With awards season in full swing, it remains to be seen which of Hollywood’s biggest actors will go home with Academy Awards in 2023. The Banshees of Inisherin star Colin Farrell is a top contender for Best Actor, but he has faced a challenging battle to get to this point. In fact, Farrell recently pointed out how well pop star Justin Bieber handled fame by comparison.
Colin Farrell was a breakout star of the early 2000s
Farrell first gained widespread attention in the early 2000s. The actor gained indie cred for his performance in director Joel Schumacher’s 2000 war film Tigerland. And soon thereafter, he landed major roles in movies like Minority Report, Phone Booth, Daredevil, The Recruit, and S.W.A.T. But following the disastrous release of director Oliver Stone’s 2004 period epic Alexander, Farrell thought his career was over.
“Expectation is a dangerous thing,” he said during an actor’s roundtable for The Hollywood Reporter. “Alexander was a story that Oliver Stone had dreamed of since he was in college. So, as grand as it was, as global as it was, as political as it was, as thrilling as it was, as violent as it was, and as sensual as it was, it was really personal — to Oliver and to me. … we all had our tuxedos ready [for awards shows]. I’m not even joking. … And then it came out.”
Why the actor thinks Justin Bieber was ‘trying [his] best’
Suddenly, Farrell’s reputation as Hollywood’s “next big thing” was in question. And the actor didn’t exactly handle the pressure and criticism very well. Reeling from the devastating reviews and box office performance of Alexander, Farrell questioned his acting ability and considered walking away from the business completely. So he empathized with Bieber.
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“I was given so much opportunity. It was insane how much money I was given, the keys to this, the keys to that,” Farrell told THR. “And that’s why, when I heard years ago that Justin Bieber threw eggs at his neighbor, I was like, ‘He deserves a medal if that’s all he’s doing.’ He raced a car on Ocean Drive? I’m like, ‘If that’s all he’s doing, that kid is trying the best he can to be a good human being.’ So anyway, it’s been an interesting trip.”
Is Colin Farrell about to win his first Academy Award?
Following his fall from grace, Farrell took his career back to basics. He revealed to THR how he went back to acting workshops and eventually rediscovered his passion for the craft of acting. Farrell admitted he was “fortunate enough to be given the opportunity to reconnect with the simplicity that should never leave the core” of being an actor. And his career since has certainly reflected a re-energized approach to the industry.
Since the late 2000s, Farrell has delivered critically acclaimed performances in movies such as In Bruges, Horrible Bosses, Seven Psychopaths, and The Lobster. Most recently, he has received a Golden Globe Award for The Banshees of Inisherin. Farrell is currently nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for that film opposite Austin Butler (Elvis), Brendan Fraser (The Whale), Bill Nighy (Living), and Paul Mescal (Aftersun).
