THEY FELT THE FIRTH MOVE
Pride and Prejudice recently generated the highest ratings ever for the A&E cable network, which will rebroadcast the 6-hour version of Jane Austen's romance on three consecutive Saturdays (Jan. 27-Feb. 10). No small credit is due Colin Firth, the regally handsome British actor (Valmont) whose smoldering Mr. Darcy had women swooning on both sides of the Atlantic. "I'd be very frightened if I suddenly found myself famous," says Firth, 35, who is single and lives in London. "Real fame would be an insane thing to want. But then you start whining that nobody loves you." Not so the memorably drawn—and utterly humorless—Mr. Darcy. "He has a few absurd aspects to him," says Firth, "but playing him you can't try to be funny. Darcy himself says, 'It's been my study to avoid ridicule.' He's not a man to be laughed at, which, of course, causes the comedy."

MORE FUN THAN A BARREL
"I wish I could imagine smaller, cheaper worlds," says director Terry Gilliam who, while making his latest sci-fi spectacle, 12 Monkeys, did manage to keep costs under $30 million, a moderate amount for a movie starring Bruce Willis and Brad Pitt. "No one took their normal fee," explains Gilliam, 55, whose previous hallucinatory dreamworlds include those in Brazil, The Adventures of Baron Munchausen and The Fisher King. "Bruce [as the embattled time traveler] is smart to get out of the trap success has sprung on him. He's never had to internalize a character and get rid of all the tricks he's used in the past as much as he had to this time. Madeleine Stowe [who plays Willis's shrink] says he wants so much to be good that he covers it up with smart-ass stuff. When he did emotional scenes, he refused to watch them afterward. He'd say, 'You tell me if I'm any good.' "

DIRECTOR'S CUT
Sean Penn's portrayal of a prisoner facing execution in Dead Man Walking seems sure to win him an Oscar nomination, yet he has no plans to return to acting regularly. "I prefer directing because I prefer tangible, busy work," says Penn, 35, who recently directed The Crossing Guard with Jack Nicholson. "The part I hate about acting, and that I feel is dangerous, is having to tear yourself apart. You want to be fueled up every time you act, and you never know if you can do it. I prefer the personal surgery of directing." He has also pared down his possessions since a Malibu brushfire leveled his home in 1993. "When things aren't there, you really do feel free," says Penn, who lives in a trailer on the property where his house once stood. "If Mother Nature wants your stuff, she can have it."

JUST DON'T CALL HIM MONTY
Actress Bobbie Phillips, who plays drugged-up model Julie Costello on ABC's Murder One, can hold her own among the drama's various murder suspects and night-crawlers. "Julie is involved in this web of drugs, lies and deceit, and it gets heavier and more tangled," says Phillips, 28, who knows her way around a snake pit thanks to Victor, an albino Burmese python she bought while playing an exotic dancer in Showgirls. "I decided my character would have a pet snake, and I thought I would get rid of him after the movie, but now I'm in love!" says Phillips. "Did you know they have personalities? He kisses me and does these little dances at night. He's funny! He's never bitten me—he won't even kill his food. He's about four feet and eats once every two weeks, so I don't need a pet sitter. He will get up to 17 feet, and I'll probably give him to a zoo then, because he might change, and I don't want to get eaten."