“I’m sorry it’s so urgent, but could you interview Colin Farrell today?” he said in an email from the headquarters of the HBO television station. It came to me just before noon last week. Because the video interview with one of today’s biggest acting stars was supposed to take place in less than two hours.

Career Colin Farrell I’ve been watching since the up-and-coming Irish talent Hart War was behind it, but the film magazines were already predicting a course- a great life for him. Spielberg’s sci-fi Final Report was about to be released, where he co-starred with Tom Cruise. A year later came the original thriller Telephone Booth, which fully highlighted Farrell’s staccato delivery of “fuck”, his volatile energy and charisma, which was able to playfully fill the film in the space of one meter by one meter.

I fell in love with him even then, although in the end he was in my memory more in an even sharper, more throbbing form, much more neurotic, but also more vulnerable – as the incompetent hit man Ray in Martin McDonagh’s 2008 dark comedy In Bruges.

He has influenced me many times since then, whether as the kind fisherman of Syracuse in the story of the mermaid Ondine (2009), the person who lost his life in Lanthimos’ animal dystopia The Lobster (2015) or common Patrick who seems obedient but diligent. Suilleban in Inisherin fairies (2022), where he reunited with director and playwright McDonagh.

Farrell became decisive as an actor. The reason to go to the cinema for an average movie and watch a failed series on TV. But the Irish actor doesn’t have many of them in his portfolio…

We were first able to meet Colin Farrell in person. But when I received an itinerary from his team, as I only had five minutes for the interview and not a second more, I decided that a business trip to London would be a little too much after all . The promise of an online interview seemed like an appropriate way to make use of the short amount of time spent face-to-face with the star.

With the proviso that the question in those five minutes will be about nothing but Farrell’s current project, the Penguin series, I found it difficult to compare. But she understood. It was HBO that gave me the opportunity to meet, and their Max platform led to a television adaptation of the story of the Batman villain Ozze Cobb. And most importantly – the actor goes through a very radical physical change in it, and there is no doubt that his gruff, strange voice will be one of the most amazing performances of the season. There is no reason not to talk about the Penguin.

The time is drawing near. Minutes before the virtual meeting, stage fright kicks in, as expected. Farrell’s assistants greet me in the online waiting room, on the monitor we greet other journalists from different parts of Europe, from which only inside can be seen between -movable in the background – living rooms, bedrooms and video studios created ad hoc. No one has much time to prepare suitable technical conditions. It is more important to apply complete focus, look at the questions all the time. Also because I can only plant a few of them – three or four at best. And the connection must not go away, the software must not freeze. The main thing is to hear each other, understand each other…

“It’s your turn, good luck,” they can be heard from one of the application’s virtual windows. Click – and Colin Farrell is sitting in the well-lit studio, saying hello. The seconds are counting down five minutes. We can begin.

Check out pictures of Colin Farrell in The Penguin series: