‘Ondine’: Colin Farrell discusses his most underrated movie
After receiving a small part in Tim Roth’s only directorial feature, the harrowing drama The War Zone, Colin Farrell has quickly become one of cinema’s most beloved stars. Despite harnessing a reckless playboy persona during the early years of his career, that didn’t stop the actor from landing impressive roles and earning significant praise for his performances in the process.
Farrell rose fast, landing roles in projects such as Steven Spielberg’s highly successful sci-fi flick Minority Report, Mark Steven Johnson’s superhero movie Daredevil, and Oliver Stone’s critical flop Alexander. It didn’t take long before Farrell was recognised as an ideal leading man, harnessing the ability to star in a wide variety of genres, from sci-fi to comedy to action.
In recent years, Farrell has appeared in movies such as The Beguiled, After Yang, The Batman and The Banshees of Inisherin, cementing him as a highly sought-after talent, retaining his star power after several decades on screen.
One genre that Farrell has rarely tackled, however, is romance. He has very few credits in his filmography that can be considered romantic; instead, he seemingly prefers films that feature more action. His list of Irish movie credits is also rather low despite hailing from Dublin. Yet, in 2009, he starred in an Irish romantic drama called Ondine, directed by Neil Jordan. The filmmaker previously made films such as the underrated Mona Lisa and the 1994 movie Interview with the Vampire.
Ondine sees Farrell star alongside Alicja Bachleda, who plays a woman who may or may not be part-seal. The film follows Farrell’s Syracuse, who catches Bachleda’s Ondine in his net, and she refuses to be seen by anyone else. Syracuse’s daughter soon informs him of the existence of selkies, shapeshifting creatures that can take on both human and seal forms.
The slightly bizarre premise meant that the movie wasn’t the mainstream hitter that the crew perhaps hoped, but it received rather positive critical praise. Still, it grossed just over $1million against a $12m budget, making it a significant box-office flop. Ondine was one of the independent films Farrell made after a string of cinematic failures and struggles with drug addiction. He told The Guardian, “I had signed up to do quite a few of those films before I went away to rehab after Miami Vice.”
He added: “I was probably due an arse kicking. I really was. I was having too much fun and being too loud about it. I’m not saying that my hand was totally forced, but of the work that then presented itself, I did the most interesting jobs.”
This led him to do several movies that didn’t earn much box-office success, yet he enjoyed them anyway, such as Cassandra’s Dream (“didn’t do so well”) and Ondine, which he claims “no one saw”, but “I love it”. Luckily for Farrell, a few years after Ondine, he was back to starring in popular works, such as Horrible Bosses, Seven Psychopaths and The Lobster.
