scotland on April 30. Oddly enough, the stars of the movie have been sent out to do some press ahead of filming, and it sounds kind of assbackwards, but I can deal with that if it means seeing some new photos of Colin Firth looking quite shaggable in jeans. The film is a wartime drama; as such, its subject matter sounds incredibly heavy and involves Firth’s character, who is a victim of the Death Railway of WWII and sets out to find those who tortured him. Here’s some information on the movie from the press conference:

[T]he movie’s still gearing up, which Firth alluded to in typically articulate fashion when asked about his approach to the role. “I haven’t started it yet, so I don’t know how I’m approaching it,” he explained. “What you usually do is watch the film when it’s made and then you can tell the press conference that you intended it that way.”

For those unaware, The Railway Man is a true story adapted from Eric Lomax’s best-selling book. According to the official blurb, “Eric Lomax (Firth) was one of thousands of Allied prisoners of war forced to work on the construction of the Thai/Burma railway during World War II. Years later, still haunted by memories of brutality and torture, he met a beautiful woman on a train. Patti (Kidman) was determined to rid Eric of his demons. With the help of a wartime colleague, she set up a mission back to the Bridge on the River Kwai where Eric would confront his tormentor, Nagase (Hiroyuki Sanada, who was absent).”

Describing it as a story about mental trauma following the atrocities of war, Firth went on to describe the character he’ll be playing as someone who is “searching for a way home.” Firth described the real Lomax and Patti as “incredibly engaging” and said that the 92-year-old former is “far more agile than I am.”

Interesting, Kidman’s Patti will be more of a focus in the film than the book, and Kidman claimed that she was still “polishing” her English accent. Irvine plays the young Colin Firth, and laughed “You find yourself looking in the mirror going ‘Am I quite up to that?'” (Firth retorted, “Nobody remembers what Colin Firth looks like!”).

[From Empire Online]

Uh, I have to respectfully disagree with Colin there because everybody remembers what Colin Firth looks like. Still, it’s nice that he’s still got his humility intact even after winning his Best Actor Oscar. Now let’s look at these photos a bit closer, shall we? These two have got the black sweater/vaguely distressed jeans look down to a science. They’re so preppy and matchy-matchy! Colin looks very distinguished with his bit of grey because, you know, men can get away with that. Obviously, Nicole’s been hitting the Botox again and looks a wee bit shiny but not entirely immobile. I love her pincurls though.

Both Nicole and Colin kept alternately looking down at something while the cameras snapped away. Was it because of something in Colin’s pants? That’s my theory.

Photos courtesy of WENN