That’s the big question superimposed on a photo of the so-called "New Bad Boy of Hollywood" on the cover of Details magazine.
You Can Dress Him Up, But You Can’t Punch Him Out, or so says Esquire magazine which also features what Hollywood-watchers consider to be "The New Steve McQueen."
"He’s completely edible!" Sheryl Crow was quoted by People magazine as saying at the premiere of The Recruit where Farrell co-stars with Al Pacino. "I have a little crush on him."
She’s not the only one who has a crush on "The Next Big Thing" in Hollywood and who wants not just to have a bite of him but, to quote yet another brutally-frank story on Farrell, "to eat him."
If you believe all those write-ups, you would conclude that Farrell is Hollywood’s biggest "sex machine" imported from Ireland. He has been romantically linked to the likes of Britney Spears even as he expects his first child next month with his model-girlfriend Kim Bordenave whom he has yet to marry. (Farrell married actress Amelia Warner in 2001; they split after only four months.)
At 27, the 5’10" Irish hunk has been alerting people around the world not only to his magnetic sex appeal but to his vast acting talent as well. His first US film was Tigerland (2000), directed by Joel Schumacher, where he bared his butt in several shower scenes in his role as one of the American soldiers taken to the backwoods of Louisiana in 1971 to play war games in preparation for their first tour of duty in Vietnam combat.
After a turn as Jesse James in American Outlaws, Farrell starred with Tom Cruise in Steven Spielberg’s Minority Report (2002) and you’ve seen how he stole the show from Tom, haven’t you? Then came Hart’s War (with Bruce Willis), Daredevil (as the nemesis of Ben Affleck) and Phone Booth (also directed by Schumacher) where, as a low-rent media consultant held hostage inside a phone booth by an unseen would-be killer hiding in a nearby building, he kept you and me on the edge of our seats for more than 100 minutes.
And now, he’s co-starring with Samuel L. Jackson (along with Michelle Rodriguez of The Fast and the Furious fame, Oliver Martinez of Unfaithful fame and rapper James Todd Smith a.k.a. LL Cool J) in Columbia Pictures’ S.W.A.T., inspired by the ’70s TV series starring Robert Urich. Directed by Clark Johnson (who has amassed an impressive body of work both in front and behind the camera and was recently nominated for an Emmy as Best Director for the pilot of the F/X series The Shield), S.W.A.T. is about five top cops recruited (by Jackson, playing Dan "Hondo" Harrelson, the team leader) and trained for a unit of L.A.P.D.’s Special Weapons and Tactics Division, and then assigned to transport a major international criminal (Martinez) who, though in custody, has promised $100 million to anyone who can rescue him. Farrell plays one of the five cops (along with Rodriguez and LL Cool J).
Conversations sat with Farrell in Beverly Hills recently during the S.W.A.T. international press interviews. Farrell is noted for spicing up his sentences with four-letter words and, according to his fans, it makes his persona even more colorful – and spicy. In person, he struck me as a cross between our very own Cesar Montano and Robin Padilla.
Before going to L.A., I had the impression that Farrell was abrasive and I was pleasantly surprised to find out that he was not. He stood up when we were introduced at the Four Seasons function room (converted into a temporary TV studio), broke into a friendly smile and shook my hand, saying, "How are you?" Nice dude, he!
Here are excerpts from that interview, minus the expletives:
How challenging is your role in S.W.A.T. compared to those in your other movies, specifically Phone Booth?
"Phone Booth was very challenging because we shot the movie in 10 days. My role in S.W.A.T. is nothing too hard. You know, you just have to make sure that you look realistic in the part. Before the shooting, we were trained by real S.W.A.T. guys – you know, how to handle the weapons, the tactics and all that stuff."
Are you in any way similar to or different from your character?
"The one I play in S.W.A.T. is not a very extreme character, not a very exaggerated character – you know, I don’t really have to look like him. He’s a normal kind of guy. He loves his work as a cop and I don’t really share that love."
How do you usually prepare for a role?
"Read the script – read and read and read the script."
But you did do some training for S.W.A.T. as you said.
"Oh, yeah, we did. Five days of S.W.A.T. training. We were taught how to shoot a lot of different weapons."
Did you put in extra time for workout?
"Oh, yeah, I did a lot of running. For five weeks, maybe."
Have you, perhaps, at one time in your life dreamed of becoming a cop?
"No. No, no, no! Never! But I did enjoy doing the movie. You know, here I am getting paid a lot of money to actually get out there and play the kind of games I did when I was a boy. I went to the range and shot M-4 carbines, .45 handguns, nine millimeters and shotguns. I learned how to hit targets on the run. It was so much fun. At the same time, I wanted to prepare as well as I could, so I really knew how to do the work when it came time to perform."
How was it working with Samuel L. Jackson?
"Oh, great! I looked forward to going to the set everyday."
What was it like working with Tom Cruise (in Minority Report)?
"Tom was great on the set. Nice to all the actors. You heard about extras not supposed to talk to him or to look at him straight in the eye? That’s not true. That’s a lot of b______t! Tom was generous. He was very strong and competitive, all right, but he’s a genuinely generous fellow."
What about Bruce Willis (in Hart’s War)?
"He’s a lot more like me, I guess."
And Ben Affleck (in Daredevil)?
"I only saw him on the set and I must say that he’s a lovely dude. It’s a pity that I didn’t get to know him well. I did one big fight scene with him and that was the closest I got to him. It was a fun scene to do!"
What about Al Pacino (in The Recruit)?
"Pacino is something else. We really hit it off very well. We shot The Recruit in Toronto as we got really close. He would stay over in my hotel room or we’d go to the bar where we have dinner and we talk about the scenes we have just shoot or are about to shoot. He’s a genuine dude! I have all the time in the world for him. Sometimes, I’d wonder how I got this far in my life – actually working with Pacino, talking to him, having fun with him. I couldn’t believe I was sitting beside the guy I admired in the movies as Michael Corleone (in Godfather) and Scarface. God, it’s amazing!"
If you had a choice, which actresses would you like to work with?
"There’s Angelina Jolie. I just love her work. She’s one actress who has this amazing ability to get under the skin of a character. Fantastic! Then, there’s Halle Berry on whom I’ve had this crush since I was 12. She seems to be a lovely and sweet girl."
You’re often compared to Steve McQueen. How do you feel about it?
"Oh, God, he’s an incredible actor! I’ve seen all of his movies. Steve has influenced me a lot, in the same way that Marlon Brando, Monty Clift and Ernest Borgnine did."
I read somewhere that Marilyn Monroe was your teenage fantasy object. Is that so?
"I was 8 or 9 when I had this thing for Marilyn Monroe. I saw her movies and I just fell in love with her – madly in love with her! Funny but I would leave Smarties, the Irish equivalent of M&M’s, under my pillow with a little note – ‘I know you’re dead, Marilyn, but these are f_____g tasty and you should come and have a few. Don’t worry, I won’t tell anybody.’ I’d get pissed in the morning when I woke up and found the Smarties still there – untouched!"
What did you find most fascinating about Marilyn?
"As a kid, I looked at her on-screen and I was smitten by her eyes and her face. Look into her eyes and you can see how sweet and insecure and gentle and weak and maybe afraid of what you’d never know. Mix that up with her boldness and the dirtiness of her character and she’s the perfect sexual fantasy. She had the fragility of a bird with a clipped wing. She looks so vulnerable! She was actually the first woman I ever fell madly in love with."
Is it true that you also love watching porno movies?
"Yeah. Who doesn’t? They’re great, great fun. I’ve been watching porno movies since I was 14 from a shop in London."
You’ve been tagged as "The New Bad Boy of Hollywood." How do you react to that?
"Yeah, you know, it’s just a lot of b______t! I don’t know why they have to write things like that. It’s crazy!"
I have to ask you this... What kind of women do you find attractive?
"All kinds. No particular type."
What sort of childhood did you have?
"I worked in bits and pieces. I was the youngest of four kids and our mother was great, just great! I come from real working-class stock. My mother’s father–my grandfather–was a chauffeur, not of a stretch limo but a Jaguar. My mother’s mother–my grandmother– made the kids’ school uniforms. We were a simple family; we worked hard and we played hard. We liked to drink and have a good time."
According to your bio-data, your father, Eamonn, and your uncle, Tommy, were well-known football players for the Shamrock Rovers in the ’60s. Why didn’t you follow in their footsteps and become a football player?
"I’m happy with what I’m doing now being an actor. I sort of drifted into acting at the Gaiety School of Acting in Dublin. My first break was in 1998 in the BBC series Ballykissangel."
Is it true that your mother, Rita (53, a homemaker), shaped your life? (His father, 55, now runs a health-food store in Dublin.)
"She’s a firm believer in letting you do what makes you happy. She instilled in us kids the idea that we could do whatever we wanted to do as long as we did it for the right reason. She wanted me to be a lawyer but, later on, she respected my decision to be an actor instead."
What about your father? Was he happy that you decided to be an actor instead of a football player like him?
"He laughed and laughed when I told him I wanted to be an actor. He said, ‘Why do you want to be a f_____g play actor?’ Then, when my first paycheck came, he slapped me on the back and said, ‘Great idea, son!’ But my mother was right there behind me all the way, giving me all the encouragement. I realized that aside from acting being a part of me, it was also some kind of relief because I’ve found something that I really, really liked."
And how were you in school?
"Not so good. I wasn’t attending so many classes. I would take three-hour lunch breaks and play pool with my friends, drinking beer. Then we’d go back to our classes and everybody could smell the beer off our breath. The last school I attended was very strict. They installed security cameras in the study hall. My friends and I would wire ourselves with our stereos, put our hands over our ears and go to sleep. One time, a study supervisor grabbed me and I threw him against the wall. I told him, ‘If you ever touch me again, I’ll rip your f_____g head off!’ And then I packed my bags and walked out of the school, feeling like a rock star. I’d been looking forward to being kicked out for a long time and I was happy they did that."
You performed better out of school.
"I was lucky enough to get a job as an actor in Dublin. I had five great years there, you know. I worked with great actors in some TV shows. It was like a day job. I’d go to work at 8 a.m., shoot (for Ballykissangel) and wrap up at around 6 p.m."
What are you scared of, if any?
"Riding planes. I hate flying! I get sweaty palms everytime I am on a plane. I take Dramamine or sleeping pills and dose off throughout the flight so I won’t hear the noise and anything that’s going on."
Okay, describe Colin Farrell briefly.
"Confused – most of the time!"
(E-mail reactions at rickylo@philstar.net.ph)