At the same time Colin Farrell was preparing his Oscar speech, reality hit like a brick. He began to realize becoming a true Hollywood A-lister and awards season favorite wouldn’t be as easy as he’d originally believed. He told The Hollywood Reporter:
“I thought, ‘What can I do?’ I felt so much shame. I found myself in a place where with everyone I met I wanted to say, ‘Have you seen ‘Alexander?’ If you have, I’m really sorry.’ I’m not even joking.”
Farrell even started questioning his own talent, telling himself he was a “crap actor” who had “been found out.” He went into hiding at Lake Tahoe because, while he didn’t actually ski, he “could wear a mask and a beanie” to help him remain incognito while dealing with his disappointment and embarrassment. But the experience helped him refocus on the kind of actor he wanted to be, and why he got into his career of choice in the first place. He explained:
“What I had to do was plug back into the Colin that went into an acting class when he was 17. And not only the fellow that went in the first time, but more importantly the fellow that went back for the second workshop. I had lost that.”
Fortunately for both Farrell and audiences alike, that was just what he needed. A few years after the stink of “Alexander” had finally been washed off, he made “In Bruges,” and has started to morph into an elite character actor (while maintaining his leading-man good looks). Jump to 2023 and it turns out he will finally get to dust off that tuxedo after all, now that he’s officially landed a Best Actor nomination for “The Banshees of Inisherin.”