For Colin Farrell, “Ballad of a Small Player” and “Penguin,” portraying broken characters in his latest film, not only leaned towards new emotional and physical challenges, but also offered the opportunity to embrace the close possessions that come with performances under heavy makeup.
Farrell discussed his latest work at the Zurich Film Festival, where he unveiled Edward Berger’s gambling drama and accepted the event’s Golden Icon Award.
The Irish actor also took off with Joel Schumacher’s 2000 Vietnam War-era film Tigerland, leading to major Hollywood films like Steven Spielberg’s Minority Report, Oliver Stone’s Alexander, and Michael Mann’s Miami Vice, which, as a result of his own personal excess, led to Michael Mann’s Miami Vice.
When playing Lord Doyle, the character from “Little Player Ballad,” Farrell portrays a gambling addict in Macau’s casino mecca, a high roller that runs off physically and mentally and mentally broken.
“He’s a kind of crazy cliff, and that also has physical significance,” explained Farrell. “Whether it’s anxiety or some kind of heart problem, there are times when he doesn’t fully understand it.”
Like the engine of a car hitting the redline, Lord Doyle said, “It’s constantly unsettling, the energy of the pitch of heat, a kind of maniac who has overtaken him out of despair. …He lives in the incredibly aggressive kind of spiritual or emotional vacuum, no matter what addiction is.”
Farrell was soon taken away by a very different role. “The script was beautiful,” he found it bothering.
“It was so dynamic, so idiosyncratic, I didn’t think I’d read it. As an actor, I read things and I’m making some choices. It was very unique, but I’m reading it.
“The Ballad of a Small Player” was also an ideal opportunity to work with Berger, who won the 2023 international feature Oscar.
Farrell was particularly familiar with the series “Patrick Melrose” with Benedict Cumberbatch, and in particular Berger’s previous works. “I thought it was extraordinary storytelling.”
He and Burger were already in contact early on about working together.
“Ed and I were talking about playing “little athlete ballads” before “all quiet western front” came out. And it’s for him, and just globally, he has been an extraordinary storyteller for years.
Although it is a very different genre, Pharrell has similarly embraced the role of the Penguin in Matt Reeves’ “Batman.” He didn’t initially understand that he would take on the character of Reeves, but after seeing the Penguin look, it all makes sense.
Colin Farrell as a penguin
HBO Max
“I was thinking of Burgess Meredith, I was thinking of Danny DeVito, and I saw Tim Burton’s “Batman” as Danny DeVito, at age 5, sitting on the carpet in Dublin, and at age 11 or 12, I saw Tim Burton’s “Batman” as Danny DeVito. The scene is very greedy.
“I don’t know, that’s a bit of a notebook. He’s a bit of a silly. He’s a bit of a pat. This could be more interesting. And I was wrong because it was on the page. I couldn’t see it.
He signed the role, but still didn’t know what he looked like. Reeves then asked him if he had spoken to Penguin makeup designer Mike Marino. “Then I said, ‘Yeah, we’ve been exchanging photos.’ And he said, “Did Mike show you what you look like?” ”
“I will never forget, Matt said, ‘Come here, come here, come here, come here,’ and he opened his laptop and ‘Look!’ It was the first time he’d seen makeup…and the gears shattered. ”
Farrell asked if it was CGI. Reeves said, “No, (Marino) could make you look that way and no one would notice.”
“I was like it was extraordinary. Then the script became clear to me. I could see it through Mike Marino’s imagination and all the little pockmarks and all the wounds.
“Then we did a screen test and it was very strange. It was amazing. But it was very strange. You gave yourself to it, for example, something close to being overtaken by something like I’ve ever been.
Makeup helped me change my Pharrell in one or more ways.
“I was able to riff all day as a penguin. I came to this stage for five hours and couldn’t break a character once. I’m not saying that I’m bragging about the weird stuff, it was weird. The weird thing is, I have a completely different humor.
Switching to Oz Cobb’s thick Brooklyn accent, pretending to be talking on the phone: “How are you, kid? Are you doing your homework?”
Farrell was overwhelmed by her makeup job, which led to the idea of creating a Penguin series.
Approximately three weeks after filming, he approached producer Diln Lark about putting on a show.
“Mike’s makeup design was so extraordinary and, as I touched again, it was very moving because I felt like I was stepping into a lineage of artists like Dick Smith, who also played the original “Planet of the Apes.” We. Mike Marino was his student and was like his Rick Baker.
“So I felt that part, I was like a part of Hollywood history. It was really cool, but I had no plans. I thought it was because the makeup was so extraordinary, it’s no use that I only had five scenes, not me.
After the film, Clark contacted Farrell to discuss the idea of a series to pitch to HBO, he added. “That was it. But I never thought it would be taken that way at all. Really.”
Pharrell is eagerly awaiting a sequel to Reeves’ “Batman.”
Emphasizing that he can hardly say anything about the project, he said, “I can tell you, I started to finish it, and I loved the first script – I know I was worried about the Penguin part – but the first Batman movie I read, the script I read was great.”
The sequel says, “It’s deeper, scary. The stakes are emotionally high. …As a fan of the script, the story and the film, it’s so great. And Matt, he took the time to create an extraordinary story.
