‘The Recruit’, Colin Farrell and “quirky little fella” Al Pacino
Ever since he burst onto the Hollywood scene in the early 2000s, Colin Farrell has worked with a who’s who of the industry’s top acting talent. He starred opposite Tom Cruise in Minority Report, Angelina Jolie in Alexander, Jeff Bridges in Crazy Heart, Denzel Washington in Roman J Israel, Esq, and Tom Hanks in Saving Mr Banks, to name but a few. In 2003, though, he signed up for a classic two-hander with a man many consider to be the greatest actor in Hollywood history – and he came away thinking he was a quirky little fella.
In 2000, Farrell’s breakout performance in Joel Schumacher’s Tigerland firmly put him on the radar of Hollywood’s top casting agents. He followed that film up with quickfire roles in Hart’s War, Phone Booth, and the aforementioned antagonist role in Cruise and Spielberg’s Minority Report. Suddenly, it looked like this young Irish 20-something could be the next big thing in Hollywood, so the business did what it did in those days to test his movie star credentials: he was cast in a lead role opposite a legendary older star.
When Farrell found himself anchoring spy thriller The Recruit opposite Al Pacino, he could’ve been forgiven for feeling intimidated by The Godfather star. After all, Pacino had seen and done everything in Hollywood by that point, winning Academy Awards and headlining box office triumphs for three decades. In fact, at the time, Farrell admitted to the BBC, “I thought he’d be quite serious”. Thankfully for the young star, the reality of working with Pacino couldn’t have been further from what he’d envisioned.
Farrell revealed: “He is quite serious about the work. I’ve never seen focus like it, and [he] has a very acute passion for what he does. But he’s just a funny bastard. He had a really quirky sense of humour, and he’s a quirky little fella.”
In truth, Farrell isn’t the only person to reveal that Pacino is a quirkier prospect in person than you might expect. For instance, he recently revealed that his mobile phone case has the iconic cartoon ogre Shrek emblazoned on it, even though the ageing star has no real idea who or what Shrek even is. Over the years, his on-set antics have also become internet legend, such as when Henry Rollins revealed he playfully threatened to draw a moustache on his face with a magic marker while shooting a pivotal scene in Michael Mann’s Heat.
Interestingly, when Pacino was interviewed about Farrell around The Recruit’s release, he claimed they didn’t fall into a mentor/mentee relationship like their characters on-screen. Instead, he simply enjoyed the young star’s company. He told the BBC: “I was just hanging out and getting to know him. He’s just great fun to be with, so I never felt there was a mentoring relationship. I just felt like I was working with a fellow actor. It was great.”
Farrell claimed Pacino did end up being a mentor for him in one way, though, even if he didn’t set out to be. He revealed that Pacino gave him a piece of career advice which, judging by how his path has unfolded in the two decades since, Farrell well and truly took to heart.
He explained: “Pacino said to me, ‘If you’re going to do big movies, then do something that you like. Even in big commercial movies, you can find characters that you can be sympathetic towards. Don’t just do stuff that’s shit and take the money.”
