Audience: Did the universe of Batman speak to you before this shoot?
Colin Farrel: When you have two boys, it’s hard to escape it. We have seen them all and several times! When I was little on the other hand, I preferred flirting with girls and kicking a ball rather than reading comics!
How did your sons react to seeing you dressed up as a Penguin?
At the time, the youngest had a monster fear! It really is a very impressive costume. Just like the make-up that goes with it. It took six to eight hours just to put the teeth in, the first time, then the fat follows, the prostheses, the wig.
“My children saw me spoil myself”
Did you have to put on weight to embody this character?
I had health problems after filming The North Water, a BBC program for which I ate up to eight meals a day to have a real physical presence. So I didn’t want to gain too much weight this time around. So we imagined a special costume with prostheses. The first time I wanted to test it in real life, I went to a Starbucks with it. People were speechless!
You started filming at the height of the Covid pandemic. How did you experience this period?
Compared to many, it wasn’t that bad for me. I had my youngest boy with me for quite a while. But I remember two weeks that were not easy at all. I was alone in a house, without my two children who were with their mothers. After ten days, I felt the absence of contact with others. The fact of no longer shaking hands with my friends, kissing the people I love, having a coffee in a pub, in short, no longer interacting with my usual environment, that was hell! It was the first time that I spent all this time without touching anyone! Touch is vital for me.
“Singleness suits me well”
You stayed humble. Who do you owe it to?
Probably to my father. He worked very hard all his life. It supplied supermarkets all over Ireland. Woke up at dawn and went to bed, bloodless. He wasn’t very talkative. His gaze was enough to send us messages. I act differently with my children. I’m noticeably more open than my father was with me. We are constantly talking. They witnessed phases of my life where I was very damaged because of my actions or my excesses. Sometimes I have not been up to par with them. But they never held it against me. They are fighters! They taught me to get rid of my bag of shit!
What dreams did you have at their age?
My father and my uncle played professional football. I wanted to follow in their footsteps, but I wasn’t good enough. I had neither the pugnacity nor the talent of my father. He always told me: “Kid, you’re not hungry enough”. And he was right. But I was obviously hungry enough to fly to Los Angeles to become an actor! I remember very well my first days in Hollywood. For three weeks, I chained up to six castings per day. I was only 22 years old. When I got home, I was so disillusioned. Los Angeles can be a city where you feel terribly alone!
You’ve been single for a while…
A good moment ! But I’m not depressed either! I have learned to accept my share of responsibility in the relationships that I have been able to build in recent years, whether in friendship or in love. Right now, I don’t have anyone in mind for a hypothetical wedding. I’m in no hurry and I’m lucky to have a full life!
Does your mother pressure you?
Not at all, she accepts it! She knows that getting married at all costs is not the solution. I believe in marriage and long-term relationships, although I know it’s not for everyone. Maybe starting with me!
You have often played the police, but you look like a bad boy…
I have always had a serious problem with authority. It started in school. I hated the teachers! I have no diploma. No training. It was as I got older that I took out insurance. For nothing in the world would I want to go back to my childhood or my teenage years! What reassures me is that my children are better at school than me!
How did you stop your addiction to alcohol?
By becoming a responsible dad. But it is difficult. A few years ago, I shot the film Bons Baisers de Bruges in Belgium. I was no longer drinking and I had hundreds of beers within reach. You can’t imagine how much I had to struggle. To calm my alcoholic inclinations, I fell back on the local pancakes! Another less harmful kill!
How do you see our world in the next hundred years?
I am realistic. Our land is in a sorry state. I think we have to stop thinking that it’s the next generation that will fix our mistakes. It is up to us today to make the necessary decisions and too bad if it calls into question our comfort and our habits…
Key dates
1. May 31, 1976
Colin grew up in the suburbs of Dublin. He is the youngest of a family of four children and dreams of becoming a footballer like his father was when he was young.
2. 2002
Arriving in Hollywood two years earlier, Colin co-starred with Tom Cruise in Spielberg’s Minority Report. He quickly becomes the new fashionable actor.
3. 2010
He separates from actress Alicja Bachleda-Curus, the mother of his second child. Seven years before, the top Kim Bordenave had given him a first son. He has been single since.
4. 2022
Terrifying and unrecognizable, Colin embodies the Penguin character in Matt Reeves’ The Batman.
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Interview by Frank Rousseau, in Los Angeles