The 36-year-old "Total Recall" star has a body people would pay money to remember.
Blue Sky Studios previously worked with Fox Animation on the "Ice Age" films, the "Rio" franchise as well as "Dr Seuss' Horton Hears a Who!"
The film, which is a remake of the 1990 Arnold Schwarzenegger movie, features Colin Farrell as a man who may or may not be a super spy. The picture also stars Kate Beckinsale, Jessica Biel and Bryan Cranston.
In the video, Farrell is told, "The future depends on what you do next." It also includes lots of gun play, fights and exploding things.
The first time around, "Total Recall" was a huge hit. The Paul Verhoeven-directed film grossed more than $260 million worldwide on a production budget of $65 million.
The reboot will make its way to theaters on Aug. 3. It's directed by Len Wiseman ("Live Free or Die Hard," "Underworld").
BEST ON-SCREEN TRANSFORMATION
Colin Farrell - Horrible Bosses
Elizabeth Banks - The Hunger Games
Johnny Depp - 21 Jump Street
Michelle Williams - My Week with Marilyn
Rooney Mara - The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
BEST ON-SCREEN DIRTBAG
Bryce Dallas Howard - The Help
Colin Farrell - Horrible Bosses
Jennifer Aniston - Horrible Bosses
Jon Hamm - Bridesmaids
Oliver Cooper - Project X
The Irish star has been sober for seven years and admits he was "cooked" for much of his Hollywood breakthrough, but he worried that booze gave him the edge he needed for demanding roles - and he'd be lost without it.
The Miami Vice star says, "I was terrified that whatever my capacity as an actor was... however little or large it was, it would completely disappear and that I wouldn't be able to... I ascribe to the notion that to be able to express yourself in an artistic form in life you have to live in perpetual pain - and it's nonsense.
"There's enough pain in the world that if you've any sensitivity to you can kind of... feel, you can experience... There's enough pain in the world that you don't have to live in it to represent it in some artistic way.
"When U2 wrote Sunday Bloody Sunday, the lads didn't live up in Belfast, but they lived on the island and they knew what was happening up there."
And Farrell admits he's having more fun sober.
He tells U.S. chat show host Ellen DeGeneres, "I'm really grateful. It's really lovely to be present in my life... It's actually more fun."
The full trailer will premiere on Sunday, but in the meantime, we get a look at Colin Farrell and Kate Bekinsale in the remake of the Paul Verhoeven's 1990 film based on the 1966 Philip K. Dick novelette "We Can Remember It For You Wholesale."
Check out the teaser and let us know what you think. The full trailer premieres on Sunday, April 1st during the Celtics-Heat game on ABC and an extended trailer will be available on Apple. "Total Recall" hits theaters on August 3rd. (Video)
Jimmy Kimmel put together this amusing teaser for Movie: The Movie – his tongue-in-cheek attempt at making the most star-studded, spectacular film America has ever seen. Or at least, the trailer for it.
The stars are almost too numerous to count – Best Actress winner Meryl Streep, George Clooney, Tom Hanks, Charlize Theron, Matt Damon, Cameron Diaz, John Krasinski, Emily Blunt, Colin Farrell and the list goes on and on, while the plot is too hilariously clichéd to be believed.
Don't hold your breath for a release date. As the trailer notes, this film has not yet been filmed.
Kimmel premiered the trailer Sunday night on his special post-Oscars edition of Jimmy Kimmel Live! And it wasn't the only elaborate skit of the night.
He also showed another hilarious clip of himself pitching outlandish ideas for shows to Oprah Winfrey for her OWN Network. Let's just say he shouldn't give up his night job. (Video)
And who better to memorialize a Hollywood icon than a few of the same? Colin Farrell, surprisingly revealed to be a close friend of the actress after her death, hosted the roughly 75-minute service, which was also attended by Sirs Michael Caine and Elton John, the latter of whom closed out the night by singing an emotional rendition of "Blue Eyes."
The private celebration, which took place at the Steven J. Ross Theater, paid tribute to Taylor's remarkable life, both personally and professionally.
In addition to Elton's crooning, among the night's standout tributes were a touching video message sent by Mike Nichols, who directed Liz in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, memories shared by stepdaughter Kate Burton, grandson Rhys Tivey playing "Amazing Grace" on his trumpet, a song beloved by the late icon, and a retrospective montage of everything Taylor has advocated on behalf of people living with HIV and AIDS.
"My mother was an extraordinary woman whose life touched so many, most of whom we will never know," said Taylor's son Michael Wilding. "Our whole family is extremely proud of her accomplishments, and know what a unique and special experience it was to have her in our lives.
"Today it was especially meaningful for us to be with so many good friends to celebrate her spirit, which will be with us forever."
Taylor passed away March 23 at the age of 79.
In 1985 when the original Fright Night opened, Dracula's progeny had been all but shunted aside for a new breed of movie monster: the masked slasher of nubile teens. Worse than defanged, they'd been rendered obsolete. Fright Night, rather memorably, broke from the pack with horror, humour and a charismatic turn from Chris Sarandon as a vampire who moves to suburbia for dinner.
Twenty-six years later, the remake arrives at a point when, post-Twilight, there probably isn't a teenage girl -- or soccer mom -- who wouldn't want a vampire as a neighbour. Consider how they sparkle in the sunlight (as opposed to implode into flames and ash) or how achingly sensitive they are (thirsty as much for love as blood). And if you're lucky enough, one who's old enough to be your great-great-grandfather might even impregnate you with his half-breed demon seed. Dreamy.
A new Fright Night, then, would seem perfectly positioned to restore the newly romanticized vampire to his former glory as a creature of the night who maims and massacres as he pleases.
So it's a disappointment to report that -- despite well-executed action, some clever character tweaks and a ferociously magnetic performance from Colin Farrell -- this new incarnation registers as oddly anemic. It entertains, granted, but never surprises, emerging as more familiar than freshly fearsome.
When we first meet high school senior Charley Brewster (Anton Yelchin), life is good. Living with his single mother (Toni Collette) in Las Vegas' suburbs, he has landed a gorgeous girlfriend named Amy (Imogen Poots) and finally shed his childhood rep as a nerd -- even if that's meant abandoning his best friend, Evil Ed (Superbad's Christopher Mintz-Plasse). Ed, however, won't leave Charley alone, convinced Charley's new next-door neighbour Jerry Dandridge (Farrell) is a vampire preying on their unsuspecting community. Eventually Charley begins to believe Ed might be right. And most disturbing? Jerry has set his sights on both of the women in Charley's life.
As in the original, with no one else to turn to, Charley seeks out Peter Vincent, a cynical celebrity famed for his insight into the paranormal. In 1985, Vincent was an aging TV horror-show host played by Roddy McDowall. This time out he's been transformed into a preening, womanizing, partying Vegas magician. Imagine Russell Brand starring in a Criss Angel biopic and you get an inkling of David Tennant's work here. The conceptual upgrade is amusing, but Tennant never makes the impression the great McDowall did.
The same will likely be said of the film itself.
Combining horror and comedy is always a challenge -- one tone usually undercuts the other -- and director Craig Gillespie (Lars and the Real Girl) struggles to answer the existential question: is the movie supposed to be terrifying or hilarious? It winds up as sort of both and kind of neither.
And it's telling that the remake's most effective scenes are also its most coy -- as when Farrell's Jerry (more savage than Sarandon's elegant immortal) asks a suspicious Charley for a beer, scheming to be invited in. Hell breaking loose is never as compelling as what unfolds just before it.
He keeps trash in his driveway, blacks out his windows and flirts with every woman on the block. He feasts on teens, too.
Give him this: He won't come in uninvited. That's a vampire no-no of Fright Night, a clever remake of the 1985 horror-comedy about a kid who can't convince anyone his neighbor is a vampire.
Like the Roddy McDowall original, Fright crackles by offsetting horror with humor. Like The Lost Boys and An American Werewolf in London, there are chills (and gross-outs), to be sure. You won't want pasta after the movie.
But director Craig Gillespie (who did the outstanding Lars and the Real Girl) has a formidable cast in Toni Collette, Anton Yelchin and Colin Farrell, who plays a surprisingly droll bloodsucker.
Yelchin (Chekov in Star Trek) is Charley Brewster, a teen maturing in a hurry — to the notice of his high school classmates. Yelchin nails senior student posturing, made all the more difficult by Charley's neighbor, the smoldering Jerry (Farrell), a guy who has his eyes — and fangs — trained on Charley's mom, Jane (Collette).
Fright has matured nicely over the quarter-century. While remaining sharp-tongued, the film knows its place on the teen landscape. Vampires are hot property, and references to Twilight abound.
This, though, isn't Twilight mom stuff. Jerry's closet dungeon, where he keeps victims to bleed, is a starkly lit pen that could have come from Silence of the Lambs. And the 3-D — which has proven itself most effective in horror — makes the bone breaks and arterial geysers all the more graphic.
Still, Fright is clearly Hollywood summer fare. Slick and driven by a bass-heavy score, the film embraces clichés by the cape-ful. Actresses are fashion-model pretty. Cops don't notice teens turning into veal. A stake to the heart still does the trick (though a real estate sign will do in a pinch).
But Fright is way too quick on its feet to be slowed by clichés. David Tennant seizes McDowall's role as Peter Vincent, now a Criss Angel-style clown vampire slayer. Christopher Mintz-Plasse was born to play a high school nerd.
The real treat, though, is Farrell. How do you not like a vampire addicted to The Real Housewives of New Jersey? Between this and his cameo in Horrible Bosses, he's summer's hottest comic. Fright's foul-mouthed, beer-swilling bat boy may not be cut from the Twilight cloth, but if he isn't careful, he may find legions of fans on Team Jerry.
* * * out of four
Stars: Colin Farrell, Toni Collette, Anton Yelchin
Director: Craig Gillespie
Distributor:Walt Disney Pictures
Rating: R for bloody horror violence and language, including some sexual references
Running time: 1 hour, 41 minutes
Opens Friday nationwide
That's Nina Garcia eviscerating another would-be designer on "Project Runway" a few weeks ago. But I'm quoting Ms. G because she completely nailed my feelings about "Fright Night," a remake of the goofy and entertaining 1985 horror-comedy about a teen boy whom no one believes when he claims a vampire moves in next door.
In fact, the new "Fright Night" is actually an improvement in many ways -- it's good enough, and entertaining enough, and scary enough. It's just that by Labor Day, you'll probably forget you even saw it.
The original was shot in a quiet neighborhood that was very obviously a studio backlot, but this update features a very specific setting: a sun-baked suburb of Las Vegas where former nerd Charley Brewster (Anton Yelchin) lives with his mom Jane (Toni Collette). Since Sin City is known for its nightlife and its transient population, what better place for a vampire who wants his crimes to escape notice?
Except in this case, they don't: Ed (Christopher Mintz-Plasse), Charley's onetime best friend -- back when they used to go to "Farscape" conventions together -- worries that lots of families in the neighborhood have been disappearing since the charismatic Jerry (Colin Farrell) moved next door to the Brewsters. So of course Ed is convinced that Jerry has been sinking his teeth into the locals.
Charley dismisses Ed's fears until Ed himself disappears, and Charley finds enough evidence to prove that something creepy is going on at Jerry's place. With the help of his girlfriend Amy (Imogen Poots) and flamboyant magician Peter Vincent (David Tennant) -- a Criss Angel/Russell Brand hybrid who's both more and less than he seems in the fearless-vampire-killer department - Charley sets out to stake the bloodsucker down the street.
Screenwriter Marti Noxon, a key member of TV's "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" brain trust, shows a sure hand in updating the material and in making the characters more interesting than they might have been in the hands of another writer. Charley, Amy, and Ed feel like fleshed-out, interesting teenagers, and the notion that Charley would leave his geek roots behind to have a chance with pretty, popular Amy makes for an interesting subplot.
And while the whole 3D craze just gets more and more annoying, director Craig Gillespie ("Lars and the Real Girl") at least decides to have fun with it, hurling crucifixes, bricks, and gobs of viscera right at the audience. If a movie has to be in 3D, let it indulge in shameless paddle-ball-at-the-camera-lens action every so often, or what's the point?
Gillespie's lucky to have such a talented ensemble working with him - Farrell projects equal parts seduction and menace as the sinister Jerry, and Yelchin keeps Charley from ever turning into too much of a chirpy boy scout.
Mintz-Plasse and Tennant both get roles that give them license to ham it up, but they wisely go big without making it too broad. As the plucky Amy, Poots is anything but a helpless victim, and even Collette finds some fun in the thankless mom role. (Gillespie directed six episodes of Collette's Showtime series "The United States of Tara.")
So with this much going for it, why is "Fright Night" simply good and not great? The pacing has a lot to do with it, and strangely enough, it's one of the problems from the original movie (written and directed by Tom Holland) that Noxon can't seem to fix. In both versions, there's the confirmation that Jerry is a vampire, and there's the final confrontation - and in between, a big chunk of get-on-with-it-already. It's the first movie's biggest flaw, and it's surprising that no one involved with the remake took a whack at it.
Still, if nothing else, "Fright Night" confirms what critics have always said - if Hollywood insists on creating so many remakes, leave the classics untouched and take another crack at the just-OK ones instead.
This movie may fall into the just-OK category itself, but that's still lots better than most horror movies that come slinking into theaters in late August bearing a familiar title and little else of interest.
That's according to Christopher Mintz-Plasse, who plays one of Farrell's victims in the remake of Fright Night, opening Friday.
Mintz-Plasse, along with cast members Dave Franco and Anton Yelchin, swung by Austin's Alamo Drafthouse theater to host a screening of their big-screen bloodbath Tuesday night. And afterwards, they took part in an audience Q&A.
What was it like getting sucked on by Farrell's Jerry, asked one fan.
"You want something dirty?" retorted Mintz-Plasse.
So did he like it? "Hell yeah. It's (expletive) Colin Farrell."
Did the guys dig scary flicks? "I like horror movies," said Yelchin. "I like old (ones). Nosferatu. Creepy, dark and uncomfortable."
Mintz-Plasse proved to be the cut-up among the trio. Someone asked if the actors had seen or heard of the original Fright Night. "I had not heard of it before. I was born four years after it was made," said Mintz-Plasse.
The best part of his short swing through Austin? The venue, said Yelchin. "I hope they expand and bring one to L.A. I think its vital to support theaters like the Alamo because they preserve a very special kind of movie-going experience," he said.
We don't think he's referring to the beer, which flowed freely during the screening. Afterwards, the guys did what any self-respecting Austin visitors do: they went out.
But at least this new version stays true to its origins by having a bit of cheeky fun, and the way it contemporizes the story is really rather clever.
Once again, a vaguely nerdy teenager named Charlie (Anton Yelchin) thinks his mysterious and seductive new next-door neighbor, Jerry (Colin Farrell), is a vampire. No one else believes him except for his even nerdier childhood pal, Ed (Christopher Mintz-Plasse). Come on, the guy's name is Jerry — how dangerous can he be?
But the setting makes this premise make sense. Director Craig Gillespie's film, based on Marti Noxon's script, takes place in the overly developed suburban sprawl outside Las Vegas, where people come and go and those who do live there often sleep all day and work all night. The barren wasteland of abandoned houses — if they were ever inhabited in the first place — is the perfect place for a bloodsucker to lay low.
And so as the bodies continue to pile up and Charlie continues to investigate, Jerry continues to charm everyone around him. That includes the beautiful Amy (Imogen Poots), the girlfriend Charlie always thought was out of his league. (And that's another way in which this "Fright Night" has been updated: The actors got conspicuously better looking.)
Farrell is clearly thriving doing showy comic parts lately, between this and "Horrible Bosses." But Gillespie, whose "Lars and the Real Girl" featured a more subtle and surreal kind of comedy, also shows a deft hand at creating tension with Farrell. A scene in which Jerry is standing outside Charlie's house, teetering at the kitchen door but not entering — because he hasn't been invited in — offers a masterful little slice of suspense.
The strong supporting cast includes Toni Collette as Yelchin's skeptical single mom and David Tennant in a scene-stealing turn as a supposed master of the supernatural. Roddy McDowell played the Peter Vincent role in the original; it's expanded here and provides the film's biggest laughs, with Tennant playing the character as a flamboyant but self-loathing fraud who peddles his illusions to the masses on the Strip. You wouldn't mind seeing an entire movie about him.
It all works well enough that it makes you wish it weren't in 3-D. Gillespie recognizes the benefit of the gimmickry in this sort of genre, sending arrows, crosses and spurts of blood in our direction. But the 3-D also adds a suffocating layer of dimness, as it is wont to do. That doesn't exactly help engage us given that so much of the film takes place in the dark, at night. Because, you know, it's about a vampire.
In 2-D, though, "Fright Night" could have been a great, late-summer surprise.
"Fright Night," a DreamWorks release, is rated R for bloody horror violence and language, including some sexual references. Running time: 101 minutes. Two and a half stars out of four.
In his new movie "Fright Night," a 3D update of the 1985 comedy cult favorite, Farrell stars as Jerry, a sinister vampire who moves in next door to a naive high school student played by Anton Yelchin and his mother, played by Toni Collette.
The Dublin-born actor spoke to Reuters about making the film, playing a vampire and why audiences love to be scared.
Q: You just played a horrible boss and now a vampire that must be fun for an actor to do such varied parts back-to-back?
A: "Yeah, but it's a shorter road between the two than you might imagine -- two fun characters. I felt like I'd had four or five years where I'd done more dramatic pieces and played characters that weren't really having a good time in their lives for a variety of reasons, and I'd wanted to do something lighter. Then these two films came along and it was happy days -- time to go and play."
Q: But didn't they have to persuade you to do this?
A: "I was dubious at first. I loved the original and you like to think of yourself as mixing things up and being a bit original -- and this is a remake of a vampire film in 3D. That's kind of three for three in unoriginality.
"But I felt I was in good hands with (director) Craig Gillespie who did "Lars and the Real Girl." I was a big fan of that, and I just loved the script. I didn't want to like it, but it was a blast of a read. And playing the villain was great, although I think my character's more on the periphery than he was in the original, and there's more attention paid to Anton's journey from boyhood to manhood."
Q: What about the vampire teeth?
A: "Easy! They do the mold, then file them down, and you don't even notice them wearing them. And it's great fun. You put them in, and instantly, because of all the films you saw as a kid, you start acting a certain way."
Q: Sexy. Vampires have always been sexy.
A: "Always, and that's the appeal. Human beings are always trying to bend and manipulate time to be in their favor and trying to defeat the ravages of age. And vampires are eternally young, although it'd probably be very annoying to be turned into one at 97, or 6. And then how they attack and feed off their prey seems very sensual and erotic -- biting the neck. You don't have to be a vampire to partake in such activity, but it takes it to an extreme. Blood is the liquid of life."
Q: Was it tricky finding the right tone and balance between the horror and the comedy?
A: "That was always going to be what this film worked or failed on, striking the right tone. That's why having Craig direct, as much as it seemed a delightfully left or right of center choice, was perfect because he found such a beautiful and harmonious chord between the absurdity in "Lars" and the emotional sensitivity. So even though this is a totally different genre and structure, I knew he could apply the same ability and level of finesse."
Q: "Were you a big horror fan?"
A: "Huge! Growing up I loved 'Nightmare on Elm Street,' 'Halloween' and 'Friday the 13th,' and there was nothing like being scared. And still to this day, just sitting in the cinema and being frightened and sharing laughter -- there's nothing like it."
Q: Why do people love to be scared so much?
A: "I think it's just anything that allows us to feel in life. A lot of the time, we go through the day trying to control things and we spend a lot of time in our heads and concerned and worried about how we're doing and how those we care about are getting along, and although that may feel like an emotional thing, a lot of time it's mental. So to have some visceral reaction in life to get that adrenaline going is a good thing. It makes you feel alive.
"I actually like the gym. I find peace in it. Which is (expletive) weird," Farrell says, grinning as he Skypes from the Four Seasons in Los Angeles. "I never thought that would be me. I see these quotes, 'Working out for me is lifting a Carlsberg.' It was true at the time. Things have changed."
And how. Since going through rehab in 2005 and ending years of partying, a re-energized Farrell, 35, has streamlined his life. He quit smoking. He works out. His focus now? His sons, James, 7, and Henry, almost 2, and his reinvigorated film career, which includes July hit Horrible Bosses, the big-ticket remake of Fright Night, opening Friday, and a reimagined Total Recall, now shooting in Toronto. And the good-natured, candid Irish actor has figured out how to live his life with a modicum of privacy. After all, if the crushing burden of fame ever gets too overwhelming, he has a simple solution.
"Walk the (expletive) away from it. You don't want to be photographed by the paparazzi? Say no to the $120 million film. Eventually they'll stay away from you. But you won't have the other things the $120 million film brings into your life: the good seats at the sports event, the backstage pass to the concert, the nice reclining chair on the airplane.
"Do I enjoy the paparazzi or like their presence? No. I went through years of getting in their faces. It was such a disaster. It made my life so much more complicated."
Farrell 2.0 keeps things simple and understated. How did the rakishly disheveled actor spend the previous evening in Los Angeles?
Farrell 1.0 would have scoffed.
"You're talking to someone who checks into the Four Seasons, grabs the (expletive) room service menu, and gets so giddy at what is on the menu and looks at the on-demand on TV and gets so giddy that I can have films that are still in theaters," he says. "I get joy out of kind of everything. I went for a drive at 1 a.m. last night in my car. I played the music loud on the 405 freeway, and it was like the first time I ever arrived here. I just get so much joy out of the simple things."
In that, he diverges from Jerry, the vampire he plays in Fright Night. Jerry is scheming. Diabolical. Remorseless. And teeming with disdain for the humans whose blood he gulps to survive.
An 'alpha-male quality'
Playing a construction worker by day/demon by night "was fun, man. It was just tasty. It was fun to be unleashed and allowed to be cruel and malevolent. Jerry is in on the joke," says Farrell. "I was a fan of the original Fright Night, so I was suspicious as to the notion of remaking it. I didn't want to like it. I wanted to slag Hollywood for ruining a film that was an important part of my youth experience in films. But I read it and loved it."
For director Craig Gillespie, Farrell made Jerry enticingly bloodthirsty without bordering on cartoonish.
"Colin has such a strong, sexy alpha-male quality to him, but also a sense of humor. He's a sexy male villain with a sense of humor," says Fright Night director Craig Gillespie. "He's incredibly accessible as an actor, just to watch. He can convey a lot without dialogue."
The horror film opens a month after Farrell's pudgy, balding kung-fu master and ladykiller Bobby Pellitt terrorized Jason Sudeikis in the R-rated comedy hit Horrible Bosses. That's Farrell commanding Sudeikis to trim the fat by firing the more corpulent employees. He's only on-screen for minutes, but he went the comedic distance by burying his tousled, tattooed good looks under a fat suit and bald cap.
"He was a huge fan of looking as far from his usual self as possible. We made that belly for him. He was really excited to play such a purely evil guy," says Bosses director Seth Gordon. "He's amazing in this part and shows a whole new side of what he can do."
The lighter fare was a welcome working vacation for Farrell, after more serious work playing a conflicted, muddled hit man in 2008's In Bruges, which netted him a Golden Globe Award, and an alcoholic fisherman in Neil Jordan's 2009 romantic fable, Ondine.
"I'd just come off of playing men going through difficulty in their lives. So I told my agent I wanted to have some fun and do something that might have more comedy. In a fortnight, both of those scripts came."
Now, Farrell is spending his summer in Toronto, shooting Len Wiseman's remake of Total Recall. The new film, Farrell assures, is vastly different from the 1990 original that starred Arnold Schwarzenegger, and so to is Farrell's version of construction worker/freedom fighter Douglas Quaid. To embody him, Farrell amped up the workouts.
"I got in really good shape before we started filming. I worked out really hard and was watching my diet. It's been a long time since I'd done an action film. I bruise easier. I get a little bit weak, a little more fatigued, as the gig goes on."
To his friends and colleagues, Farrell is just as droll, as off-the-cuff, as he was as a carouser.
"It doesn't matter if he's having a beer or not. He's still fun to hang out with, whether it's at the gym or the dinner table," Gillespie says. "He's still really enjoying himself, but without (the alcohol). Some people may lose the sense of themselves when they stop that, but he shines."
In fact, says Irish playwright Martin McDonagh, who directed Farrell in the well-received In Bruges, the actor isn't quite as raucous as you'd think. "He's really sweet. He's got a little shyness to him that doesn't come across. I never saw much of his wild side. … Everything I know about him is the sensitive workaholic."
And he's one who's relaxed and puts those around him at ease, says Farrell's Fright Night co-star Imogen Poots.
"What surprised me is just how bright a person he is," Poots says. "He's so well-read. Intelligent. His personality is vibrant. He's great fun to be around, but also just super-chill."
Now, family comes first
In the fall, Farrell starts shooting the dialogue-heavy black comedy Seven Psychopaths for McDonagh, the talk of which gets the actor visibly excited. "It's smaller in scope. More immediate. More character-driven," he says.
McDonagh is reuniting with Farrell for a very simple reason: He likes him.
"He's one of the nicest guys I've met in this business. He has depth and honesty, and he's able to play the dark side, yet you still love him," the writer says.
Psychopaths is a passion project for Farrell, who first broke out as an unruly grunt in 2000's Tigerland. His career has been a mixed bag: For a hit like 2002's Minority Report, there's also Oliver Stone's epic 2004 flameout, Alexander. Sometimes Farrell does films strictly for the love. Other times, cash vies with artistic integrity — and that's OK.
"A big paycheck, absolutely. To be able to provide for my family, I'm not going to bitch about it," he says. "At times you feel like you have to apologize for being in big films. You have this notion of selling out. At this stage, I would love to do big films that are seen by a lot of people and do smaller films that probably emotionally mean more to me."
How driven is Farrell, who once dashed from movie to movie?
"I'm pretty clear on why I go to work now. Before Fright Night, I thought the last few years of work had been gratifying, and I loved it. Now I wanted to do something lighter," he says. "I understand and have a respect for being away that I didn't have for the first five, six, seven years. With two boys as well, I have a respect for missing people that are in my life, a respect for being away from my kids."
Farrell's sons, from separate relationships, both live in Los Angeles, as does he. His older son, James, has Angelman syndrome, a neuro-developmental disorder; James began walking before he turned 4 but cannot speak. If it's possible for a human to sparkle, Farrell does so when asked about his firstborn.
"Less and less and less do I see his condition. I'm just keenly aware of his personality. He's really cool," Farrell says. "He's so much fun to be around. I just am crazy about him. His health is good. We have the seizures under control. He's got an amazing team of people in his life."
Being with his boys is a priority for Farrell. "I went for seven years (working) back to back to back to back. That became my life. That's not the way it is now. I have more balance in regards to choosing things."
That's Farrell 2.0 speaking.
"James doesn't really care. We tried this once, years ago. He didn't care for it," says Farrell. "Actually, Henry is kind of bored with it already."
Farrell is a doting dad to his sons; Henry just visited him on the Toronto set of Total Recall, which Farrell is currently shooting with Jessica Biel. And Farrell brightens when asked about James, who has Angelman's Syndrome, a neuro-developmental disorder. The little boy started walking just before he turned 4, but does not have verbal speech.
"He's doing phenomenal. Less and less and less do I see his condition. I'm just keenly aware of his personality. He's really cool. He's got an amazing team of people in his life. We have the seizures under control. He helps us in a way to be better people. He's so much fun to be around. I just am crazy about him. His health is good," says Farrell. (http://www.cureangelman.org)
Marti Noxon, the former Buffy the Vampire Slayer scribe who penned the Fright Night remake, said the Jerry from the original (played by Chris Sarandon, who narrated the panel) "missed a viciousness and sexuality that Colin Farrell has."
And later in the Total Recall panel, where Farrell talked about playing who realizes new truths about the world around him, he said he loved the Arnold Schwarzenegger original - the same thing he said about the first Fright Night earlier in the day.
"You can love two things, can't you?" Farrell asked. "I thought it was different enough and did not tread the same ground. I loved the idea of a man journeying from a deep, deep slumber to consciousness."
For fans, though, he was open and friendly. One girl asked Farrell for his Fright Night panel place card, and he got up from his chair to sign and give it to her, bending down to say hi. A camera guy went to capture the moment for the crowd, and ended up getting a shot of Farrell's slightly exposed backside.
Others asked about other projects and all things Farrell. Here's what he had to say:
Bad habits die hard: Farrell cracked jokes about his own past penchant for partying and alcohol. Talking about playing the next-door neighbor vampire Jerry, "he had to borrow a six-pack. Some reputations you just can't shake." And answering a question about putting on the fangs compared to having mojitos in Miami Vice: "I can certainly remember taking up fangs more than taking up mojitos. Miami Vice was a six-month blackout."
Reprising his supervillain Bullseye in another Daredevil movie: "Careful. I could kill you now with this Hershey's Kiss," he joked to a fan asking a question.
Tackling comedy in Horrible Bosses: "It was a case of, give me a bald cap and a belly. It was prop central," Farrell said before quipping, "It was just the first time I took my wig off."
Finding the right roles: "When I connect with the right script, my lips start moving to what I'm reading. It's kind of out of your control."
Accents: Farrell asked one fan to do her best Irish accent, and she complied. "It was like an America anccent but higher," he told her. "I grew up watching American television: A-Team, T.J. Hooker, Little House on the Prairie. I had the Amerian accent in my ear, and I think (an Irish accent is) harder for Americans: 'Get off of my Lucky Charms!' "
Doing a superhero movie: "I thought I was playing a superhero when I did Alexander. That didn't pan out. No more swords-and-sandals epics for me." (He agreed to do Bullseye again if Fright Night co-star Christopher Mintz-Plasse played Daredevil.)
"If they were fighting for a lump of meat, Jerry," said Farrell at a Friday (July 22) Comic-Con panel promoting the upcoming movie. "If they were fighting for the love of a woman, I'm afraid Cullen would have me."
Farrell plays a very different kind of vampire, though, than Pattinson's passionate and conscience-driven Edward. And different from the star of the original 1985 "Fright Night" -- Chris Sarandon -- who also appears in the 3-D redux and was on hand for the press conference.
"I felt more like a social parasite," said Farrell. "Someone who really did enjoy the threat he exposed to those around him. My guy would be nothing without fear he could instill in people. He treats humans like a cat treats a ball of wool -- as playthings, not just a source of sustenance."
Does having two young sons at home affect the kinds of roles Farrell chooses, asked one reporter.
"Yeah, I only like playing savage killers now."
"Fright Night" opens nationwide on Aug. 19.
The 35-year-old opened up during a panel featuring the update of "Fright Night" Friday at San Diego Comic-Con.
When a fan asked whether he preferred his earlier starring roles or his more recent character parts, Farrell said that in the last six years, he "reconnected with the mystery of the whole thing and the imagination of the whole thing and how much fun it is to be an actor."
He plays the vampire-next-door Jerry Dandrige in "Fright Night," a reimagining of the 1985 horror classic that's set for release Aug. 19.
Farrell's epic comb-over and outrageous orders ("I want you to fire the fat people") in the film opening today will have staying power long after its run in theaters. And Aniston's predatory behavior, not to mention a few well-chosen outfits, should pump life into a career that needed a jolt.
Her turn as supremely frisky Julia Harris, DDS, proves one rule of comedy: A small, quirky role can make moviegoers forget a DVD collection of past miscues. (The Switch, anyone?)
"This was such a departure," says director Seth Gordon of both Aniston's and Farrell's parts. "It's a great example of great actors using cameos to show an entirely different side of themselves."
People can see a whole lotta Aniston's new side as she slinks around in a barely there lab coat, eats food in an X-rated manner and speaks in a way that would have had her blackballed permanently from Central Perk.
"She took to it like she was meant to do this," Gordon says.
In fact, when Gordon saw her first rehearsal take, even he was shocked as the scripted words came out of Aniston's mouth.
"You know that kind of stunned laughter you cannot fully commit to because you cannot believe what just happened?" he asks. "It was so much better than even I could have imagined."
Inside the Actors Studio host James Lipton was floored when Aniston showed a saucy clip during a recent taping . "The first time she opened her mouth, my jaw dropped," he says. "The language is extraordinary. We'll have to bleep some of that. She does it with such relish."
Farrell added his own brand of nasty enthusiasm to his horrible boss, insisting on the disgusting physical appearance from the first brainstorming meeting.
"It was all Colin's idea," Gordon says. "He was like, 'How about a comb-over?' and 'Wouldn't it be great to have a belly?'"
Farrell suffered hours in the makeup chair as a result. But he succeeds, Gordon says, in letting the audience know "he just doesn't take himself too seriously."
Horrible Bosses director Seth Gordon sent the Irishman a copy of his hit documentary King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters, which chronicles the lives of die-hard gamers who compete for world records, to get into character as obnoxious Bobby Pellitt.
Gordon admits he wanted the character to look like Donkey Kong champion Billy Mitchell.
He tells WENN, “I think not only the wardrobe, the posture and the confidence, and being stuck in the ’80s were influenced in some way by Billy. It was wonderful that Colin was open to the role and really breathed life into it.
“At the first meeting, we talked about giving him a belly and a clubbing enthusiasm - and Colin wanted a comb-over. As soon as we saw the first attempt at that I knew it was right. You should have seen all the takes that Colin did. It was like channelling a demon.”
“How did we become friends? You know, the old story of boy meets girl, and boy pesters girl with too many phone calls at inappropriate hours of the night,” Colin told Access Hollywood at CinemaCon 2011 in Las Vegas on Tuesday, recalling his memories of meeting the two-time Oscar winner, who died last week at the age of 79 of congestive heart failure.
Elizabeth first revealed the pair’s friendship earlier this year in an interview for the March issue of Harper’s Bazaar magazine, conducted by Kim Kardashian. At the time Dame Elizabeth told the young celebutante, “I love Johnny Depp, and I love Colin Farrell – both brilliant, nuanced actors with great range.”
On Tuesday, Colin told Access he was honored to have known the “Cleopatra” star.
“I was just lucky enough to become her friend in the last year and a half,” he said. “I adore her… still.”
As previously reported on AccessHollywood.com, Colin recited Gerard Manley Hopkins’ poem, “The Leaden Echo and the Golden Echo” at her funeral and he revealed it was the actress herself who picked out the material.
The poem, about beauty fading with time, was reportedly a favorite of Elizabeth’s ex-husband Richard Burton, who recited it in his 1978 movie “Absolution” in a scene that was improvised.
“Elizabeth chose it. It was a tricky poem as well,” Colin laughed. “Even in passing she had me under the thumb, sweating bricks.”
Colin said someone else passed along the “A Place in the Sun” actress’ funeral reading request, and it was an offer he couldn’t refuse.
“She asked someone else to ask me [to read it],” Colin explained, adding he felt, “sad and honored” when he got the call.
“I just miss her; I just miss her; I just miss her,” he added.
Elizabeth was interred at the Great Mausoleum at Forest Lawn Memorial Parks and Mortuaries in Glendale, Calif., the same location her longtime friend Michael Jackson was laid to rest in 2009.
To see the complete interview with Colin Farrell, tune in to “Access Hollywood” and “Access Hollywood Live” tomorrow, Wednesday, Marcy 30 (syndicated, check local listings or www.accesshollywood.com for times).
New details about Elizabeth Taylor's private, multi-denominational memorial service were released today, among them word that the iconic screen legend had requested that the service begin at least 15 minutes later than publicly scheduled.
"She even wanted to be late for her own funeral," went the announcement. How's that for consummate style?
But that wasn't the only surprising revelation made this morning. Though it wasn't made immediately clear after yesterday's service who, if any, high profile mourners were in attendance, this morning it was confirmed that there was at least one star in attendance for the funeral, and it at least appears to be a bit of a head-scratcher: Colin Farrell.
And yes, the Irishman's rep confirms to E! News that it is the Colin Farrell.
And the actor wasn't just an attendee, but rather part of the one-hour service, as the star, described as a "close friend" of Taylor's, recited a poem by Gerard Manley Hopkins, "The Leaden Echo and the Golden Echo."
"How to keep—is there any any, is there none such, nowhere known some, bow or brooch or braid or brace, lace, latch or catch or key to keep back beauty, keep it, beauty, beauty, beauty…from vanishing away?" goes the poem.
"No there's none, there's none, o no there's none, nor can you long be, what you now are, called fair, do what you may do, what, do what you may."
It's unclear how the duo met, though it wasn't long ago that Taylor was publicly praising him, telling Kim Kardashian in her Harper's Bazaar interview earlier this year that he was one of the few current actors she would love to work with.
"I love Johnny Depp, and I love Colin Farrell—both brilliant, nuanced actors with great range," Liz said at the time.
Meanwhile, in addition to Colin, Taylor's son, Michael Wilding, her grandson, Tarquin Wilding, and daughter, Liza Burton Tivey, also read out selections during the service at The Great Mausoleum at Forest Lawn cemetery, while her grandson, Rhys Tivey, performed "Amazing Grace" on the trumpet.
Her casket was closed and covered in gardenias, violets and lily of the valley.
Meanwhile, the tributes still aren't done pouring in for the 79-year-old legend, as late last night, Demi Moore added to the still-flowing remembrances.
"It's taken me a day 2really grasp the loss of such a beautiful soul who touched the hearts saved lives &inspired the world Goodbye 2a true queen," she tweeted.
Reports circulated that the singer, 23, and actor, 34, were dating after they were both spotted at an L.A. restaurant on Wednesday night – and a source says they weren't there together.
"They are not dating," the source tells PEOPLE. "It was absolute coincidence they were at Giorgio Baldi at the same time. Colin was there at a business dinner and Rihanna was across the room."
And this isn't the first time rumors have swirled about the two celebrities getting cozy.
In February, reports circulated that they were "sexting" back and forth after meeting for the first time on the U.K.'s Graham Norton Show.
Those claims, the source says, are also false, and Farrell's rep has no comment.
Says the source: "There's no truth whatsoever to the reports and rumors that they're dating."
So it got the setting right, but not necessarily the substance. Even when not being compared with those classics, it falls short in character development.
Locations in Bulgaria, India and Morocco lend an authenticity to the tale of escaped Soviet prisoners and their struggle to survive. There are exhilarating moments, and there are some undeniably tense scenes. Mixed in, however, is possibly more trudging than you're going to see in any other film.
Peter Weir is a masterful director. His first film, 1981's Gallipoli, was a stunning war epic. Even more commercial fare like The Truman Show (1998) and his last film, 2003's Master and Commander, have a singular artistry.
Loosely based on the true story of prisoners who escape a Siberian gulag, the story follows several men and a young girl across a treacherous 4,000 miles, including forbidding Siberian landscape and Mongolia's vast Gobi Desert.
The era is circa World War II, and the characters include Polish prisoner Janusz (Jim Sturgess), Russian thug Valka (Colin Farrell), American loner Mr. Smith (Ed Harris), and young Irena (Atonement's Saoirse Ronan). One in their group goes blind in the woods as they brave freezing temperatures and limited food and water. Others fight off hungry wolves and contemplate cannibalism.
Inspired by the 1956 book The Long Walk: The True Story of a Trek to Freedom, the movie ricochets between inspirational and tedious. No doubt the actual journey had a similar duality.
But the film, at more than two hours, feels overly long. Except for moments of aching despair, individual characters are not given distinct traits. They exhibit varying degrees of resourcefulness, but their personalities are drab, lost in the blizzards and grinding sandstorms, which make much more vivid impressions.
Irish actor Farrell's dialogue feels particularly forced. In a thick Russian accent, he says things like, "We've been going in circles like chicken without head." Screenwriter Keith Clarke's script is filled with similarly awkward clichés and hackneyed pep talks.
Still, it's an ambitious project. Weir meticulously researched the first-person accounts of those who made the journey.
This hike from hell lasted a year, no doubt drawing on reserves of endurance. Moviegoers may have to dip into their own reserves to see them through this film.
The Way Back
* * 1/2 (out of four)
Stars: Jim Sturgess, Ed Harris, Colin Farrell, Saoirse Ronan
Director: Peter Weir
Distributor: Newmarket Films
Rating: PG-13 for violent content, depiction of physical hardships, a nude image and brief, strong language
Running time: 2 hours, 13 minutes
Opens Friday in select cities
Veteran Australian director Peter Weir, a six-time Oscar nominee ("Witness," "The Truman Show"), has crafted an old-fashioned historical epic, inspired by the true story of a group of prisoners who escaped a 1940 Soviet labor camp and trudged thousands of miles across unforgiving terrain to their freedom. Not all of them made it, which we might have guessed on our own, but Weir — who co-wrote the screenplay with Keith Clarke, based on Slavomir Rawicz's book "The Long Walk" — informs us with a title card at the start that three men would walk out of the Himalayas at the end of this arduous journey.
The result: Despite the seriousness of the subject matter, the film loses some of its tension because we pretty much know the outcome, leaving us only to wonder who will live and who will die, as if we're watching an episode of "Survivor: Siberian Gulag."
And it is serious — or at least, it should be. Weir alternates between vivid, convincing images of the harsh surroundings — sweepingly shot on location in Bulgaria, Morocco and India — and detailed close-ups of the toll this trip has taken on the characters' faces, their bodies, and most especially their feet.
But except for Ed Harris as a mysterious American, Jim Sturgess as an idealistic Polish officer and Colin Farrell as an over-the-top Russian thug, the remaining characters are essentially interchangeable. Even though the film feels overlong, insufficient time was spent fleshing out these people to make them, and the threats to their lives, seem pressing and real.
That only emphasizes the film's episodic, almost video game-like structure: Now they're in a blizzard, now they're in the forest, now they're trekking through rocky terrain, now they're slogging across sand. Survive one level and then it's onto the next, and the next. The tension should be unbearable; instead, "The Way Back" feels like exactly what it is: a long, slow march toward death.
Saoirse Ronan livens things up as a young Polish woman traveling alone who hooks up with the group about halfway through — even though they're divided over whether to allow her to join them. Not only is she spirited and friendly, which helps draw out some of their back stories, but she also has handy-dandy items like soap, which they desperately need. Ronan's scenes with Harris, in which they develop a sort of father-daughter relationship, are some of the most satisfying; despite the seemingly insurmountable conditions, she maintains an almost ethereal quality, in stark contrast to his pragmatism.
The moments in which they bond make you wish there were more like them, and they come too late.
"The Way Back," a Newmarket Films release, is rated PG-13 for violent content, depiction of physical hardships, a nude image and brief strong language. Running time: 133 minutes. Two stars out of four.
The Irish actor starred as Alexander the Great in Oliver Stone's 2004 epic, and was crushed by the negative reviews his performance generated.
Farrell subsequently fell into a slump and admits he felt the need to apologize to everyone who might have seen the movie.
He recalls, "That was tough. I say tough relative to a charmed life, but I'm not going to apologize for how much it affected me emotionally and psychologically. I was going to walk away from acting. I couldn't even buy a packet of cigarettes without feeling like I needed to say sorry to the guy behind the counter just in case he happened to see the thing."
The star became even more withdrawn following the box office failure of Miami Vice in 2006.
He adds, "I just completely fell to s--- on that one. It was literally the first time I couldn't say to anyone around me, 'Have I been late for work, have I missed any days, have I been hitting my marks?' Because the answers would have been yes, yes, and no... I lost the ability to be confident that I could make a change myself."
When the film wrapped, Farrell managed to turn his life around after a stint in rehab.
Rising stars Tom Hardy ("Inception") and Michael Fassbender ("Inglourious Basterds") are also in the mix for the Columbia Pictures film, which is looking at a late March start with Len Wiseman ("Underworld") behind the camera. No offers have been made to anyone yet.
The project is based on the Philip K. Dick story "We Can Remember It for You Wholesale." It follows a man haunted by a recurring dream of journeying to Mars who buys a literal dream vacation from a company called Rekall Inc., which sells implanted memories. The man comes to believe he is a secret agent and ends up on a Martian colony, where he fights to overthrow a despotic ruler controlling the production of air.
One big question is how the remake, with a script by Kurt Wimmer ("Salt"), will tackle one of Dick's favorite topics, reality vs. delusion, with audiences never knowing whether the movie was a dream. Christopher Nolan just reinvigorated the concept with the detailed dreamscapes he built into "Inception."
But a bigger question is whether the actors the studio is keen on are available.
Farrell just might be, although the Irish actor will likely star alongside Eric Bana in "Up in the Air" co-writer Sheldon Turner's crime drama "By Virtue Fall," which will shoot in January. He would be finished in time to jump right into "Recall."
If Farrell does head to Mars, it will be his second shot at a high-profile Hollywood career. Since appearing in studio movies such as "Daredevil," "S.W.A.T.," "Miami Vice" and "Alexander," the actor has lately been sticking to lower-budgeted homegrown fare, such as an uncredited role in the Oscar-winner "Crazy Heart."
But he recently wrapped DreamWorks' 3D remake of "Fright Night," in which he plays the villainous vampire, as well as New Line's "Horrible Bosses," in which he plays one of the jefes in question.
Hardy, meanwhile, has found his dance card filling up ever since appearing in Nolan's "Inception." The English actor is currently in Vancouver shooting "This Means War," the McG-directed movie which stars Chris Pine and Reese Witherspoon. In addition, his 2011 is already packed. He is said to be reteaming with Nolan for the filmmaker's third Batman movie, which shoots in the spring and summer. In the fall, Hardy will star in the Mad Max sequel "Fury Road."
Fassbender, another rising star thanks to his turn in "Inglourious Basterds," is in pre-production on "Shame," an indie being directed by Steve McQueen, and is also shooting "X-Men: First Class" in England.
The two are parents to a son Henry Tadeusz Farrel, who was born last year. Farrell is also dad to 7-year-old son, James, with model Kim Bordenave.
Bachleda, 27 and Farrell, 34, met on the set of last year's Ondine, which they costarred in. At the premiere, Bachelda told PEOPLE of their romance: "We were very professional and focused on our part and our jobs. The story itself is so beautiful … we really didn't have time to get our true emotions [on screen]."
Farrell's camp had no comment on the split. The actor has been busy filming back-to-back movies recently.
The former Black Sabbath frontman and his music manager wife Sharon are keen to transform the rocker's colourful past into a movie, and the rock matriarch has spoken of her desire to cast Johnny Depp in the lead role.
Osbourne recently admitted he would prefer an unknown actor from his native Birmingham, England to land the part - but online reports suggested fellow reformed wildman Farrell had signed up to play the Prince of Darkness.
However, the Phone Booth hunk's spokesperson has quickly denied the speculation, telling GossipCop.com the rumour is "not true".
A decade ago he was hailed as the new Russell Crowe/Brad Pitt/Tom Cruise. But a few years — and a few duds such as Alexander — later, he was better known as a rabble-rouser than a legitimate box-office draw.
Now, four years after his last major Hollywood production — 2006’s Miami Vice — the 33-year-old appears primed for a comeback.
Having wisely laid low and focused on such independent fare as 2008’s In Bruges and 2009’s Crazy Heart, Farrell now has multiple films due in the next year, including London Boulevard, a crime thriller with Keira Knightley; and The Way Back, a war drama directed by Peter Weir (Witness).
Furthermore, he has just lined up three more projects: David Cronenberg’s Cosmopolis; the black comedy Horrible Bosses with Jennifer Aniston and Jason Bateman; and the remake of the 1980s vampire horror-comedy Fright Night, in which Farrell will portray the charismatic, blood-sucking villain. Twilight, it’s not.
The movie centers on three best friends who, frustrated by their jobs, conclude that the only solution is to kill each other's bosses. Bateman is a man who believes that his hard work will be rewarded but when he gets passed over for a promotion, he hits rock bottom.
Charlie Day ("It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia") would play a hapless guy, always in the wrong place at the wrong time. A part still to be cast is a ladies' man who is good at his job, but gets a rude awakening when his boss passes away and gets replaced.
Farrell is among the A-list names being sought to play the bosses, whose ranks include a master manipulator, a sexually aggressive dentist and a weasely-looking scion. Seth Gordon ("Four Christmases") will direct.
The project has attracted a plethora of actors over the years, including Owen Wilson, Vince Vaughn, Ashton Kutcher, Dax Shepherd and Matthew McConaughey.
It got a new boost in light of last year's hit "The Hangover," which catapulted relative unknowns -- Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms and Zach Galifianakis -- to new heights. Its success showed it was possible to make a modestly budgeted comedy that could soar if the chemistry was right.
Bateman was last seen in "Couples Retreat" and has the romantic comedy "The Switch," with Jennifer Aniston, awaiting release from Miramax. Day is co-starring in New Line's Drew Barrymore/Justin Long comedy "Going the Distance." It's his work from that movie -- insiders say he steals scenes from the stars -- which led to New Line considering him for "Bosses." Farrell was recently in theaters with "Crazy Heart."
The two join Anton Yelchin in DreamWorks' new version, which sticks to the original concept of a teen (Yelchin) being convinced that his new neighbor is a vampire, though no one will believe him.
Farrell has the plum role of the vampire, named Jerry, who on the surface appears to be a cool guy but is really preying on the neighborhood. Chris Sarandon originated the role.
Collette is Yelchin's mom, who at first disapproves of the new arrival but changes her attitude when she meets the magnetic man and -- surprise -- doesn't believe her son when he tries to tell her Jerry is a vampire. Craig Gillespie is directing.
"Fright Night" represents Farrell's first significant studio work since such disappointments as "Pride and Glory" in 2008 and "Miami Vice" in 2006. He subsequently retreated to the indie world, earning a Golden Globe nomination for his portrayal of an assassin in the thriller "In Bruges" and taking an uncredited role as a country star in last year's "Crazy Heart."
The Irish actor recently wrapped a starring turn in "London Boulevard," the directorial debut of Oscar-winning "Departed" writer William Monahan.
After starting in film, Collette is now best known for her Emmy-winning starring role in Showtime's "United States of Tara."
The movie is a love story between an Irish fisherman (Farrell) and a mermaid (Bachleda) – and at the opening night, from the red carpet to the after-party at Soho's Beba restaurant, the couple avoided any outward public displays of affection. Instead, they chatted with those around them.
"We met on the set, and we were very professional and focused on our part and our jobs," said the Mexican-born, Polish actress Bachleda, 26. "The story itself is so beautiful … we really didn't have time to get our true emotions [on screen]."
For the Dublin-born Farrell, 33, the hardest part of his role didn't come from a blossoming relationship, but from having to master a particular Irish dialect – "one of the hardest accents I had to do, because I felt a national obligation not to [muck] it up."
He explained, "Even though Ireland is a small island, there are a plethora of dialects. I was more familiar with the American accent watching T.J. Hooker in CHiPs than I was with the Irish accent in this particular town. It was a very kind of impenetrable accent."
The Baby's Sitting Up
While avoiding questions about their relationship, the pair beamed when asked about their 6-month old son, Henry Tadeusz Farrell.
"He's sitting up already and all smiles!," said Bachleda. "He's such a lovely baby."
As for Farrell, who also has a 6-year-old son, James, from a previous relationship with model Kim Bordenave, "I'm reading Dr. Seuss to him, because it's so much fun, but it's probably more for me than for him," said the actor. "But also some Roald Dahl and William Butler Yeats, fairy tales and stuff like that."
Entertainment Weekly wrote earlier in April that Farrell was turning a new leaf, quoting the actor saying, "I realized I'd lost sight of why I went into acting in the first place ... I had to go back and remember."
The article portrayed the 33-year-old Dubliner, in recovery from an addiction to painkillers, as a father of two working to soften his image, going so far as to appear on Sesame Street.
But Farrell -- equally at home on the gossip pages that cover his complicated love life as on the arts pages for movies from "Crazy Heart" to "Miami Vice" -- is not committing to personal reform.
"Other people have said that's what I have been trying to do," he said in an interview with Reuters on Wednesday when asked to discuss reports he was shedding his bad boy image.
Farrell, regularly cited on sexiest man alive lists, is wearing his black hair long. He has bushy eyebrows, a goatee and is rake thin.
"I have never been quoted as saying that," he said, smoking a cigarette and discussing "Ondine," his latest movie. "You live your life and people try to categorize how you live your life, and that's the job of the media to a certain extent.
"I try not to concern myself with it too much."
If Farrell blames the media for his image, he has provided plenty of grist. An Internet sex tape with a Playboy model and the resulting law suits have provided years of headlines.
He has been sued for sexual harassment and is such a notorious ladies man he once propositioned Shakespearean actress Dame Eileen Atkins when she was turning 70, and 42 years his senior.
The man who has had more flings than hit films has found love again, on the set with his "Ondine" co-star, Polish actress Alicja Bachleda. They had a son last October.
"Ondine," which already has been released in Britain, sees Irish director Neil Jordan re-imagine the myth of a water nymph who would lose her immortality if she falls in love with a mortal man and bears him a child.
CRITICS STING
While Farrell may have found love making the watery drama, critics are not glowing.
The Times of London called the movie's plot "ridiculous but rather charming" while Britain's Daily Telegraph said, "Quite what Neil Jordan thought he was doing is hard to say."
The News of the World wrote, "What Alicja lacks in acting ability, she makes up for in getting pregnant (true story -- little Henry Tadeusz Farrell was born last October)."
The movie will be released in U.S. cinemas in early June and released a month earlier on television via video-on-demand. Viewers can watch the movie at home for $10.99 before the film gets its American theatrical release.
Director Neil Jordan, promoting the movie in tandem with Farrell, does not want to dwell too much on such matters.
Gone are the days when movies like his 1992 hit "The Crying Game" can be released in a few cinemas and build enough word-of-mouth buzz to become a nationwide hit, said Jordan, who won the best original screenplay Oscar for that movie.
"You could drive yourself nuts thinking about how the marketplace is changing," Jordan said.
So will the new realities of the movie business change how he approaches work? "That's a broad question," Jordan said. "3-D and all that stuff? ('Avatar' director) James Cameron can answer those questions."
The Miami Vice star, who is now sober after battling drug and alcohol addictions, was leaving Cafe De Paris on Saturday night when he got involved in a heated exchange with a fellow partygoer.
The altercation threatened to turn violent when the other man lunged at Farrell, but his pals managed to pull the Irish actor away and avoid it turning into a full-blown fight.
A representative for the star, who walked away unscathed, had yet to respond to requests for a comment as WENN went to press.
The Golden Globe winner is taking the stand largely on behalf of his older brother, Eamon. Last week, Colin spoke at an event for BeLonG To, an Irish LGBT organization aimed at teens, about some of his sibling's struggles.
"I can't remember much about the years of physical and emotional abuse my brother, Eamon, suffered," he said. "The thing I do remember though, quite literally, is blood on his school shirt when he came home in the afternoon. The beatings and taunting were very frequent for him and a constant part of his school years."
The actor went on to talk about differences leading to fear for people and how that can lead "us to do terrible things in a shadow of our better selves."
"Intolerance is not genetically encoded—it is taught. It is learned at home. It is learned in the classrooms and it is learned anywhere else we gather as a group," he continues. "Bullying is torture, it is another betrayal of basic human decency and its scars reach into the future of its survivors."
Eamon and his partner, Steve Mannion, reportedly tied the knot last summer in Canada and held a reception in Ireland around the holidays.
The New York festival announced the bulk of its lineup Monday, including selections in its Discovery, Encounters, Cinemania and Spotlight programs.
Making its U.S. premiere will be Neil Jordan's Ondine, which stars Colin Farrell as a fisherman who reels in a mermaid.
Duvall stars in Get Low, a folk tale set in 1930s Tennessee and directed by Aaron Schneider, who won an Oscar in 2004 for his short film Two Soldiers.
The documentary selections include films about comedian and fashion pundit Rivers (Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work ), Canadian rock band Rush (Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage ) and hairstylist Vidal Sassoon (Vidal Sassoon: The Movie ).
Alex Gibney, whose Taxi to the Dark Side won the Oscar for best documentary in 2008, will bring his My Trip to Al-Qaeda to the festival. It was previously announced that Gibney would also screen a work-in-progress film about former New York governor Gov. Eliot Spitzer.
Dana Adam Shapiro, the director of the acclaimed Oscar-nominated documentary Murderball, will screen his fiction film Monogamy, which stars Rashida Jones (Parks and Recreation ) and Chris Messina.
John Carney, the Irish filmmaker who directed the hit Once, will bring his follow-up, a deranged comedy titled Zonad, which he co-wrote and co-directed with his brother, Kieran Carney.
Also selected was The Killer Inside of Me, a pulpy noir starring Casey Affleck by British director Michael Winterbottom.
Omar Rodriguez Lopez of the Grammy-winning rock band Mars Volta will show his debut film, The Sentimental Engine Slayer, which he wrote and directed.
Fatih Akin, the acclaimed director of Head-On and The Edge of Heaven, will premiere Soul Kitchen, a comedy set in Germany.
Other notable actors with films at Tribeca include Idris Elba, Jessica Alba, Patricia Clarkson, Catherine Keener, Oliver Platt, Liev Schreiber, Ellen Barkin, Tilda Swinton and Eddie Izzard.
Tribeca, which runs from April 21 through May 2, had previously announced part of its lineup, including the world premiere of Shrek Forever After, which will open the festival.
This year's festival will expand digitally beyond Manhattan. A dozen feature films will be available via video-on-demand on televisions in about 40 million households.
The Irish actor was cast as Detective James Crockett in the crime drama, opposite Jamie Foxx, who played his colleague, Detective Ricardo Tubbs.
But Farrell is convinced the relationship between the pair was too intense for the movie - and admits he may have been at fault over his portrayal of the cop.
He tells Total Film magazine, "Miami Vice? I didn't like it so much. I thought it was style over substance and I accept a good bit of the responsibility.
"I understood that we were trying to paint a relationship with Tubbs and Crockett that was so grounded and familiar that there was no need for them to incessantly talk to each other - or look at each other - over two and a half hours.
"I did think we missed an opportunity. It was never going to be Lethal Weapon, but I think we missed an opportunity to have a friendship that also had some elements of fun."
The 33 year old was once famed for his party lifestyle, but has become teetotal over the last few years.
Farrell admits he turned to booze because he didn't feel "worthy" of his Hollywood career, and it was only when he quit drink that he realised he needed to change his attitude to his work.
He tells Total Film magazine, "(Giving up alcohol has) put more focus on my career. I'm a lot more appreciative over what I have. For years I was adamantly trying to show that I wasn't worthy or that I didn't know why it happened to me. I enjoy it a lot more now.
"I just wanted to stop (drinking). I was done with it, I was tired of it, I wanted to get off the treadmill.
"The work I always took serious, I probably would have been embarrassed by how serious I took it.
"Everything else, the behaviour around the work, was a guy having a good time and probably trying to apologize for his success."
The Fakt and Super Express newspapers ran photographs Wednesday showing the couple in the Church of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Krakow during the baptism ceremony of their son Henry Tadeusz Farrell, who was born Oct. 7.
The actress's mother, Lidia Bachleda-Curus, confirmed to The Associated Press by phone that the baptism took place Tuesday afternoon but did not elaborate.
The manager of Krakow's Floryan hotel told the AP the couple and relatives had a dinner of traditional Polish food at the exclusive hotel afterward. She spoke on condition of anonymity.
Not only does the Irish hunkster do his own singing playing a country music star in the much-buzzed-about Crazy Heart, but he actually has a pretty darn good voice, too.
"No one had heard him sing until he recorded with [composer and producer] T-Bone, but we assumed if he took the role that he probably could pull it off or he wouldn't have accepted the role," Crazy Heart producer Judy Cairo told us last night at the movie's L.A. premiere. "His agent didn't even know he could sing."
The indie flick centers on an alcoholic country star has-been (Jeff Bridges) who falls in love with a local newspaper reporter (Maggie Gyllenhaal).
In one scene, Farrell and Bridges sing together onstage at the Journal Pavilion in Albuquerque, N.M. "They both have great voices," Cairo said. "In fact, it was Colin's second day working with us and we brought him in and threw him onstage in front of 12,000 people and said, 'Sing!' He was a trouper. He did an amazing job."
But don't go looking for Farrell's name in the credits. He asked that his name be left out. Not only did filmmakers want his appearance to be a surprise, but Farrell "also didn't want to take the spotlight off of Jeff," Cairo said. "Obviously this is Jeff's movie and…if Colin was more in front of it, Jeff would have to share the spotlight a little bit. He wanted to give kudos and credit to Jeff."
And we can attest to that. We've seen the movie. If Bridges doesn't get an Oscar nomination then there's something seriously wrong in this world.
"I don't want to count any chickens," Bridges told us, "but it's great to get these good reviews we've been getting. This film doesn't have the millions of dollars to spend on promotions, so it's great that we're getting the film out there."
The couple, who costar in the upcoming film Ondine, welcomed son Henry Tadeusz Farrell on Oct. 7 in Los Angeles, a rep for the actor tells PEOPLE.
Henry is the first child for Bachleda, 26, and the second for Farrell, who has a 6-year-old son, James, with model Kim Bordenave.
Confirming the pregnancy to PEOPLE in September, Farrell, 33, said he was looking forward to "everything" about parenthood. "I will take it as it comes. Even changing dirty diapers."
"Yeah, I'm going to be a father again," Farrell, 33, confirms to PEOPLE at the premiere of Ondine at the Toronto Film Festival. "I'm very excited man! Very! There is nothing more exciting really."
What part of parenthood is the actor looking forward to the most? "Everything. The whole thing," he says. "I will take it as it comes. Even changing dirty diapers."
The baby will be the first for Polish actress Bachleda, 26, and the second for Farrell, who has a son, James, 6, with model Kim Bordenave.
Actor Colin Farrell -- no stranger to grabbing headlines at the Toronto International Film Festival -- grabbed an unnamed photographer by the scruff of his neck to teach a quick lesson in manners at the Winter Garden Theatre last night after the media hordes yelled at his sister Claudine Farrell to get out of the way.
iPhoto photographer Jorge Rios witnessed the dust-up and told the Sun several photogs loudly -- and impolitely -- asked Farrell's sister to "get off the carpet" to make way for her famous brother at the premiere of his new movie Triage.
Few in the crowd knew they were yelling at Farrell's flesh and blood.
Like a knight in shining armour, when the leading man heard one photographer shouting the loudest at his kin, he jumped to her aid in a chivalrous display that is sure to raise the sexy star's stock among adoring female fans.
"Don't yell at her," Rios and other photographers heard Farrell tell the shooter. "That's my sister you're yelling at.
"You shouldn't yell at any woman like that."
The now-subdued shutterbugs caught the Hollywood star on camera approaching the loudmouthed photographer with his finger pointed and as he pulled the man closer to speak in his sister's defence.
The photographer quickly and repeatedly could be heard apologizing to the star.
Farrell has made news off-screen at TIFF before.
In 2007 the star befriended a beggar named "Stress" and helped him get clean, sober and off the streets.
A year later, the Sun's Mike Strobel reported Stress' firm belief that, "Colin Farrell saved (his) life."
It was the second day in a row an uncomfortable incident marred the festivities. Friday, actress Jennifer Connellyw broke down in tears after an industry honcho ridiculed her for cutting short an appearance when she left an event early because she was grieving her dead father.
Rumours have been swirling the Irish star's new girlfriend, his Ondine co-star Alicja Bachleda, is pregnant - and now Farrell has revealed the news is true at the Toronto Film Festival in Canada.
Speaking to reporters on Saturday evening, the In Bruges star refused to go into details, but said, "Yes," when asked if the baby news was for real.
Farrell, 33, and the Polish actress, 26, began dating earlier this year.
The Irishman has a five-year-old son, James, with his ex-girlfriend Kim Bordenave.
The Irish actor has been dating actress/singer Alicja Bachleda-Curus since splitting from writer Emma Forrest in February.
The couple has kept a low profile since then, but have been photographed arriving at Los Angeles LAX airport together, with Bachleda-Curus, 26, clutching what appears to be a baby-bump.
If the pregnancy rumours are true, the baby will be Farrell's second - he has a five-year-old son James with model Kim Bordenave.
A representative for Farrell could not be reached to confirm the pregnancy rumours, as WENN goes to press.
The duo join David Thewlis, Anna Friel, Ben Chaplin and Ray Winstone in the film, which Monahan adapted from author Ken Bruen's novel.
The movie, which begins filming in the British capital this week, centers on a London criminal who is newly released from prison and becomes involved with a reclusive young actress.
The Irish charmer and reformed bad boy has been linked to a number of A-list women, including Britney Spears, Paris Hilton and Angelina Jolie.
But now he's planning a period of celibacy and.
Rather than use his break-up with Forrest as an excuse to revert back to his womanizing ways, the Alexander star has declared he's staying away from women to focus on his career, telling pals, "I've had enough of women."
A friend of the actor tells British tabloid the Daily Star on Sunday, "He has a whole new outlook on life. As far as he is concerned he finally has the right work/life balance. And, for once, that doesn't include women."
Farrell, 32, is currently filming The Way Back in Bulgaria.
Hayek and the Weinstein Company threw a party to toast Cruz and her Oscar nomination for her work in Woody Allen's Vicky Cristina Barcelona.
The guest list was pretty impressive...
First up, Cruz's VCB costar Scarlett Johansson. She now has dark red hair. Nope, she didn't change the color for anything like work. "She just said she wanted an autumn color," her rep tells me.
Now, back to the rest of the guest list.
The celeb-studded bash included Johansson's hubby, Ryan Reynolds, Demi Moore, Ashton Kutcher, Drew Barrymore, Michael Douglas, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Eva Mendes, Aaron Eckhart, Charlize Theron, Stuart Townsend, Adrien Brody, Antonio Banderas, Melanie Griffith, Josh Groban, Bob Balaban, Angela Bassett, Courtney B. Vance, Quincy Jones, Penny Marshall, directors Paul Haggis and Brett Ratner and execs Harvey Weinstein, Steve McPherson, Ryan Kavanaugh and über-agent Kevin Huvane.
Hayek served tapas and sangria. The party decor resembled a photographer's darkroom, with pictures of Cruz clipped onto wires suspended from the ceiling.
And Ms. Johansson wasn't the only one with a new 'do. Sexy man Colin Farrell had a newly shaved head. He chopped it off for his work in The Way Back, director Peter Weir's film about a group of soldiers who escape a Siberian gulag in 1940.
ACTOR, COMEDY OR MUSICAL: Javier Bardem, "Vicky Cristina Barcelona"; Colin Farrell, "In Bruges"; James Franco, "Pineapple Express"; Brendan Gleeson, "In Bruges"; Dustin Hoffman, "Last Chance Harvey."
"Hunger," starring Michael Fassbender as IRA hunger striker Bobby Sands and directed by British artist Steve McQueen in his film-making debut, has been shortlisted in the best British independent film category along with "In Bruges."
They are joined by "Man On Wire," "Somers Town" and "Slumdog Millionaire," a tale of a teenager from India's slums who competes on a television game show, which received six nominations when they were announced on Tuesday.
The prize ceremony will be held on November 30 in London.
Both "Hunger" and "In Bruges" have also been nominated for best debut director, best screenplay, best actor, best supporting actor and best technical achievement.
McQueen is also on the shortlist for best director, while "In Bruges" actors Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson are up against each other in the best actor category.
Ralph Fiennes was nominated twice in the best supporting actor category -- once for "The Duchess" and one for "In Bruges."
Other notable nominees include Keira Knightley for best actress in "The Duchess" and Sally Hawkins in the same category for her comic turn in Mike Leigh's "Happy-Go-Lucky."
Sienna Miller is up against Kristin Scott Thomas and Emma Thompson among others for best supporting actress in "The Edge of Love."
Thomas Turgoose, born in 1992, became the youngest best actor nominee at the awards for his performance in "Somers Town."
But Colin Farrell defied his "bad boy" reputation on Tuesday by speaking about his disappointment with the poor reviews and box office sales of "Alexander," Oliver Stone's 2004 film in which the actor played the bleached-blond conqueror.
The admission was all the more surprising as it came after gushing praise by a news conference moderator at the Rome film festival, who said he had seen Farrell calm an agitated horse on the set of Alexander by talking to it.
"Alexander hurt, you know -- and again people are going to say 'Get over it, you were well paid' and all that. But Alexander hurt," Farrell told reporters.
"The response that it got was really painful and all of us got a really hard time, and I didn't come across too well either in the majority of reviews and even with the audiences -- people did not respond to it.
"It was a film that was made to be seen by many people. Not many people saw it and they weren't particularly fond of it, and that was shit, it was really shit," he said.
Farrell, along with co-stars Angelina Jolie and Val Kilmer, was nominated for worst actor for his portrayal of the ancient Greek military leader at the 2005 Razzie awards, which recognize what its organizers deem the worst films of the year.
The film, with a budget estimated at $155 million, grossed $34 million at home, said tracking site www.boxofficemojo.com.
"I took it to heart. I felt like I had let a lot of people down, I felt like I had disappointed a lot of people ... And it took a while to get over that," Farrell said.
PRIDE AND GLORY
Sporting shoulder-length hair, the 32-year old Irish actor -- in Rome to present cop drama "Pride and Glory" -- said he had now come to terms with the failure.
"I probably got a bit disillusioned after that. I think only in the last couple of years starting with 'Pride and Glory' has that disillusionment ceased to be something that is still present in my life regarding the work," he said.
Farrell stars opposite Edward Norton and Jon Voight in "Pride and Glory," the portrait of a police family which find itself on opposite sides of a corruption scandal.
The movie opened at a disappointing no. 5 at the North American box office at the weekend and has had mixed reviews.
It is the only U.S. film in the main competition at the Rome festival, which this year has a light Hollywood presence.
It's still not enough to raise the cop thriller Pride and Glory much above mediocre.
Pride and Glory is an intense, if familiar, story about New York policemen dealing with the fallout of scandal and corruption.
The focus is on a family of cops, with Jon Voight as a cop honcho in Manhattan surrounded by his boys in blue: Two sons, played by Norton and Noah Emmerich, and a son-in-law played by Colin Farrell.
The movie's action kicks in with reports of a bloodbath: a drug bust has gone awry, and several people have been shot.
Four cops are dead.
In the investigation that follows, Norton's character quickly determines that corruption has touched his own family.
It's going to be brother vs. brother vs. brother, so to speak, with some downright crooked cops and others guilty of turning a blind eye.
If he continues his investigation, it could spell the end of his family.
Hmmnn ... what to do?
The violent tale, which includes a nod to the New York police torture scandal involving Abner Louima, has broader implications about those who close ranks against outsiders -- such as governments and big corporations, for example -- and concerns itself a lot with trust.
There's a lot of shooting and fighting in Pride and Glory, and when people aren't shooting or fighting each other, they're dealing with cancer in the family or marital breakdown or employee rebellion and dishonesty.
Norton visits his ex-wife on Christmas morning.
Farrell has criminals visiting his house, and his wife (Lake Bell) watches him rough up a guy.
Later, a character threatens a newborn with a household appliance (hint: not a microwave.)
It's a lot of chaos and darkness and violence, but it doesn't add up to much.
It's a bummer, actually, and a much-too-familiar one, given such recent movies as We Own The Night.
Pride and Glory had its debut during the Toronto film festival in September.
The movie has a handful of worthwhile scenes, but it's lacking in anything new or fresh.
The movie, which was co-written and directed by Gavin O'Connor (who's from a family of New York City cops), had its share of problems and postponements, and finally arrives in theatres about two years after it was filmed.
There isn't much more to say about We Own the Night 2. Oops, make that Pride and Glory.
Perhaps more than any other derivative film this year (and there are quite a few), Pride and Glory feels like something we've seen before.
This good cop/crooked cop saga has been done right in The Departed.
Pride's only saving grace is Edward Norton, whose mere presence raises the level of a film several notches. But it's unclear why he lately has chosen such worn-out material.
Norton plays a sharp NYPD detective with special skills in drawing out the right crime witnesses. He also is the scion of a hard-nosed chief of detectives (Jon Voight) and the brother of another cop (Noah Emmerich).
Emmerich's character is essentially decent, but he has let his principles slide. He is preoccupied, understandably, with worry over the well-being of his seriously ill wife (Jennifer Ehle). Colin Farrell plays the brother-in-law of Norton and Emmerich.
When several police officers are killed, Norton is assigned by his father to investigate. Isn't that some sort of conflict of interest?
It's hard to believe this movie was made by Gavin O'Connor, who directed, co-wrote and co-starred in the quirky mother-daughter road picture Tumbleweeds (1999). Save for the offputting cinematography, it feels as if Pride could have been made by a computer program titled "Generic cop drama." Did we mention all this mayhem occurs around Christmas, for some obvious symbolic juxtaposition?
Apparently, Pride and Glory finished shooting more than two years ago and its release date has been postponed a few times. It's no wonder. Blood-soaked and uninvolving, this dark story is noteworthy only for its strong cast.
Pride and Glory
* 1/2 (out of four)
Stars: Edward Norton, Colin Farrell, Noah Emmerich, Jon Voight, Jennifer Ehle
Director: Gavin O'Connor
Distributor: Warner Bros.
Rating: R for strong violence, pervasive language and brief drug content
Running time: 2 hours, 5 minutes
Opens Friday nationwide
It could be an uplifting drama about a basketball team breaking racial barriers, or it could be about an elite squadron of World War II fighter pilots. You'd never know the difference and it wouldn't matter anyway. Instead, "Pride and Glory" is an overlong saga of good and bad New York police officers battling for control, one that plays out both in back alleys and quiet suburbs.
Edward Norton and Colin Farrell chew up the scenery and spit it back out again as brothers-in-law and brothers in blue. When a cop killer takes down four of their comrades, years of schemes and resentments come bubbling to the surface.
It's no secret who is on which side: Norton's Detective Ray Tierney is the honorable one and Farrell's Jimmy Egan, who is married to Ray's sister (Lake Bell), is on the take. But Ray's older brother, Francis (Noah Emmerich), whose men were killed in the opening ambush, is also a factor, as is patriarch Francis Tierney Sr. (Jon Voight), the head of the detective division.
These are Irish cops, and just to pile on the cliches, Ray and Jimmy have a climactic, knock-down-drag-out brawl at their favorite hangout, a bar that's literally called Irish Eyes, with Irish music blaring in the background. At Christmas, no less! (That holiday is just one of the occasions for Dad to get sloshed on whiskey and start slurring about how proud he is of his sons. Poor sap.)
If director Gavin O'Connor's film sounds familiar, that's probably because it's a lot like "We Own the Night," which came out almost exactly a year ago. Joaquin Phoenix was the black-sheep brother, Mark Wahlberg was a young police captain on the rise and Robert Duvall was their veteran-lawman father. That movie was just as much of a throwaway, despite its similar pretensions of Greek tragedy.
O'Connor, who is as far away as humanly possibly from the last movie he directed — the 2004 crowd-pleaser "Miracle," about the gold medal-winning 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team — co-wrote the script with Joe Carnahan ("Narc"). O'Connor and his twin brother, Gregory, the sons of a New York cop, came up with the story along with Robert Hopes. In theory, these are people who know this world intimately, so it's mind-boggling that they were unable to breathe new life into such a well-worn premise.
The question isn't who is corrupt but rather whether the family can — and should — keep the corruption from becoming known. This results in many secret conversations away from the ears of the more innocent members of the clan (wives and children) in which characters rehash who knew what about whom and when. A subplot involving Francis Jr.'s wife (Jennifer Ehle), who has cancer, feels like an underdeveloped afterthought.
For a film about violence and action, "Pride and Glory" has absolutely zero momentum, and the dark, muddled visuals from cinematographer Declan Quinn certainly don't help. There is, of course, the obligatory funeral featuring officers in their formal uniforms and bagpipes blaring on a bitterly cold winter day. You get the picture — you've seen it all before.
Things don't really get interesting until almost the end of the movie, when Ray provides some unexpected answers at an interview with internal affairs. Then again, maybe that scene just feels inordinately exciting because it's the only one we didn't see coming.
"Pride and Glory," a New Line Cinema release, is rated R for strong violence, pervasive language and brief drug content. Running time: 140 minutes. One and a half stars out of four.
As actors, they can both chew scenery and are often preceded by their own reputations. Farrell's bad-boy rep has sometimes swelled larger than his screen presence. But while the 32-year-old actor might still chain smoke, he is sober, he says, after 15 straight years of constant drinking.
At the same time, his acting chops have been increasingly obvious this year, both in Martin McDonagh's "In Bruges" and with his more villainous turn in "Pride and Glory."
Norton's renown is less the tabloid kind, and more as a much respected actor, known through Hollywood for his passionate behind-the-scenes involvement in projects - involvement that doesn't always coincide with studio goals. (His disagreements with Marvel over "The Incredible Hulk" became public earlier this year.)
The two cheerfully convened for a recent interview together in New York, which provides the gritty setting of "Pride and Glory." Directed by Gavin O'Connor, the film is about a family of cops (Jon Voight plays father to Norton and Noah Emmerich, and father-in-law to Farrell) who must balance ethics with their family and their department.
Farrell: So the trickiest question I've had so far is, "What is like to work with Edward Norton?" because we didn't really work together.
AP: You have only two or three scenes together, the Christmas family dinner scene and the climactic fight scene.
Norton: (Laughing) All we did was fight.
Farrell: The Christmas scene was (Jon) Voight, really, wasn't it? That was the best scene of the film. You have six characters at a table, it can just disappear into the realms of the unspecified. And then Jon had this idea, you know. It came out of nowhere. None of us expected it.
Norton: Jon's a weird cat. I talked with Phil (Seymour) Hoffman about this. There's something about the guys from that era. There's something about the way we all work, I don't know why. I always feel more straight or more square. Somehow when I get around Voight or (Harvey) Keitel, they have a way they come at things that for a lot of us is somehow more unfamiliar. Like when I'm working with Colin or Noah, I feel on a footing where I'm like, "I know how to work with these guys." We kind of have a reference base that's the same. Then you get with those guys and you keep wondering where they're going to bring it from.
AP: Those actors from that era redefined masculinity on the screen, often appearing vulnerable in a way leading men hadn't before. It seems that's something you both contemplate, whether it's you, Colin, in "In Bruges" or Edward in a film like "Fight Club."
Norton: You have this aspiration to hit something visceral or masculine or an intensity. The longer I work and watch other people's work, I think exposing vulnerabilities is by far the hardest thing to do. It's really much easier to cocoon yourself or portray aggression or a physical behaviour. Whether it's Clint Eastwood, it's really interesting to watch actors get older and see if they start to peel away some of the exterior that's made them well known.
Farrell: I've played in - I hate the word "career" - but in the last 10 years, I've played various characters who have a cock-of-the-walk - I don't want to say they're impenetrable, but there is a toughness to them on the exterior. And I've always tried to find what hurts them.
AP: What got you interested in this film? It's obviously a kind of movie that's been done before.
Norton: I get how this might be "our take" on a cop corruption film, then it gets a little more active for me. I don't mind that it's a genre. I don't really care that other people have done one because if I can see in it things that I recognize as an experience - a set of problems that people are going through right now - then I start to feel like we're doing what we ought to be doing, which is helping people sort out the themes of the day. For me, I do like to feel like on some level it's a document of the moment, of the kinds of things we were wrestling with in the moment. If you can find that, it's nice. Then it's not just a gig.
Farrell: I just loved the script, man. ... It was also egregiously violent. Somebody asked me the other day, "How can you say that there's not scenes of gratuitous violence?" - particularly referring to (a scene in which his character threatens a baby with an iron). For me gratuitous violence is when you don't show the cost of the act.
AP: For a while, this film struggled to find a release when the studio, New Line Cinema, dissolved into a subsidiary of Warner Bros. As actors of both studio and independent film, are you cynical about where the business is going?
Farrell: I have been both idiotic enough and fortunate enough to keep myself out of the fray that is Hollywood over the last 10 years. I really have. ... My whole thing from the get-go was - and this isn't me trying to portray a generosity - is that I was hurting for Gavin more than I was for any of us. I had visions of it in a bargain bin in Blockbuster.
Norton: I can't explain why, I just didn't have that much worry about it. I had moments of going, "Oh, this could be rough." But, forgive me, but I don't even really think the story is that interesting or impenetrable. Despite the odd limbo, we've had a really excellent experience. ... I think it's come out at a really great moment. It's actually the perfect moment because of some of the themes of the film. The election ...
Farrell: Wall Street. One of the most latent questions of the film is the idea of institutions under the guise of protecting the greater good that end up protecting their own ends. It's the idea of self-governance. Can we self-govern as a people? It's ... Orwellian. Does it all fall to "Lord of the Flies"? If no one is looking over our shoulders, are we inherently generous enough as a race? Or will we just rape and pillage?
The Irish actor revealed that he checked himself into a five- or six-week program in 2005 after completing filming on Miami Vice, saying, "I was just done." (His sober musings kick in at the 3:25 mark.)
"I was pretty sick," he said, calling the experience of sobering up "a nightmare."
"I began to come out of the haze that I was in and had burrowed myself into so deeply…Basically, I'd been fairly drunk or high since I was 14. I was very drunk and high for 16 years so it was a tough life change, and I was dying. I'm one of the lucky ones."
The 32-year-old went on to say that while he was able to continue working while under the influence, it was an uphill battle to maintain any semblance of professionalism.
"So much of the work that I did I was struggling so hard to keep my s--t together," he said. "A lot of my energy was going into trying not to have a complete meltdown in front of Al Pacino."
Farrell and Pacino worked together on 2003's The Recruit.
"Desperation will allow you to do incredible things in the name of survival…I had created an environment for myself, a way of living for myself which, on the outside, seemed incredibly gregarious and vivacious."
Farrell went on to say that he takes full responsibility for his problem and isn't looking to scapegoat his predilection on genetics.
"I don't believe I have any chemical predisposition towards depression, but let's just call it…I was suffering from a spiritual malady for years and I indulged it," he said. "You can feel very alive when you're in pain."
Not that it's a feeling he's chasing any longer.
"I'm glad I'm out of that cycle of my life. I'm very lucky."
They arrive on different days, but in the movie biz, anything is possible. Pitt is due in Canada, sans Angelina Jolie, to hype Burn After Reading, his new Coen Brothers comedy with George Clooney. Aniston, meanwhile, will be talking up Management, a romantic comedy in which she's wooed by Steve Zahn and Woody Harrelson.
But those are just two of the 249 feature films set to screen and a few of the stars – cue Dakota Fanning, Ricky Gervais and Charlize Theron – set to shine over the 10-day festival, which has come to serve Hollywood as the annual unofficial launch of the Oscar race.
Here is a short list of the films featuring younger stars that are among the most highly anticipated flicks at the festival:
• After scoring big at last year's festival with Juno, Superbad's Michael Cera returns with Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist. He plays a music-obsessed youth who finds love when he least expects it during a visit to New York City. The movie opens Oct. 3.
• In Rachel Getting Married, Anne Hathaway stars as a woman who, following a stint in rehab, returns to her idyllic Connecticut hometown for the wedding of her older sister Rachel. Jonathan Demme (Silence of the Lambs) directed the comedic family drama, which opens in limited markets Oct. 3.
• Keira Knightley again dons sumptuous period petticoats and gowns for her title role in The Duchess, a biopic about Georgiana Spencer, a scandalous 18th century English aristocrat. Her costars include Ralph Fiennes and Charlotte Rampling. It opens Sept. 19.
• Irishman Colin Farrell works on his New Yawk accent in Pride and Glory, a crime drama in which he and Edward Norton star as brothers who are NYPD cops. Family bonds are tested as they uncover something rotten in the Big Apple. The film, which was scheduled to open earlier this year, is now set for release Oct. 24.
• Wedding Crashers star Rachel McAdams teams up with Tim Robbins and Michael Peña in The Lucky Ones, a drama about three soldiers returning home to the U.S. after serving in Iraq. The film, due to open Sept. 26, has been sitting on the shelf for months after Hollywood became hesitant following the box office failure of several war-themed movies – Rendition, Lions for Lambs, Stop-Loss – in late 2007 and early 2008.
• Rising British heartthrob Jim Sturgess (Across the Universe and 21) portrays a young Irishman in Belfast in the 1980s who finds himself unintentionally caught between the British Army and the IRA in Fifty Dead Men Walking. Ben Kingsley and Rose McGowan costar. The film does not yet have a U.S. release date.
"I lost weight because my role demanded it," Farrell told reporters simply of his upcoming film, Triage. "It was all very healthy."
The actor also referred to the Scott Anderson novel on which Triage is based, reading the sentences that inspired his dramatic weight loss: "He went to the bathroom to shave. Once his beard was gone he saw that his face had become drawn. He pressed at the hollows beneath his eyes, the pronounced nubs of his cheekbones."
"Amen," director Danis Tanovic followed, breaking the tension. Everyone – including Farrell – laughed.
Farrell spent five weeks in Alicante, Spain, filming Triage, in which he plays a war reporter in Bosnia in the early 1990s.
The actor also spoke of his great respect for war reporters "spending time in war zones to tell stories that capture the imagination – as well as for their wives and girlfriends."
The Miami Vice star was spotted in Spain while meeting up with some friends for dinner. But from the looks of a recent picture, it's probably safe to say the one-time beefcake didn't eat much meat...or anything else for that matter.
Word has it, though, that Colin is simply doing the method thing for the drama he's currently shooting titled Triage.
The film finds the 31-year-old actor playing a U.S. photographer whose life spirals downward upon returning home after covering a small war in late-1980s Kurdistan.
Let's just hope they have plenty of food at the wrap party, because somebody's gonna be starving!
Farrell will star as a photojournalist named Mark who returns home from a dangerous assignment. When his colleague and best friend fails to return home, Mark's girlfriend, Elena (Paz Vega), must find the clues to the mystery that's slowly killing her boyfriend. Christopher Lee also stars.
The film is scheduled to begin shooting this month on location in Ireland and in Spain. Farrell is currently in U.S. theaters with the acclaimed black comedy "In Bruges."
Farrell first went to the eastern town of Srebrenica where some 8,000 Muslim men and boys were killed after it fell to Bosnian Serb forces in July 1995.
"I felt sick," Farrell told Reuters after visiting the cemetery for the victims of the massacre, regarded as Europe's worst atrocity since World War Two.
"It is hard to describe how obviously the air and the land has been poisoned by the act of killing 8,000 people in the space of a day. But you really do get the sense of the pain and the loss and I am sad, I really am sad."
"Triage" will be directed by Bosnian filmmaker Danis Tanovic whose "No Man's Land" about the absurdity of war won the Oscar for best foreign language film in 2001. It will co-star Spanish actress Paz Vega and British actor Christopher Lee.
Farrell said shooting of the film, which deals with dilemmas in wartime, would start in a week in Spain and will then move to Ireland.
"I am playing a war photographer who has been covering wars for 12 years or so and something takes place in the film that closes the distance between himself and what he does," Farrell said.
"It is a funny journey into himself and the far-reaching effect of the war back at home."
Triage is based on a screenplay by U.S. reporter Scott Anderson.
Johnny Depp, Colin Farrell and Jude Law will step in to complete Ledger's unfinished role in the movie "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus" which is due for release next year.
"Since the format of the story allows for the preservation of his entire performance, at no point will Heath's work be modified or altered through the use of digital technology," said the film's producers in a statement.
"Each of the parts played by Johnny, Colin and Jude is representative of the many aspects of the character that Heath was playing."
Gilliam said filming on the British-Canadian production had resumed in Vancouver "with the blessing and support of Heath Ledger's family."
Ledger had just finished shooting scenes for the movie in London before his death. Newspapers have reported that the story involves a magical mirror that takes people into different dimensions, allowing Gilliam to switch between actors.
"I am delighted that Heath's brilliant performance can be shared with the world," Gilliam said.
"We are looking forward to finishing the movie and, through the film, with a modicum of humility, being able to touch people's hearts and souls as Heath was able to do."
"The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus" is described as a modern-day fantasy adventure and has a budget estimated at $30 million.
"He's nothing but a gift," Farrell, 31, said about son James on the Irish interview show Tubridy Tonight. With paternal pride he said: "As far as I'm concerned he's exactly the way he should be."
Though he was on TV to promote his latest movie, In Bruges, Farrell addressed the topic of James, whose Angelman Syndrome was revealed publicly last year.
"Angelman's is a neuro-genetic disorder," he explained. "The 15th chromosome is dormant. It affects their fine motor skills. They say that one in 30,000 children is affected by it."
According to his father, before James had celebrated his first birthday, he was showing signs of illness, which led to an early diagnosis for the boy.
Early Intervention
"I've been very lucky that it was early because he started having seizures at about eight or nine months," said Farrell. Initially doctors thought James had cerebral palsy but soon he was diagnosed correctly and "we got early intervention," said the Irish actor.
The genetic disorder, which can impair speech, movement and balance meant that James walked his first few steps last fall, when he was 4. "It's just different," said the actor. "It's not different to me. He has his own path. He's just brilliant."
Farrell shares custody of his son with the boy's mother, model Kim Bordenave. He said he decided to go public about his son's health after people started asking questions about his involvement with the Special Olympics.
"I didn't talk about my son [but] I felt like I was betraying him, like it could be misconstrued as shame, which would be terrible, because he's such a celebration," says Farrell.
Questioning the concept of "normal," Farrell says his son is happier than so many people in the world. "I look around and I see people who move perfectly, who walk with grace, who speak with great diction and clarity and a great use of the English language and we're all miserable f---ers – including me, at times.
"And then I see this fella who doesn't move the way what's perceived to be 'normal' is, and he's as happy as can be."
According to Ain't It Cool News, which even scooped trade heavyweight Variety, Jude Law, Johnny Depp and Colin Farrell will play Tony in the Terry Gilliam-directed feature.
The plot revolves around a man (Ledger) who discovers three mirrors, each of which transport him into a different dimension. Law, Depp and Farrell will play the character in those other dimensions.
"Imaginarium," which also stars Christopher Plummer, Tom Waits, Lily Cole, Andrew Garfield and Verne Troyer, is intended for a 2009 release. It's unclear when the movie will resume production.
Ledger was found dead from an accidental overdose of prescription drugs in his Manhattan apartment on Jan. 22.
Depp, up for an Oscar for "Sweeney Todd," will shoot Michael Mann's "Public Enemies" next.
Most recently seen in "Sleuth," Law has "My Blueberry Nights" and "Repossession Mambo" on tap.
If you live in the right places, you can currently see Farrell in "Cassandra's Dream" and "In Bruge." He's already completed work on the 2009 release "Pride and Glory."
Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson are clearly having a blast reveling in the rapid-fire rhythms of McDonagh's politically incorrect dialogue, their deadly profession a sharp contrast with their fairy-tale surroundings. Ralph Fiennes tears it up, too, as their brash boss.
Farrell, doing some of the best work of his uneven career, is like an anxious puppy dog as Ray, looking around nervously and complaining non-stop about his desire to be somewhere, anywhere else. Gleeson, meanwhile, is the sweetly calm father figure as Ken, who's tickled to be in Bruges and insistent on traveling its charming canals and taking in the medieval sights. (As Ray disdainfully puts it, "Going around in a boat. Looking at stuff.")
They play off each other with ease and relish, especially as the situations they find themselves in become increasingly absurd. An American actor on a movie shoot — a dwarf with a penchant for drugs and prostitutes played by Jordan Prentice — turns into a central figure.
That's why it's such an enormous letdown when McDonagh, directing his first feature, resorts to action-flick cliches in the film's overblown conclusion.
A heralded British playwright of Irish descent who's had hits on the Broadway and London stages ("The Lieutenant of Inishmore," "The Beauty Queen of Leenane"), McDonagh won an Oscar in 2006 for his live-action short "Six Shooter," which also starred Gleeson. Although his writing calls to mind both Quentin Tarantino and David Mamet, he's an engaging, original young voice.
"In Bruges" knocks you over with its initial energy, then turns intriguingly darker as Ray finds himself incapable of escaping the guilt he feels over the hit that went horribly wrong — his first and last — which forced him and his partner, Ken, to lay low. The twisted, violent images in the Bosch painting he and Ken ponder at a museum suddenly take on deeper meaning, and force him to consider feelings of fear and remorse he never knew he had.
Farrell gets the showier role of the two, digging deep for the emotional scenes and even getting a chance to flirt a bit with a pretty local girl (Clemence Poesy) who sells drugs to the actors on the movie set. Gleeson, meanwhile, exudes an effortless calm and quiet strength — you could just look at that fascinatingly weathered face all day — especially when Ken is given a particularly unpleasant assignment.
And while Fiennes further shakes things up as London crime boss Harry (pronounced 'arry) — an unusually thuggish role for the two-time Oscar nominee — his arrival in Bruges (pronounced broozh) also marks the film's undoing. McDonagh relies too heavily on foot chases and shootouts through the town's cobblestone streets; things turn way too obviously bloody, almost cartoonishly so. One character dies with a splat, another with a bang. And it's all smothered in an overbearing score from longtime Coen brothers collaborator Carter Burwell.
"In Bruges" is a wildly imperfect feature debut, but it does make you curious to see what else McDonagh has to offer.
"In Bruges," a Focus Features release, is rated R for strong bloody violence, pervasive language and some drug use. Running time: 107 minutes. Two and a half stars out of four.
It is easily one of the best debut feature films in recent memory. The notion of a pair of hit men cooling their heels as they're forced to play tourist in a picture-postcard town is clever enough. But as the story unspools, it grows more intriguing.
Martin McDonagh, an Irish playwright who won the Oscar for his short film Six Shooter, reveals immense talent as a writer/director with his first full-length film. A Sundance favorite, In Bruges is an original, offbeat and darkly comical caper film that twists and turns in compelling and unpredictable ways.
Brendan Gleeson is brilliant as Ken, one of a pair of hit men sent to Bruges, a medieval Belgian town, along with his partner in crime, Ray, played by Colin Farrell in probably his best performance. Ken and Ray have been dispatched to this storybook Flemish town by their capricious boss, Harry (Ralph Fiennes), but neither is clear why.
The surprisingly paternal Ken makes the best of their mysterious assignment by sightseeing, reading about and enjoying the town's scenic beauty. Ray is miserable, his gloom augmented by an overwhelming sense of guilt for a crime he committed that went bad. These are assassins who seem more like ordinary fellows with surprising moral codes, despite their occupation.
Though it sounds tough to rationalize, you find yourself simply accepting the terms of the film and going along for this unusual and very entertaining ride. Gleeson and Farrell have a wonderful chemistry, and their one-on-one moments are a highlight. Also winning are their often hilarious encounters with a slew of odd and unsavory characters. Ray is drawn to an attractive local woman (Clémence Poésy), who is associated with a surreal film in the making.
This tightly constructed action caper features a top-notch ensemble cast and some of the most memorable dialogue of any film in this genre.
Odd factoids abound — several relate to the history of Bruges, photographed beautifully here — and one is even about the suicidal tendencies of dwarfs.
The film's score, by one of cinema's best and subtlest composers, Carter Burwell, is a perfect counterpoint to the action. Curveballs and surprises are artfully woven into the quirky scenarios, which include a few exciting chase sequences and some humorously odd exchanges that bring Quentin Tarantino to mind. But mostly, In Bruges is sharply written, superbly acted, funny and even occasionally touching.
Chock full of wonderful lines delivered by a splendid cast, the film toys with the conventions and mostly transcends the limitations. But generous bloodletting might prove too much for the indie crowd, while artful conceit probably won't play in the multiplex. It's going to be a tough sell for Focus Features, which opens the film in select cities on February 8.
After a botched killing in London, Ray (Colin Farrell) and Ken (Brendan Gleeson) blow into Bruges, Belgium, like a breath of stale air. Ken essentially is baby sitting Ray for mob boss Harry (Ralph Fiennes) until the heat cools down or he figures out what to do with him.
The idea of soulful thugs on the lam among the medieval splendor of one of Europe's oldest cities is an inspired bit of storytelling conjured up by McDonagh, author of such pitch-black stage plays as "The Beauty Queen of Leenane" and "The Lonesome West."
While Ken falls under the spell of Bruges and turns philosophical, Ray finds new ways to get in trouble. On the set of a movie shooting in town, he is enchanted by beautiful Chloe (Clemence Poesy), who is not the pure princess she appears to be. A petty grifter herself, she leads Ray into a fateful barroom brawl and later a gruesome showdown with her partner in crime (Jeremie Renier), posing as her jealous boyfriend.
Things really get messy when Ken receives orders to wipe out Ray. Even for a lifelong criminal, this presents a moral dilemma. McDonagh has a fine time balancing the dark and light in what plays out like an absurdist gangster film. Things like Harry consulting a tourist map to find the quickest way to a killing or Ray karate-chopping a racist dwarf (Jordan Prentice) keep the mood from becoming too oppressive.
McDonagh is skilled at leavening the human cruelty with humor. An almost slapstick scene with a couple of overweight American tourists balances the brutal gunplay. Gleeson's girth and Farrell's hangdog sadness makes them feel like the mob version of Laurel and Hardy as they bicker and stew.
As a writer, and now a director, McDonagh understands how to fashion a scene for maximum mileage and gives his actors wonderful words to speak. Playing against type, the usually menacing Gleeson brings a sweetness to the role, while Farrell manages to be ghastly and sympathetic at the same time. And Fiennes is so comically vicious as to be almost unrecognizable.
With its gray canals, brown brick buildings and twinkling lights, there is indeed something magical about the city. But "In Bruges" is neither a world of fairy-tale gentility nor purely evil deeds. For McDonagh, it all coexists. And assisted by the glowing cinematography of Eigil Bryld and plaintive music of Carter Burwell, it's a life even bad guys find worth living.
Cast:
Ray: Colin Farrell
Ken: Brendan Gleeson
Harry: Ralph Fiennes
Chloe: Clemence Poesy
Jimmy: Jordan Prentice
Eirik: Jeremie Renier
Yuri: Eric Godon
Canadian Guy: Eljko Ivanek
Director: Martin McDonagh; Screenwriter: Martin McDonagh; Producers: Graham Broadbent, Peter Czernin; Executive producers: Tessa Ross, Jeff Abberley, Julia Blackman; Director of photography: Eigil Bryld; Production designer: Michael Carlin; Music: Carter Burwell; Costume designer: Jany Temime; Editor: Jon Gregory.
The third movie in a row he's set and shot in London, following "Match Point" and "Scoop," is also one of his darkest. Or at least it strives for darkness — there are repeated references to Greek tragedies, and while Allen is clearly aiming for that specific type of gravitas, he fumbles to find the right tone and never achieves suspense. (Philip Glass' typically insistent score signals early and often that everyone involved is doomed.)
But Allen does get some intriguing moments out of co-stars Colin Farrell and Ewan McGregor as brothers Terry and Ian, who are so desperate to escape their working-class upbringing that they're willing to commit a murder for hire.
Farrell is especially good — he isn't afraid to be weaselly and pathetic and get a little dirty for his performance as a garage mechanic and gambling addict who's in over his head. McGregor is slicker and more nuanced — Ian is a little better at hiding his longings, pretending to be a hotel developer and borrowing classic cars to impress an actress (charismatic newcomer Hayley Atwell) who's out of his league but shares his ambition.
As the film begins, the brothers are on the verge of buying a boat they can't afford. But Terry is pumped up from a big win at the dog track, which inspires them both to make this financial leap. They christen it "Cassandra's Dream," the name of the winning dog. The purchase is the first in a series of bad decisions they will make.
Allen jumps back and forth between both men's attempts to scrape together a better life. Terry wins big, then loses big, at high-stakes poker games and dreams of buying an apartment with his girlfriend (Sally Hawkins); Ian meets with real estate honchos and visits the seductive Angela, his new girlfriend, at the theater.
The promise of a visit from their wealthy Uncle Howard (Tom Wilkinson, always solid), a plastic surgeon who's moved to Los Angeles, gives them both hope. But Howard needs something from them, too, which gets them even deeper into trouble.
Allen doesn't seem to be judging these people for their ruthlessness or materialism. He just doesn't seem to care very much about them. He seems to be saying, it doesn't matter whether you're a good person or a bad person — destruction is certain, and the universe is indifferent. Such nihilism isn't exciting, it feels halfhearted.
"Cassandra's Dream," a Weinstein Co. release, is rated PG-13 for thematic elements, some sexual material and brief violence. Running time: 105 minutes. Two stars out of four.
The actor, 31, told PEOPLE at a New York screening of his film Cassandra's Dream that James's progress is "good" and stressed that the Angelman is a condition, "not a disease."
With the holidays coming up, Farrell says he's looking forward to some bonding time with James. "Yeah, absolutely," he said. "All the family will be together. What are we going to do? Nothing. The usual – watch movies, eat food ... take it easy."
Farrell shares custody of James with ex-girlfriend Kim Bordenave, the boy's mother.
In revealing his son's struggle back in October, Farrell said James shows "amazing courage," and added: "[I'm] incredibly blessed to have him in my life."
Take Two?
On a separate topic, Farrell added that he was somewhat nervous working with Cassandra director Woody Allen.
"I remember once saying, 'Can I get another take?' And he said, 'If you think you can do it better.' And he wasn't being a smartass. He meant it. I said, 'No, it's fine, actually.' I felt stupid. It was too much pressure."
Childline is a hotline that kids can call for help sorting out their problems. The UK fast-food chain, Abrakebabra will donate every cent they earn on Sunday to the help line.
In 2003, Farrell helped the aforementioned street-dweller, Stress, win $2,000 in a contest to bring him to a Toronto radio station. Hearing about it on the radio, he grabbed the first homeless person he saw and headed to the studio for the man to win the money.
Earlier this year, he was back in Toronto for their film festival, (promoting Cassandra's Dreams) and ran into Stress again. This time, Farrell took him on a shopping spree, gave him $1,000 (with which he bought food for others in his situation), and offered him rent money, but the man declined, according to local reports.
The movie was written and directed by award-winning Irish playwright Martin McDonagh, who makes his feature-film debut with "In Bruges."
"(The film) is brutal, philosophical, funny and totally original," Sundance festival director Geoffrey Gilmore said in a statement.
"In Bruges" tells of two hit men (Farrell and Brendan Gleeson) who botch a job in London and are ordered by their boss (Fiennes) to head to Bruges, Belgium, where they run afoul of locals, tourists and others.
McDonagh is known for plays including "The Beauty Queen of Leenane" and "The Lieutenant of Inishmore," which were nominated for Tony awards. He also directed one short film, "Six Shooter," which won an Oscar for best short film of 2005.
The 2008 Sundance festival runs January 17-27 in the ski resort town of Park City, Utah, east of Salt Lake City.
The festival was founded by actor Robert Redford, and over the years has been a key arena for little-known filmmakers, actors and actresses.
Sundance also has showcased low-budget independent or specialty movies that attract top talent because the films explore dramatic themes that Hollywood studios do not.
"The only time I'm reminded that there is something different about him – that he has some deviation of what is perceived to be normal – is when I see him with other 4-year-olds. Then I go, 'Oh yeah,' and it comes back to me," Farrell tells the Irish Independent. "But from day one I felt that he's the way he's meant to be."
Farrell says James shows "amazing courage," and adds: "[I'm] incredibly blessed to have him in my life."
The 31-year-old actor shares custody of James with ex-girlfriend Kim Bordenave, the boy's mother – whom Farrell credits with helping James get the help he needs. The child's early years have been a struggle, Farrell says, but recently the family enjoyed a major breakthrough.
"He took his first steps about six weeks ago, and it was four years in the making," Farrell says. "It was incredibly emotional. There wasn't a dry eye in the house."
Angelman Syndrome
Angelman Syndrome is characterized by developmental delay, speech impairment, movement or balance disorder, excessive laughter and even seizures, according to the Angelman Syndrome Foundation. Children who have the disorder are often not diagnosed until they are between 3 and 7 years old.
But Farrell refuses to characterize the condition as a disability.
"I have never thought of my son as being someone with a disability," he says. "It goes back to special needs and what is a disability and what isn't."
Coincidentally, Farrell helped promote the Special Olympics before his son's diagnosis. "I experienced the overwhelming effect of being around those athletes pretty much just before my son was born," says Farrell. "It's mad the way the world works."
Instead, the Irish actor, 31, spent his time with his girlfriend of six months, Muireann McDonnell, reportedly a 22-year-old student from Dublin.
Farrell and McDonnell were spotted smooching in their hotel pool on Friday, and dined that night at Morton's steakhouse. The couple also caught the Cirque du Soleil shows O and Love, where they sipped water, not alcohol.
(Farrell, who was once famously candid about his love of a pint, entered rehab in December 2005 for exhaustion and dependency on prescription medication related to a back injury.)
"Colin said he just wanted to have a relaxing weekend in Vegas," a source tells PEOPLE. "He was really into Muireann. He was making sure she was comfortable the entire time."
Farrell, who has a 3-year-old son, James, with ex-girlfriend Kim Bordenave, recently wrapped the drama Pride and Glory with Edward Norton. His rep did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
A 120-minute version of Michael Mann's big-screen remake of the 1980s TV cop show will open on the mainland three months after its world premiere, the Beijing Morning Post said, citing official industry sources.
State-run China Film Group declined to confirm the report when officials were reached by telephone.
Each year, China allows just 20 imported films to keep a percentage of their box office take and maintains a tight watch over content, often cutting scenes that offend Communist Party censors.
Beijing banned "Memoirs of a Geisha," starring Gong and Zhang Ziyi, after a public outcry about the Chinese stars' portrayal of Japanese courtesans and reported concerns about stoking long-time animosity toward their Asian neighbors. A scene of Tom Cruise killing a Chinese security guard in Shanghai was erased from the version of "Mission: Impossible III" released here.
"Miami Vice" has earned more than $155.5 million at the global box office.
On Monday a Los Angeles judge denied the Colin Farrell: A Dark Twisted Puppy author's bid to throw out the restraining order that's currently keeping her 150 yards away from her Irish muse.
Farrell secured the three-year injunction Aug. 28, about a month after Bradford approached him during a Tonight Show taping and was escorted out of the building by NBC security. She claimed it was an attempt to serve him court papers; Farrell called her "my first stalker."
The Miami Vice star's attorney, Jeffery McFarland, obviously objected to Bradford's request, stating in court documents that the self-published author, who in the past has filed "numerous harassing lawsuits" against Farrell, had no legal ground to stand on.
Bradford's first unsuccessful attempt to sue Farrell came in 2004, when she took the actor to small-claims court, alleging he had harassed her with lewd emails and text messages. She upped the ante last year, moving her lawsuit to federal court and asking for $10 million in damages. After that motion was tossed, Bradford refiled her suit in May, adding slander to her list of charges.
The third time wasn't a charm, however, but rather just landed her in a game of keep-away. Bradford appeared in court Monday on her own behalf, arguing that Farrell "is trying to give the impression that I'm some stalker, some delusional fan, which is absolutely not true."
"But you are somebody who comes up from the audience, which is not allowed, during the live taping of a TV show, to confront him," Los Angeles Superior Court Judge John Reid replied.
"I might have been overzealous in trying to get this done," Bradford said. "But I am by no means a Farrell stalker. I had no intention of getting that close to the stage and I apologize for that."
She also called a witness, a Burbank police officer who was working security at NBC at the time.
"During the live taping, she walked down from the audience area and passed the cameras onto the stage," Todd Mofford said, adding "that everybody didn't know if maybe, if this was part of the show. Colin Farrell grabbed her and confronted her and escorted her off the stage." To Bradford: "He grabbed you by the arm and walked you down the steps and called for security?He seemed alarmed." Bradford reminded the court that Mofford did not see her attack Farrell or throw a copy of her book at him, as stated in the actor's complaint against her.
A judge issued a temporary stay-away order against Bradford the day after her surprise Tonight Show appearance, with Farrell stating in his petition that he neither knew the 31-year-old woman nor "have I had personal contact with her prior to [last night], when she accosted me during a taping of a television show." The long-term restraining order also requires Bradford to stay away from Farrell's three-year-old son, James, and the child's mother, model Kim Bordenave.
Bradford further denied Farrell's claims Monday, telling CourtTV.com outside of court that his assertion that she harassed him is "totally a lie." She said that the actor reached out to her in 2004, wanting to be book number two. (Bradford's first foray into the literary arts was My S/M Romp with Alec Baldwin.) "Let the court of opinion be the judge and jury," she said, adding that she has taped phone conversations between the two of them that she's planning to put on her Website.
"That means if I have to go to Spago's and Colin's there, I have to leave?" CourtTV.com reported Bradford as saying to a friend as she made her way to her car. "That makes me steaming."
McFarland told the cable channel's Website that he was quite happy with Judge Reid's ruling today.
"When she speaks," the attorney said, "it speaks for itself."
The Miami Vice star has secured a restraining order against Dessarae Bradford, the former sex-line operator who unexpectedly bum-rushed the actor on the Tonight Show last month and who previously self-published the dubious tell-all Colin Farrell: A Dark and Twisted Puppy. The injunction bars Bradford from coming within 150 yards of him for three years.
Santa Monica Superior Court Judge John H. Reid issued the order against Bradford early Monday, following months of claims by Farrell the 31-year-old woman was stalking him.
The order, which also prohibits Bradford from coming within 150 yards of Farrell's two-year-old son, James, or the boy's mother, model Kim Bordenave, is good through August 2009.
The newly minted injunction replaces the temporary order issued July 21, a day after Bradford unexpectedly joined him onstage in the middle of his guest spot on the Tonight Show.
Bradford entered NBC's Burbank studios as part of the show's audience, only to walk on stage in the midst of Farrell's bantering with host Jay Leno. She began speaking to the star and was able to leave a copy of her literary opus behind before network security guards led her offstage and told her never to return to the studio.
"My first stalker," Farrell quipped to Leno. But he next morning, he got serious, dispatching his lawyers to request a restraining order.
"I am concerned that her harassing behavior has escalated and may pose an immediate threat to my wellbeing and the wellbeing of my family," his complaint stated.
"Ms. Bradford filed numerous harassing lawsuits against me and left threatening voicemails for my attorney. She also accosted me at The Tonight Show July 20, 2006, throwing books into my lap."
For her part, Bradford defended her behavior, writing on her personal Website that she only breeched security in an attempt to serve the actor with court papers and that, despite all outward appearances, she was "not stalking Colin Farrell."
In any case, Bradford has managed to keep her court docket full of Farrell-related litigation.
In 2004, the she unsuccessfully sued the actor for a paltry $5,000, claiming it was he who was stalking her. Bradford alleged that Farrell had bombarded her with unsolicited emails and texts, which she cited as causing her "mental anguish" and left her feeling "degraded."
The judge tossed the small-claims case after Farrell's lawyer claimed his client had never even met Bradford. So she made the claim a little bigger.
In July 2005, she refiled in federal court, this time buffeting her claims that Farrell was stalking her via phone calls and text messages with the added allegation of slander. She also took the liberty of bumping up her punitive damages to a requested $10 million. She has since been ordered to provide clear evidence as to why the new suit, like her initial one, should not be tossed.
1. Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, $47 million.
2. Barnyard: The Original Party Animals, $16 million.
3. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, $11 million.
4. Miami Vice, $9.7 million.
5. The Descent, $8.8 million.
6. John Tucker Must Die, $6.05 million.
7. Monster House, $6 million.
8. The Ant Bully, $3.9 million.
9. The Night Listener, $3.6 million.
10. You, Me and Dupree, $3.6 million
Gong plays the Chinese-Cuban lover of a crime lord in "Miami Vice," and Farrell is an undercover detective who has a relationship with her. "Miami Vice" reprises the iconic 1984-89 TV cop show of the same name.
The Chinese actress said Farrell "treats everybody well and takes great interest in everyone around him — not just me, but the crew as well. As a result, it's easy to feel relaxed around him," the Sunday Morning Post reported.
Gong, 40, said Farrell showed her how to drink beer, while she "taught him how to drink mojitos," a combination of rum, lime and soda served with a sprig of mint.
She said she went on a research trip to Cuba to learn about the Chinese community in the communist country, which she said was much like China in the 1980s, the paper reported.
"But Cubans are always very happy, even if they don't have too much money and their houses are worn down. Still, they are joyous people. In contrast, people in China in the '80s were more repressed emotionally," the paper quoted her as saying.
The film, which pairs Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx as the iconic TV characters Sonny Crockett and Ricardo Tubbs, took in $25.2 million US, compared to $20.5 million US for Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, according to studio estimates Sunday.
"It's nice to be number one," said Nikki Rocco, president of distribution at Universal Pictures.
The gritty, dark action film was directed by Michael Mann, who created the 1980s TV show. The movie was especially attractive to older audiences, with 62 per cent of the audience over 30, according to the studio's exit polling.
The audience was pretty evenly split between men and women, the polling showed.
"It's what our expectations were," Rocco said. "We tried to do something different. There has been a lot of criticism regarding unoriginal product. We took a TV series and made it very different."
The news was not necessarily bad for The Walt Disney Co., which produced Pirates.
In its third week, Pirates has earned $358.4 million US to become the highest grossing film in Disney's history, passing the $339.7 million US earned by the Pixar Animation Studios film Finding Nemo.
"After posting the biggest opening weekend of all time, it is living up to the promise created that opening weekend," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of Exhibitor Relations.
Pirates is on track to break the $400-million US mark in the coming weeks, Dergarabedian said.
The Pixar film Cars has also raked in $234.6 million US to date. And while the film is no longer in the top 10 at the box office, its cumulative gross makes it the second highest grossing film of the year, giving Disney the top two spots so far.
"It's a very happy weekend," said Chuck Viane, Disney's head of distribution.
The teen flick John Tucker Must Die from 20th Century Fox debuted in third place with a respectable $14 million US.
The film, with a budget of about $18 million US, attracted a predominantly young female audience with its story of four high school girls who seek revenge against an unfaithful boyfriend.
The Ant Bully, an animated film from Warner Bros., opened with a mere $8.1 million US.
The film featured the voice talents of Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts and Nicolas Cage and was produced by Tom Hanks. But it just couldn't compete against a crowded field of family pictures.
"It's much less than what we had wanted," said Jeff Goldstein, general sales manager at Warner Bros. "The marketplace is crowded. The kids have been bombarded."
The independent film Little Miss Sunshine opened strongly in limited release.
The quirky film starring Greg Kinnear and Steve Carell, took in $356,863 US in only seven theatres in New York and Los Angeles for a per screen average of $50,980 US.
Overall, box office revenue was up 6.3 per cent and attendance was up 3 per cent.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theatres, according to Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc. Final figures will be released Monday.
1. Miami Vice, $25.2 million.
2. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, $20.5 million.
3. John Tucker Must Die, $14 million.
4. Monster House, $11.5 million.
5. The Ant Bully, $8.2 million.
6. Lady in the Water, $7 million.
7. You, Me and Dupree, $7 million
8. Little Man, $5.1 million.
9. The Devil Wears Prada, $4.8 million.
10. Clerks II, $3.9 million.
Bolstered by positive reviews and enough heart-pumping action scenes to lure in young males, "Miami Vice" could open in the mid-$20 million range, insiders say. Some think it could earn $30 million, which would set up a strong run for the film and help fuel the second half of the summer box office.
Either way, "Miami Vice" will end the three-week reign of "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest," which is on track to earn $20 million.
With a budget reportedly in the neighborhood of $135 million, Mann has reimagined the "Miami Vice" television show he executive produced in the 1980s as a dark, stylized drama with laconic dialogue and impressive action scenes. Rated R, the film version of the series stars Jamie Foxx and Colin Farrell as undercover narcotics officers.
Mann's films, while well-regarded, never have grossed more than $101 million; 2004's "Collateral," starring Tom Cruise and Foxx, holds that honor. It kicked off with $24.7 million.
Warners' PG-rated "Ant Bully" is expected to open at No. 3 in the mid-teen ranged. It was produced by Hanks, the star of "The Polar Express," the studio's bold animation foray from 2004. Its high-pedigreed voice talent includes Julia Roberts and Nicolas Cage.
Directed by "Jimmy Neutron" creator John A. Davis, "The Ant Bully" enters the crowded animated family space sandwiched between Sony Pictures' "Monster House," which bowed last weekend, and Paramount Pictures' "Barnyard," opening next week.
"Bully" has a similar feel to two previous animated films about bugs: Pixar's "A Bug's Life" and DreamWorks Animation's "Antz," both released in 1998. That is a generation ago for the young audiences of animated films, and "Bully" does have a 3-D Imax release going for it as well.
20th Century Fox's "John Tucker Must Die" is on track to open in the low teens. Starring "Desperate Housewives"' hunky gardener Jesse Metcalfe as the three-timing Tucker, the movie is sure to lure teenage girls. The PG-13 was directed by Betty Thomas. Fashioning itself after Paramount's successful "Mean Girls," "Tucker" will get up to that film's gross of $86 million only if it proves smarter than the typical fare aimed at its target demographic.
In limited release, Fox Searchlight opened the Sundance Film Festival hit "Little Miss Sunshine" on seven screens Wednesday. The indie acquired the picture for a record $10.5 million at January's festival, and high hopes are riding on the film starring Greg Kinnear, Steve Carell and Toni Collette. An R-rated road trip comedy about a dysfunctional family, the film is directed by husband-and-wife music video veterans Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris from a script by Michael Arndt.
Focus Features will open Woody Allen's "Scoop" in 537 theaters. Starring Allen's latest muse, Scarlett Johansson, and Hugh Jackman, "Scoop" centers on a journalism student who receives the scoop of a lifetime. Allen co-stars as his neurotic self. The film hopes to reach the levels of Allen's previous hit, "Match Point," which grossed $23 million. Reviewers haven't been as kind to Allen's latest release, though, which is likely to hamper the film's draw.
"[Michael had] enough of me going up to him and saying, 'Look, I really think that this is a great opportunity for you to take a commercial hit, a franchise, and bring the real film capability that Michael Mann has together,'" recalls the Oscar-winning actor. "So, now, we're all protected, in the sense of we're doing a big-time summer movie, but it's still held together by the Michael Mann way of thinking."
That way of thinking from the man behind "Collateral" and "Heat" meant bringing the gritty reality behind undercover work and drug trafficking to the forefront.
"When the proposition became really exciting for myself ... was the idea of really getting into undercover work," explains Mann, "and what it does to you, what you do to it, and the whole idea of living a fabricated identity that's actually just an extension of yourself, and doing it in 2006 -- doing it for real and doing it right now.
"If you think about it, that then defines a whole bunch of stuff. You're not going to have crocodiles or alligators, and you're not going to have sailboats. You're not going to have nostalgia. And, you're going to do it for real, as a big picture that's going to be R-rated because you do dangerous work in difficult places where bad things happen, you have relations with women, there's sexuality and there's language."
In this updated "Vice," partners Sonny Crockett (Colin Farrell) and Ricardo Tubbs (Foxx) are tracking down a leak that has led to the slaughter of two federal agents and the murder of an informant's family. They go undercover transporting drug loads into South Florida, encounter the Aryan Brotherhood and occasionally get tempted to sympathize with the bad guys.
Judging by the numerous one-note questions by reporters at a crowded press conference, however, the public may not be ready to let go of their memories of the classic TV series, which involves pink flamingos, colorful drinks, white suits and an overall atmosphere of pastel-tinted attitude. Several times during the panel interview, Mann and his stars were called on to defend this updated, classy, dark and serious version.
While the director says his film is "re-imagining" that maintains the spirt of the show and Foxx launches into a long, drawn-out metaphor comparing the film to a dunk contest where someone is wearing Dr. J's jersey, Farrell finally turns the tables, claiming that it's the audience that's forgotten the show's dramatic underpinnings.
"As I remember it, and a lot of people I know remember it, 'Miami Vice' only became camp in hindsight," declares the Irish actor. "At the time, it was a really cutting-edge show. The subject matter was really dark -- drugs, prostitution, so on and so forth -- with Crockett's backstory, with his two children and his wife. Some very reality-based situations were dealt with very honestly for the time, and this has just been elevated to today's modern age."
To prepare for going undercover, Farrell and Foxx went through three months of rigorous training, which involved working with law enforcement, drilling at a gun range four times a week and the more elusive experience of "street theater" -- simulations with real undercover agents performing buys and transporting goods.
"The most difficult thing to acquire is all the skills that I think these folks have, in terms of really being in an undercover situation," says Mann. "When they're confronted at Jose Yero's, and these guys have responses ... the skill and the self-confidence they have came from lots of scenarios that Colin and Jamie and Naomie [Harris] and Gong Li did, with real folks who really do do this stuff. They did simulations that were very, very realistic, and they did it a lot. I'm real proud of their work, and the benefit of it is what you see on screen."
While Farrell enjoyed the challenges of the action sequences, he emphasizes that "Vice" has its share of dramatic work that delves into his character's emotional confusion. While undercover, Crockett begins a romantic relationship with Isabella (Gong), the beautiful Chinese-Cuban financial officer of a globalized cartel. Even though he thinks he can divorce his emotions from his undercover work, his loyalties are tested when the entire operation comes to a head.
"Isabella and Crockett are two people who find each other, in the wrong place, at the wrong time, though they're the right people," says Farrell. "He's on one side of the law and this woman, Isabella, is on the other side of the law, and they come together in what is a very dangerous idea and a very bad idea. The scene they have in Havana, they say at the bar, 'You know, this is never going to last. It's never going to work,' but they find in each other, in that act of making love, that it's almost overwhelming.
"Crockett's someone that would have had one night stands over the years, prolifically, and never be emotionally attached to anyone, and one of the primary reasons would be the work that he involves himself in," continues the actor. "But he finds with this woman someone that seems to make complete sense, perfect sense. And so, doing our [love] scene together was just about emotional investment, or emotional realization, in seeing some of yourself -- maybe the best of yourself, and none of the worst -- in the other person, but there is something quite tragic to it as well."
Perhaps it was this emotional core that Gong also tapped into for the love scenes, which made her growing English-language skills unnecessary.
"There are a lot of things that you don't have to use language to communicate," she insists. "You can use eye contact, body language, and so on. That's what art is about."
The art that is "Miami Vice" will inflitrate theaters nationwide on Friday, July 28.
Dessarae Bradford, who unexpectedly approached Farrell during a Tonight Show taping Thursday and left a copy of her self-published tell-all on Jay Leno's desk before being escorted out of the building, announced Monday that she had been trying to serve the 30-year-old Irishman with court papers.
Whatever she was trying to do, Farrell didn't much appreciate it. First he joked to Leno that he had just met his first stalker. Then he obtained a temporary restraining order against her the next day, compelling her to stay at least 150 yards away from him; his son, James; and James' mother, model Kim Bordenave.
On the other hand, Bradford wrote on her personal Website after the incident that she is "not stalking Colin Farrell," but in fact is "too self-absorbed to ever stalk anyone."
"I am telling the truth," she continued, directing her comments at the media. "Colin and his handlers are lying...If you all don't start checking more thoroughly what Colin's people are saying you will be unknowingly, yet viciously lying to your viewers, readers and listeners, not to mention destroying my name, and my life."
Bradford sued Farrell in December 2004 and again in July 2005 in Los Angeles Superior Court, alleging he had stalked her with phone calls and profane, smutty text messages. After her initial claims proved to be too small even for small-claims court, the 31-year-old woman re-sued the Miami Vice star for $10 million in U.S. District Court in May, adding slander to the original harassment allegation. A federal judge has since ordered her to produce clear evidence why this suit shouldn't be tossed out, as well.
She said that no one has seen footage of last week's Tonight Show incident because Farrell gave her a much warmer reception than reports have suggested.
"Security never came over to us and Mr. Leno never moved from his seat nor summons [sic] his security because Colin was talking to me comfortably with his whole arm draped around me extremely close," Bradford said on her site. "He chatted with me as I tried to explain my presence at the show, until he realized people took notice of us talking closely. He then whispered softly for security after he and I were still debating about settling this court matter before going to court."
Instead of taking her by the elbow and steering her toward waiting security, as eyewitness reports have stated, Farrell "put his arm around me and started walking me off the stage whispering certain things to me that I will mention later, trying to avoid being detected by the microphone still attached to him at the time."
Bradford, who also penned My S/M Romp with Alec Baldwin, told E! News outside the federal courthouse in downtown Los Angeles Monday that NBC security "parted like the Red Sea" as she walked toward the stage. The court papers weren't in her hand at the time, she said, but she had mainly been trying to distract Farrell and Leno so that a private investigator in her employment could serve the bloke with the hearty Irish brogue.
(She also denied reports that used to be a phone sex operator, saying that she is only an author.)
"Colin has hurt me so deeply, and I'm here to disparage the rumors and lies," Bradford told reporters. "I am not a stalker, and he's machete-chopped my name [in public]." The aspiring auteur also passed out copies of her book.
"I didn't bum-rush the stage," Bradford added, claiming that Farrell "immediately" recognized her. She added that her associate was able to serve the actor later than night at the Miami Vice premiere in Westwood. The Michael Mann-directed film hits U.S. theaters this Friday.
A court hearing is scheduled for Aug. 16 for Bradford to respond to Farrell's concerns about his and his family's safety.
Farrell joins John Cusack on the list of male celebrities playing the he-said, she-said game right now. A transient woman whom Cusack obtained a restraining order against last week has filed for a court order barring him from approaching her. You know, just in case the mood struck.
It's Miami Vice, 2006-style, as envisioned by writer-director Michael Mann, the executive producer who shepherded the TV show as it became a 1980s pop-culture sensation for its clothes, music, MTV glitz and ambitious storytelling that brought big-screen flair to the small tube.
When it came time to upgrade Miami Vice to movie theatres, Mann was not interested in revisiting the past. Where movie adaptations such as Starsky & Hutch and Charlie's Angels wove in familiar trappings from the old shows, Mann presents a darker, gutsier story with none of the old TV trademarks of Miami Vice.
"The whole idea was to do Miami Vice for real and to do it now, and it would take place now. And if you're going to do it for real, then the first question you have to ask yourself is: Do I have those points of connection to the show?" Mann told The Associated Press. "It's nostalgia, and I find that passive and not interesting. ... If you're going to do Miami Vice for real, you're not going to get into the cartoon stuff, and you're not going to try to trigger recall of the show."
As narcotics detectives going after a Latin American drug ring, Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx are more subdued and sombre than their TV counterparts, Don Johnson as good old boy Crockett and Philip Michael Thomas as smooth ex-New York cop Tubbs.
Mann sticks to a more nocturnal Miami, cutting a daylight speedboat race that originally was to open the film and instead plunging Crockett and Tubbs right into a nighttime undercover job.
And this is a far bloodier and sexier Miami, Mann trotting out colossal firepower in the R-rated film's gunplay and showcasing some steamy love scenes.
Universal Pictures had considered holding the movie to a PG-13 rating to maximize audience appeal, but Mann convinced studio executives that a big-screen Miami Vice needed to take the gloves off.
"Who wants to go see another remake of a television show that has limited itself" to the same standards that applied to the series? Mann said. "Small screen, no overt sexuality, no language, no violence. Had all these kind of censorship rules attached to it. So who'd want to go see that? I wouldn't want to make it."
Foxx - who co-starred in Mann's two most recent films, Ali and Collateral - planted the seed for the movie four years ago during a birthday party for Muhammad Ali. The actor told Mann that audiences were ripe for a new take on Miami Vice.
Though he had envisioned links to the TV show such as a hip new version of the theme music, Foxx said Mann made the right call in leaving the TV associations behind.
"High risk, hopefully big return," Foxx said. "High risk in absolutely departing from everything that Miami Vice is about, because people will go in expecting it. But hopefully, you'll catch them with a breath of fresh air in the summer time with a real film that sits down on you and challenges you."
Challenging films have been Mann's passion, which explains his relatively modest output - nine films in the 25 years since he made his big-screen debut with the James Caan heist tale Thief.
Mann, 63, chooses difficult subjects, often violent crime sagas such as Collateral, Heat and Manhunter, the first adaptation about serial killer Hannibal Lecter. Other Mann films include the French and Indian War epic The Last of the Mohicans and the tobacco-industry thriller The Insider, which earned him Academy Awards nominations for best picture, director and screenplay.
"I've never met a director as intense or even crazy as Michael Mann," said Gong Li, co-starring in Miami Vice as a money launderer who strikes up a romance with Farrell's Crockett. "He's crazy about the movies, and he has - I don't know if it's some kind of special talent or innate ability or what - but he has a way of seeing things from a different angle or really finding new ways to do things."
Mann is a compulsive filmmaker, writing scripts, often operating the camera himself, and constantly experimenting with technology such as the high-definition digital photography he used on Miami Vice.
He has a rare talent for mixing suspense and explosive action with meaningful stories and full-bodied characters. Aiming for character depth and authenticity, Mann put his actors through tough paces, sending his stars out on training exercises with real undercover agents and even requiring co-stars who never fired a weapon in Miami Vice to put in practice on the shooting range.
"We all know he can handle an action sequence," Farrell said. "But unless it's backed up with some human drama, unless you have some kind of emotional investment in the characters, he understands that the validity of doing big-scale things isn't there unless you really do care about the characters that you're watching."
An English major in college, Chicago native Mann settled on a directing career after taking a film class. He studied at the London Film School and began writing for such TV series as Police Story and Starsky and Hutch in the 1970s.
Mann always was aiming for the big screen, though. He signed on as executive producer on Miami Vice amid the frustration of struggling to get movie projects off the ground. With a bold, cinematic script for the pilot by series creator Anthony Yerkovich, Mann discovered he could tell mini-movies each week that defied traditional TV restrictions.
"We just started making these wild shows in seven days," Mann said. "If there was something you weren't supposed to be able to do, that was the big attraction. It's episodic television. You can't race boats down the inland waterway and then have one jump over a bridge. Yeah, who says you can't? I even got Miles Davis to be a guest star, then Lee Iacocca, then Don King. We just did it all.
The order issued Friday in Los Angeles County Superior Court in Santa Monica requires Dessarae Bradford, 31, to stay away from the actor pending an Aug. 16 hearing before a judge, a court clerk said.
The order bars Bradford from coming within 150 metres of the Irish actor, as well as his home and workplaces.
A call to Bradford's home and e-mail seeking comment were not immediately returned Friday.
The Tonight Show incident occurred Thursday at NBC studios in Burbank, Calif. It was not shown in that night's broadcast.
"Mr. Farrell had never met or spoken to Ms. Bradford until the incident at The Tonight Show," said a statement from Farrell's publicist, Danica Smith.
The statement also said Bradford "has unsuccessfully pursued two fabricated lawsuits" against Farrell during the last two years. It said courts dismissed both suits but gave no details of those claims.
In May, however, Bradford sued Farrell in federal court for libel, assault and slander, seeking $10,000 in damages. A previous suit filed in small-claims court and then in state court was dismissed.
Bradford was a ticketed member of the audience when she walked onto the set, said Burbank police Sgt. Kevin Grandalski.
"She gave him either papers or books. She gave him some object," Grandalski said.
"NBC chose to have her escorted off the premises" and she was told she would be arrested if she returned, he said
The incident was described by audience member Molly Mattaini, 16.
"She said something to Colin Farrell that no one heard, then he took her by the elbow, led her off stage, asked the cameramen to turn off their cameras and asked for security," she said.
"She said something to Colin Farrell that no one heard, then he took her by the elbow, led her off stage, asked the cameramen to turn off their cameras and asked for security," said Molly Mattaini, who was visiting from St. Paul, Minn.
"Tonight Show" spokeswoman Tracy St. Pierre said the incident won't be broadcast.
The woman was detained by a Burbank police officer hired by NBC to provide security, but was not arrested "at the request of NBC," said police Sgt. Carlos Gomez.
Farrell's publicist did not immediately return messages left after business hours.
Mattaini, 16, said Farrell returned to the stage and apologized to the audience.
"He sat back down and said, 'My first stalker,' and Jay Leno said, 'Welcome to celebrity,'" Mattaini said.
Farrell remained on stage the rest of the show, appearing "very calm, very collected," Mattaini said. Later in the evening, he appeared at the premiere of his new movie, "Miami Vice."
The network is planning to air the two-hour "Miami Vice" pilot on Saturday, July 22, interspersing it with behind-the-scenes material from the film, which hits theaters the following week. Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx, who star in the film, will host the event.
"Miami Vice" premiered on NBC in September 1984, introducing the world to detectives Sonny Crockett (Don Johnson) and Ricardo Tubbs (Philip Michael Thomas) -- not to mention a groundbreaking way of presenting a TV series. Derisively dubbed "MTV cops" at first, the show nonetheless became a huge hit with its bright, slick visuals, innovative use of music and distinctive style.
It was also, once you got past the pastel hues and Crockett's pet alligator, often a pretty dark, violent show. The movie version, written and directed by series executive producer Michael Mann, appears to keep that tone while also going for a darker visual palette than its predecessor.
The movie, scheduled to hit theaters on Friday, July 28, is produced by Universal Pictures, which falls under the same corporate umbrella as NBC. There won't be any rights issues with the series pilot either, as the show was made by what was then called Universal Television.
Joulles Wright, 35, was riding on a speedboat when an improperly secured bumper broke off and struck her in the face, according to the lawsuit filed Thursday in circuit court in Miami-Dade County.
Wright, who had been hired as Farrell's dresser during the filming of the movie in Miami, needed surgery and had to have her jaw wired after the August 2005 incident, said Tonya Meister, her attorney.
"She continues to have significant pain and continues to seek medical treatment," Meister said.
The defendants named in the lawsuit were MV Film Productions L.L.C., Entertainment Partners Inc., EPSG Management Services and GE/NBC Universal.
The lawsuit claims the speedboat was unsafe and the defendants did not give Wright adequate medical care, which aggravated her injuries and caused additional pain.
The defendants and the film's director, Michael Mann, did not return phone calls to The Associated Press.
Miami Vice, starring Farrell and Jamie Foxx, is an update of the TV police series that helped define '80s pop culture. It opens July 28.
The "Syriana" actor and former "ER" doctor topped a nationwide poll of Lifetime viewers as the woman's dream celebrity date with 39 percent of the votes.
Younger celebs didn't even come close. Soon to be divorcee Nick Lachey grabbed 14 percent of the votes, followed by Colin Farrell (10 percent), Orlando Bloom (9 percent), Derek Jeter (8) and Jake Gyllenhaal (6).
Like Clooney, TV doctors are still popular with the ladies, with Dr. McDreamy ("Grey's Anatomy" star Patrick Dempsey) leading the way for doctors in love, followed by "ER's" Noah Wylie, "Nip/Tuck's" Julian McMahon and "Lost's" resident cutter Matthew Fox.
Apparently, the public isn't ashamed of its voyeuristic attitude, admitting to thinking about their favorite celebrities' sex lives. According to the poll, Will and Jada Pinkett Smith most likely get the sheets blazing (41 percent), followed by Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher (20 percent), "Desperate Housewives" star Eva Longoria and Tony Parker (11) and Ben "Sorry honey, I have a headache" Affleck and Jennifer Garner (7).
And just in time for "The Break Up," viewers also weighed in on the couples they would most like to see work things out.
Singer Sheryl Crowe and cyclist Lance Armstrong came in first, with Hilary Swank (who recently filed for divorce) and Chad Lowe not far behind.
The poll is the latest in the Lifetime Television Pulse Poll series.
According to the generally reliable Production Weekly website, Colin Farrell and Ewan McGregor will star in the project, which will begin shooting in June. Oscar nominee Tom Wilkinson ("The Full Monty") is also in the mix for the Allen film, which currently lacks a name.
The plot apparently involves two brothers (McGregor and Farrell, presumably), who turn to crime due to their financial woes. The lure of the dark side tears them apart. Production Weekly offers no hint as to whether this film is a comedy or another drama in the "Match Point" vein for Allen.
A lead female role has yet to be cast.
This apparently has no remaining connection to the project Allen was on the verge of shooting in Paris starring Michelle Williams and David Krumholtz. The plug was pulled on that effort back in April amidst reports that the budget was moving higher than the director's comfort level.
The Oscar winner is still set to shoot the film after this one in Spain.
In addition to earning a screenplay nod from the Academy, "Match Point" became Allen's biggest hit in years, grossing more than $75 million worldwide. His follow-up, the comedy "Scoop," is set for release on July 28.
Farrell was most recently seen (by one or two people) in Robert Towne's "Ask the Dust." Presumably he'll attract more attention later this summer in "Miami Vice."
McGregor is coming off a pair of underperformers in "Stay" and "The Island," though his last credit before those two was a little film called "Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith."
The actor and his former girlfriend, Nicole Narain, reached an amicable settlement in their legal battle over a sex tape they made together three years ago, her lawyer said.
"We were able to completely resolve it. The terms are confidential," Narain's attorney, Leodis Matthews, told the New York Daily News.
Farrell sued Narain, a onetime Playboy Playmate, last year, accusing her of trying to peddle the tape through a third party, despite a prior agreement that the footage was for private viewing only. He demanded general and compensatory damages, as well as the return of all copies of the tape to his possession.
A judge subsequently issued an injunction blocking Narain from distributing the tape, but that didn't stop footage culled from the mattress romp from making a brief online appearance in January.
Evidently a lot less modest than her ex about their X-rated escapades, Narain filed a motion asking that Farrell's lawsuit against her be dismissed, clearing the way for her to sell the tape.
However, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Elihu Berle rejected Narain's request last month, ruling that there was enough evidence behind Farrell's claim for the matter to go to trial.
Per the Daily News, Farrell, Narain and their respective lawyers spent several hours together on Easter Sunday hammering out the terms of the settlement. It was reportedly the first time that the former couple had been reunited since the sex tape surfaced last year.
They were joined by Phoenix-based porn agent David Hans Schmidt (aka the "Sultan of Sleaze," a key figure in the brokering of numerous celebrity sex tapes) and representatives from the Internet Commerce Group (ICG), who had hoped to sell the tape together.
Farrell is pursuing his lawsuit against ICG, with whom Narain allegedly signed a seven-figure contract to release the tape.
Trial in the matter is scheduled to begin July 21 in Los Angeles Superior Court.
A Los Angeles judge has rejected Farrell's ex-girlfriend's request to clear the way to release the former couple's steamy, three-year-old sex tape.
Nicole Narain, Playboy's Miss January of 2002, had asked Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Elihu Berle to throw out Farrell's lawsuit barring her from distributing the videotaped hookup. Farrell filed his suit last July, claiming Narain and her porn-peddling pals had no right to release the X-rated romp because the 15-minute tape had been for private viewing only.
On Monday, Berle denied Narain's motion, ruling there was sufficient evidence provided in Farrell's complaint for the trial to go forward. Berle said it was up to a jury to decide whether Narain committed a litany of transgressions as alleged by her ex, including breach of oral contract, invasion of privacy, violation of common law right of publicity, unfair competition and unfair business practices.
The judge also rejected Narain's argument that her ex-beau's lawyers were making an unsupported copyright infringement claim against the former Playmate. Farrell's lawyer, Paul Berra, called the latter claim a red herring, saying that if the case was about copyright violations, it would have been brought before a federal court instead.
As for Narain's attorney, Leodis Matthews, the judgment didn't appear to be much of a surprise.
"The judge took the position we pretty much expected he would take, but we had to narrow down some of the issues," Matthews said outside court.
Matthews added that next he will file an answer to Farrell's sex tape lawsuit and a counterclaim seeking a specific delineation of his client's rights in the pending case.
Narain and Matthews' argument will hinge on Farrell's intentions in making the tape, claiming the actor can be heard toward the end of the video asking Narain what she wants to do with the footage.
Not that they've been able to pin down the Miami Vice star to ask him.
Earlier this month, Matthews spoke out against Farrell, saying the star was not cooperating with them and had repeatedly avoided giving a deposition in the case.
"We've been trying to do the plaintiff's deposition for the last three months," Matthews told Los Angeles' KCAL 9 News at the time. "We've heard everything from [drug] rehabilitation to travel outside the country."
As it stands, Narain challenges the Irishman's claim that they agreed to keep the tape private and furthermore says that as "cocreator" of the video, federal copyright laws grant her the right to produce, market, distribute and, most importantly, profit from it.
But for the time being, a restraining order is in place to keep Narain from doing any of those things. The order, coming at Farrell's request, is temporarily blocking public release of the tape, though it hasn't always done its job.
On Jan. 10, both stills and clips of the duo's explicit escapades were briefly leaked on the Internet. While Narain denied any part in the surfacing of the footage, she did admit to meeting with the adult Website company Internet Commerce Group and celebrity porn broker David Hans Schmidt to discuss ways of marketing the titillating romp.
Shortly after the leak, a new defendant was added to the case. Farrell's camp expanded their suing scope to include former Price Is Right model Candace Smith as a defendant, accusing her of attempting to sell the footage.
Berle has ordered mediation for the trial to wrap up by Apr. 20 and set a status conference for Apr. 27. If both sides fail to come to a resolution on the claims, a trial date has already been penciled in for July 17.
People from all over are moving to the West Coast in search of fame and fortune and sunny good health. The city is full of dreamers and beautiful losers. While the movie evokes the period well, thanks mostly to the stellar cinematography of Caleb Deschanel, it is a flawed and leaden adaptation of John Fante's seminal novel.
Ask the Dust aims to be an exploration of prejudice, passion and the quest for the American dream, as seen through the eyes of Arturo Bandini (Colin Farrell), the son of Italian immigrants.
Bandini moves to California from Colorado to pursue his dream to write fiction, winding up in a rundown boardinghouse.
His fortunes ebb and flow, but the story remains flaccid. Farrell does a fine job playing tortured and impassioned, but it's a leap to believe he hasn't had much experience with women and suffers from waning self-esteem.
Also seeking a better life in Los Angeles is Camilla Lopez, an illiterate but ambitious waitress, played with the right degree of fieriness by Salma Hayek.
The movie chronicles the pair's clashes, fueled by their powerful attraction, as they taunt, insult and humiliate each other. Then, almost overnight, they launch into a profound romance, and tranquility sets in. (This effect seems to have been facilitated by their time together in a beach house and the adoption of a stray dog.)
Though the film offers a meticulously rendered Depression-era L.A., it's not in the same league as Chinatown, for which Towne wrote an Oscar-winning script. Here, the characters seem shallow, their motivations murky. While Dust tries to take a vague stand against intolerance, the story feels dated. It meanders pointlessly, lumbering toward its tedious conclusion.
After all, this is the movie veteran who wrote the Academy Award-winning script of Chinatown and the Oscar-nominated script of Shampoo. He's a native who knows the city intimately, its shimmering romanticism and seamy underbelly. He understands its rhythms and disparate inhabitants.
Which is why it's so baffling that Ask the Dust is such a mess. Granted, it's a well-acted, beautifully photographed mess, with some moments of brilliance and inspiration. But still - a mess.
Towne reportedly had dreamed of making a film of Ask the Dust for the past 30 years or so, from the time he discovered the book while working on "Chinatown." It almost feels as if he was too close to the material - felt too emotionally attached to it - and couldn't recognize that it was descending into melodrama.
He has a good thing going for a while, though. Serving as both writer and director, Towne starts out with great swagger and evocative detail, as innocent young Arturo Bandini (Colin Farrell) arrives in town from Colorado with hopes of writing the Great American Novel. (In true noir style, Arturo - Fante's alter ego on the page - makes us privy to his thoughts and insecurities through frequent descriptive voiceover.)
The cinematography from five-time Oscar nominee Caleb Deschanel (The Right Stuff, The Natural, Fly Away Home, The Patriot and The Passion of the Christ) is wondrous, as always - all burnished rusts and golds, you can practically feel the hot wind and taste the dust in your mouth.
Arturo finds himself simultaneously fascinated with the place and maddeningly frustrated by it when he walks into the diner near his modest hotel (where Donald Sutherland is fabulously unpredictable as his neighbour) and plunks his last few cents down for a cup of coffee. This sparks the love-hate relationship with saucy waitress Camilla Lopez (Salma Hayek) that will shape him as both a writer and a man.
Hayek is completely smouldering in her tight polyester uniform and the open-toed huaraches that give her Mexican heritage away, even as she desperately seeks a WASPy man to take care of her. Ask the Dust takes on the same issues of ethnicity, prejudice and shame through the same candid conversations that helped make Crash the well-deserved best-picture winner on Oscar night.
Arturo and Camilla are both tired of being judged for their looks, for their last names (in Depression-era L.A., Mexicans and Americans of Italian descent apparently were tantamount and interchangeable on the food chain) and they both want a better life than society will allow. They see that yearning in each other and recognize it as something familiar - and they also know it's the weapon they can use to inflict the deepest cuts.
They regard one another with mounting cruelty - like fifth-graders who have a crush but lack the maturity to act on it properly - and while their confrontations contain undeniable sparks, they also get a little tedious and repetitive.
But one step in their fledgling romance is a gorgeous scene in which Arturo and Camilla go skinny dipping in the ocean at night, with the moonlight highlighting the curves of their bodies and the waves tossing and pounding them with increasing insistency. The moment is laden with danger, and it's breathtakingly sexy.
It's also the closest Arturo has come to intimacy with a woman until he meets Vera Rifkin (Idina Menzel of Broadway's Rent and Wicked) - or rather, until she thrusts herself into his life. A nice Jewish girl who works as a housekeeper in Long Beach, Vera turns volatile when drunk, but is generous enough to show him what it's like to be with a woman, even though he'd rather be with someone else. Menzel practically trembles with vulnerability; it makes you want to see her in films more often.
After starting out in such rich, visceral fashion, though, Ask the Dust goes weirdly soft and conventional. Once they succumb to their feelings and settle into a comfy life together, all the life goes out of the film. (Their makeshift English lessons, in which Camilla learns to read with the help of a children's book, are especially clunky.)
And the absolute ending is a piece of maudlin schlock you could see in any shamelessly heart-tugging weeper - and you already have, over and over.
Two and a half stars out of four.
According to published reports, an attorney representing former Playboy Playmate Nicole Narain, whom the Alexander star is suing to block her from hawking a sex tape online the two made three years ago, complained that Farrell has avoided giving a deposition in the case.
"We?ve been trying to do the plaintiff's deposition for the last three months," lawyer Leodis Matthews told Los Angeles KCAL 9 News. "We've heard everything from [drug] rehabilitation to travel outside the country."
Farrell filed a lawsuit in July against Narain, his ex-girlfriend and Playboy's Miss January 2002, claiming she had no right to release the supposedly steamy footage because they had a understanding that it was for private viewing only.
But after parts of the videotaped romp surfaced online, Narain apparently changed her mind about keeping it private, and appeared on MSNBC's Live and Direct in November, expressing her desire to make the 15-minute video public and inviting Farrell to join her in splitting the profits as a way to "take control of the situation."
As it turned out, the pair's sexually-explicit escapades ended up hitting the Web anyway, albeit briefly, at DirtyColin.com and several other sites run by porn peddlers before the footage was removed because it violated a temporary restraining order the 29-year-old Irish actor obtained from a court to prevent its release.
Perhaps as a result of that leak, Farrell's camp added a former Price is Right model, Candace Smith, as a defendant in the suit last week, accusing her of attempting to sell the footage to an Internet porn peddler. Reportedly a close associate of Narain's, Smith was Miss Ohio in 2003 before becoming one of Barker's Beauties in 2004. She has also appeared as an extra on NBC's Joey and HBO's Entourage.
The judge overseeing the case has set a July 17 trial date.
Farrell's legal eagle, Paul Berra, declined to comment on why his client has been unable to attend a deposition save the obvious explanation that he's extremely busy.
Aside from wrapping production on a big screen Miami Vice, the Hollywood bad boy also recently completed a stint in rehab for exhaustion and an addiction to painkillers.
Farrell has three more movies in the pipeline, the police drama Pride and Glory, the Bob Dylan biopic, I'm Not There, and Neil Jordan's period thriller, Borgia.
The love-hate romance at its center involves not only the tug of war between writer Arturo Bandini and waitress Camilla Lopez, but the tension between WASP America and the rest of us, self-realization and shame, the skyward-reaching city and the wild natural continent.
Screenwriter Robert Towne, a great chronicler of L.A. in "Chinatown" and "Shampoo," would seem the perfect bigscreen translator of the influential book, here taking the helm as well as scripting. To an extent he is, but Towne also, inexplicably, softens the story's noir edge, lapsing into melodrama and hammering at his themes instead of delving deeper into his characters. Despite what are likely to be mixed reviews, the project's literary/cinematic pedigree and stars Colin Farrell and Salma Hayek will be certain lures when the film opens March 10 in limited release, after its world premiere at the Santa Barbara fest.
Towne's fourth directorial outing is an exceptionally handsome evocation of 1930s Los Angeles (shot in South Africa), with cinematographer Caleb Deschanel ("The Passion of the Christ") casting the proceedings in a burnished desert glow, a dreamy grit like the Mojave sand that permeates the city streets. The film is faithful to the book's tone of dark ache and much of its detail, and for the most part terrifically cast. But Towne can't overcome an essential challenge of the material: Arturo and Camilla are constructs and ciphers as much as they are vivid characters -- difficult roles, to be sure. Neither the screenplay or the actors manage to get far under their skin.
The story opens as Arturo Bandini (Farrell), subsisting on oranges and cigarettes and six weeks in arrears on his $4-a-week rent, ponders what to do with his last nickel. It has been five months since the good-looking young man arrived in L.A. from Colorado, with high hopes, an Underwood typewriter and a suitcase full of copies of his one published story. Determined to be a great writer of fiction, he rents a furnished room at the Alta Loma, a residential hotel built against the slope of Bunker Hill.
Arturo meets Mexican beauty Camilla when she's waiting tables at the Columbia Cafe, the downtown establishment where he spends that last nickel on a cup of undrinkable joe. Their attraction quickly finds expression in cruelty. With a pointed stare at the huaraches in which Camilla glides about the dining room, Arturo takes great pleasure in shaking her out of her haughty self-confidence, arousing her shame about not being a "real" American. A pas de deux of one-upmanship begins, each expertly finding the other's sore spots -- easy to do when their insecurities are nearly identical. In the unenlightened parlance of the day, Camilla and Italian-American Arturo are both "spicks," a point Towne's script stresses repeatedly. It also adds an excruciating bit of business in which Arturo teaches Camilla to read English.
Towne's grasp of the story's existential core is shaky, but he turns the central romantic episode into a piece of exquisite cinema: Arturo and Camilla rushing naked into the moonlit Santa Monica surf, their exultation quickly turning to angry tussling. With haunting imagery, Deschanel captures the beauty of the two leads, tossed by the silver waves.
Farrell puts across the conflicted, virginal Catholic boy beneath the swagger, pretending to be worldly while fearfully resisting the more experienced Camilla's bold overtures. The film doesn't shy away from the ugliness of their strange courtship, but their games grow tiresome and never accrue much emotional weight. Losing steam in stretches of flat melodrama, the film ultimately lapses into bathos, nearly veering into "Love Story" territory.
Playing a character quite a bit younger than herself, Hayek has never looked more beautiful, and Camilla's tempestuous spirit finds full expression in her performance. Still, the sense of who Camilla is doesn't deepen as the story progresses. For his part, Farrell often struggles to indicate anything beyond observer Arturo's surface reactions, and the character remains opaque, even in a disturbing interlude with Vera Rivkin. Idina Menzel ("Rent") is heartbreaking as the wounded soul who sweeps into Arturo's room like a Santa Ana, all devouring gaze.
There are plenty of tantalizing performances at the edges of the narrative, especially the wonderful, pitch-perfect work by Donald Sutherland (who starred 30 years ago in the film adaptation of another revered L.A. novel, "Day of the Locust"), playing Arturo's dissolute neighbor Hellfrick. Eileen Atkins contributes a nuanced cameo as the landlady with a distaste for Mexicans and Jews, and Jeremy Crutchley makes an impression as informative barkeep Solomon. Providing the amused, avuncular voice of real-life American Mercury editor H.L. Mencken, Arturo's benefactor and deity, is real-life critic Richard Schickel.
Towne and Deschanel never lose sight of Los Angeles as a naive, impermanent interloper, most dramatically in an earthquake sequence full of buckling pavement and crumbling buildings. The South African landscape is an evocative, if not an accurate substitute (there's nary a Joshua tree in sight). Dennis Gassner's production design and Albert Wolsky's costumes re-create the period with fittingly subdued detail, as does the music of Ramin Djawadi and Heitor Pereira.
Paramount Classics presents in association with Capitol Films a Cruise/Wagner, VIP Medienfonds 3, Ascendant production.
CAST:
Arturo Bandini: Colin Farrell
Camilla Lopez: Salma Hayek
Hellfrick: Donald Sutherland
Mrs. Hargraves: Eileen Atkins
Vera Rivkin: Idina Menzel
Sammy: Justin Kirk
Solomon: Jeremy Crutchley
Voice of Mencken: Richard Schickel
Director/writer: Robert Towne; Based on the novel by John Fante; Producers: Tom Cruise, Paula Wagner, Don Granger, Jonas McCord; Executive producers: Redmond Morris, Mark Roemmich, David Selvan, Andreas Schmid, Andy Grosch, Chris Roberts; Director of photography: Caleb Deschanel; Production designer: Dennis Gassner; Music: Ramin Djawadi, Heitor Pereira; Co-producers: Galit Hakmon McCord, Kia Jam, Andreas Schmid; Costume designer: Albert Wolsky; Editor: Robert K. Lambert.
However, given the chance to chat with the "Collateral" star, the press was far more eager to prod him for information about the other things in his life, important issues like his "Miami Vice" co-star Colin Farrell and the Irish actor's legendary mojo.
"Colin don't even have to mack, man, literally," Foxx laughs. "I mean, from old ladies on down to 21, 22, he got it all. And it works for him, too, because it really works for the character that he's playing."
Farrell is playing Sonny Crocket to Foxx's Ricardo Tubbs in Michael Mann's big screen update on his own popular television show. Given the forum, Foxx takes the chance to attempt to defuse some of the negative buzz that's been building around the summer release.
"To be honest with you, Colin Farrell is definitely a professional," says Foxx. "He was on the set on time all the time. You know the thing, he was with his family a lot and a lot of people don't get to see that side, because he's a good-looking woman magnet -- and all of that is true, when women see him, they get to panting and everything like that -- but we got the job done, man. Myself, Michael Mann and Colin, we got up in there and did what we were supposed to do as far as making the movie. It was a little tough because hurricanes and things were down there, but it's gonna be hot."
Foxx is also asked to put on his swami hat to do a little Oscar prognosticating.
"You gotta look at the way 'Brokeback Mountain' is cleaning up, that it's gonna do something and I think Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon, with the incredible performance that they did with Johnny Cash," Foxx predicts, echoing the sentiments of just about every pundit.
Asked for his own personal favorites, Foxx mixes things up just a tiny bit.
"Definitely 'Walk the Line' and I've still got my fingers crossed for my man Terrence Howard, 'Hustle & Flow' and 'Crash,'" he says. "I don't know if that's gonna happen for him, but I really enjoyed those movies. I really enjoyed Thandie Newton's performance in 'Crash,' although she didn't get recognized, but I thought she did a great job."
It's just a pleasure to have an audience with Foxx that writers even ask the "Any Given Sunday" football fan for a Super Bowl guess.
"Defense wins championships and if you look at the way Pittsburgh has been playing toward the end -- you always look at the way a team is playing defensively towards the end -- Pittsburgh is playing defensively at the top of their game," says the self-professed Cowboys fan.
All agog over Foxx's many talents, one scribe was even heard asking the star if there was anything he ever failed at.
"Bowling," Foxx confesses. "When I tell you I stink at bowling, man, I can't understand why, because it seems like it's just throw the ball down there and it goes straight, but it ain't happening."
Superior Court judge set trial for the lawsuit against former Playboy playmate Nicole Narain, although lawyers for both sides agreed to enter mediation to resolve the case before trial. Judge Elihu M. Berle ordered talks to wrap up by April 20.
The 29-year-old star of The New World and Alexander wasn't in court.
His lawsuit names Narain, who was Playboy's Miss January 2002, and two others for allegedly planning to market an explicit 14-minute tape that Farrell contended was never intended for public viewing.
The lawsuit said the release of the videotape would irreparably harm Farrell's reputation and career.
Earlier this month, an Internet site that purported to be selling access to the tape was shut down for violating a court order blocking the tape's release but graphic stills appeared on another site.
Farrell's lawyer, Paul Berra, said those believed responsible for releasing the tape would be brought into the lawsuit.
On Friday, another Internet site offered a tape for downloading that it said may be the disputed tape.
The Web site, dirtycolin.com, could not be accessed Tuesday night but at least one other Web site offered what appeared to be censored stills from the tape of Farrell engaging in sex acts with his then-girlfriend, Nicole Narain.
The stills were posted on the Web site idontlikeyouinthatway, which reported that dirtycolin.com had stated: "Colin tried to stop us from showing you this. Well, here it is anyways."
"A Web site attempting to distribute an unauthorized tape of Colin Farrell was shut down today. Mr. Farrell will take legal action against anyone who tries to distribute this tape," said a statement issued by Farrell publicist Danica Smith.
The statement did not say who had shut down the site.
Farrell sued Narain last year, accusing her of trying to distribute the tape through an intermediary.
A lawyer for Narain — Playboy's Miss January 2002 — has said she never tried to profit from the tape.
Farrell argued that the tape was made more than two years ago on the understanding that it never would be made public and releasing it would harm his career.
A Superior Court judge in Los Angeles has issued an order temporarily barring the sale, distribution or display of the tape.
According to DirtyColin.com, they have the exclusive sex video featuring "The New World" actor and his ex, former Playmate Nicole Narain.
The website states, "Colin tried to stop us from showing you this ... Well, here it is anyways" as well as proclaiming, "Alexander is truly great" and "As not seen on TV or anywhere else." The home page features still shots of the pair as a preview of the illicit material offered.
Farrell and Narain made a 15-minute sex tape three years ago in which they tested out various Kama Sutra positions. They had agreed to keep it for private use only, but Farrell was tipped off later that the video would be commercially exploited thanks to Narain and porn website marketing director Paul Nash.
The "Alexander" actor sued, claiming that his career and public image would be irreparably damaged if the video got out. He wants all copies to be returned to him, unspecified damages and a permanent injunction against distribution of the tape. As of August 2005, a judge issued a temporary restraining order to prevent the actor's ex-girlfriend from marketing the tape.
The 31-year-old Narain, aka Miss January 2002, has had her share of experience in explicit videos, including "Playboy: Playmates in Bed." She also appeared in an episode of HBO's Hollywood insider comedy "Entourage."
Farrell, 29, currently stars as John Smith "The New World. His upcoming projects include the Depression-era "Ask the Dust" and the big-screen version of "Miami Vice" opposite Jamie Foxx.
What transpires is not very pretty - though because this is John Smith and Pocahontas meeting the cult director of Days of Heaven, the visuals sometimes are. And for a while, we're not even totally certain that the movie is going to be 2½ hours of dramatic inertia. Early scenes introducing a sea crew of British settlers that include Smith (Colin Farrell, forsaking his frequent stubble for a real beard) show tentative promise.
Sailing from England under Smith's fellow captain (Christopher Plummer), they land in Virginia in 1607, and we quickly get a sense of what it must have been like for these men and the locals (called "naturals") to sniff each other out. But this is kind of what the movie is: marathon sniffing. Smith is a cipher as screen heroes go, and it's not all Farrell's fault. At least the King of England gives the settlers some tools.
After long languorous passages, something stirring will happen: hand-to-hand combat, the grubby spectacle of humbly carved-out domiciles to show that Heaven art director Jack Fisk still knows his stuff. But newcomer Q'orianka Kilcher is woefully inexpressive as Pocahontas, and though the actress looks older, she was 14 during filming, so there go any hopes of even attempted erotic passion.
For those up to the burden, Malick typically puts one in an alternate universe and provides flashes of magic. Pocahontas catching us off-guard with an impromptu cartwheel isn't the knock-you-down brainstorm of Naomi Watts juggling for King Kong, but it's still deliciously inspired.
Trouble is, the bit lasts two seconds, while the movie is a long "might have been" that's doomed to be buried in a flurry of strong late-year releases.
The event, which runs through January 16, will feature 232 films from more than 70 countries. The lineup includes four world premieres, 31 North American premieres and 51 U.S. premieres. In addition, the schedule includes 51 of the 56 films submitted for consideration in the foreign-language film category for the 78th Annual Academy Awards.
The Cine Latino program will boast 45 films from Latin America, Spain and Portugal, while the inaugural Focus Italy sidebar will offer 13 films, including six from director Pupi Avati.
Titles in the International Gala Screenings section will include Breno Silveira's "Two Sons of Francisco" (Brazil), Valerie Lemercier's "Palais Royal!" (France) and Cristina Comencini's "Don't Tell" (Italy).
The "Gay-la" screening slot will feature Craig Chester's "Adam & Steve."
Four films have been tapped for special presentations: Pippa Scott and Oree Rees' "King Leopold's Ghost," Rajeev Manoj Virani's "My Bollywood Bride," Pieter Kuijpers' "Off Screen" and Armando Bo's "Fuego." Archival presentations will include Alfred Radok's "Distant Journey," Charlie Chaplin's "The Circus" and Frank Borzage's "Moonrise."
The inspiration is the historical legend of the "Indian princess" Pocahontas and English soldier of fortune John Smith. Malick has tried to base much of his vision on the historical record, delving into the writings of explorers and colonialists in early Virginia to create voice-over monologues by Smith and others. But this is resolutely a film of the imagination. As with all films in Malick's slim body of work, its imagery, haunting sounds and pastoral mood trump narrative.
Clearly "The New World" takes an audience into the rarefied atmosphere of an art film made with a studio budget, making its box office impact hard to assess. The 150-minute film opens Christmas Day in Los Angeles and New York, then expands January 13. Its slow, bucolic rhythms and unwillingness to exploit the violence or sex inherent in the story -- the film nevertheless carries a PG-13 rating for its battle scenes -- relegate the film to audiences devoted to Malick's work and film esoterica. In that world, it may become a hit.
The historical record -- especially on the Native American side, where no written language exists -- is skimpy. Nevertheless, Malick and production designer Jack Fisk bring us into a primeval Eden that feels credible. The weirdly painted natives and white-skinned, armor-clad intruders eye one another suspiciously. Their worlds, goals and beliefs could not be more antithetical.
The natives have little sense of possessions or greed but do have a strong social order. The settlers, most unprepared to deal with a wilderness, seek riches, regard each other with envy and mutiny at a moment's notice. A violent clash is inevitable.
John Smith (Colin Farrell) is first seen in shackles on one of three English ships that reach the James River in 1607. He has been insubordinate but is too valuable a soldier and survivalist to lose to a hanging. So Capt. Newport (Christopher Plummer) frees him upon arrival in the New World. He even gives Smith a key assignment before the captain returns to England for supplies.
Smith leads an expedition upriver to contact a native chief in hopes of establishing trade. Instead his men are killed, and he is taken prisoner. His life is spared by the chief (August Schellenberg) when his favorite daughter, Pocahontas (Q'Orianka Kilcher), begs for mercy. The chief releases Smith to this teenager so the two can learn each other's language and he might gain insight into the newcomers' intentions.
What they do, of course, is fall in love. Here the movie enters a dreamlike state, a nearly dialogue-free, lengthy montage composed of the physical world of the Virginia circa 1607. (The film actually was shot in that state.) As a strong bond is formed by two absolute strangers, they take in the richness of landscape and sounds of wind and birds in the forest. What would be unspeakably corny in the hands of a less masterly filmmaker works here because of Malick's absolute fidelity to the underlying emotions.
Smith returns to a crude fort with provisions supplied by the Indians. But his homecoming is like awaking from a dream into the ugliness and pettiness of the coarse settlers. When the settlers plant corn and thereby tip off the native chef that they intend to stay, he prepares to attack. But his daughter warns her lover, and the assault is thwarted.
The natives' heartbroken leader banishes his daughter, who then falls into the hands of another tribe that eventually trades her to the whites as an "insurance policy." Smith vehemently opposes this trade, which causes the ungrateful colonialists to depose him as their leader.
After the return of Capt. Newport, Smith is called back to England to lead other expeditions while the Indian girl adopts to living among the whites. Believing Smith to be dead, she marries newly arrived aristocrat John Rolfe (Christian Bale) and has a child. Much later, the couple travels to England, where this "princess" is introduced to the British monarch. Here she sees Smith for one last time.
While the name Pocahontas is never mentioned -- the settlers ridiculously name her Rebecca -- the film is essentially a love letter to the idealized myth of this historic woman, who is viewed here as both forest naif and earth mother. Malick and cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki cover Kilcher with more loving poses and angles than a photographer doing a fashion spread. Kilcher is a striking young woman, and the camera -- and perhaps Malick himself? -- falls in love with her.
The movie has a restlessness as it moves through this story with a meandering camera, inner monologues and shifting points of view. James Horner's sumptuous musical score, incorporating bits of Wagner, Mozart and others, emulates the steadiness of the wind while its repetitive refrains remind one of Philip Glass. The camera lingers on details of frontier life, but the exploration here is less scientific and historical than a spiritual quest for what was lost and what was gained in this clash of civilizations. Certainly, the Westernization of this native woman presages the fate of North American natives and the despoiling of their paradise.
Farrell looks uncomfortable in the role, seldom changing expression and shifting his body aimlessly. Kilcher is quick-witted, full of 15-year-old life and possesses fine instincts despite being a newcomer to acting. Bale underplays his role, letting his innate goodness seep slowly out. In the native roles, Schellenberg and Wes Studi capture the dignity and ferocity of warriors fighting to retain a way of life. David Thewlis, Yorick Van Wageningen and others ably portray the avarice and aggressiveness of the newcomers.
CAST:
Capt. Smith: Colin Farrell
Pocahontas: Q'Orianka Kilcher
Capt. Newport: Christopher Plummer
John Rolfe: Christian Bale
Powhatan: August Schellenberg
Opechancanough: Wes Studi
Wingfield: David Thewlis
Captain Argall: Yorick Van Wageningen
Screenwriter-director: Terrence Malick; Producer: Sarah Green; Executive producers: Toby Emmerich, Mark Ordesky, Trish Hofmann, Bill Mechanic, Rolf Mittweg; Director of photography: Emmanuel Lubezki; Production designer: Jack Fisk; Music: James Horner; Costumes: Jacqueline West; Editors: Richard Chew, Hank Corwin, Saar Klein, Mark Yoshikawa.
The "New World" star got hooked on the medication when it was prescribed for a back injury, reveals publicist Danica Smith in a written statement released Monday, Dec. 12.
The Irish actor checked himself into an undisclosed treatment center.
"No other comments [are] to be made at this time," concludes the statement.
Farrell, 29, stars as explorer John Smith in Terrence Malick's "The New World," which will open in limited release on Christmas Day. His credits include "Phone Booth," "Minority Report," "Daredevil," "Alexander" and the upcoming "Miami Vice" film adaptation with Jamie Foxx.
"The New World," a big-budget movie about the settling of Jamestown in 1607, will make its East Coast debut Dec. 21 at Kimball Theatre.
It will have two red-carpet, invitation-only screenings, Colonial Williamsburg and the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation announced Friday.
The film dramatizes encounters between white colonists and American Indians, focusing on the relationship between Smith, portrayed by Colin Farrell, and the Indian princess Pocahontas, who intervened to save him when he was captured by her tribe.
Q'orianka Kilcher plays Pocahontas. Christopher Plummer, Christian Bale and August Schellenberg also star.
Director Terrence Malick filmed scenes at Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement in North America, and nearby locations.
Officials hope "The New World" will boost tourism in Jamestown as "The Lord of the Rings" did in New Zealand. Both films are from New Line Cinema.
"The New World" opens in limited release Dec. 25 and nationwide Jan. 13.
In 2003, Singer repped Paris Hilton's sex-tape co-star Rick Salomon, who was fighting Hilton's objections to releasing "One Night in Paris" for huge profits. But now Singer's client is the one who wants a sex tape buried for good.
"There's absolutely no inconsistency," Singer insists. "This is a different issue altogether. The tape can't be released without [Farrell's] consent. They have no legal ground. He has a right to privacy."
Singer helped Salomon fight Internet porn sites that were showing clips of the Hilton tape without permission and without paying. The lawyer also went after Hilton's former publicist, who claimed the sex was not wholly consensual.
As we first reported in July, the steamy 15-minute Farrell video recorded two years ago starts with naked Playboy Playmate Nicole Narain in her living room and ends with Farrell pointing the camera at her white cat and saying, "Baby, you have the most beautiful [kitty]."
In between, Narain, who was Miss January in 2002, displays her pierced tongue as she looks up at the camera and winks. And Farrell, who had a shaved head for his role in "Daredevil," reciprocates, saying, "I could do this breakfast, lunch and dinner." Narain, who has a tattoo on her backside, also goes through several docking positions.
Singer quickly filed a lawsuit to block Narain from releasing the tape, arguing that it was made "solely for their private use and enjoyment."
However, David Gingras, the lawyer representing the Internet Commerce Group, which says it's working with Narain to release the tape, has filed a motion to dismiss Farrell's suit.
Gingras argues that under the federal Copyright Act, co-owners of the copyright to any work, including a sex tape, cannot stop each other from exercising their right to copy, distribute and/or license the work. A Federal court hearing is slated for Nov. 21.
"If the judge follows the law as it is written, I don't see how we cannot prevail," Gingras told PAGE SIX.
However, Singer says that Narain has "no intention of releasing the tape," which is obviously news to ICG.
Sources tell PAGE SIX the screen version of the popular '80s TV series that starred Don Johnson and Philip Michael Thomas is mired in production difficulties including:
* The movie was supposed to shoot for three months, but is now six months over schedule — with no end in sight.
* According to a well-informed source, "Miami Vice" was "greenlit at $120 million, but the budget has been blown and it is now costing upwards of $180 million. And they aren't even done yet. It will likely be a $200 million tab by the end of shooting."
* Adding to the budget problems, filming has to be moved from Miami to Peru because of Hurricane Wilma damage.
* The script is "not good," according to several people who have read it. "This will bomb," said one.
* Stars Jamie Foxx and Colin Farrell have become slightly bloated, with Farrell sporting "beer boobs" due to their constant partying in Miami. Farrell, in particular, has been carousing at almost every hotel bar and club in town, at times drinking VOX vodka straight from the bottle.
* Farrell is "having a hard time with director Michael Mann," said another insider. "Michael [who also directed the TV series] is a perfectionist and will do a shot over and over and over. Jamie worked with him on 'Collateral' and was used to how he works, but Colin has been very frustrated."
In addition, there have been reports of fights between Farrell and Foxx — Foxx, who won his Oscar after signing up for "Vice," was said to be upset that Farrell was being paid more than he was, so he demanded his paycheck be boosted from $7.5 million to $10 million to match his co-star.
Some insiders at Universal — which has had a rough year with releases like "Cinderella Man" bombing at the box office — blame the studio's former co-presidents of production, Mary Parent and Scott Stuber, for greenlighting the "Miami Vice" movie in the first place.
A rep for the studio said he'd get back to us on our story but didn't.
The big-screen adaptation of the '80s TV series was filming at the Plaza Maria de Toledo hotel in the Dominican Republic on Monday (Oct. 24) when the filmmakers were startled by shots fired outside the property.
"The cast and crew of the production were filming on the third floor of the hotel when it is believed that an individual fired a weapon outside the property, following an alleged altercation with the production's security," reads a statement from Universal Pictures.
A soldier assigned to provide security on the film fired a single shot back and hit the shooter, Mario Torres. His condition was not made available.
No one in the cast and crew, who were filming on the third-floor of the Santo Domingo hotel, was harmed. Production is cooperating with the local authorities for their investigation.
"Collateral" director Michael Mann, who executive-produced the TV show, is writing, directing and producing the Universal Pictures feature, which will be released in July 2006. The original series centers on two cops who took on Florida's drug world and looked good doing it. Farrell will play Det. James "Sonny" Crockett, a part made famous by Don Johnson, and Oscar winner Foxx will star as Det. Ricardo Tubbs, who was originally portrayed by Philip Michael Thomas.
Malick, who waited decades between directing "Days of Heaven" and "The Thin Red Line," is reportedly in talks to write and direct "The Tree of Life," which would mark his second project already this century.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the exact nature of "Life" is under wraps, but Mumbai-based Percept Picture Co. would be take a co-producing stake. Shooting would hypothetically begin in January and Colin Farrell is said to be circling at least a supporting part.
Malick directed Farrell in "The New World," which is currently in post-production. Originally set for a November release, the pre-colonial epic is now headed for limited release at the end of December and a wider release in early January. The New Line film is a revisionist take on the story of Pocahontas and John Smith.
Even with two versions -- a special edition and a director's cut -- arriving in stores last week, the Warner Home Video release finished a distant second on the preliminary national sales chart for the week ending August 7, losing out to Sony's romantic comedy "Guess Who."
The Bernie Mac- Ashton Kutcher vehicle was also the No. 1 rental, though its victory wasn't as sweet. According to Home Media Retailing market research estimates, "Guess Who" grossed $9.54 million in rental stores, just slightly better than "Alexander," which earned $9.22 million.
The growing clout of special DVD editions of classic movies was underscored with surprisingly strong sales by Sony's "Ghostbusters Gift Set" which entered the chart at No. 5, and Paramount's "The High and the Mighty," at No. 8.
Several TV-DVD collections also came on strong out of the gate, including Ventura's "The Cosby Show: Season 1" (No. 16) and Warner's fourth season of "The Dukes of Hazzard" (No. 18).
That new inspiration came the hard way -- from the lashing "Alexander" took from legions of critics and from the $150 million film's humiliation at the U.S. box office.
Director Stone took the opportunity to re-edit key scenes, lengthening here and shortening there. A pair of scenes from Alexander the Great's youth now appear later in the film, shaking up the third act and making the narrative less linear.
A "beautiful and so tender scene" between the king and his male lover hits the floor. "I can't tell you how many 'real guys' are turned off to this s---," Stone explains in a commentary.
"Alexander" II loses only eight minutes from the original three-hour running time, though, and the elements that inspired all that hooting and cackling remain: Colin Farrell's goofy blond locks, Alexander's Irish brogue, the odd casting of Angelina Jolie as his mother, Jolie's Natasha the cartoon spy accent, and so on.
Those drawn to the DVD by the promise of an improved and intensified film won't have an experience differing all that much from the one in theaters. But, as Stone has pointed out, they won't be subject to the herd mentality of a giggling cinema audience.
"Alexander" is no "Spartacus," but it's not "Showgirls" either. Expecting little -- and equipped with pause buttons -- many first-time viewers will wonder about all the animosity directed at this offbeat and mostly entertaining biopic -- probably best approached as an overgrown sword-and-sandal movie, a guilty pleasure.
"We operated in that Cecil B. DeMille-William Wyler-David Lean tradition," Stone says. "It's wonderful to have that (to follow)."
Warner Home Video Tuesday releases "Alexander" in two double-disc sets: Stone's new cut and the original theatrical. Both retail for $29.95. The two versions are not available in one package, unfortunately, and fans springing for both sets will be disappointed to find nearly identical extras. Images are widescreen (about 2.40:1) with brilliant colors and steely sharpness when it's called for. The 5.1 audio deploys the battle scenes with efficiency (no DTS). (A single-disc full-screen version of the director's cut goes for $27.95.)
Stone works solo on the director's cut commentary. He points out changes and offers brief explanations for making them. The goal, basically, was "to keep it moving." Much of Stone's talk is repeated on the theatrical DVD's commentary, which edits in observations from historical adviser Robin Lane Fox. Stone does a good job, but the commentary with Fox is stronger.
Fox, an Oxford academic, spent 30 years tracking Alexander the Great and is the author of a major biography. He devoted three years to Stone's film. Surprisingly, Fox seems delighted with some of the director's rewrites of the historical record. Some scenes are "pure imagination" while others are "absolutely spot on," he says cheerfully.
Here's Fox putting into perspective the arrival of Alexander's "sheep herder" troops in Babylon: "It's as if people from Sudan had suddenly overrun New York."
Stone has done his homework, as usual, and digs into historical detail such as the weaknesses of the Persian army and Alexander's drinking life. Comparisons of the film's Alexander and George Bush were merely "revisionist," he says. Of the chaotic and sometimes hard-to-follow battle scenes, Stone allows, "Some people get it and some people don't."
The director has almost nothing to say about the film's box office defeat or its ratty reputation. He offers no mea culpas. Of the much-questioned casting of Jolie as Alexander's snake-charmer mother, he says, "I never felt that problem (that Jolie and Farrell are the same age). She is really older in spirit than Colin."
Disc 2 features an hour-and-a-half documentary directed in ragged but effective style by Stone's son Sean. His total access resulted in an unusually candid portrait of a production team working through myriad problems in lands such as Morocco, Thailand and India.
Stone often shoots his father emerging from shadows, Kurtz-like -- whispering, mumbling, talking in circles as he ponders his film and his fortunes.
"Who can tell us exactly how things were (in the ancient world)," he intones. "We read the stories, pottery, fragments, bones, pictures . . . but we don't know."
The director seems surprised his epic was ever financed. "(The press) thought my career was finished. . . . Colin Farrell was regarded by many as a joke -- let's be honest." Funding ultimately came from about 20 sources, mostly foreign buyers.
Sean Stone's documentary makes the rounds of the major actors, but the tone is far from promotional. "I love being in drag," tough-guy Farrell says. "I can be in drag and my sexuality isn't questioned." How does the actor pick his roles? "I go for the cash."
Vangelis pretends to be scoring the film in a brief extra. The movie's frenzied teaser and trailer are included, both fast paced and action packed.
A judge issued a temporary restraining order on Tuesday, July 19, preventing Nicole Narain from selling, distributing or displaying the videotape that features her and Farrell in flagrante delicto, report news sources.
The order follows a lawsuit Farrell filed against the former Playboy playmate after discovering she was attempting to distribute the 15-minute sex tape they had agreed to keep private. He says Narain and a marketer for porn websites have been actively seeking to "commercially exploit" the tape showing the couple "in various acts of copulation."
The lawsuit claims that Farrell's career and public image would be irreparably damaged. He is seeking unspecified damages and a permanent injunction against distribution of the tape, and that all copies be returned to him.
The next court hearing is scheduled for Wednesday, Aug. 10.
The 31-year-old Narain, aka Miss January 2002, has had her share of experience in explicit videos, including "Playboy: Playmates in Bed." She also recently appeared in an episode of HBO's Hollywood insider comedy "Entourage."
The "Alexander" actor will star in the upcoming Terrence Malick film "The New World" and the Depression-era "Ask the Dust." He's currently filming the big-screen version of "Miami Vice" opposite Jamie Foxx.
The lawsuit filed Monday seeks monetary damages as well as a temporary restraining order and injunction prohibiting the sale or other use of the videotape.
Farrell, 29, accuses Nicole Narain of trying to distribute the tape through an intermediary. The two had an intimate relationship 2 1/2 years ago and both agreed that the 15-minute tape that shows the couple having sex would be jointly owned by them and would remain private, according to the suit.
Narain could not be reached for comment. A call to a telephone number listed for her showed the number had been disconnected.
A message left for Farrell's lawyer was not immediately returned Monday.
The lawsuit also accused the 31-year-old woman of working with the owner of an Internet pornography business and contacting the news media about the tape.
The lawsuit said the release of the videotape would irreparably harm Farrell's reputation and career.
Farrell, who has starred in S.W.A.T and Alexander, and is slated to appear in The New World and Miami Vice, has been named one of the sexiest men alive by People magazine.
He has a son with model Kim Bordenave.
A man who identified himself only as J.J. called PAGE SIX a few days ago for advice on selling what he says is an authentic, 14-minute sex tape, but admitted he didn't have model releases from either "Alexander" star Farrell or the Playboy Playmate who briefly dated him two years ago.
J.J. described the steamy tape in graphic detail, starting with a naked Nicole in her living room turning on some music, and ending with Farrell pointing the camera at her white cat in the corner of the room and saying, "Baby, you have the most beautiful [kitty]."
In between, Narain, who was Miss January in 2002, displays her pierced tongue as she looks up at the camera and winks. And Farrell, who had a shaved head for his role in "Daredevil," reciprocates, saying, "I could do this breakfast, lunch and dinner."
Narain, who has a tattoo on her backside, also goes through a couple of sexual positions described in the Kama Sutra, starting with "the missionary."
"The sellers are supposedly looking for a seven-figure upfront fee to hand over the tape for release by a distributor," defamer.com reported Wednesday. "Even if someone was willing to pony up the money . . . they couldn't release it without Farrell's permission."
Detailed calls to Farrell's publicist at PMK/HBH, Danica Smith, were not returned. And Narain couldn't be reached, although a Playboy spokesman shrugged, "We know she dated him."
Meanwhile, a source on the set of "Miami Vice" says Farrell is partying hard and packing on so many pounds that it will be tough for him to pull off any shirtless scenes.
His co-star, Jamie Foxx, doesn't have the clout he had on his other Michael Mann-directed blockbuster, "Collateral." Even after winning the Best Actor Oscar for "Ray," Foxx has been unable to "change his lines and make them more natural" as he did in "Collateral," an insider said.
The shoot is taking its toll on the fun-loving actor. When the shooting day is done, Foxx shuts himself off and heads to his trailer and/or hotel room. His passion for acting has been turned into "just a job," says our snoop.
On August 2, Warner Home Video is scheduled to release two versions of Stone's epic box office disappointment. The original cut will be available, as will what is described as a "Special Edition Director's Cut," which is eight minutes shorter.
Stone originally released "Alexander" with a 175 minute running time and despite a rumored budget of over $150 million, the film made less than $35 million domestic. In recent interviews, Stone has discussed the edited version which downplays references to Alexander's (Colin Farrell) relationship with Hephaistion (Jared Leto) in an effort to reach out to more mainstream viewers.
"For someone known as a fearless, uncompromising filmmaker, Stone has really compromised his own artistic integrity," says GLAAD Entertainment Media Director Damon Romine. "This is not a special edition director's cut, it's an abridgment designed to pander to the lowest common denominator."
Although a number of critics complained that the film's gay subplot was already marginalized and nearly negligible in the theatrical cut, Stone has attributed much of the film's failure to an inability to play in Middle America. GLAAD, unsurprisingly, thinks that Stone's cut is heading in the wrong direction. The organization, is dedicated to promoting and ensuring fair, accurate and inclusive representation of people and events in the media as a means of eliminating homophobia and discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation, goes so far as to imply that what would really make DVD buyers excited is more gay romance.
"Calling this DVD a 'director's cut' and wrapping it up in an attractive new package does a disservice to consumers who believe they are getting something more for their money, not less," Romine continues. "What could really boost the DVD's profile would be to further explore Alexander and Hephaistion's relationship, not edit it out."
"Granddad would never curse, so it's fitting that I should now be standing in front of you today," quipped Farrell at the Roman Catholic funeral mass of Jimmy Monaghan, 89, who died Thursday.
Farrell, delivering an oration to more than 100 mourners inside the Our Lady of Good Counsel Catholic Church in the Drimnagh district of Dublin, described his grandfather as the "most beautiful of men."
He read a poem he'd written, "in case the whole acting thing doesn't work out," in tribute to a man he called "the truest father, the greatest man, the one and only Gentleman Jim.' "
Farrell, 29, achieved critical attention in the 2000 Vietnam training-camp film Tigerland and has starred in Alexander, American Outlaws, S.W.A.T. and The Recruit.
Robert Cruise has sued former employer Michael J. Henderson, owner of the Henderson Attorney Service And Courier Service, claiming that he never received his $3,000 bonus for serving the Farrell in February.
In an earlier interview, Henderson had told Zap2it.com that Farrell had initially given them "the slip," after he exited the West Los Angeles production office of his upcoming film "Miami Vice" on Feb. 25. After a 20-minute pursuit through the streets of Beverly Hills, Farrell was stopped at an intersection, where Cruise served him.
Although Henderson confirms that he hired Cruise, he claims that the bonus only applied if the paparazzi were able to snap a picture of Farrell being served.
Farrell's suit involves Desarrae Bradford, a woman who claims that the Irish actor harassed and stalked her, causing her mental anguish. The actor's reps claim that he's never met Bradford and that she has a history of targeting celebrities, most notably Alec Baldwin, with whom she claims a relationship involving sadomasochistic sex.
Bradford hired Henderson in February after she attended an initial hearing in which the judge pointed out that Farrell hadn't been officially served.
The case involving Cruise and Henderson will be settled on the syndicated court show "Judge Mathis" on Thursday, April 28.
Farrell, who last starred in the epic flop "Alexander," will next star in Terrence Malick's "The New World." He recently signed on with Jamie Foxx for the big-screen adaptation of "Miami Vice."
Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx star, respectively, as Detectives Sonny Crockett and Ricardo Tubbs in the film being adapted from the hit NBC series. Mann, who executive-produced the TV show, is writing, directing and producing the feature.
The actress will play Isabella, the Chinese-Cuban wife of the leader of a transnational crime syndicate and Crockett's love interest.
"Vice" is set for a July 28, 2006, release.
Li, whose credits include "Raise the Red Lantern" and "Farewell My Concubine," appears in the upcoming films "2046," "Eros" and "Memoirs of a Geisha."
The Hollywood bad boy had just left the West Los Angeles production office of his upcoming film "Miami Vice" and was pursued for 20 minutes through the streets of Beverly Hills where he was finally served at an intersection at 4:26 p.m., Michael J. Henderson, owner of the Henderson Attorney Service And Courier Service tells Zap2it.com by phone.
Henderson's process server exited his vehicle and approached Farrell's car, where the actor was a passenger in the back seat. When the server told him, "Colin James Farrell, you have been served," the actor good-naturedly replied, "Thank you. You got me."
Henderson says the incident was a near miss since the actor initially "gave us the slip." Farrell, who's an old hand at eluding his fans and the media, had first stepped out of the "Miami Vice" office off of Santa Monica Blvd. dressed in his usual casual jeans attire and then "walk[ed] backwards to his car." He had three other vehicles block off part of the parking area, allowing him to jump into his car with another driver at the wheel.
After a few aborted attempts at reaching the actor, Henderson finally instructed the process server to move the vehicle in front of Farrell's at a stop, get out and serve Farrell. Reporters with video cameras were on hand to capture the entire process.
Henderson, who is based out of Ventura, Calif., says that he's had numerous calls for his services after the high-profile incident, but would not divulge the names of any celebrities involved. He filed the suit at the Santa Monica courthouse on Monday, Feb. 28.
The suit involves Desarrae Bradford, a woman who claims that Farrell harassed and stalked her, causing her mental anguish. Bradford had appeared at the Santa Monica courthouse on Wednesday, Feb. 16, to present her claims, only to be informed that Farrell hadn't been officially served yet. The judge told her she had one month to serve the actor before the case was tossed out.
Farrell's reps claim that he's never met Bradford, who has also claimed that she and actor Alec Baldwin had a relationship involving sadomasochistic sex and even wrote a book about the alleged affair.
Farrell, who last starred in the epic flop "Alexander," will next star in Terrence Malick's "The New World." He recently signed on with Jamie Foxx for the big-screen adaptation of "Miami Vice."
When Glamour magazine hosted its "Power Women Under 40" party at the Chateau Marmont Thursday night, the actor, drawn in by a pretty staffer at the door, first asked if there were any cute girls inside, then asked why the mag was hosting the event.
When told it was to honor women in Hollywood, Farrell exclaimed, "Well, it's about f---ing time someone did!"
But instead of going in to join the likes of Mischa Barton and Robert Downey Jr. (with producer fiancee Susan Levin), he headed off to meet fellow Irishman, director Jim Sheridan, for what he said would be a dinner of "meat and taters."
At the Santa Monica courthouse on Wednesday, Feb. 16, Desarrae Bradford was brought up short when the judge informed her that the actor had to be served the lawsuit before the case could commence, according to Celebrity Justice.
"What do you mean proper service? Do you mean actually deliver him personally?" asked Bradford. "I was advised by the people that -- in the window in small claims -- that, being that he's a resident with another country ... he has an agency with Creative Artists, that it would be proper to serve his agent Josh Lieberman."
The judge told her that was inadequate, thwarting Bradford's desire to present her claims in court. She's been given one month to properly serve Farrell before her case is tossed out.
In the suit Bradford filed in September, she claims that Farrell harassed and stalked her, causing her mental anguish. His reps say he's never even met her.
In the past, Bradford has also claimed that she and actor Alec Baldwin had a relationship involving sadomasochistic sex and even wrote a book about the alleged affair. Baldwin's camp states that her claims are entirely fabricated.
Farrell, who last starred in the epic flop "Alexander," will next star in Terrence Malick's "The New World." He recently signed on with Jamie Foxx for the big-screen adaptation of "Miami Vice."
Shooting is scheduled to begin this spring, with the movie tentatively due in theaters July 28, 2006.
Other upcoming movie updates of TV shows include Cedric the Entertainer's "The Honeymooners," Nicole Kidman and Will Ferrell's "Bewitched" and "The Dukes of Hazzard," with Johnny Knoxville, Seann William Scott, Jessica Simpson and Burt Reynolds.
Foxx, who co-starred with Tom Cruise in Mann's hitman thriller "Collateral" last summer, will play Detective Ricardo Tubbs, a role originated for TV by Philip Michael Thomas. Farrell is playing Detective Sonny Crockett, the part created by Don Johnson.
Universal Studios, which is releasing the movie, recently released a DVD set with the first season of "Miami Vice."
Coming off a breakout year, Foxx is the favorite to win the best-actor prize at the Academy Awards on Feb. 27 for his spot-on emulation of Ray Charles in "Ray." He also earned a supporting-actor Oscar nomination for "Collateral."
Foxx's next film is "Jarhead," a Persian Gulf War drama due out this fall from director Sam Mendes ("American Beauty").
Farrell is coming off the epic flop "Alexander." He next stars in another historical saga, "The New World," a tale of John Smith, Pocahontas and the conflict between Indians and 17th century settlers. Terrence Malick ("The Thin Red Line") is directing the film, due out in fall.
Nominations for the 25th annual Razzies, which honor the worst films of the year, were announced on Monday with "Catwoman," the Halle Berry box office bomb, besting "Alexander," Oliver Stone's much maligned tale of the bleached blond conqueror, by seven nominations to six.
In addition, the president made the list for worst actor for his film clip appearances in "Fahrenheit 9/11," a movie he might well consider the worst of the year. Also nominated for their appearances in the politically-charged film about the Iraq war were Secretary of State-designate Condoleezza Rice and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.
The Razzies are a traditional spoof award made at Oscar time by the non-profit Golden Raspberry Award Foundation. The group's prizes are given out on Feb. 26, the day before the Oscars. Never has one of its films gone on to win an Oscar.
"Catwoman" and "Alexander" were nominated for Worst Picture, a category which also drew "SuperBabies: Baby Geniuses 2," Ben Affleck's career-eroding "Surviving Christmas," and "White Chicks," the Wayans brothers dress-up, gender-bending comedy that left critics cold.
Bush was nominated for worst actor along with Affleck for "Surviving Christmas" and "Jersey Girl," Vin Diesel for "Chronicles of Riddick," Colin Farrell for "Alexander." Ben Stiller was nominated for "Along Came Polly," "Anchorman," "Dodgeball," "Envy" and "Starsky & Hutch."
Halle Berry was nominated for worst actress for "Catwoman," Hilary Duff for "Cinderella Story" and "Raise Your Voice," Angelina Jolie for "Alexander" and "Taking Lives," Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen for "New York Minute" and Shawn and Marlon Wayans in their incarnation as the Wayans sisters in "White Chicks."
The nominations for worst screen couple include: Ben Affleck and either Jennifer Lopez or Liv Tyler in "Jersey Girl," Halle Berry and either Benjamin Bratt or Sharon Stone in "Catwoman, George W. Bush and either Rice or his pet goat in "Fahrenheit 9/11," the Olsen twins in "New York Minute," the Wayans Brothers, in or out of drag, in "White Chicks."
Worst supporting actress were Carmen Electra for "Starsky & Hutch," Jennifer Lopez for "Jersey Girl," Rice for "Fahrenheit 9/11," Britney Spears for her cameo role in that same movie and Sharon Stone for "Catwoman."
Val Kilmer was nominated for worst supporting actor for "Alexander." Also nominated were California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger for "Around The World in 80 Days," Rumsfeld for "Fahrenheit 9/11," Jon Voight for SuperBabies: Baby Geniuses 2" and Lambert Wilson for "Catwoman."
"Catwoman" led with seven nominations to six for Alexander, five for "Fahrenheit 9/11," five "White Chicks," and four for "SuperBabies."
"Alexander" and "Home" join "Kinsey," starring Liam Neeson,the Charlize Theron Oscar-winner "Monster," and the high-school satire satire "Saved!" as the nominees in the category of wide-release films.
In the limited-release category, the nominees are the Spanish-language "Bad Education," "Bear Cub," "Brother to Brother," "Blue Gate Crossing" and "The Mudge Boy."
The GLAAD Media awards will be handed out March 28 in New York, April 30 in Los Angeles and June 11 in San Francisco. Highlights will air on MTV Networks' new gay-themed cable channel Logo.
On the TV side, best drama series nominees are: HBO's "Six Feet Under" and "The Wire," Showtime's "The L Word" and "Queer as Folk," and UPN's freshman series "Kevin Hill." NBC's "Will & Grace" was the lone nominee for outstanding comedy series.
For best reality program, nominees are the CBS apir of "Big Brother 5" and "Survivor: Vanuatu," Showtime's "American Candidate," Bravo's "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" and MTV's "The Real World: Philadelphia."
The television movie division includes CBS' "Blackwater Lightship" and Showtime's "Jack."
GLAAD also will present a Special Recognition Award to Comedy Central's "The Daily Show With Jon Stewart" for its "smart, incisive, devastatingly funny coverage of gay and lesbian civil rights issues, and its hilarious skewering of the religious right's anti-gay agenda."
At the same time, major studios are beginning to open "Oscar Alley" for Academy Award contenders. And as the year-end big entries start to peter out, bookings are being found for a batch of other new offerings awaiting offshore exposure.
"Closer," the surprise winner of two Golden Globes Sunday, grabbed the limelight in the United Kingdom with a bow of $3 million (including previews). It also opened at No. 1 in Germany, German-speaking Switzerland, Austria and Israel. But Mexico greeted the Mike Nichols-directed film at No. 5. The weekend gross came to $6.9 million from eight countries.
"Aviator," which nabbed Globes for best drama and actor Sunday as well as a leading 14 British Film Academy nominations Monday, landed at No. 2 in Spain, with $2.2 million. The Martin Scorsese-directed film held strong at No. 4 in the U.K. where it has earned $5.8 million to date.
"Sideways," a Golden Globe winner for best comedy film, kicked off in Greece with $137,000. Other new openings over the weekend saw the Japanese hit "Howl's Moving Castle" take the No. 1 spot in France with $2.1 million; the French hit "A Very Long Engagement" debuted successfully in Holland and Norway to raise the international total to an estimated $39 million; and "Elektra" teed off in Australia with $1.3 million.
"Alexander" continued to make up for its domestic disaster, hacking its way to the top with an estimated $14.5 million weekend from 51 territories. The international total rose to $88 million, compared with its pallid $34 million domestic take. The film ranked No. 1 in Italy ($3.9 million) and Brazil ($906,900).
"Ocean's Twelve's" tireless swim brought in an estimated $9.6 million from 55 countries, hoisting the total to $152.2 million, with the United Kingdom and Japan still to come.
"The Incredibles"' incredible overseas journey hauled in $9.2 million from 46 markets to lift its total to a grand $334.8 million.
"National Treasure" went up to $119 million as it dug up another $8.9 million from 36 countries after No. 1 openings in Greece and Turkey.
The story of Alexander the Great, which stars Irish actor Colin Farrell in the lead role, has stirred controversy for its matter-of-fact take on the youthful Macedonian warrior's lusty affairs with both men and women.
Greek lawyers even tried to have the film banned for depicting Alexander -- a national hero in Greece -- as a bisexual.
The controversy did little for its box office takings.
Stone's three-hour dream project cost about $150 million (79.4 million pounds) to make, but has recouped only a fraction of that since its North American release last year.
"The gays lambasted me for not making Alexander openly homosexual and in the Bible belt, pastors were up in the pulpit saying that to watch this film was to be tempted by Satan," Stone told the Telegraph newspaper in a recent interview.
Starring alongside Farrell are Jared Leto as Alexander's boyhood friend, Rosario Dawson as his sex-starved wife, Angelina Jolie as his nagging mother and Val Kilmer as his abusive father.
Stone and many of the leading cast members are expected to attend the Leicester Square premiere. "Alexander" opens on wide release across Britain on Thursday.
The 28-year-old Irish bad boy is reportedly keeping company with teen queen Lindsay Lohan, whom the "That '70s Show" actor recently dumped. Farrell and Lohan began spending time together last week in rehearsals for the episode of "Saturday Night Live" on Dec. 11 that Farrell hosted.
In the opening monologue, the "Alexander" star gives tips to the "SNL" cast regulars on how to pick up women. After their many failed attempts to woo Lohan, who is planted in the audience, Farrell merely utters her name and she replies, "I'll be in your dressing room."
Apparently, the pair took their flirting beyond the show and to Farrell's room at the Plaza Hotel on Saturday after clubbing till 7 a.m. The day before they were also spotted locking lips after partying at the Marquee club.
It's not the first time that attraction has flared between the two actors. The pair reportedly met in March, when Lohan gave Farrell her phone number. Upon learning that she was only 17 at the time, he declined, saying, "Thanks, maybe in a year or so."
Lohan turned 18 in July, when she and Valderrama made their dating relationship public.
Next up for the actress is "Herbie," which will be released in June and filming the "Untitled Lindsay Lohan Lucky Project" opposite "The Princess Diaries 2's" Chris Pine. She also recently released her debut album "Speak."
Farrell currently stars as the legendary ruler of Macedonia in "Alexander," which couldn't conquer the box office. The Oliver Stone film has only earned about $33.8 million, just little over a fifth of the estimated cost of production. His upcoming projects include Terrence Malick's "The New World" and the big-screen adaptation of "Miami Vice."
The Irish actor says he would agree to do another film with Stone, without even reading the script first.
Stone's historical epic about Alexander the Great had a so-so debut at No. 6, and raked in an estimated $13.4 million at the box office over the weekend.
As for his own success, Farrell says it's basically a fluke. He told AP Radio that he took an acting workshop on the urging of his brother and landed some parts.
Farrell has been rumored to be Pierce Brosnan's choice to replace him as James Bond. Farrell said doesn't have a "major master plan" and he doesn't consider himself to be ambitious.
"I looked in the mirror every morning saying, 'I'm too pretty, the golden boy!' " he coos. He's kidding.
In his role as one of world history's most famous world conquerors, Farrell plays "Alexander" as bisexual, having explicit and open feelings for his battle commander Hephaistion played by Jared Leto, and his wife, played by Rosario Dawson. It turns out that this part of the story by director Oliver Stone has become the most controversial part of the film, erupting in threats of lawsuits from Greece.
In interviews with Zap2it.com Stone, the cast and author and historian Robin Lane Fox discussed the bisexual nature of the world leader.
"There is ample evidence that Alexander was deeply disturbed when Hepahiston was killed in battle, and he followed him eight months after," says Fox. Alexander had many relationships with women, and his soldiers as well.
"The word homosexuality did not exist, it was not thought of like that," explains Stone. "I suppose that you could say that it was more of a polymorphous sexuality. I suppose the differentiations that modern society, you know, politically correct and feminism and gender, male and female. Alexander was an explorer in the deepest sense of the word. He went far out."
Stone adds, "In the Greek sense of the word, as male and female could be unified so was the possibility of man and god. Man could be a god. These things are not so foreign once you accept the conditions of the time. So Alexander explored the world and he wanted to push the borders of the world and sexuality is just a part of it."
Angelina Jolie, who plays Alexander's mother and who's openly bisexual herself, says, "Isn't it strange that we haven't evolved that much." It was easier to be bisexual in that era, and she says if her child was in fact bi, "I'd be excited about him being confident about what he was and who he was and what he wanted to be, that's great."
Leto, known for "Prefontaine" and "Requiem for a Dream," says he studied about the days that older men took young lads under their wings for protection, and sex, and on the battlefield they protected each other as well.
"Our characters had children, they were men," Leto says. "They had no pressures sexually, and there was a true love for my character with Colin's, it's a brotherhood and partnership. These guys lived together and died together and loved."
Dawson, known for her roles in "Kids" and "Men in Black 2," says kissing Farrell "was terrible." She's giggling, though, and explains, "Everyone there lived life like it was their last day, because it very well could be. Every drink could be poisoned."
Farrell, who's known for his more rakish street roles, says, "I'm more into conquering nightclubs than the world." He says he hasn't spent more time for a role than this, and "I was in the best physical shape I've ever been in when I started, and then that slowly degenerated through the making of the film, I couldn't keep it up, there weren't enough hours in the day."
Farrell says, "He was just a human being, but sometimes he was lorded as a son of a god, and I think he always realized that he was a mortal man. I think that was something that maybe pissed him off a little bit sometimes."
The toughest parts of his role was when Alexander breaks down in tears. "If you're brave and bold, sometimes honesty takes one being brave to be honest, it takes a certain boldness of spirit to be honest, to live in this world where honesty is at times undervalued commodity," the actor says.
And, Stone says he chose Farrell because simply, "He was the man. He's destined to play Alexander. It just felt right. He was Irish, beautiful, determined, a scrapper, a winner."
Has he read the reviews? Yes. "We're getting hammered," he said. "We're getting it ... left, right and centre."
Farrell has seen the finished film. "I love it. I'm very proud of it. I even take myself out of that, which is hard because obviously I'm playing Alexander but I'm very proud of it. And I understand it on a very deep level - the story that we were trying to tell. And I've been there from Day One."
But what about those scathing reviews?
"America was built on the idea of freedom of speech and that's a wonderful thing. (But) I think some of the critics are being very hard. I think a lot of people have a gripe with Oliver. I think he's a very easy target. And I think a lot of people go in with daggers in their pockets. And that's when it becomes a bit of a shame."
Farrell says the critics should take some of their own advice.
"I've read critics who are putting little moments of comedy into their writing and I've read some things already that are very smart and critical of it and, as I said, it's all left open to people's individual opinion, but I've read some critiques that are much more self indulgent than Oliver's film making style has ever been."
Farrell's trying something lighter now.
"I'm doing Miami Vice with Michael Mann," he said.
Mann was a writer on the '80s TV series. Jamie Foxx plays Det. Ricardo Tubbs. Farrell will play Sonny Crockett, the role Don Johnson made famous.
"Yeah man I'll have a laugh doin' it. It'll be something different, something new."
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With the big-budget movie debuting just weeks after the presidential election, Americans still fiercely divided about President Bush (news - web sites) and his policies, and U.S. forces locked in bloody conflict in Iraq (news - web sites) (one of Alexander's stomping grounds), Stone's "Alexander" almost can't help but seem like a political allegory.
Both Alexander and President Bush are the most powerful leaders of their day, raised in the shadow of dynamic fathers who also wielded worldwide influence, and defined by an ambitious and ongoing war in a foreign land that is historically difficult to occupy. Both men spent years pursuing a high-profile enemy leader who fled into the hills of the Middle East.
"The film was never made for the purposes of a correlation or to say anything about today's present state," said Colin Farrell, who stars in the title role. "People say history repeats itself, well it does in different ways, shapes and forms. This was kind of a freaky coincidence that our story takes place exactly where all the madness we're all talking about takes place now."
"Alexander" can be viewed either as a support for or an argument against the current administration — and the interpretation could vary from Blue State voter to Red State voter.
"I think it depends on what your political slant is and what you want to do.... (Stone) made a film that is very open-minded, laying things out there that are both good and bad," said Angelina Jolie, who co-stars as Alexander's mother, Olympias.
Jolie, an active follower of foreign affairs as a U.N. goodwill ambassador, said she's happy "if (the movie) raises questions and gets people talking and gets people looking at how we approach entering other cultures, what we do against them, what we do when we don't understand them."
Up for debate is this: Has Bush followed in the footsteps or missteps of Alexander?
Stone acknowledged the coincidences, but since he started developing the project in 1989 he said it's obvious he didn't have President Bush in mind as a point of reference.
According to Farrell, the filmmaker, who previously stirred political emotions with "Platoon," "JFK," "Nixon" and "Born on the Fourth of July," is "always intrigued by greatness, by people who make a difference, people who left their mark on the world, people who have something to say about how life is lived and how times are either a-changing or not a-changing."
Alexander has intrigued Stone since boyhood.
"He's a dashing-warrior king who had a vision of compassion, generosity of spirit and peace," Stone said. "He was not a needless killer, he was not a butcher. At times he did massacre, but these were hard times. He did so with a purpose, with a reason. He did not have the Genghis Khan or Attila the Hun mentality. He was a builder, and in his wake he left a Hellenic empire. There was a boom in the Mediterranean, and Iran, there was a sense of growth in the world, a spurt of learning, exemplified by the library at Alexandria," a cultural wonder of the ancient world.
Although he didn't intend "Alexander" as political commentary, even Stone agrees that people will see parallels.
"I started this thing before all this nightmare came down, this morass," Stone said of the Iraq war. "It's ironic, and I think there is a coincidence that's far beyond my understanding, but I would certainly not limit this to the current situation. This is an older situation, East vs. West. This is pre-Muslim, and there was always a conflict between Persian and Greek.
"Alexander was beautiful because he saw beyond that conflict into a synthesis," Stone added. "I'm not so sure our present administration does. It's great that they say, `Democracy, blah, blah, blah,' but you have to modify democracy to the local customs."
Even though the world has changed dozens of times over since Alexander's days — which predated Jesus Christ and Mohammed — lessons in ancient history remain for modern people.
"And what is the lesson?" Stone asked. "Alexander brought the Hellenic way which is, let's say, more freedom for the individual. He abided by the customs of, unlike our administration, of leaving the (opposing) armies intact and used the armies. He always needed more men."
After Saddam Hussein was toppled, the United States disbanded the Iraqi army instead of incorporating those not loyal to Saddam as a police force, a move criticized as making it more difficult to fight anti-U.S. guerrillas.
"(Alexander) was always inclusive, and we were exactly the opposite when we went into Iraq. We were totally exclusive. ... You could argue the policy was malformed from the beginning, misintended."
Stone said he considers that an error in strategy and has no interest in bashing the president.
"I would not put Bush down. We have to move on," Stone said. "The election happened, and there's no point in crying over it. It's a fresh slate for me, personally. I look at him fresh. People change. ...
"Often second-term presidents do become better presidents. They're a little bit wiser and they don't have to run so hard to get elected. So things might change. You hope for that."
If Bush manages to transform Iraq and Afghanistan (news - web sites) into secure, democratic states; if he can negotiate with Iran to disband its nuclear weapons program and calm Islamic radicalism; if he continues to work peacefully with Russia, which has its own historic interests in the region ... Stone says the U.S. president may earn the legacy of the ancient hero of "Alexander."
"It's a grand scheme," Stone said. "If he pulled it off ... in 20 years, maybe he would be considered `Bush the Great.'"
Oliver Stone views his larger-than-life protagonist as if he were a rock star grown addicted to glory as he pushes himself and his band on a road tour that threatens to never end. So too does Stone push his film toward cinematic glory -- ever onward to more battles, more melodrama and greater and greater visual dazzle for three wearying hours.
The film, which loses its compass very early, wallows in excess: Long, weighty speeches flow from actors, images get repeated frequently, and Vangelis' music hammers away seemingly without pause. But the film never bores. Alexander's resounding defeat of the Persian army in billowing yellow dust at the Battle of Gaugamela is exciting filmmaking. Babylon with its legendary Hanging Gardens lives up to its reputation as one of the wonders of the ancient world. The melodrama is often juicy -- and often for the wrong reasons.
Ultimately, the film may perform well internationally, but this "Alexander" isn't likely to conquer the North American market. The audience skews heavily male, both gay and straight, and production values are awesome. Yet the storytelling is so ham-fisted as to induce titters. A plethora of absurd accents from a cast spouting stiff dialogue further alienates the viewer.
At his death before age 33, Alexander (356-323 B.C.) had traveled 22,000 miles and put together through military victories -- he never lost a battle -- an empire well over 2 million square miles that stretched from today's Greece and Turkey to Egypt and parts of India. Clearly, any movie has to hopscotch through time even to scratch the surface of such a life. Stone chooses to dwell on scenes that emphasize the making of a conqueror, his intense relationship with his boyhood friend Hephaistion, the exoticism of the lands conquered and his unalterable belief that his road to glory parallels that of his idol, the legendary Greek warrior Achilles.
Stone, who wrote the script with Christopher Kyle and Laeta Kalogridis, tells the story through the aging eyes of Alexander confident Ptolemy (a grizzled Anthony Hopkins in flowing white tunic), who dictates his memoirs in the airy Mediterranean comforts of the Alexandria Library. Opening scenes establish our hero: In her bed, surrounded by her ubiquitous snakes, Alex's mom Olympias (Angelina Jolie) teaches her son to grasp a snake without hesitation. This tender scene gets interrupted by an attempted rape of Olympias by the boy's drunken and uncouth father, King Philip of Macedonia (a burly and unkempt Val Kilmer), the vulgarian who sired a well-mannered son.
Wrestling matches among young boys introduce Alexander's soulmate, Hephaistion. A lesson from Aristotle (Christopher Plummer) lets the learned man outline the route Alexander will take to conquer his empire and to teach him the virtues of manly love.
Dad offers tidbits of wisdom: "Women are more dangerous than men" and "A king must know he has to hurt those he loves." Mom fills him with malicious gossip about Dad. Alex and Hephaistion grasp one another in loving friendship. Then finally they are grown men in the persons of Farrell and Jared Leto. Stone outfits Farrell with Brad Pitt blond hair along with costumes and makeup that so feminize the warrior he becomes Alexander the Dandy. Meanwhile, Leto must lurk around every corner as if he were Alexander's shadow.
Now the film rushes forward in earnest, galloping from speeches or battle scene to more speeches. There is only one, very odd, lapse in chronology. Stone bypasses Philip's death and Alexander's seizure of the crown so that he may flash back to the sequence late in the film, where he evidently feels it will have greater impact. It doesn't.
In struggling to make sense of Alexander's years spent in Asia, when he should have been consolidating and governing his empire, Stone postulates that Alexander is running away from Mommy as much as he is searching for young boys. And Mommy, draped in snakes, dictates Dear Son letters from her palace bed chambers, offering advice he never heeds.
The love of Alexander's life is Hephaistion, but he does dally with male dancers who dress as women. His puzzling marriage of Roxane (the dazzling Rosario Dawson), a dance girl encountered on the frontier (present-day Afghanistan), is seen as a ploy to unify the empire as much as it is to beget a male heir.
This includes one of the strangest wedding nights in movie history, where foreplay consists of a rape attempt by Alexander, mutual pummeling and a knife to Alexander's throat. Scenes such as this constantly go over the top yet never shed any revelatory light. Similarly, battles are spectacular, but a viewer gets lost in the carnage.
Then there is the dialogue. One can shrug off anachronistic British-isms such as "stiff old sod." But howlers predominate, the worst coming from Olympias after she has poisoned her son's mind, manipulated his life and quite possibly murdered his father. "What have I done to make you hate me so?" she laments.
Technically, this production has exciting battles, eye-catching sets and brilliant colorful costumes. But the elements fight each other for attention rather than coming together in a unified whole. Since the movie lacks a vision of what Alexander was really about as a man and a figure in history, it falls back all too frequently on movie spectacle.
Warner Bros. and Intermedia Films present a Moritz Borman production.
Cast: Alexander: Colin Farrell; Hephaistion: Jared Leto; Olympias: Angelina Jolie; Philip: Val Kilmer; Ptolemy: Anthony Hopkins; Roxane: Rosario Dawson; Aristotle: Christopher Plummer; Cleitus: Gary Stretch.
Director: Oliver Stone; Screenwriters: Oliver Stone, Christopher Kyle, Laeta Kalogridis; Producers: Thomas Schuhly, Jon Kilik, Iain Smith, Moritz Borman; Executive producers: Paul Rassam, Matthias Deyle; Director of photography: Rodrigo Prieto; Production designer: Jan Roelfs; Music: Vangelis; Costumes: Jenny Beavan; Editors: Tom Nordberg, Yann Herve, Alex Marquez.
One woman yelled "You're hot!" into a megaphone, as another waved a sign that read, "Colin - kiss me. It's my 18th birthday." Farrell dashed across Hollywood Boulevard to greet the birthday girl but didn't quite grant her wish.
"I cheated," he admitted on the red carpet. "I just gave her a little squeeze." Asked what it takes to get him to pucker up, the Irish lad sighed, "Oh, I'm a pretty cheap drunk, just a couple of beers."
Along with an army of his closest Irish blokes, Farrell was joined on the carpet by his on-screen mother (Angelina Jolie), father (Val Kilmer), wife (Rosario Dawson) and lover (Jared Leto).
Jolie, 29, said playing mother to 28-year-old Farrell only strengthened her appreciation for her real-life son, Maddox. Comparing her "boys," Jolie praised Maddox as the more disciplined of the two.
"Mad listens to me," Jolie said, laughing. She said she's grateful she didn't have to raise a son in 356 B.C. like her ruthless character, Olympias. "If I lived during that time, I probably would be similar to her. Fortunately, I live in a time where I don't have to make my son hard to survive."
The actress, dressed in black Versace, refuted rumors that she and her father, Jon Voight, recently reconciled. Jolie's brother, James Haven, turned up with longtime girlfriend Rachael Anderson.
Over the past year, magazines have romantically linked both Kilmer and now Leto to 19-year-old beauty Scarlett Johansson. But Kilmer insists he and Johansson are merely close pals. "I'm just a fan of hers," said Kilmer. "I started seeing her around during award season and invited her to my house."
Johansson was Kilmer's special guest at the September opening of The Ten Commandments, a new stage musical starring Kilmer as a singing Moses, now playing at Hollywood's Kodak Theatre. When the musical opened, Kilmer got heat from critics for his reliance on strategically placed teleprompters to help him remember lines. But movie premiere guest Luba Mason, who plays Kilmer's mom in the musical, reports, "There are no more teleprompters as of a month ago. ... He needed them for support because he hadn't done a theater piece in a really long time."
As for Leto's current relationship with Johansson, the actor was less forthcoming. Although he accompanied Johansson to a charity art opening she hosted Saturday, Leto would only admit that "someone recommended that I go and check it out."
It is Leto's character, Hephaistion, who is established as the true love of Alexander's life. But the only on-screen sex is supplied by Dawson, who stood out on the red carpet with her colorful gown designed by Michon Schur. Said Dawson: "I have all these really dark heavy veils in the movie, so tonight I thought I'd try to be feminine."
So it was fitting that the Chinese Theatre, host to more openings than anyone could possibly imagine, was the setting Tuesday night for the world premiere of "Alexander," with co-stars Colin Farrell, Angelina Jolie and Val Kilmer turning out to support the film.
Farrell — he of the jeans, T-shirt and cigarette-butt arrivals-line chic — showed up in formal attire, prompting one observer to note that Farrell looked so good, he should consider sleeping in his perfectly tailored black tuxedo jacket with matching tie.
"Alexander" tells the story of Alexander the Great, who conquered much of the known world by the age of 25.
"It's just a very large story told on a very large canvas about many different things," said Farrell, who plays Alexander.
The 28-year-old actor wasn't much more forthcoming when discussing the essence of the title character.
"I don't know," Farrell explained. "He was everything. He was a contradiction in terms. You know, he was soft, he was strong, he was gentle, he was ferocious, he was a complete contradiction as a man."
Jolie, just a year older than Farrell, plays Alexander's mother, Olympias.
"I think that you meet her when Alexander's young, so you grow with her a bit," said Jolie, dressed in Versace for the premiere.
"But I think, also, we're both actors and we took it really seriously, and I focused on everything about me that's seen death and feels old and is a mom and feels drained and disappointed by life. And he focused on everything that's hopeful and young about him. And, somehow, we met in the middle."
The film marked a reunion of Stone and Val Kilmer, who starred in Stone's "The Doors," about the life of Jim Morrison.
"I just love him," gushed Kilmer. "We had a great time working together 10 years ago — it's 10 years already — in `The Doors.' And this was actually more fun to make for me because I didn't have the pressure of playing the lead and all those responsibilities, which are awesome."
Farrell said shooting the movie was difficult, both physically and emotionally.
"All the boys involved put themselves on the line, and it was a blast."
He added: "It doesn't really get much bigger — whether it's dramatically or budget-wise or the epic nature."
"Alexander" opens in theaters nationwide on Nov. 24.
Brosnan, 51, who has played Bond in the last four 007 films, says Farrell would be his ideal successor.
"I'll give it to Colin Farrell. He'll eat the head off them all," Brosnan said following a recent entertainment awards ceremony in Dublin, Ireland.
But Farrell, saying that everyone keeps asking him about Brosnan's endorsement, says, "I never heard a thing. He probably wants 10 percent!"
While he nixed Bond, the 28-year-old actor confirmed that he's considering stepping into the role of police Detective Sonny Crockett for a movie version of the '80s TV drama "Miami Vice."
Farrell would play the part originated by Don Johnson. Jamie Foxx is negotiating to co-star as his Crockett's partner, Ricardo Tubbs, played by Philip Michael Thomas in the TV series.
Michael Mann, the director of "Collateral," "Heat" and "The Insider" and the executive producer of the "Miami Vice" TV series, is developing the story, which Farrell said wouldn't go the comedy route, like the films inspired by "Dragnet" and "Starsky & Hutch."
It's not a comedy at all. It's cool," said Farrell in an interview. "Michael Mann wrote it and when he writes it's good and it goes pretty deep."
Farrell said he wasn't sure whether his Crockett would have the three-day growth of beard that Johnson turned into an '80s fashion statement, but he would definitely have an updated wardrobe.
"I don't think I'll be wearing a silver shiny suit," he said.
In an interview with Reuters on Sunday to discuss his soon to be released film "Alexander," Farrell, 28, was asked about a suggestion by the outgoing James Bond, Pierce Brosnan, last week that he get the job because "he'll eat the head off them all."
Farrell feigned outrage at the thought of becoming the sixth James Bond in the series, joking he was shocked by Brosnan's suggestion and if he got the job, he just might employ an Irish accent to confuse fans of the suave British agent.
"The idea of me playing James Bond got into the press, but it is not true. I would not like to do it ... they should find someone the audience has no history with,' Farrell said.
Farrell stars in the upcoming Oliver Stone film "Alexander," which is slated to opened in late November. It was a role that had plenty of action for him as he broke an ankle and a wrist while filming battle scenes on location in Thailand.
Finding a successor to Brosnan as agent 007, the character who has sold nearly $4 billion in tickets since "Dr. No" hit the screens 42 years ago, has been the subject of intense speculation for months.
Brosnan fulfilled his four-film contract with "Die Another Day" in 2002. The next film is not slated to come out until 2006. Others names mentioned as possibilities to put on Bond's trademark tuxedo have been Hugh Jackman and Jude Law.
The Irish-born actor and Jamie Foxx are in talks to star in the big-screen adaptation of the '80s cop drama "Miami Vice," report news sources.
The original series, which ran from 1984 to 1989, centers on two cops who took on Florida's drug world and looked good doing it. Farrell will play Det. James "Sonny" Crockett, a part made famous by Don Johnson, and Foxx will star as Det. Ricardo Tubbs, who was originally portrayed by Philip Michael Thomas.
The show's creator, Anthony Yarkovich, will executive produce. The show's executive producer Michael Mann, however, is in talks to pen, produce, and helm the feature film.
Farrell, 28, last appeared in "A Home at the End of the World," "Intermission" and "S.W.A.T." "Alexander," which also stars Angelina Jolie and Val Kilmer, will open nationwide on Wednesday, Nov. 24.
Foxx, 36, has recently enjoyed success playing opposite Tom Cruise in the thriller "Collateral." He next stars as the late musician Ray Charles in "Ray," which is scheduled for release on Friday, Oct. 29.
The 10th year was dazzling with Russell Crowe, Renée Zellweger, Charlize Theron, Jude Law, Hugh Jackman, Bette Midler, Tom Cruise, Barbra Streisand and others. (Babs brought the show its eighth consecutive Emmy nomination.) Now the 11th season is shaping up with hot, hot, hot names — beginning Sept. 27 — Natalie Portman, Mark Wahlberg, Jamie Foxx, Colin Farrell, Salma Hayek, Cameron Diaz, Owen Wilson — and ta-da — Robert Redford.
The film, starring Colin Farrell as the conqueror Alexander the Great, had been set to debut on Nov. 5 against another major release, the computer-animated "The Incredibles." "Alexander" will now debut Nov. 24.
"We think that moving 'Alexander' to November 24th positions it better for Academy consideration," Warner Bros. president of domestic film distribution Dan Fellman said in a statement.
The date appears to be less competitive for box office dollars, too, as the debut of Pixar Animation Studios Inc.'s "The Incredibles" looks set to steal most of the marquee power on its opening weekend.
On Nov. 24 "Alexander," which Entertainment Weekly magazine reported cost as much as $150 million to make, faces comedies "Christmas with the Kranks" and "Beauty Shop," as well as adventure movie "Flight of the Phoenix."
"Alexander" will now debut the Wednesday before the long Thanksgiving holiday weekend in the United States, which should help boost its box office. Warner Bros. is owned by Time Warner Inc.
One source told Reuters recently that director Stone was working feverishly to finish the movie for Nov. 5, but that could not be confirmed.
Often movies are delayed for months while directors fine-tune films, and that can spell trouble in Hollywood. Such a scenario arose last year with The Walt Disney Co.'s "The Alamo," but that does not appear to be the case with "Alexander" because the delay is only a few weeks.
A Warner Bros. spokeswoman was not immediately available to comment.
Warner Bros. is expected to promote the film, its stars and director this year for Oscars, the U.S. film industry's top awards given out in February by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
"I have a beautiful son, and as long as I can be with him and as long as he always knows where his dad is, and I can go work as well, I'm fine," says the actor, who walks into an intimate press conference with a beer and lit cigarette in his hand, ignoring the no-smoking policy at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel.
"I don't know, man," he says, when asked about his child with model Kim Bordenave, "The first time you hold your baby in your arms, I mean, a sense of strength and love washed over me and I never thought that possible. I love him in a different way and in a stronger way than I love my mother. I mean, I adore my mother but this a very pure love, unconditional to the extreme."
Farrell says his mother still keeps scrapbooks of articles about her son, including the sensational ones when he's fooling around with Britney Spears or Demi Moore. Most likely, he says she's now clipping stories about the recent controversy of his nude scene cut from "A Home at the End of the World."
"That's boring, man, there's got to be more happening in the world, in cinema, internationally," says the actor, peppering his interview with plenty of four-letter words, which Zap2it.com has excised. The brief full frontal nude scene was cut because he and the director thought it was too distracting.
Farrell pursued the story by Pulitzer Prize-winner Michael Cunningham, who wrote "The Hours," and stars as a guy in the 1970s named Bobby who has a relationship with both a childhood friend, Jonathan, (played by Dallas Roberts) and a woman, Clare (Robin Wright Penn) who has his baby and the three of them raise her together. Oscar winner Sissy Spacek plays Jonathan's mom, and "Amadeus" star Tom Hulce produced the project.
"I could see in his eyes that he was so passionate for the project, it's timely because their relationship couldn't happen as easily now, in a time when things are so priggish, prurient, repressive and self-conscious," says first-time film director Michael Mayer, a theater director who staged the national tour of "Angels in America." "This is a timely film."
Actor Dallas Roberts, who spends a few scenes kissing Farrell, says, "The country is hyper aware of these labels of sexuality and love, and part of the country is trying to say what is natural or not natural for everyone. I look forward to a time that it's not an issue anymore and when people can ask me not what it's like to play a gay man, but what it's like to play a great character."
Farrell admits he's a lot like Bobby. "He really just seems to think that there are no problems, that everything is beautiful and there is a grand scheme of things. He very much lives in the moment. I'm a pretty open fella, you might've guessed. I'm also not as gentle as him and I'm fairly gentle."
He wasn't too gentle, however, when diapering the baby in the film. "I was terrible at changing, every time I held that little girl she wailed," Farrell says. "It's different when it's yours though. Instinct kicks in or something."
He calls his character "a lover." "Bobby could move back to New York and if he met a girl who rocked his world, he'd be with her and if he met a boy who rocked his world, he'd be with him. Again, you can call that bisexual, of course, but Bobby wouldn't even know that. If you said to him, 'You're bisexual,' he'd think you were talking about purchasing sex. He just exists."
Although he's playing a bisexual again in the upcoming Oliver Stone epic "Alexander," Farrell says he likes the idea of switching between small films like "Intermission" and big blockbusters like last year's "S.W.A.T."
" 'S.W.A.T.' was four-and-a-half months, I definitely wanted to do something else that would just challenge myself a little bit more," Farrell says.
He's now working with director Terrence Malick on a period drama about explorer John Smith and the clash between Native Americans and the British slated for next year.
"A Home at the End of the World" opens in a limited release on Friday, July 23 and will expand to other markets through August.
So said writer Michael Cunningham at last week's premiere of the film version of his book, "A Home at the End of the World," in which Colin stars as a young man of ambiguous sexuality. I doubt this reality will deter Colin's gay fans. Cunningham has also gone the way of all men, it seems. At least for a season, he is newly platinum blond. "I'm a novelist; no one can tell me not to." Michael, these days you can be a truck driver, and no one will tell you not to.
In attendance was Sissy Spacek, who also stars in "Home." She recently finished filming "The Ring 2," a sequel to last year's horror hit. "I just put my 'Carrie' mentality back in," Sissy says, remembering her fragile and terrifying telekinetic character for whom prom night wasn't pretty. When reminded her that she once announced she would never do another scary movie, Spacek grinned impishly and said, "Did I say that? If I did, it was probably over 20 years ago, right? I've had to eat my words a lot."
The Oscar-winner has recorded a song for a CD by her bluegrass friends, Robin (not the comic actor) and Linda Williams, and also hopes to act with daughter Schuyler Fisk, who accompanied her to the premiere. (As to the singing, remember that Sissy did her own excellent warbling in "Coal Miner's Daughter," to the initial distress of Loretta Lynn.) At the moment, Sissy has no mature-actress-can't-find-work complaints. Her acclaimed performance in "In the Bedroom" a few years ago put the fire back in her career. "I have a lot of things going on . . . You can go for years without reading anything you like, and then you get everything all at once and have to figure out how to schedule it."
He said he does. At least, sometimes.
Farrell's "A Home at the End of the World," opening in major cities on Friday, could help reshape his bad boy image into that of a soulful actor, albeit one who still likes to party, make no mistake.
"Is there another side to me? Of course. I can be serious when I need to," he told Reuters in a recent interview. "I've read where they say, 'He's an animal.' but I'm a fairly gentle soul, and I get it from my mother."
The film's director Michael Mayer agreed and called the 28-year-old "incredibly lovely, warm-hearted, generous-spirited."
However, Mayer is quick to add that the wild guy Farrell is depicted to be in the media "is also a part of who he is, but not all of who he is."
In fact, throughout the interview with Reuters, Farrell is drinking a beer, smoking and cursing. He needs a shave, too.
He said he doesn't like to do interviews, doesn't like to go to movie premieres, and in the past five years has mostly lived in hotel rooms while working on one movie after another.
Farrell said he missed his home in Dublin, his family, friends, baby boy, fish and chips and the pub.
In fact, it was at home in the predawn hours that Farrell, alone on his couch, read the script for "Home at the End of the World" and was struck by the love that exudes from its emotionally wounded character, Bobby, whom he plays.
The role is far from other roles for which he is known, such as his rebellious soldier in "Tigerland," CIA agent in "The Recruit," and assassin in "Daredevil."
ALL HE NEEDS IS LOVE
"Home at the End of the World," Farrell said, "is about breaking down barriers but not with a hammer and sickle but with the feather of love, and I just adored that."
The movie is based on Michael Cunningham's 1990 novel of the same name about a boy, Bobby, growing up in the 1960s who loses his family in a series of deaths and moves in with his best friend, Jonathan.
As kids, Bobby and Jonathan experiment with drugs and sex, and eventually, Jonathan falls in love with Bobby.
But college calls Jonathan (Dalls Roberts) to New York and after his undergraduate years are finished, Bobby joins him. Once there, however, Bobby falls for Jonathan's roommate, Clare (Robin Wright Penn), and the pair have a baby.
Jonathan, who still loves Bobby, can't allow the triangle to last. Or, can he?
"Home at the End of the World" challenges conventions of relationships, family and the places people call home.
"It is unabashed in its belief in love and its hope for the future," Farrell said.
Unfortunately for the film's makers, however, advance media coverage and Internet buzz focused less on the movie's message and almost solely on Farrell's brief frontal nude scene.
Mayer said Farrell asked him to cut the scene.
"I wouldn't have shot the scene if I had a problem with it," Farrell said. "I really respected Michael Cunningham's writing too much for it to be jarring and for people to go in with whatever preconceptions of Colin Farrell and his social life and his womanizing ways. I didn't want (the movie) to be about that."
Spoken like a gentleman. Albeit, one with a beer in his hand.
Colin, Sissy Spacek and Robin Wright Penn are all true to the complex Cunningham characters, but Dallas really springs to life with vivid poignancy and lots of quiet sex appeal, in his first on-screen role. This intimate movie is also Michael Mayer's debut as a film director, after years of top work on Broadway. In fact, Mayer has an eagerly awaited revival of "After the Fall" opening here on the 29th. Peter Krause and Carla Gugino star in Arthur Miller's infamous confessional.
In his latest film "A Home at the End of the World," a scene in which the Irish actor exposes himself head on has been deleted after a audience members at a test screening reacted with gasps or cheers, reports the AP.
British tabloids are having a field day with the story, reporting that "the women were over-excited and the men looked really uncomfortable."
Producers pronounced the full-frontal nude scene too distracting and snipped accordingly.
"Home" is based on the novel by "The Hours" author Michael Cunningham and centers on how Bobby's (Farrell) life changes when he moves in with his childhood pal Jonathan (Dallas Roberts) and falls for the free-spirited roommate, Clare (Robin Wright Penn). The film also stars Sissy Spacek.
"Home" opens in limited release on Friday, July 23.
Farrell's previous films include "Minority Report," "Phone Booth," "Daredevil" and "S.W.A.T." He next stars as the titular Macedonian conqueror in Oliver Stone's "Alexander," which is scheduled for release in November.
Audiences sticking around for the credits of the actor's latest film "Intermission" can hear him belting out Sonny Curtis' "I Fought the Law" in his signature Irish brogue. The song also appears on the film's soundtrack, which dropped on Tuesday, March 16.
In "Intermission," Farrell plays Lehiff, a petty criminal who well, fights the law, in particular a maverick police detective played by Colm Meaney. Despite shooting several scenes with Farrell, Meaney didn't hear his co-star's vocal prowess until later.
"Joe Strummer is spinning in his grave," Meaney jokes, referring to the lead singer of The Clash, one of the many bands that covered the song. He adds, "Actually, the song is quite Colin."
Although he has a reputation as Hollywood's favorite bad boy, Farrell impressed "Intermission" director John Crowley, who credits the actor with setting a positive tone on the film's set.
"He's the opposite of a moaner," Crowley tells Zap2it.com. "Whatever you want him to do, he'll do it again. He'll do it louder, faster, funnier -- whatever -- he'll be there. He's also very open and knows everybody on set."
Farrell's co-star Kelly Macdonald agrees. "He's a very warm person ... funny and charismatic. He even got everybody down to the local pub and just sat [there] like he was holding court. It was just great," she says.
The actor has reason to be happy and generous. Besides boasting a hefty paycheck, worldwide fame and the luck of the Irish when it comes to ladies, Farrell has the luxury of choosing his versatile roles. Although he was offered the romantic lead in "Intermission," he opted to play the bad guy instead.
"My character is a complete knacker!" says Farrell. "He's ... just searching for his idea of a better quality of life. So you've got this tough guy looking at kitchen utensils and woks, [but he's] still only at the thinking stage [with] this kind of romantic idea of what it's like to be a man."
"Intermission," which also stars Cillian Murphy and Shirley Henderson, opens in limited release on Friday, March 19.
In one of the film supermarket stocker John (Cillian Murphy) and his pal Oscar (David Wilmot) steal a case of the condiment known as brown sauce. At a loss of what to do with the saucy surplus, they begin adding it to everything, including their coffee, and even convince fellow conspirators (Colin Farrell and Brian O'Byrne) to try it.
Cast mate Kelly MacDonald enlightens Zap2it.com about the European condiment.
"It's spicy, kind of like ketchup ... a bit like steak sauce," she says. "Colin and a few other people tried it [in their coffee] and said it was revolting."
"It's disgusting," confirms director John Crowley, who let curiosity get the better of him.
Taking pity on his actors, Crowley even tried to replace the sauce with a prop -- a chocolate-syrup mixture -- in one key scene, which had disastrous results.
"Around take 11 or 12, they were really beginning to gag and feel sick [because they had to] swallow it during the scene," says the director. "It was the first scene we shot that day at 8 o'clock in the morning, and a few of them had 'trouble' later on. I won't go into details on that one."
"Intermission," a seriocomic tale about love, sex, death and brown sauce, opens in limited release on Friday, March 19.
A source close to Dawson tells us that the 24-year-old East Village native fell prey to the lusty Leprechaun's charms while shooting Oliver Stone's historical epic in England, Morocco and Thailand. Farrell plays Alexander, the king of Macedonia, and Rosario plays his wife, Roxanne. Anthony Hopkins, Val Kilmer, Jared Leto and Jonathan Rhys-Meyers co-star.
"Rosario said the sex was great with Colin," Dawson's pal tattles. "But he blew her off once Angelina got on the set. Of course, Colin and Angelina ended up getting together.
"Rosario was devastated. She thought they were going to fall in love or something. But c'mon, it's Colin Farrell. What did she think was going to happen?"
Rosario's friend also blabbed that the bust-up with the frisky Farrell hurt her even more when Dawson learned that her ex-boyfriend, "Dawson's Creek" actor Joshua Jackson, was having a baby with his new girlfriend. "She was pretty upset about that," says our source.
Not surprisingly, Dawson's spokeswoman told us that the love triangle tale was "absolutely not true."
She added: "I'm staring at pictures of Rosario and Colin cuddling at the Bangkok Film Festival, which was two weeks ago. They're good friends. I just saw her in L.A. and she's happy, lovely and everything's fine."
Designed by Joie specifically for the campaign, the shirts will be worn in upcoming public service announcements in a national effort to help raise money for the Entertainment Industry Foundation's National Colorectal Cancer Research Alliance (EIF's NCCRA) co-founded by Katie Couric, Lilly Tartikoff and EIF.
Both the mens and womens tees will sell exclusively at Bloomingdale's for $28.00 and the net proceeds from each Tee sale ($24.50) will be donated to EIF's NCCRA.
Katie Couric kicks off the fundraising on Wednesday, March 10 by hosting a special evening at Bloomingdale's 59th Street in New York. In addition, Bloomingdale's will make a donation to EIF's NCCRA for every purchase customers make on their Bloomingdale's charge card from March 10 through March 21.
The partnership between Bloomingdale's and EIF's NCCRA began in September 1999.
"Bloomingdale's has made it fashionable to talk about colon cancer. We are proud of this great achievement. This has brought the awareness to so many on how to prevent this disease, which is 91% curable if detected early. We are proud to be a founding sponsor of the NCCRA and will continue to support this worthwhile cause," says Michael Gould, Chairman and CEO of Bloomingdale's.
Moore's "Saved" debuted at this year's Sundance Film Festival, and Farrell will next be seen in Oliver Stone's epic "Alexander."
The 27-year-old actor was fitted with a cast and released from a hospital, publicist Susan Patricola said. He went back to the set Monday and filming for the movie was expected to wrap up in two days, she said.
"While it may be uncomfortable, he is fine and looking forward to a much needed rest from the shoot that has lasted six months," Patricola said.
Farrell stars as the Macedonian conqueror Alexander the Great in the film, along with Angelina Jolie, Anthony Hopkins and Jared Leto.
Farrell recently appeared in "Veronica Guerin" and will be seen next in "Intermission" and "A Home at the End of the World."
His other film credits include "S.W.A.T.," "The Recruit," "Phone Booth," "Daredevil" and "Minority Report."
The 76th Annual Academy Awards will be presented on Sunday, Feb. 29, at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood. The gala will be televised live by ABC beginning at 8 p.m. ET.
"S.W.A.T." earned an estimated $15.79 million during its second week in release for a 12-day rental revenue haul of $32.7 million.
Besides being last week's No. 1-selling DVD, according to Nielsen VideoScan's First Alert DVD chart, "Underworld" earned an estimated $12.41 million during its first five days on rental shelves, according to Video Store magazine data.
The crime thriller "Out of Time," starring Denzel Washington, debuted at No. 2 on the sales chart during the same frame. It earned an estimated $10.47 million during its first five days on rental shelves.
"Uptown Girls" was the nation's fifth-best-selling DVD during its debut week ending Jan. 11 and No. 14 on the rental chart. The comedy earned an estimated $3.38 million in rental revenue during its first five days on rental shelves.
Meanwhile, "The Matrix Revolutions" is slated to hit retail shelves, priced for rental, on April 6.
So says an exhausted and angry - though still funny - Colin Farrell, from the London set of "Alexander." Colin, a buttery blond for his role as the famous Greek conquerer, is reacting to a scurrilous report out of London - picked up here by The Washington Post.
This story supposedly comes from Farrell's "personal guide" during the film's shoot in Morocco. It had the sexy Irishman drinking in unbelievable excess, partying to all hours, harassing his movie "mother" Angelina Jolie (she plays Olympias in the film) and generally behaving badly.
The "guide" suggested Colin "was clearly unhinged" and needed "pyschiatric help." One problem, Colin says: "I don't know who this person is. I never met him. Not one f - - - ing time! Look, I accept a lot of what is said and written about me; this is the job, this is the contract I signed, and certainly, I've helped the image along at times. But this latest is such an invasion, such a defamation of me as a human being - and so incorrect. I wasn't even staying in the hotel where they have me banging on Angelina's door.
"Anyway, this is not just about me anymore. I have a child, a son, and I have to take responsibility for what is true in my life and what is not true. And so I intend to take legal action against those who invented this stuff. Steps are being taken right now."
Colin was chatting between scenes, and director Oliver Stone was anxious to have his leading man in front of the cameras, but I did manage to ask him about the experience of playing Alexander, who died at 33, but not before he had changed the world. "As you know, Liz, this business ain't always brain surgery, but you recognize a worthwhile challenge when it comes. This has been the greatest and so far the most fulfilling challenge of my career. The Oliver Stone script is so beautiful and pure."
And what about Angelina Jolie? "She is an incredible, amazing actor, for whom I have the utmost respect. We worked together only two days, and it was naturally a very strange experience to have her play my mother, but she was a joy to work with." (Jared Leto, Anthony Hopkins, Val Kilmer and Jonathan Rhys-Meyers also share scenes with Colin.)
I think Colin Farrell will always be a bit of a wild guy - hey, we don't want him to start writing children's books or anything - but he has now seen the power of image and publicity, and how easily it can be manipulated out of one's own control. Fame can be a heavy burden.
On the set of his upcoming Oliver Stone film "Alexander," the Irish actor drew blood when he accidentally stabbed his co-star Gary Stretch harder than expected, according to British news sources.
Farrell pierced Stretch's protective plastic padding, slicing him in the stomach during a pivotal fight scene on Friday, Dec. 5.
Stretch, a former boxer, ignored the "minor wound" temporarily, deciding to finish the scene. The next day he had the wound checked over at the Wexham Park Hospital -- where rocker Ozzy Osbourne is being treated for his recent crash on an all-terrain vehicle.
Stretch, who returned to work on Thursday, Dec. 11, takes the injury in stride.
"It's one of those movies where these kind of things happen," he says. "We've all had few bangs and scratches."
"Alexander" recounts the life of the legendary Macedonian conqueror who led his army over most of the known world. Farrell plays the title role opposite Angelina Jolie, Anthony Hopkins and Val Kilmer. The film will open in November 2004.
The network bestows the award in a special on Monday at 9 p.m. ET.
Justin Timberlake, Beyonce Knowles, Colin Farrell, Will Ferrell, Queen Latifah and Arnold Schwarzenegger are among the other celebrities that E! found particularly intriguing this year.
Depp, 40, based his character, Capt. Jack Sparrow, on Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards.
"I want my kids and my grandkids someday to be able to go, `Yeah, Pops, he really held it together and he did the right thing," Depp told E! "He didn't stray from the path, and he didn't sell out and go for the big dough early on or anything. I would be very, very proud if they felt that."
Oscar-nominated Hayek will play a woman who dreams of marrying a wealthy American only to find herself in love with a poverty-stricken writer (Farrell).
Robert Towne ("Without Limits," "Tequila Sunrise") sits in the director's chair and also penned the screenplay based on the novel by John Fante.
Hayek is currently filming "After the Sunset" with Pierce Brosnan and Woody Harrelson while Farrell is working with Oliver Stone on "Alexander the Great."
Director James Foley ("The Chamber," "Glengarry Glen Ross") is reportedly planning to bring the story of the troubled star of such films as "A Place in the Sun," "Misfits," and "From Here to Eternity" to the silver screen.
Clift was one of Hollywood's biggest stars in the 1950s. A car crash left him disfigured and he later died at the age of 45.
Farrell is currently filming Oliver Stone's "Alexander."
The actress became impatient with the Irish actor after he repeatedly dropped trou during drinking binges.
The two are currently filming Oliver Stone's "Alexander the Great" in Morocco with Farrell in the lead role. The stunning actress checked out of the Le Meridien hotel in Marrakesh, taking her adopted son Maddox with her.
Hotel staff then also tired of the 27-year-old's antics and asked him to leave.
According to industry reports, this move will be the third hotel hop for Farrell; and apparently Stone's 4 a.m. set calls are putting a stop to the bad behavior.
Stone was in an expansive mood at a packed media conference on both his current film and his recent documentary about Cuban leader Fidel Castro, "Commandante."
Stone said he was happy with progress so far on the shoot of "Alexander," with Irishman Farrell in the title role as the Macedonian king.
"Knock on wood, it's going very well," he said. "We're on schedule and on budget. The weather's been a little tricky, with sandstorms and rain that surprised us. But we're pushing on."
The director said Morocco was the key location for "Alexander," which will later move to Thailand for scenes involving elephants and England for studio sequences. Stone paid tribute to the film's producer, Moritz Borman.
"He was the only producer who didn't pull out of Morocco after the bombings (in Casablanca) in May, when other Hollywood producers pulled out and bad-mouthed the country," Stone said, to applause from Moroccans present at the conference.
Stone received a tribute from the festival Monday evening, followed by a screening of "Commandante" in the sublime setting of a ruined palace within the city's medieval walls.
HBO co-produced the 90-minute film, but the cable channel pulled the documentary in May after Castro had three hijackers executed and imprisoned some 70 dissidents. Stone was asked to return to Cuba to reinterview the longstanding Cuban president.
"It was probably one of the lowest points of my life to be censored in America," Stone said. "That is a rare document, and I don't know why it can't be seen by the American people."
The new footage has, however, yielded a second film, the 50-minute "Looking for Fidel," which Stone said HBO "seemed to like."
"[Colin] calls every day to listen to Jimmy cry and gurgle," a family insider tells Star, "and asks [Kim] to e-mail him photos so he can show them off to everyone on the set."
Stuck in Morocco filming the Oliver Stone-helmed epic Alexander, Colin, 27, asked his older sister Claudine to be there with Kim when 7-pound, 9-ounce James was born. Said his Alexander co-star Rosario Dawson, "His son's gorgeous. He's got pictures posted all over the place.'"
Only in this week's Star Magazine's Exclusive (issue 41) can you see the first published photo's of Baby James!
The infant was born Friday at a Los Angeles hospital and weighed 7 pounds, 9 ounces, Susan Patricola said Tuesday. Both mother and son are doing well, she said. Farrell wasn't there for his son's arrival because he was in Morocco shooting Alexander, the Oliver Stone film in which he stars as Alexander the Great.
"Although Colin couldn't attend the birth, he had family members standing in and is longing to see his new son and couldn't be happier," Patricola said in a news release. "The three will be together very soon."
Their son won't be named until then, Patricola said.
Farrell, 27, was briefly married to actress Amelia Warner. His other films include Minority Report, The Recruit and Phone Booth.
"Colin is extremely generous with fans and collectors, and goes out of his way to sign for everyone he can at his movie premieres. ... He just flat-out loves to sign autographs," said contributing editor Jeffrey Woolf, who helped compile the annual Best and Worst Signers list.
The 27-year-old actor has starred in "Minority Report," "The Recruit" and "Daredevil."
As for Diaz, the 31-year-old star of the "Charlie's Angels" films, Woolf said in a statement this week: "She might be an Angel for Charlie, but Cameron is nothing short of a witch ... when it comes to signing autographs."
The annual survey was released in conjunction with the first Autograph Collector Exposition and a celebrity memorabilia auction to be held this weekend at the Beverly Garland Hotel in North Hollywood, Calif.
The top 10 Best and Worst Signers, as listed in the October issue of Autograph Collector: The Best: Colin Farrell, Kate Bosworth, Asia Argento, Jennifer Love Hewitt, LeAnn Rimes, The Osbournes, Jessica Alba, Jennifer Garner, Kelly Hu and Jessica Simpson.
The Worst: Cameron Diaz, Bruce Willis, Demi Moore, Orlando Bloom, Shannon Elizabeth, Janet Jackson, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Eric Bana, Hugh Jackman and Christina Aguilera.