Do The Fright Thing

With a hectic schedule of press lined up for both Horrible Bosses and Fright Night, the only time Colin Farrell can give me a phone interview is on a Saturday afternoon. Not only does he not do what so many men have done and leave me sadly waiting by the phone by all day, but he immediately cements his reputation as a gracious smooth-talker.

“You saw the film this morning? As in you got out of bed at an ungodly hour on a Saturday just to see Fright Night? Jesus, I bet you were hanging an’ all – you were Roe, weren’t you? I bet you were out partying all night. And you’re not angry with me. What more could I ask for Roe, that’s the best compliment I could get!”

An ardent devotee of the original, Farrell was initially reluctant to take part in the remake of the 1985 classic.
“Yeah I was a huge fan. We’re about the same age, aren’t we love?”
When I reply that I’m a few years younger, he sighs dramatically.
“Jesus. That’d be a ‘no’, then. God, I’m getting up there at 35 now. The hips aren’t what they once were. I blame Alexander: getting thrown from that horse did me in. Before the critics did me in! But yeah, for a generation of people I know, Fright Night has a place in my nostalgic library. I was dubious about a remake. I was looking for something lighter than the stuff I had done. I had done Triage and Ondine and The Way Back – which were all very heavy, emotionally. But I was still very wary. I almost wanted it to be bad. So when I read the script I was like, ‘Fuck! I actually really like this, I wouldn’t mind doing it!’ I got to walk the parallel footsteps of a character who was something of a hero of mine when I was 12. It was a great opportunity.”

This tongue-in-cheek horror wasn’t Farrell’s only foray into comedy this year. He stole every scene in the hit comedy Horrible Bosses playing an obnoxious, coke-snorting, comb-over-sporting manager. And he has a dark confession to make.
“That’s the first time I ever rocked out my real hair,” he whispers gravely. “Apparently it’s not a good look? I don’t know, I think it’s kind of like a dashing Mick McCarthy.”

But hey, Farrell’s a dad to eight year-old James and two year-old Henry now. It’s his job to have an embarrassing comb-over!
“They’re the loveliest two boys. I like them very much! I don’t know if I’m a more confident dad with Henry, just because the first one survived. So I’m confident I can do it! Being a parent brings up stuff. Stuff from your own life, your past. The first time around, me and my parents dealt with that. The second time around, with Henry, it got easier. It’s still a freaky concept – I still get terrified. However, I do think I’m more confident and mellow as a dad. I’m lucky, they’re beautiful boys.”

It’s a big transformation from the Colin Farrell we saw earlier in the decade. Back in the day he was more likely to turn up on set with a blonde and a hangover than with his sons.
“I know. I haven’t had a hangover in six years, which is cool. When I think of the energy I spent trying to physically get to set, let alone trying to learn my lines, it was wasted. Life’s quite different. As Muhammad Ali said, ‘He who thinks the same from the age of 20 to 50 has wasted 30 years of his life’. LA is a city that’s galvanised in the pursuit of good health and longevity. It’s so much easier to live a healthy lifestyle than in Europe. There’s not the culture of going to the pub and having the jars, the way we would at home. It simply isn’t there. So it’s very easy to live a very low-key life.”

Easier than in Dublin?
“You’re not faced with it as much as in LA. In Dublin every third or fourth place is a pub. In LA, every third or fourth place is a juice bar! When you’re not reminded of something it’s easier to be without it. Hollywood is the international calling card of Los Angeles. Still, it’s very easy to stay away from the film industry or the party lifestyle if you want.”

Farrell’s determined to keep coming home to work with Irish directors, and is thrilled that Brendan Gleeson’s adaptation of Flann O’Brien’s At Swim-Two-Birds has finally received funding. “Ah Brendan’s just an amazing man, an amazing mind and I’m sure he’ll murder that film. And after Total Recall I’m working with Martin McDonagh on Seven Psychopaths. I love working with Irish people. I need it – it’s so good for my soul.”

Fright Night is out on September 2.