I keep my preconceptions in check when travelling. The first time I went to Berlin I found that people never stopped laughing and joking. The service was also catastrophically inefficient and made Italy look like a well-oiled machine.
Having decided that national reputations have no foundation, I immediately bumped into a strait-laced and efficient German. Travel routinely proves me wrong.
However, national stereotypes are inescapable. You only have to listen to the World Cup commentary with its ‘passionate’ Italians and ‘optimistic’ Africans to understand that.
I married an Italian ten years ago [film producer Livia Giuggioli] and most Italians I meet think Brits are much like the characters I play: the stuffy 19th-century gent. But British men would rather identify with someone like John Lennon, wouldn’t they?
I can still remember the revelation of my first American burger in 1972. I was on a road trip with my parents during the year that my father worked in Missouri. The burger was the size of my head and opulent in a way that would make me queasy now. But it bespoke the confidence of a great nation.
Strangers in the US offer hospitality with no expectations. We could all learn something from that. Drive off the major routes into small-town America and you will find strangers bursting with warmth and a willingness to help, especially if you have car trouble, as my family regularly did with our beaten-up Volkswagen in the 1970s.
What a misnomer the word desert is. Nothing could be more alive. I fell totally in love with the northern Sahara when filming The English Patient. It was magical, with every single light change or time of day shifting its contours.
I don’t agree with those who say flying has to stop. Economic development, conflict resolution and exposure to other cultures and experiences are all too richly rewarding.
Colin Firth stars in Genova, which is on general release, and Easy Virtue, which is showing on board.
Discover John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s plans for a better world.
Interview by Sally Howard
