Colin Farrell is just a romantic at heart. Take the following quote.
“When one softens up or opens up to the ideas of love one can potentially be hurt, which is one of the glorious things about love, you never know when it’s gonna work or it’s not, and you kinda have to dive in.”
Now that’s beautiful. It’s also a completely out-of-context snippet from my recent conversation with the actor at the junket for “Dead Man Down,” an upcoming thriller from “Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” director Niels Arden Oplev that stars Farrell as Victor, a man who infiltrates the criminal empire of a powerful mob boss (Terrence Howard) he holds responsible for the murders of his wife and daughter several years earlier. As if that weren’t sticky enough, into the picture comes Beatrice (Noomi Rapace), a vengeful former beautician who blackmails Victor into hunting down the man who left one side of her face permanently scarred in a drunk driving accident. Needless to say, hilarity (and an unlikely romance) ensues.
“He’s a man with a very acute mind but a very broken heart, and so he’s constantly trying to reconcile those two things, and keep his mind as sharp and keep his life as impersonal as possible so he can see his task through to the end,” Farrell told me of his character. “And at the same time, his heart is being awoken by this woman that comes into his life, which is of course potentially a very dangerous thing, because when one softens up or opens up to the ideas of love one can potentially be hurt, which is one of the glorious things about love, you never know when it’s gonna work or it’s not, and you kinda have to dive in.”
There’s the context.
Also in store for those lucky enough to watch the full interview: Farrell describes his struggle with co-star Dominic Cooper for time with the dialect coach; Farrell holds forth on the possibility of working with his “In Bruges” and “Seven Psychopaths” director Martin McDonagh on a future project; Farrell charms the pants off the world with his delicious Irish brogue.
Click on the video above for the full conversation.
“Dead Man Down” comes out this Friday.