What do Colin Firth and Rage Against the Machine have in common? Well, aside from knowing how to rock (What, you didn't see Firth in leather pants in What a Girl Wants?), they also both support Mumia Abu-Jamal, the former Black Panther who has been in prison for 25 years for allegedly killing being wrongly accused of killing a police officer. Firth is producing a documentary titled In Prison My Whole Life, which focuses on Abu-Jamal. But get this: The doc also concentrates on the life of William Francome, a middle-aged white guy. Turns out Francome was born on the day of the shooting, and since Firth is also a middle-aged white guy, he became a point of entry into the life of the supposed cop-killer. Now does it all make sense? Didn't think so.

All that matters is that Firth has just stepped up on my staircase of favorite actors. And let's hope that Abu-Jamal will be brushing up on his Jane Austen in the event the actor drops in for a visit.