{"id":131735,"date":"2025-10-19T09:18:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-19T09:18:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/131735\/"},"modified":"2025-10-19T09:18:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-19T09:18:09","slug":"im-finding-the-40s-to-be-the-most-meaningful-and-beautiful-chapter-in-my-life-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/131735\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018I\u2019m finding the 40s to be the most meaningful and beautiful chapter in my life\u2019 \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cI was thinking, who could play this fellow?\u201d Edward Berger<\/a> says. \u201cYou know, we go to some pretty dark places.\u201d<\/p>\n

They do. Ballad of a Small Player, the director\u2019s follow-up to Conclave<\/a>, closes in on a gambling addict as he courts self-destruction amid the nauseating decadence of Macao\u2019s supercasinos.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a fraud, a liar, a thief and, of course\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I straight away thought, \u2018I know the right man!\u2019\u201d Colin Farrell<\/a> ventriloquises with a hearty chuckle.<\/p>\n

And we\u2019re away. You don\u2019t so much interview Farrell as curate his conversation. A professional down to his neat fingertips, he gives you, in 20 minutes or so, enough material for a smallish book.<\/p>\n

He was like this as cocky whippersnapper, but, now closing in on 50, he has a great deal more to talk about. Childhood in suburban Castleknock. Promising years as a young soccer player. The audition for Boyzone. Training at the Gaiety School of Acting. Local breakthrough in the TV series Ballykissangel. International breakthrough in Joel Schumacher\u2019s Tigerland. A period in rehab for addiction to painkillers and recreational drugs.<\/p>\n

I observe that one or two journalists have, cynically, as I too am about to, used Ballad of a Small Player as a route into conversation about that difficult period. This is, among other things, a film about addiction. \u201cLord\u201d Doyle, protagonist of Berger\u2019s blaring, deliberately alienating picture, cannot stop himself throwing good thousands after bad. He also guzzles lakes of champagne and sucks trainloads of Cuban cigars (despite not much caring for either).<\/p>\n

So is gambling addiction an entirely different business from substance abuse?<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, I don\u2019t think it could be classified as an entirely different business when you see the consequences of losing yourself to any addiction,\u201d Farrell says. \u201cWhatever it may be, however it presents itself \u2013 whether it\u2019s sex, shopping, food, booze, drugs, gambling \u2013 the very nature of addiction demands a perilous flirtation with your absolute demise. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhile the expressions are different, and they present themselves differently, they usually are born of some kind of unanswered inner turmoil.\u201d<\/p>\n

So there is some connection to Farrell\u2019s own earlier struggles. But he is eager to confirm that all life experience gets chewed into every performance.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery film I\u2019ve seen, every book I read, every song I\u2019ve heard, every conversation I\u2019ve had goes into every single job that I do in various ways. Yes, I might have had a bit of insider-trading perspective on the nature of addiction. But, having said that, I never once felt I had to consciously reflect back on any experiences I\u2019d had.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is not fair of us to keep dwelling on a relatively brief period of Farrell\u2019s life. That crash came late in 2005. Tigerland, a gruelling tale of the Vietnam War, was not a colossal hit when it was released, in 2000, but it did enough to get him noticed in Hollywood.<\/p>\n

Steven Spielberg<\/a> cast him in the ripping Minority Report. Oliver Stone<\/a> made him the lead in the (let\u2019s be kind) fitful Alexander the Great. Michael Mann<\/a>\u2019s Miami Vice, a film whose reputation has soared over the decades, was shot before he started the long, tricky road to a clean life. Few stars have pulled off such a reinvention so convincingly.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0A Big Bold Beautiful Journey review: Margot Robbie and Colin Farrell go nowhere slowlyOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Farrell has always acknowledged the importance of his children. James Padraig Farrell, who has a severe genetic disorder, was born to the actor Kim Bordenave in 2003. Henry Tadeusz Farrell, son of Alicja Bachleda-Curu\u015b, his costar in Neil Jordan<\/a>\u2019s film Ondine, entered the world in 2009.<\/p>\n

\n

If U2 are playing the Sphere in Las Vegas, you\u2019d better believe I\u2019ll get good tickets \u2013 because I know the lads for 20 years<\/p>\n

\u2014 \u00a0Colin Farrell<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Meanwhile, Farrell set to working with an enviable array of great directors. Terrence Malick for The New World. Yorgos Lanthimos for The Lobster<\/a>. Sofia Coppola for The Beguiled<\/a>. An Oscar nomination finally arrived for The Banshees of Inisherin<\/a>, in 2022.<\/p>\n

Anyway, he is not quite finished with his treatise on addiction.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we continuously go back to something that is just purely pleasurable, it will be at the cost of so many aspects of life that may be accessible to us,\u201d Farrell says. \u201cEspecially with the advent of technology, and particularly with regards to social media.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have kids. I wrestle with TikTok and Snapchat and all this kind of stuff. That idea of a quick moment\u2019s fulfilment is lovely. I\u2019m not against it. There\u2019s no moralism here. I think you know me well enough to know that. But you have to be suspicious of it \u2013 purely in a neurochemical fashion. This thing that was designed to offer us the opportunity to connect across the globe has caused a greater degree of separation.\u201d<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Colin Farrell pays moving tribute to his father at Dublin funeral: \u2018I loved being your son\u2019Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Berger, a dryly amusing man from an Austrian and Swiss background, is listening intently. He must worry about shorter attention spans eating up the audience for movies.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t worry about it, because it\u2019s just a different medium,\u201d he says. \u201cMovies are actually getting longer. It\u2019s fashion. People have had an overdose of 10 hours or 30 hours of television. They want to go back and see two-and-a-half-hour movies.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"BalladBallad of a Small Player: Colin Farrell in Edward Berger’s film. Photograph: Akimoto Chan\/Netflix <\/p>\n

It is now a quarter of a century since Farrell made the jump from Ireland to Los Angeles with Tigerland. Notwithstanding those early difficulties, he could hardly look better on it. The early roguish demeanour has matured into a more complex charisma. Wisely, he remains as much a character actor as a romantic lead, eschewing pathos in The Banshees of Inisherin and Ballad of a Small Player, unrecognisably malign for his Emmy-nominated turn as the Penguin<\/a> in that TV series.<\/p>\n

Berger needed such a character actor for Ballad of a Small Player. Lord Doyle likes to portray himself as an upper-crust David Niven type, but we soon learn that he is an unremarkable Irish chancer.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought immediately, Who can take us into these steps and we will still like him?\u201d the director says. \u201cThat\u2019s Colin Farrell. He\u2019s such an open and such a generous man in his emotions. So I felt it would be great if he played it. On top of it, I thought it was extra candy that he\u2019s Irish. Because it\u2019s the ultimate irony \u2013 and a great reveal \u2013 when he suddenly drops his accent.\u201d<\/p>\n

So how does Farrell assess his 25-year journey?<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want a single year back,\u201d he says. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t mind pumping the brakes a little bit. I wouldn\u2019t mind slowing shit down now. I\u2019m finding the 40s \u2013 as I flirt with entering my 50s next year \u2013 to be the most meaningful and beautiful chapter in my life.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Prosthetics, a body suit and a standout performance: Why Colin Farrell deserves his Golden Globe for The PenguinOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

\u201cFame? I have my own perspective on the machinations of fame and why it exists socially. There was an aspirational aspect to it. I\u2019m not saying it was deserved, but there was a North Star aspect to it. Now celebrities are being torn down.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"ColinColin Farrel in Tigerland, directed by Joel Schumacher <\/p>\n

He has stayed on the right side of that conflict for the past decade or two. Living quietly in Los Angeles (for the most part), he has managed to keep his social life pretty much to himself. He is still a movie star, but, before that, he is an actor. That is an appropriate base camp to occupy in middle age.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m somebody that\u2019s benefited from it,\u201d he says with characteristic honesty. \u201cIf U2<\/a> are playing the Sphere in Las Vegas, you\u2019d better believe I\u2019ll get good tickets \u2013 because I know the lads for 20 years.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCan you get me tickets?\u201d Berger says, laughing.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are not there any more, darling. And I can\u2019t get them back on stage. I\u2019m not that famous. Ha ha! But if they\u2019re playing again on tour, do let me know.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve leaned into it. When my kids have needed care I\u2019ve probably skipped a queue. Somebody shouldn\u2019t be able to skip a queue. But I defy any parent to not get their child there if they could.\u201d<\/p>\n

He talks about how fame has changed and how celebrities are now there to be torn down. That derives, in part, from the way the current process \u2013 the business of promotional interviews \u2013 has altered in the digital age. <\/p>\n

Too often, all that gets through to readers is the supposedly scandalous headline. Too many people barely realise there is an article to be clicked on that gives context and explanation. Someone reads \u201cColin Farrell says we should invade the Isle of Man\u201d (he didn\u2019t really say that) and fails to encounter the paragraph that frames it as a joke.<\/p>\n

\u201cHa ha! They said they weren\u2019t going to print that, Donald,\u201d he says. \u201cThat\u2019s why I\u2019m more suspicious about print \u2013 not because of the journalists\u2019 intentions, but oftentimes the tone in which something is said has as much information within it as the actual words that are used, sometimes even more.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Box Office Poison by Tim Robey: Cinematic flops that defined the industry, from Colin Farrell in Alexander to Tom Hooper\u2019s creepy CatsOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd so that\u2019s why I\u2019m suspicious about the printed word. It used to be totally the opposite. But I feel more comfortable now if I\u2019m being recorded on camera. So, if I make a faux pas, I can apologise for it in the moment. Otherwise it might come back and haunt me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Something else has shifted in the years since Farrell first hit it big. Back then, Irish movie stars were as rare as Irish space shuttles. You had Liam Neeson<\/a> and Pierce Brosnan<\/a> from the preceding generation. But no other Irish 20-somethings were keeping him company on the A-list. <\/p>\n

\n

It\u2019s extraordinary to see our homegrown talent doing what they\u2019re doing, especially on such a global stage. I don\u2019t feel any mentorship. I don\u2019t feel any seniority<\/p>\n

\u2014 \u00a0Colin Farrell<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Apr\u00e8s Colin, le d\u00e9luge. Saoirse Ronan<\/a> emerged as a multiple Oscar nominee. Over the past few years Paul Mescal<\/a>, Jessie Buckley<\/a>, Ruth Negga<\/a> and Barry Keoghan<\/a> have followed. We meet during London Film Festival, where Buckley, playing Agnes Shakespeare in Hamnet, has cemented her position as unbackable favourite for the best-actress Oscar. I think I know what Farrell will say. But I wonder if he feels as if he\u2019s a mentor \u2013 or a John the Baptist, perhaps \u2013 for all the stars that followed.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, I feel it purely as a fan,\u201d he says. \u201cIt is just extraordinary to see the work that Paul\u2019s been doing \u2013 and Jesse and Saoirse. It feels like Saoirse has been around a couple of decades. But surely her age would render that to be nonsense.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s extraordinary to see our homegrown talent doing what they\u2019re doing, especially on such a global stage. I don\u2019t feel any mentorship. I don\u2019t feel any seniority.\u201d<\/p>\n

Well, time is ruthless in its progress. Whether he likes it or not, younger actors will look to his example when dreaming big.<\/p>\n

\u201cEach job, each gig, each project is a restarting of the clock,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019m starting from scratch every time. I know I have 25 years of working as an actor, but every time I go to work I have the same level of nervousness that I had when I was doing Tigerland in the year 2000.\u201d<\/p>\n

Farrell smiles his still-eager smile.<\/p>\n

\u201cI will never forget the first time I was offered the role as a parent,\u201d he says. \u201cRecently a script came in where I was offered the role of a f**king grandfather! Guess what? Biologically it all makes sense.\u201d<\/p>\n

It comes to us all.<\/p>\n

Ballad of a Small Player is in cinemas now. It streams on Netflix from Wednesday, October 29th<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cI was thinking, who could play this fellow?\u201d Edward Berger says. \u201cYou know, we go to some pretty…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":131736,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[75],"tags":[69378,9441,9442,18,117,2215,19,17,24510,22174,79020,78341,64877,53878,23432,7392,45954,19344,41846,609,79019,3380,23528],"class_list":{"0":"post-131735","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-barry-keoghan","9":"tag-colin-farrell","10":"tag-edward-berger","11":"tag-eire","12":"tag-entertainment","13":"tag-for-you","14":"tag-ie","15":"tag-ireland","16":"tag-jessie-buckley","17":"tag-liam-neeson","18":"tag-martin-mcdonagh","19":"tag-michael-mann","20":"tag-neil-jordan","21":"tag-oliver-stone","22":"tag-paul-mescal","23":"tag-pierce-brosnan","24":"tag-ruth-negga","25":"tag-saoirse-ronan","26":"tag-sofia-coppola","27":"tag-steven-spielberg","28":"tag-terrence-malick","29":"tag-u2","30":"tag-yorgos-lanthimos"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131735","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=131735"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131735\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/131736"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=131735"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=131735"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=131735"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}