Colin Farrell details of gruelling ‘Ballad of a Small Player’ shoot

Colin Farrell looked back on the physically and mentally demanding shoot of Ballad of a Small Player.

In the new Netflix series, The Penguin star portrays Lord Doyle, an Irishman who is down on his luck, drinking too much and gambling the last of his money in the casinos of Macau.

In an interview with the Metro, Farrell talking about the challenges he faced in playing Lord Doyle, said, "You don’t want to talk about it being hard because I live in the world, I see how hard it is – I know, I’ve seen my pay cheque, all that stuff, having said all that, if you give yourself over to the script as you should, and to the situations, I was pretty raw by the end of it."

Describing the energetic atmosphere of the movie, Farrell added that it was "chaotic from the first frame."

"The speed of it was a reflection of the internal implosion that the character is going through. So with that in mind, yeah, I was wrecked by the end of every day – but, utterly fulfilled." he said. 

Farrell continued, "That’s the thing, you know, you give yourself over fully, and it just gives back to you."

The movie is an adaptation of Lawrence Osborne’s 2014 novel of the same title.

In addition to Farrell, Tilda Swinton, Fala Chen, Alex Jennings and many more are also included.

Ballad of a Small Player is now streaming on Netflix.