Ray Pride

It's a few seconds after Colin Farrell's second big fight scene as comic-book nemesis Bullseye in "Daredevil" when a wiry, average-sized figure rises and leaves the screening room.

A few seconds pass and a waft of cigarette smoke drifts through. A few more and the figure settles back in: Colin Farrell couldn't quite handle himself without a quick hit of nicotine. His assassin with the perfect aim is the wildest card in "Daredevil," writer-director Mark Steven Johnson's adaptation of the Marvel comic about Matt Murdock (Ben Affleck), a blind lawyer and Manhattan superhero-by-night. Affleck's best behind his black-leather devil mask, and his best scene comes when he meets the love of his life, Elektra Natchios (Jennifer Garner), who can smile and twinkle with the best of them when not kicking butt on her own. Despite the passion of followers of the comic, "Daredevil" has been positioned as a lesser-known title that won't hit "Spider-Man" heights; in fact, the overall impression of the entertaining jumble is one of a second-tier title. Adequate, goofy, but it ain't going to change your life.

Farrell, who's gained a reputation as an intense young up-and-comer as well as a ladies' man is as intense first thing in the morning as on screen. He says he never read comics. "There's not much of a comic-book culture where I come from," he says in his elegant, rapid-fire Irish brogue. "It was all new to me, this kind of mythological folklore that's contained in comic books."

He's always intense, but he's way over-the-top in "Daredevil." "Oh! Ridiculously over the top! Yeh. I always concern myself with that actor-y bullshit of character and what goes on in his head and heart. But this time there was no internal struggle going on. It wasn't someone who lost their father or found themselves in a prisoner-of-war camp, or going through anything really--just the fun and enjoyment and pleasure that he derived from killing people! He was fairly black-and-white, without the shades of gray I've played before. It was just a case of checking your subtlety at the door and having a fookin' good time, y'know?" A puff. "I enjoyed it."

He had the most fun with the costumes. "You put that shit on, you put the bullseye on, you're bald, you got piercings, you start moving a little bit differently and swaggering like your shit doesn't stink. And then what was hard was the same thing. You growl a lot and you feel like you're just ridiculous and just a caricature and over the top so you deal with that."

Supposedly there was a scene where Farrell and Garner go at it and he almost bit off her lip. "Yeah, yeah," he says with his puppy-dog-that-ate-the-shark smile. You were actually gnawing on her face? "When in Rome, I mean, what are you going to do? I didn't get a chance to kiss her, so when I was [trying to kill] her, I thought I'd just nibble on her lip, give her a sweet hereafter kiss." He mimics. "I may have gone over the top with that, but it was tough with her because she's such a tough chick, she's so fit, she's so well able to fookin' fight and do all the stunts and the wire work herself that maybe I forgot for a second that she was a girl."

But Farrell is less fit, and a chain-smoker. "I was fooked!" he says. "We'd do two takes of the fight and I'd be in the corner," he wheezes. "She'd be going, can we go again straightaway please? I'd go, `The fookin' bitch is gonna kill me, she's gonna kill me because she's so damn fit and strong.' I thought she was fantastic in the film."

He says his life is not going to be all Hollywood movies. "Don't get me wrong, life is not hard for Colin Farrell, but it'd kill me soul. For good bad, or indifferent, the work, I don't know what it is, because I can never judge my work and I'm fairly unhappy with it most of the time to be honest with ya, but I've tried to do different characters. I'm lucky enough to have been in big pictures, but I try to play guys from different backgrounds in different stages of their lives."

"The fact I got the chance to do all this shit still surprises me," he muses. What about the attention to how frankly you speak of your personal life? "Surprise me? Jeez, I live in the fookin' real world. You're going to be in films or on stage singing a song, play baseball for the Knicks, people are going to start watching what you drink, what you--ahhh, basketball for the Knicks, baseball for fuckin' whoever--I'm Irish, obviously, very Irish. God! I fucked that up! I've been here three years and I don't know jackshit!" He grins.

"I'm a 26-year-old young fellow who's in movies, of course I'm going to find it easier than some other 26-year-old young fellows to get laid, y'know? Of course? Yeah? It states the obvious. It's not necessarily my charm or my game but it' s a city built on movies. But lady-killer? I'm just a 26-year-old guy who's single and having a good time."

"Daredevil" opens Friday.

(2003-02-11)

Also by Ray Pride

The end of the affair
In "The Quiet American," the release of which was delayed for over a year because of fears about the bruised sensibilities of U.S. audiences after September 11, everyone involved is working at the top of their form.
(2003-02-05)

Short Runs
Art films, midnight movies and other one-shots
(2003-02-05)

All about love
Neat metaphors showered at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival.
(2003-01-29)

Short Runs
This week's limited showings
(2003-01-29)

Tip of the Week
(2003-01-22)

Short Runs
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(2003-01-22)

Tip of the Week
(2003-01-15)

Short Runs
(2003-01-15)

Which way the wind blows
(2003-01-15)

Short Runs
(2003-01-10)

Tip of the Week
(2003-01-08)

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