The “big, dumb Hollywood movie” that changed the trajectory of Colin Farrell’s career
In the early 2000s, Colin Farrell‘s ascent to the top of the Hollywood A-list was rapid. The young Irish actor caught people’s eye in Joel Schumacher’s 2000 war drama Tigerland before breaking out two years later with the one-two punch of Steven Spielberg’s Minority Report and Schumacher’s Phone Booth. All of a sudden, the fiercely charismatic star found himself opposite Al Pacino in The Recruit, menacing Ben Affleck’s blind superhero as the deadly assassin Bullseye in Daredevil and taking the lead as the heroic officer Jim Street in action blockbuster SWAT.
It seemed like the stage was set for a dominating run as a genuine Hollywood movie star – but then things took a turn. A few high-profile misfires like Alexander and Miami Vice were surrounded by smaller movies such as A Home at the End of the World and Ask the Dust, which made little impression. Farrell’s private life also became a problem, with a very public sex tape scandal and his hard-partying reputation combining to sully his image.
By the time 2007 rolled around, though, Farrell had managed to take stock of his career. He realised that mainstream, commerce-driven movies like SWAT weren’t really what excited him – even though there was nothing wrong with them, per se. During an interview with Movies, he said: “It’s not that I’ve got anything against big Hollywood movies that are designed purely to entertain – there are many great big Hollywood movies – it’s just that, for me, for now, I’d rather make a different kind of movie.”
If anything, SWAT had altered Farrell’s career forever by showing him what he didn’t want to do. He confessed, “I think there’s plenty of room for both, but you do have to take into consideration what is going to be commercial and what is going to be cultural.”
“In the past,” Farrell elaborated, “It’s sometimes been one or the other – a big, dumb Hollywood movie like SWAT or something a little more challenging, like A Home At The End Of The World or The New World. If I had to choose, I’d definitely go for the latter, but you can still have some fun there too.”
At that point in his life and career, Farrell was content and clear-headed about where his heart lay. He explained, “I’m happy making the films I want to make right now. I really don’t think about anything other than the script, the director, the other actors – all the important stuff. Everything else in this business is largely nonsense.”
To his credit, over the next 15 years, Farrell transformed his career and became one of Hollywood’s most exciting and daring actors. He worked with unique, quirky voices like Martin McDonagh on In Bruges, Seven Psychopaths, and The Banshees of Inisherin, as well as Yorgos Lanthimos on The Lobster and The Killing of a Sacred Deer—and he only returned to the realm of blockbusters when he could do it on his own terms.
There’s no doubt that the more conventional Farrell of the early 2000s wouldn’t have played Gellert Grindelwald in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, or buried himself under latex to play the Penguin in Matt Reeves’ The Batman. This is a whole new Farrell – and cinephiles everywhere love him for it.
