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Colin Farrell: 'Ireland is a marvel - the same-sex marriage referendum was extraordinary'

The Dublin actor talks to us about his pride in Ireland, and his role in Disney’s reimagining of Dumbo.

IT’S BEEN AN interesting road for Colin Farrell to get to the point he’s at today. He started off a young, cheeky Dubliner starring in Ballykissangel, going on to end up in Hollywood through a unique mix of charm and talent.

He was open to taking advantage of whatever the weird world of Hollywood had to offer, and saw the down as well as the upsides to it. That meant some moments the 42-year-old probably doesn’t want to dwell on now. But no matter, as he has come through those times to become an actor who makes interesting, intelligent choices each time he selects a new film. And an interviewee who, even in the pressured junket environment, makes a short chat feel like an intimate conversation.

When TheJournal.ie meets the Castleknock native in a plush Dublin city hotel room, he’s in the midst of an intense three-day trip home from La-La Land to promote his latest film, Dumbo. It’s not – repeat, not – a remake of the 1941 Disney animation. Instead, it’s a reimagining, with Tim Burton, a man who does a great job in reimagining reality, at the helm. 

Farrell plays Holt Farrier, a father of two who was a top circus performer alongside his wife. But then World War I happened, and he went off to fight. He returns home, at the start of the film, after losing an arm to the war and his wife to influenza. That the metaphor for his broken spirit doesn’t feel too laboured is testament to the film’s light touch across a number of areas. 

Farrier returns to work again in Medici’s circus, run by Max Medici (Danny DeVito in a role channeling the spirit of Frank in It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia). One day, an elephant living at the down-at-heel circus gives birth to a calf with – you know this bit – huge ears.

All the animals in this film are CGI, but the new Dumbo is a big-eyed beaut. So begins the story of his journey to flight. Along the way, Holt and the Medici gang get involved with a dodgy entrepreneur (Michael Keaton, playing V A Vandevere), and befriend a trapeze artist called Colette Marchant (Eva Green).

I tell Farrell, who’s puffing away on a vape as we’re introduced, that the film had me a bit teary-eyed. “I don’t want to say what people should or shouldn’t be moved by, but I feel at its core it’s a moving story,” he says in response. “And there’s obviously the story of this innocent at its centre that is forcibly removed from its mother, and ridiculed by everyone because he’s born with this quite extreme difference physical difference he has, that which is shown to be magic throughout the telling of the tale. But it’s also got this human component in the story of a father returning to his children and all that kind of stuff.”

This isn’t a guy who’s stuck for words. Watching the film, one of the major themes is how people perceive us, and how easy it is to care about what people think. Was this a theme that resonated with Farrell, himself no stranger to tabloid gossip?

“I suppose the pressure that a lot of us put ourselves under as a result of our concerns to how we’re perceived is huge, particularly now with the advent of social media, you know,” he says thoughtfully. “How one is perceived by the world around [them] is a very prominent experience that today’s youth find themselves in. You know, they’re deep waters to be treading.”

Walt Disney Studios / YouTube

He describes Holt Farrier’s various struggles. “He’s got his own grief and his own shame that he wasn’t there to help his children through their grief and their loss,” he says. “And he’s also apologetic to everyone that he meets, because he sees the reactions off everyone, his kids see that he’s missing his arm, Danny DeVito’s character Medici, his boss, the owner of the circus, looks at his arm, and he’s a changed man… it’s a very blunt symbol, the fact that the missing arm represents a greater chasm or break that exists within him.”

So it was very simple when I read it in the script, it was very clear to me that his journey was one of just an emotional reconciliation with himself through reconciling with his children, and obviously Dumbo plays a huge part in bringing him back together with his kids.

‘Kids are dealing with sickness and grief’

Farrell praises how Tim Burton dealt with such tough, adult, subjects in a kids’ movie. It can be hard to negotiate the line between moralistic storytelling and an exploration of human emotion.

“I think Tim did a really bang-up job of honouring some of the more difficult aspects of being a human being, whether it’s being a child or being an adult, dealing with grief, dealing with loss, dealing with difference, dealing with injury, dealing with sickness,” says Farrell. “They’re all paid attention to, all those themes and issues are paid attention to in this film, albeit not in the heaviest way, and they shouldn’t have been dealt with in the heaviest way, but in a respectful way.”

Farrell himself is particularly known for his work with children who may be in hospital or dealing with illness or disability. His son, James (15) has Angelman syndrome, a rare genetic disorder.

The actor says he thinks it was “lovely” to see darker themes in the film. “Because I think kids from all over the world are, unfortunately from young ages, are dealing with sickness and dealing with grief and dealing with loss and I think children can take it to a certain point,” he says.

Dumbo is “not a Ken Loach film, it’s not kitchen sink drama”, says Farrell, but Burton ”was very, very clear that he didn’t want things to be over sentimental as well, he’s very respectful of the intellect of children the ability of children to process a lot”.

Though Farrell says he is “fine with brainless entertainment”, he doesn’t believe this iteration of Dumbo is that. “Not just speaking up my own stuff, when I read it first I was like ‘god…’ … again we’re not delving too deep into it because we don’t need to, we’re just presenting these characters, each of which are struggling with something that inevitably we all struggle with,” he explains.

Some of us unfortunately at very young ages deal with sickness and loss and I was really impressed that this film could have as much light and as much hope and as much heart and as much kindness and compassion at its centre, while also dealing with some of the heavier darker themes of what it is to be a human being.

We move on to the changes that Ireland has seen in the past few years, and what that it like to see as someone now ensconced in the USA. “This country is a marvel, it’s a marvel you know what happened with the same sex marriage referendum, that was extraordinary stuff, you know,” says Farrell, his face lighting up. “[I'm] very proud to be from here.”

He says he doesn’t notice that much change when he returns to Ireland, though his trips can often be short. “The people feel just as vibrant and forceful and generous and kind and as deep as they always have,” he says. He notices “more coffee shops” and a quicker pace of life. More affluence, too, ”or maybe there’s a bit more separation between the rich and the poor which is never a good thing”. But he says he loves returning to Ireland. “I love coming home, it’s very enriching for me.” 

Taking risks

What must be enriching for him too is this phase in his career. In recent years, he’s been making some interesting decisions. The move comes after upheaval in his personal life, which he’s been very frank about, where he dealt with addictions that were affecting his progress. He’s also come through some low points careerwise, with his role in Alexander being so badly panned that he went around wearing a ski mask on holidays to try and escape the glare of the press. But since those low points, things have gone on an upwards trajectory, and the former wild child is a much beloved Irish celebrity.

Two of his most interesting roles recently have been in The Lobster and The Killing Of A Sacred Deer, both directed by Greece’s Yorgos Lanthimos (who also directed the Oscar-winning The Favourite).

In these, Farrell is far from the wise-cracking, gun-toting lad he has played in films like In Bruge. He’s deadpan, and in the Lobster, deadbeat. It’s thrilling to see someone play a role that’s so unexpected. But was it a conscious decision to go for such risky roles?

“There’s no real decision to take more risky roles, just like there’s no decision to go ‘I want to do a children’s film now’,” says Farrell. “Just very much rolling with the punches and seeing what presents itself and just drawn to different things at different times. And your mood might change day-to-day so it depends on what you read at what time – but it’s fun to do different stuff.”

To work with Lanthimos was “extraordinary” he says, joking that “this fella wasn’t bad”, in reference to Burton. Whatever Farrell is doing right now, it’s clearly working.

Dumbo is a children’s movie that’s miles from the likes of the Lobster, but he doesn’t phone it in. Holt is charming, though troubled, and gets his rewards in the films denouement. Now, where will Colin Farrell go next?

Dumbo is in cinemas now.

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    Mute Sos
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    Jan 24th 2021, 8:43 AM

    The bravery of Navalny returning to Russia cannot be understated. This is how change is made by building up the resistance within the state and not running away. His bravery is putting Putin under a very uncomfortable spotlight and not only outside Russia.

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    Mute SC
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    Jan 24th 2021, 1:46 PM

    @Sos: he would be more useful to the left if he was murdered and it could be pinned on Russia. There is no way he’d win an election there. His policies are too right wing for Russians.

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    Mute SC
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    Jan 24th 2021, 1:46 PM

    @SC: to the west I meant

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    Mute Bala mc blaha
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    Jan 24th 2021, 5:37 PM

    @SC: you dont get more right wing, Orthodox church appeasing, “family values” preaching, wrestling macho man than Putin.

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    Mute ▪️
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    Jan 24th 2021, 5:48 PM

    @SC: Aw yeah cause it’s Putin’s left wing policy

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    Jan 24th 2021, 5:50 PM

    @SC: *his left wing policy of building a massive billion dollar mansion off the back of Russia’s enormous wealth, that must be what makes him so popular with the proles

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    Mute Glenn Halpin
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    Jan 24th 2021, 6:31 PM

    @Sos: reminds me of the Cork Mayors who died on hunger strike in the War of Independence. Such bravery and sacrifice for country is a thing of the past in our comfortable existence today in the west. All relative of course.

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    Mute Michael Drennan
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    Jan 24th 2021, 10:43 AM

    Such a hero and an example to all of Russia and the world. I just hope and pray he doesn’t become a martyr. A braver man than I.

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    Mute Michael Maher
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    Jan 24th 2021, 10:55 AM

    Trump not gone a week and more trouble starting all over the world

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    Mute Terry Cahill
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    Jan 24th 2021, 11:23 AM

    @Michael Maher: yeah.. much better to lie down and be quiet and do what your told.

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    Mute Martin Byrne
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    Jan 24th 2021, 11:27 AM

    @Michael Maher: Perhaps because the signals that dictatorship will be tolerated aren’t coming from the US any more.

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    Mute Michael Maher
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    Jan 24th 2021, 12:25 PM

    @Martin Byrne: Dictator ! Brilliant By the end of 2021 you will eat your words.

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    Mute RogersRabbit
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    Jan 24th 2021, 6:42 PM

    @Michael Maher: How would you describe him? Russia elections are rigged.

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    Jan 24th 2021, 11:19 PM

    @RogersRabbit: Rigged like the American one?

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    Mute Kieran Woods
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    Jan 24th 2021, 6:25 PM

    They criticise Russia for unfair treatment of Navalny while they push for the locking up Julian Assange for exposing war crimes. Just as you would expect.

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    Mute Jay Tea Planters
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    Jan 24th 2021, 11:09 AM

    Navalny is no saint. An ultra nationalist. And why would this have anything to do with Trump leaving office? Russia has form in the persecution of journalists, activists, LGBTQ groups, NGOs, oligarchs and anyone else who dares challenge the authority of a kleptocratic regime.

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    Mute JC O'Connachain
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    Jan 24th 2021, 3:43 PM

    @Jay Tea Planters: I’d say anyone up against Putin is painted as no saint by media there and Putin himself could be called ultra nationalist. I imagine to reach a point of rivaling Putin you have to be vociferous so I understand if he’d had to be daring in the past. Clue me up on why he’s no saint

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    Mute Tom Ripley
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    Jan 24th 2021, 8:39 PM

    @JC O’Connachain: if he is no Saint and none of use are he is still an incredibly brave man to go back. He must be prepared to die. Maybe he thinks they mightn’t martyr him. But it’s Russia if they want you dead they will try. Used to be if they wanted you dead you were dead but they seem to have gotten very sloppy in modern times

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    Mute William Tallon
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    Jan 24th 2021, 5:12 PM

    I’ve often wondered will true democracy ever flourish in Russia. I really hope it does someday soon but history would suggest that the Russian people prefer a ‘strongman’ in charge, someone who will make decisions without hesitation while invoking the spirit of ‘Mother Russia’. I’m not sure how different Navalny would be in this regard but I don’t think it’s much of a stretch to believe that he could slip into the role quite easily…

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    Mute SJF
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    Jan 24th 2021, 5:49 PM

    @William Tallon: “true democracy” meaning people handpicked by the western establishment to push a neoliberal, pro big buisness ultra capitalist agenda. Got it.

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    Mute David Jordan
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    Jan 24th 2021, 6:01 PM

    @SJF: The ultra capitalist fits Putin and his corrupt oligarchs…

    “Since the start of Putin’s term in power, the share of extreme wealth in the private sector has been steadily increasing. Th is is in part because nationalizing some strategic assets has made their private owners rich—for example, the owners of Troika Dialog and oil company TNK-BP became billionaires over-night. Rising commodities prices in the past decade have also converted ownership of such assets into vast fortunes. Finally, two dozen businessmen with close connections to Putin made fortunes by winning infrastructure projects.”

    “There are more billionaires residing in Moscow than in any other city in the world (Freund 2015). Recent economic sanctions on Russian financial institutions and some sectors of the economy have reduced this number—many Russian billionaires have shifted their domiciles to Tel Aviv, London, or Zurich and have transferred their money abroad. Economic sanctions are, however, a reason for the rising share of extreme wealth in Russia. When the ruble was substantially devalued in December 2014, the super rich could afford to shift their assets into foreign currency so that many of their assets did not decline in value.”

    Russia’s Economy under Putin: From Crony Capitalism to State Capitalism
    https://www.piie.com/publications/pb/pb15-18.pdf

    I think you like his as he’s ultranationalist and anti-liberal, xenophobic, and promotes a strong military and a police state.

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    Mute David Jordan
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    Jan 24th 2021, 6:03 PM

    @SJF: Also, how did you manage to get 5 upvotes on an article posted 10 hours ago in 10 minutes?

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    Mute William Tallon
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    Jan 24th 2021, 6:37 PM

    @SJF: Errr… No, not really…

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    Mute SJF
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    Jan 24th 2021, 8:47 PM

    @David Jordan: ah ok. So what you’re saying is corruption, cronyism, unequal distribution of wealth and shady af tax practices?….sooo… exactly like the west… except of course when it happens in a country which is hostile to western imperialism it’s “undemocratic” if those oil oligarchs toed the line when it came to the US/EU agenda and foreign policy good ol Russia would be a paragon of free speech and a shining example of the democratic process….I never claimed Russia was some sort of utopia, nor that they are in any way shape or form less corrupt than the West I just find it ironic that people such as @William Tollon unironically throw about phrases like “undemocratic” when describing a mirror of our own electoral process, government and economic system (albeit an opposing one) evidently just parroting what is the extraordinary hypocrisy of the mainstream media in the West … as for how I got so many upvotes… clearly I’m a Russian bot….

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    Mute SilexFlint
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    Jan 24th 2021, 5:25 PM

    Those tricky Americans building $1,400,000,000 palaces on the black sea!

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    Mute Ron Kingston
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    Jan 24th 2021, 5:47 PM

    Russia is a federation of very different people and republics, many of whom desire independence and many of whom wouldn’t hesitate to have a go at their neighbours without a the threat of a very hard slap from Moscow, all the ex Soviet and Yugo states are ridden by corruption and old quarrels, any destabilisation can lead to some mighty flare ups. Better the devil you know maybe.

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    Mute DarraghLD
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    Jan 24th 2021, 6:10 PM

    @Ron Kingston: I’m glad I googled before challenging you, I was going to say “are you sure you’re not thinking of what was the USSR or then the CIS?”, but I see you are right, there are 22 republics in Russia (including the one they stole from Ukraine – Crimea), as well as the regular Russian part of Russia. Thanks for making me look!

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    Mute Ron Kingston
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    Jan 24th 2021, 8:12 PM

    @DarraghLD: check out the YouTube channel bald and bankrupt, he is a Brit that speaks Russian, he travels to remote parts of Russia and gives a good mini history of the areas, he’s a bit tw*ttish sometimes but overall entertaining and informative.

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    Mute John Keane
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    Jan 24th 2021, 5:22 PM

    US Meddling! Pot calling the kettle black here.

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    Mute Mislav Smok
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    Jan 24th 2021, 6:14 PM

    USA and west you will never beat Russia

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    Mute Tom kenny
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    Jan 24th 2021, 7:46 PM

    @Mislav Smok: many have tried.

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    Mute Mark Gough
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    Jan 24th 2021, 6:56 PM

    The hypocrisy of the west is unbelievable. Americans fighting each other and only one side battered by the state forces. Assange imprisoned in the uk for exposing western corruption. France battering any protestors there. All trying to divert away from our own troubles and the sheep falling for it

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    Mute Michael Maher
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    Jan 24th 2021, 6:23 PM

    Hey Joe, Hey Joe, off to war we go.

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    Mute Tom kenny
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    Jan 24th 2021, 7:48 PM

    @Michael Maher: no one wins that war.

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    Mute Eugene Norman
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    Jan 24th 2021, 5:53 PM

    The US has every right to interfere in Snyder country it wants.

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    Mute Vaidas
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    Jan 24th 2021, 7:03 PM
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    Mute Vaidas
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    Jan 24th 2021, 7:04 PM

    Listen The Big Steal Podcast

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    Mute James Grant
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    Jan 24th 2021, 9:55 PM

    Hypocrisy from russia as usual and no mention of them infiltrating the nra and far right groups pushing trumps agenda for last few years at least

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    Mute Liam Mernagh
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    Jan 24th 2021, 11:23 PM

    The kettle calling the pot, black!!

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    Mute Liam Mernagh
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    Jan 24th 2021, 11:27 PM

    What is happening to my comments???

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