Do The Fright Thing
Fresh from the set of Horrible Bosses, Colin Farrell’s role as a predatory vampire in the comedy horror Fright Night marks another wildly fun part. Here, he talks about getting older, fatherhood being easier the second time round – and why he’ll always return home to work with Irish filmmakers.
Roe McDermott, 29 Aug 2011
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.
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