From Ballykissangel to The Banshees Of Inisherin: Colin Farrell's 10 best roles
Colin Farrell first came to many people's attention in Ballykissangel. (Main picture: Graham Hughes/Photocall Ireland)
Colin Farrell has frequently spoken about how getting the part on the Wicklow-shot drama Ballykissangel was one of the best experiences for his early career. The show — in which he starred for one year in the late 1990s — gave him regular work and allowed him to hone his acting skills on camera. The actor played the colourful Danny Byrne and got to work with his trusty horse Razor. It also gave him the opportunity to work with established Irish stars like Victoria Smurfit and the late Tony Doyle.
The young Farrell was already landing roles in local projects like romantic drama Falling For a Dancer and BBC series Ballykissangel when an agent put him on the radar of Schumacher. The top filmmaker was looking for cast for Tigerland, his indie movie about a group of soldiers training at a US camp before heading to Vietnam. A delayed Farrell made a frantic last-minute dash across London to read for the director, who was so impressed he cast him in the lead role. Farrell’s early star quality is evident as Bozz, a mischievous yet kind-hearted maverick who refuses to bow to army will. “I’m here because Joel Schumacher has balls big enough to give an Irish kid a chance to play a Texan in the lead role,” he would later tell this writer. “I did so well out of Tigerland and I’ve got the other parts because of that.”
One of those who saw Tigerland was legendary filmmaker Spielberg, who promptly cast Farrell in his sci-fi thriller, Minority Report, adapted from Philip K Dick’s acclaimed novella. The tale set in a future where killers are arrested before they commit their crimes saw the Dubliner go toe to toe with Tom Cruise, then the biggest movie star in the world. The high-concept movie was both a critical and commercial smash, and Farrell was singled out for his scene-stealing work in a supporting role. But the actor played down growing buzz in an interview in his hometown, joking: “I haven’t yet had a big film released in America. Maybe when I do, they’ll tell me to f*** off back home!” No chance of that happening — the actor was rapidly becoming one of Hollywood’s most in-demand young stars.
Farrell re-teamed with the filmmaker who gave him his first international break for this lean thriller, shot in just 12 days and with the actor in every scene. He plays a devious media consultant who randomly answers a public phone booth, only to be told he’s being watched by a sniper who will shoot him if he hangs up. Cue a moral reawakening for the character, which gives Farrell the opportunity to show his range in a real-time thriller.
By now, the Irishman was choosing to work with some of the filmmakers he most respected, and was cast in this visually striking tale from Malick (Badlands, The Thin Red Line). It also gave him the opportunity to work with the great Christopher Plummer, an actor he greatly admired. Based on the story of Pocahontas, he plays Captain John Smith, an explorer captured by Native Americans. The soulful performance in a deliberately slow-paced drama showed he was as comfortable in arthouse films as commercial ones.
Writer-director McDonagh had the foresight to cast Farrell opposite Brendan Gleeson for his offbeat crime thriller, giving us one of the most-beloved Irish actor pairings. Set in the Belgian city, it centred on two bungling hitmen lying low and a lot more besides. Farrell won a Golden Globe for his performance as guilt-stricken Ray in the movie, a commercial and critical hit. Interviewing Farrell and Gleeson together in advance of the film’s Irish premiere, it was clear their dynamic in person was as fresh and funny as on screen. “He was the one who brought the two of us together and brought life to the whole thing,” said Farrell of McDonagh’s casting. “It seemed perfectly natural to be in that bogey marriage that the two characters have.”
Neil Jordan’s modern-day fairytale about a struggling fisherman who finds a mysterious woman trapped in his nets was shot on the Beara Peninsula, where the young Farrell had made Falling for a Dancer years earlier. It gave him the opportunity to work with Jordan and return to a place he loves. He’s often cited it as one of the most precious experiences of his career, leading to the birth of his son Henry who he parents with co-star Alicja Bachleda. “The South West of Ireland, particularly the Beara Peninsula, has quite a significant bearing on my life. I did Falling For a Dancer there when I was only 20. I did Ondine and thereby had my youngest son.”
Some of Farrell’s best work has included strong supporting roles, and he is great opposite the legendary Jeff Bridges in this tender story of a man seeking redemption. Farrell also shows his ability to hold a tune as Tommy Sweet, a successful country star who lends his support to Bridges’ Bad Blake. The once-great Blake has worn down too many miles on the clock with touring days and boozy nights, and has lost his way. Farrell is the next-generation star who believes he stands on the shoulders of his predecessor, and encourages him to sing again in Scott Cooper’s simple and affecting film.
Farrell shines in this surreal and absurdist comedy-drama which was largely filmed in the Kerry resort of Parknasilla. It’s set in a dystopia where single people must find a mate within 45 days or agree to be turned into an animal of their choice. It’s so crazy it works, and the first of two films Farrell makes with Greek director Lanthimos with Irish producers Element Pictures, followed by The Killing of a Sacred Deer. The actor was delighted at the opportunity to return to Ireland to work. “Kerry has the lead role — the rest of us are just supporting players,” he said of the chance to work at home. “It was a lovely coincidence that it got made here. Parknasilla and Sneem were perfect, just odd enough, out of the way enough, rustic and old yet contemporary enough.”
McDonagh got his In Bruges bandmates back together and the pithy black comedy that followed — laced with melancholy — has become one of the leading awards-season contenders. It has already won Farrell numerous awards and is up for nine Oscars in a hugely successful year for Irish nominees. It’s worth noting that his role as Pádraic, devastated after being spurned by his friend (Gleeson), is just one of four great 2022 performances. In addition to his scene-stealing supporting role in The Batman, he shone in the moving sci-fi indie After Yang, and as a real-life rescuer in Ron Howard’s powerful Thai cave rescue drama, Thirteen Lives.
