April 2003
Phone Booth : An Interview with Colin Farrell

Interviewed by Angela Harmon

Phone Booth: An Interview with Colin Farrell

Colin Farrell seems to be the “It” man of the moment. After taking Hollywood by storm with his performance in Joel Schumacher’s Tigerland a few years ago, Colin has been working non-stop. In less than 3 years, he has already worked with some of today’s best directors and actors. Last year, he locked horns with Tom Cruise in Steven Spielberg’s Minority Report and starred along with Bruce Willis in Hart’s War. This year alone, he has 4 in which we have and will see him in. No other actor at this point has 3 films currently playing (The Recruit, Daredevil, and Phone Booth). Later this year, he will star along Samuel L. Jackson and LL Cool J in S.W.A.T. In an interview with blackfilm.com, Colin talks about his impending fatherhood and reteaming with Director Schumacher on Phone Booth.


AH: O.K. let’s get this over with. So you’re expecting. What’s that like?

CF: Expecting is great. She’s doing well, I am excited.


AH: Now that you’re going to be a father, have you cleaned up your act?

CF: No I’m really not that bad.


AH: How did you maintain that state panic and fear in regards to “Phone Booth”?

CF: The shooting schedule really helped. If it would have taken 4 months to shoot it would be hard to maintain that state of nervousness. But the fact that it was an 11-day shoot, we shot in sequence allowed us to go fucking bananas. There were no re-shoots and no pickups we just had to bang the film out.



AH: One of the interesting moments in the movie is when your character Stu reveals his “true” self to world, have you had any moments like that?

CF: God no, I’ve had my moments but nothing that intense.


AH: Do you think we might all be better off if we had someone watching over us?

CF: I hope not.


AH: Who did you play off while you were in the phone booth on the phone?

CF: (An actor) Ron Alder was on the other end feeding me lines and tormenting me. I never worked with Kiefer. We met in Toronto he’s a great fucking dude.



AH: What’s your next project?

CF: I’m doing a film based on a Michael Cunningham novel called “A Home at the End of the World”.


AH: How do feel about there being 3 Alexander the Great projects?

CF: What can I say, Oliver Stone has written an amazing, amazing script, and I don’t know how it all came out of his fucking head.


AH: Colin you worked so much in such a short time, how do you stay grounded?

CF: I try to live in the real world as much as possible.


AH: Did you base your character Stu Shepard on any publicist you know?

CF: No, I based it on a lot of different people. I’ve met some assholes and I based it on proxies. I’ve seem some dickheads in my time in L.A. but no one in particular. I just take what’s on the page.



AH: Have you ever gotten ripped off or taken advantage of by a publicist?

CF: No I think I have a good team of people working for me. I’ve never felt raped.


AH: What was it like working with Joel Schumacher?

CF: It was amazing. I love the man. I love being around him. I feel safe with him, it’s o.k. to fail or fuck up. Working with him is easy.