Colin Farrell picked up the Golden Icon Award at the Zurich Film Festival this week, celebrating his standout career in movies. During his acceptance speech, the Irish actor opened up about the “extraordinary, unearned good fortune” that’s shaped his Hollywood journey, as reported by The Hollywood Reporter.
Farrell grew up in Dublin dreaming of soccer stardom. “I wanted to be a footballer,” he shared. His dad had played professionally for Shamrock Rovers, and sports became their special bond. “It was tricky everywhere else, but when it came to football, we were good to go,” Farrell remembered.
That dream fizzled out, though, when he started drinking and smoking as a teen. Acting snuck into his life thanks to his sister, Catherine, who enrolled in theatre school. At first, Farrell thought the idea was “ridiculous.” He didn’t see acting as something you could study formally. Still, he tagged along—and quickly dropped out to chase real gigs.
His big break on TV came with the hit BBC series Ballykissangel. Then, in 1999, he landed his first film role in The War Zone, directed by Tim Roth and starring Tilda Swinton, who later worked with him in The Ballad of a Small Player.
Everything changed in 2000 when director Joel Schumacher cast the unknown Farrell in Tigerland, playing a young soldier in boot camp headed to Vietnam. “Joel kind of changed my life,” Farrell said. “He took a chance on an Irish kid.”
From there, doors flew open. Farrell starred alongside idols like Tom Cruise in Minority Report and Al Pacino in The Recruit. “I got to work with Al Pacino in my third year of acting on film. It was pure bananas,” he laughed.
But fame brought pitfalls. At one point, Hollywood calls dried up. “I got a certain reputation, which I probably earned,” Farrell admitted.
The comeback hit in 2008 with Martin McDonagh’s In Bruges. Farrell loved the script so much that he even tried talking McDonagh out of casting him. The director ignored the advice, and it paid off big time. “It was a bit of a turning point. It might have been the first job I did sober,” Farrell reflected. The dark comedy became a smash, kicking off his “second act” with edgier roles.
These days, Farrell shines in bold projects like Yorgos Lanthimos’s The Lobster and The Killing of a Sacred Deer. His latest highlight? The Oscar-nominated turn in McDonagh’s The Banshees of Inisherin, which won at Venice. It’s all proof of how far this soccer hopeful has come in the acting world.
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