Dec 30, 2009 - Matthew Goode plays Colin Firth's partner who passes away after a tragic accident in 2009's A Single Man, a heavy film and one that Goode's particularly good in. But with his first film outing of 2010, the romantic comedy Leap Year, Goode goes for much lighter fare. Goode stars as Declan, an Irish bar owner/part-time cab driver who agrees to help out a pretty American (Amy Adams) trying to meet up with her boyfriend who's in Ireland on business.

At first it's strictly a business arrangement, but slowly Declan falls for this feisty, high-maintenance traveler.
At the LA press day for the Universal Pictures comedy, Goode talked about what it was like to be in two such different films that hit theaters so close together. "Really great," said Goode when asked about the experience. "I mean, I don’t know - I always feel lucky to work. You try and make some good choices, but at the same time you never know if a good script is going to turn into a good film. I think with that one it was a pretty easy decision. Certainly, with Single Man. It was like Colin Firth is doing it and so is Julianne Moore, I would love to work with both of those people and yeah, it’s just nice to continue."

"If you look at The Lookout going into Brideshead going into Watchmen going into Single Man, they’re all quite different," explained Goode. "So that’s what you try and look for. So, when this came up, I think I was ready to try and do something that was a bit more going down the entertainment line.

And I’d always wanted to work with Anand (Tucker) who I think is a fantastic director. I loved Hilary and Jackie back in the day. And the fact that I had a kid on the way, I was like, 'Well, Ireland seems like a very good option, really. It’s far enough away and yet you can pop over on weekends.'"

Goode added, "I’m very lucky that Single Man is really getting a lot of buzz. Colin’s performance was just beautiful, I think. So, I’m running on the coattails of that."

Getting back to Leap Year, it wasn't Goode's first time visiting Ireland but it was his first time working on a movie there. "[…]I had never filmed there before and I certainly hadn’t been to the West, as they’d say over there. It was beautiful and it does hark back to films in certain places. They had shot The Quiet Man and The Field, so it’s quite evocative of…I mean, it’s a standard romantic comedy. Let’s not beat around the bush so to speak. It was lovely and I loved the people. The Irish people are fantastic, and it’s a nation of great storytellers. After work, you can really relax and [let] everyone else amuse you. And the Guinness tastes better in Ireland. Yeah, it was great. I had a really good time."

Speaking of the Guinness, Goode took advantage of his downtime by enjoying Ireland's nightlife. "Yeah, I’m not stupid," laughed Goode. "You finish work. It’s not like I’m a slave to the job, you know, and you’ll only do it when it’s right to do it. Yes, of course, going out and relaxing at the end of a day and listening to traditional Irish music and being there until 3 in the morning hoofing down a few Guinesses is something that...it’s hardly a break from Britain. We’re fairly steeped in that tradition as well. Every man has got to relax."

And Goode needed to relax as adopting an Irish accent was hard work. "I didn’t find it easy at all," admitted Goode. "The West of Ireland is – I felt much better about it because the same guy, Gerry Grennell, who works with everyone. He’s absolutely brilliant. He’d done Dancing at Lughnasa and he worked with Meryl Streep and Meryl Streep was crying over it, which made me feel a lot better because there are certain vowel sounds that just seem quite unnatural. But even then, when we started filming, they were like, 'Take it back. We can’t understand a word you’re saying.' It became not as strong as I’d like to have done it, but at least people can understand it now so that’s good."

Looking Into the Future

Goode's next movie is Cemetery Junction, a comedy hitting theaters this year. Cemetery Junction is the first feature film from the writing/directing team of Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant.
"They offered that to me while I was filming this and so I didn’t actually meet them properly until the first day of filming," said Goode about working with the filmmaking team. "That was a bit odd and a bit weird. I love them both very much, particularly Stephen makes me laugh. They work so well together. You’d think that one of them might get uppity if someone says, 'Why don’t you try this?' 'What do you mean? I haven’t…' It doesn’t. It’s very easy."

So, who does Goode play in Cemetery Junction? "I play a nasty – not a nasty piece of work, but Ralph Fiennes plays a complete a--hole and I play this sort of a--hole in waiting. I’m an apprentice a—hole," explained Goode. "It should be good. It’s got these three great kids who are sort of the unknown ones, and Felicity Jones, who I worked with in Brideshead. 'No Knickers Flickers,' as we like to call her."

Goode won't explain exactly how Jones got that nickname. "I can’t go into that. It involves Michael Gambon, and I’ll leave it there. I don’t know actually what I’m going to film next. I’m always waiting to be surprised."