FARRELLCOLINHOW THE ACTOR FACED HIMSELF AND BEGAN TO SEEK PURITYFARRELLCOLINWOOLJACKET AND LEATHERBOOTSBYBOTTEGAVENETA, BUTTONFRONT DRESSSHIRT BY ALLSAINTS, WOOLCROP PANTSBYDIOR HOMME,ANDSKINNYSCARF BYJOHN VARVATOS.PHOTOGRAPHY: MICHAEL MULLER FOR STOCKLANDMARTEL.COM. PHOTOGRAPHY ASSISTANTS: CHRIS BEYER, LELAND HAYWARD, BILLY HOWARD, AND BLAKE FARRINGTON. STYLING: LAURY SMITH FOR OPUSBEAUTY.COM. STYLING ASSISTANTS: KAHLEE JACKSON AND ASHLEY DIPILLA. GROOMING: BARBARA GUILLAUME AT BARBARAGUILLAUMEMAKEUP.COM. PROP STYLING: DAVID ROSS FOR ARTMIXBEAUTY.COM. PRODUCTION: LAURA KATZENBERG. DIGITAL TECH: RICKY RIDECS AT RICKYRIDECOS.COM. CATERING: FOOD

LABCATERING.COM.WRITTENBYGREGGLAGAMBINA PHOTOGRAPHEDBYMICHAELMULLER BECOMES AGAINlearly,thesurpriseendingto this little story will be that these twomenarepatientshereand not allowed to leave. From this vantage, all you can hear is the fountain,itswaternoisilyca-reeningsouthwardfromacop-per pipe, collecting into a basin feckedwithpatina,wheretad-poles and store-bought goldfsh andpenniesanddimesswim. Theysitatawoodpicnictable anditiswarmandhighup; thereisthesensethatautomo-tive traIfc exists very close by, but you cannot hear it. Perhaps itll disturb the patients, hinder theirrecovery,remindthemthatlifegoesonelsewhere,that some people can leave. But why would you want to? In many ways, its perfect here. Lemons, you hear one of the men say, his Irish ac-cent somehow getting inside even that soft, short word. Some lemonsliceswouldbegreat. Theyappearandtheyellowis the same yellow as the pack oI American Spirit cigarettes that sit atop the table. He grabs at the pack, pulls a Iag Iree, lights it, exhales, and drops a wedge into his glass oI Diet Coke.Inchingabitcloser,youcanbettermakeouttheir voices. The one in blackt-shirt, jeans, boots, tattooed armshes the important one, the Irish one, the one telling all the sto-ries.Theotherman,hesincidental,unnecessary.Leavehim out for now. Maybe hell be important later. Probably not. Lets just keep a bit oI his back in the Irame and Iocus on the hand-some one facing us in short, cropped hair, silver rimmed sun-glasses, exhaling thoughtIully. His name is Colin Farrell and he is talking about purity. You have to be careful about how you cast your pu-rity, he says, speaking oI his native Dublin in light oI his move to Los Angeles Iour years ago. 'I thought I came Irom a much purer place and liIe was so superfcial here. When I came out herefrst,IwascontinuallyremindingmyselIhowpurethe culture I came Irom was. Over time, I just began to realize you can fnd superfciality anywhere. But I lambasted the placeeveryonewasfullofshitandthis,that,andtheother.ButI Iound a decent bunch oI mates. And I love nature, man. I love the city. It`s kind oI magical.He gets a Ioothold, lurches back, tugs at the thick rope and pulls the net up out of the water and theres a woman in-side it. A beautiIul woman. The Iuture mother oI his now six-month-old son, Henry. Her name is Alicija Bachleda, a Polish actress who also sings. There she is, like magic, entangled in netting, draped in seaweed, unconscious but alive. And so be-ginstheflmOndine,directedbyNeilJordan.Theflmhe`s here on this rooItop garden to talk about. Itsanunabashedfairytale,inwhichFarrellplays Syracuse, an alcoholic fsherman trolling the sparse waters oI Castletownbere,CountyCork,divorcedandIocusedonrais-ing his sick daughter, until he fnds and revives this woman he fshes Irom the sea. She may or may not be a Selkie, a creature Irom Irish Iolklore who can shed their sealskin and live on land for a brief time before they have to return to the water. Yes, yes, by your cynical expression it`s apparent that a flm with a girl inawheelchair,amermaid-likething,andadivorceddrunk fshermanmighttugtoohardatsomeheartstringsyoumight not even have anymore.CFLAUNT MAGAZINE 131WOOLCHECKPIECESUIT BYTOMFORD,COTTONDRESSSHIRT BY YVES SAINT LAURENTRIVEGAUCHE, WOOL TIE BYRALPHLAURENPURPLELABEL, AND PRINTEDSILKPOCKETSQUARE BYHUGOBOSS. 102FLAUNT MAGAZINEWOOLJACKET AND LEATHERBOOTSBYBOTTEGAVENETA, BUTTONFRONT DRESSSHIRTBY ALLSAINTS, WOOLCROP PANTSBYDIOR HOMME,ANDSKINNYSCARFBYJOHN VARVATOS.SUEDESHARKSUITBYSPURR, COTTONBUTTONDOWNSHIRTBYDIOR HOMME,LEATHERCHELSEABOOTS BYHUGOBOSS, AND LEATHERBELT BYGUCCI.COTTONTANKTOPBY ALLSAINTSANDWOOL PANTSBYRALPHLAUREN PURPLELABEL.I WOULD ASPIRE TO SIMPLIFYING THINGS, TO HAVING FEWER COMPLICATIONS IN MY LIFE. WHICH DOESNT MEAN LESS DRAMA. WHAT I WOULD DEEM NOW TO BE THE PUREST SENSE OF DRAMA IS AS SIMPLE AS OBSERVING THE SUN RISE. THATS PRETTY DRAMATIC AND IT HAPPENS ONCE A DAY.If you really have no space for sentiment at all, then you might not go for it, Farrell admits. On the other hand, its a really harsh story. It doesn`t shy away Irom the more diIfcult aspects oI liIe. I`m playing a character that just lost his mother, his daughter is terminally ill, hes a recovering alcoholic in a really wet town, and he has a recently dissolved marriage behind him as well. Hes not having that much Iun, you know what I mean? I didn`t experi-ence anything like the liIe Syracuse experienced, albeit there were acouplethingswhenIreadthescriptwhereIthought,Okay,I know a little bit about that.'HisliIe,aswefndout,isquiteasimplelife,Farrell continues,blowingcigarettesmokeupward,pausing.'Butthat`s so derogatory. Asimple liIe. What the Iuck does that even mean?'A lot oI people aspire to simplicity, says the other man at the table, faceless, with no discernible accent.'Ithinktheydo,tosomedegree,agreesFarrell.'I know I would now. I would aspire to simpliIying things, to hav-ingIewercomplicationsinmyliIe.Whichdoesn`tmeanless drama. What I would deem now to be the purest sense oI drama is as simple as observing the sun rise. Thats pretty dramatic and it happens once a day.IIyou`reIamiliaratallwiththisIrishgentlemanColin Farrell,youmaybestaringdirectlyattheDietCoke. Youmight even have been fxated on it, might still be thinking about it right now. ADiet Coke. Doesn`t quite ft the picture does it? This is the bloke that tore up Hollywood on the heels oI his star turn in Joel Schumachers Tigerland about a decade ago now. Hed appear on the late shows, most oI his conversations sounding like emergency broadcastsignals,alongshrillbleeptoblockouthis'Iuckthis and 'Iuck that. See,hewasIrishandyoungandnewlycrowned.The lights were on him and he was lit. He liked to knock them back and do a Iew other companionable recreations in the dark. He Ied the storm in his brain, the lightning Irom fashbulbs, only to fnd out in the nick oI time that the limitless terrain does indeed have a limit, an edge to tumble over and oII. So he stopped. A Diet Coke. Five years oI Diet Cokes now.I dont remember Miami Vice at all. It was like seeing a flm I wasn`t in.The other guythe one with the questions, whose back FLAUNT MAGAZINE 137YOURE JUST TIRED OF LIVING IN A WORLD WHERE YOU ARE IN SOME WAY FEELING THE AFFLICTION OF YOUR CHARACTER AND YOU WANT TO GO BACK TO FEELING WHATEVER YOUR OWN AFFLICTIONS ARE.CASHMERE SUEDETRENCHCOAT BYGUCCI,COTTONBUTTONFRONTSHIRT BYJOHN VARVATOS, PENCILTROUSERS BYPAULSMITH, LEATHER CHELSEABOOTSBY HUGOBOSS, SILKTIE BY YVES SAINT LAURENTRIVEGAUCHE, AND TIE CLIPBYGENTRY.SUEDE TRENCHCOATBYTOMFORD, VNECK KNIT SWEATERBYJOHNVARVATOS, WOOLPINSTRIPE PANTSBYRALPH LAUREN PURPLELABEL,LEATHERCHELSEABOOTS BYHUGOBOSS, AND SUNGLASSESBYDITA.SUEDE TRENCHCOATBYTOMFORD, VNECK KNIT SWEATERBYJOHNVARVATOS, WOOLPINSTRIPE PANTSBYRALPH LAUREN PURPLELABEL,LEATHERCHELSEABOOTS BYHUGOBOSS, AND SUNGLASSESBYDITA.WOOLTWEEDSUIT BY BILLYREID, COTTONBUTTONDOWN SHIRT BYKAIAAKMANN, AND SUNGLASSESBYDITA.isturnedhedidn`thavethegutstosayitatthe time, but he senses a restlessness still living uncom-fortablyinFarrell.Hislegbounces,hemovesboth handsthroughhishairIrequently,hetakesoIIhis sunglasses, puts them back on. He`ll stub out a ciga-retteinthethickglassashtray,whichisrightnext tohislighter,whichhe`llpickupaIterthesmoke dissipates,moveitthroughhishand,rediscoverits his lighter and that its purpose is to provide fame Ior acigarette,sowhynotgrabanotherone,andsoon he`s smoking his third in less than a halI hour. Idle-nessanditsmedicine:whateversatarmslength. Rightnow,thathappenstobeAmericanSpirits, soda, wedges of lemon. Not very long ago, this table might`ve been decked out diIIerently.I was controlling what I thought was my own personality, he says of his early days, out of the gate, adriIt.'Ididn`tevenknowmyselI.Unbeknownstto me, I was designing a character, which we all do in life. We do it Irom an early age. We fnd out how we can ft in. Survival makes us design a character that we think willkeepusingoodsteadtogetthroughthisliIe.It happenedtomeveryaggressivelywhenallthisfame cameattheageof22.SowhatIdidwas,Ipressed pause on my potential development. And I don`t mean that to sound as grandiose as it sounds. But I put myself in the class of suffering from arrested development. Its a really unnatural decision to make, to say, I`m not go-ing to change, no matter what happens.'AndwhatIendedupdoingwasbecoming moreofwhatIwasatthatstage,hecontinues.I becamelouder,andbigger,andmore.Ithoughtina warped way that it was me maintaining my roots, main-taining some connection to where I came Irom. And it wasn`t. It was just me running rampant.So thats all in your past now?No!Ihavenoanswers.ImnotsayingIm content and at peace. I just believe I have a little more oI an understanding oI who I am. I was accused oI mak-ingnoapologiesandspeakingmymindallthetime. I`vespokenmuchmoreIranklyinthelastfveyears, but I just haven`t been as loud or as cantankerous. The kind oI braggadocio I had beIore was cloaking a mas-sive amount of internal confusion. It was the inability to truly seek an answer to the question that plagues us allwho am I?'Sowhatdoyoudowhenthatexistential dread comes back and it Ieels like you need to medicate it with something, anything?'Sitwithitman.Sit.Fuckingboringasssit withit,hesays.'A goodmoodcanpassintoabad mood, but a bad mood does the same thing. Just real-izingthatliIeistransitory,yougiveupthereignsoI tryingtocontroleverysinglebitofminutiaeofyour ownjourney. Yousomehowreceivemorecontrolina way, by not needing so much control, by not trying to manuIacture your own mood. But I still get, Iuck it. TherearemomentswhenIvebeendepressedinmy lifeanditsweirdhowawashIwaswithsmilesand laughterandjovialitybeIore.I`mactuallymuchhap-pier now and it`s strange to say that. There`s still peaks FLAUNT MAGAZINE 141WOOLTWEEDSUIT BY BILLYREID, COTTON BUTTONDOWNSHIRTBYKAIAAKMANN, AND SUNGLASSESBYDITA.andvalleysandallthatkindoIstuII. Thepeaksarenotashigh, but the ones I experience, I Ieel deeper. And the valleys certainly aren`t as low. I Ieel. pure.Coming Iull circle, as we ought to, back to purity. It`s one oI those stupidly beautiIul Southern CaliIornia days that drowses you imperceptibly into idleness. The breeze carries the Irishman`s smoky exhalations away Irom the table, up through the ivy-draped latticework,dissipatingabovetheswimmingpoolliketheaIter-math oI a mute frework. One or two bathers appear to be asleep. The pause between answer and question stretches languidly.It is all so alarmingly calm. Actors exist to be noticed. The loud,debauchedtumbleoIacontemporarylikeRobertDowney, Jr. was Iollowed by a loud, debauched rebirth into explosive look-at-meIranchiseflms:thousandsoItinyDowneyiron-men,be-decked in bright Chinese plastic, overflling clearance bins at Toys 'R Us, the actor`s sequels fzzling out in last outpost cinemas on faraway islands, servingonlytocreepupthefnalticket tally into the boastful billions. There will be no action fgure to accompany the ar-rivalofSyracusefromOndine,aquiet manonaleakyboatbattlingdrinkand myth and family circumstance in the last outpost of his very life. Real people dont make very good toys.Farrellschoicesthesedays arepracticallyyogicexhalationspro-Iound, aIIective, quiet. His scream onto the scene with whiskey breath and Iuck as a Iavorite epithet has passed, packed awayquietlyandprivatelylikequilts intoanattic.HisperformanceinOn-dineisclearandmeasured,completely in service to the flm and its small story. HisGoldenGlobeforInBruges(Best PerIormanceinaComedyorMusical), punctuated the cultish, comical thrillerbeloved by those whove seen it but by no means a barnburner in terms of revenue. Even his turn in The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassusasked along-side Jude Law and Johnny Depp to fnish the role leIt in limbo by HeathLedger`sdeathcameandwentwithFarrell`scontribu-tion the most signifcant, yet the least talked about. He`s currently trying to drum up the cash to shoot a flm versionofFlannOBriensbelovedIrishnovelAtSwim-Two-Birds, directed by friend and In Bruges co-star Brendan Gleeson. So, instead oI tumbling like a drunkard through the saloon doors intoamesslikeOliverStone`sAlexander(likeheIamouslydid six years ago with insurmountable bar bills to prove it), Farrell is making decisions that mean something. To him.'Usually, I fnd about two weeks beIore |I`m done with a flm|, I get a bit agitated, he says. 'You`re just tired oI living in a world where you are in some way Ieeling the aIfiction oI your character and you want to go back to Ieeling whatever your own aIfictions are. But this was the one time in twelve years that I was like, God, I`m gonna miss Syracuse.` I`m really gonna miss him. I just had an enormous amount oI respect Ior how he viewed his liIe. And his lack oI selI-pity. With all the trauma and pain he had to experience, he was so IearIul to connect. It`s Iucking terriIying Ior him. He lacks this selI-pity, which I don`t. And iI I see that in people, its one of the most astounding virtues a person can have.Farrell hasn`t let a lack oI selI-pity halt his pursuit oI heal-ing causes. His recent vocal support of his brother Eamons same-sexmarriage,intheIaceoIstifingancientCatholicrestrictions, inspired Farrell to pen an open letter in support of BeLonG To, an organizationworkingIorgayrightsandtoleranceinIreland.It`s a muted and aIIecting plea, written with eloquent pathos and a Iar cryIromwhohe`sbeenexpectedtobeIorthebetterpartoIhis careerloud, elusive, sardonic, apart, never nakedly Iorthright.'|Mybrother|mademeaspiretohisstrengthand goodness, writes Farrell. He goes on, The mother and father oIallemotions,thequeenandking,areloveandIear.Love unites, it brings us closer to an understanding of the possibility of beauty amidst all the confusion and pain that life can bring. Hate is a disease.But,oIcourse,somehowfttingly,theletterwasabit overshadowedbythearrestoI'ColinFarrellaIterabrawlin Londonthatsamemonth.Turnsoutitwasadoppelgangerof sorts, not Farrell, but the paparazzi still fashed away in blind hope thattheyindeedcaughtthe'realColin engagedinhisold,familiarimbroglios thatsellphotographs.Theyreallywent for it in The Daily Mail, he laughs, dis-missively,thenpausesintoanothercalm beat beIore speaking again. You change. I live a really private life. ThisisaboutaspublicasIliketoget. Eventhoughthisisprivatebetweenyou andI,Iknowitwillreachanaudience, but Im not trying to present anything to-day as much as I once was. Im not trying to present a different man. Im not trying to present a life change. Im too busy try-ing to fgure out what the Iuck is going on in my own life.Im not saying that any of this means Imbetter.NothingImsayingmeans anything, really. It`s just Iucking words, hesmiles.Myopinionwillchangeas soonasIgetinmycardownstairs,Im sure.At this, he seems eager, ready to go, but not rudely. The man who is not Colin Farrell mumbles something about the mother oIhisnewbabyboy.Seeminglikeanactualjournalistnow,he halI-heartedlyapesinterestinascoop,gettingtheactortotalk about the actress he doesn`t talk about to the press.'Yeah, let`s keep that oII the pages, Farrell suggests.'I was just going to say that this flm, Ondine, will always have a special place in your liIe now, because.I have a son! Little Henry.He beams. His hyperactive hands now mime holding a tod-dler up in the air playIully. He puts his sunglasses back on, gathers up his things strewn about the table. Keys, wallet, lighter, smokes. He stands and pats at his pockets, reaches out a hand Ior a shake. 'I should get back now and play with my little Henry.The men in the white coats are quietly at work, setting up the bar. Bottles oI tequila are lined up careIully. A special brand, boutiqueandexpensive,issetupoutinIrontwithasmallsign describing in detail its exotic contents. There`s a hum oI anticipa-tion in the air, the Ieeling oI an impending Ite. It`s Cinco de Mayo in Los Angeles, when all the gringos get drunk all over town just because its what youre supposed to do. Its whats expected. Colin Farrell nods at the barkeep and carries on walking. He`lltaketheelevatortothelobby,givehistickettothevalet, and drive off in a silver four-door. Hes going home to play with his new son. Thats not much of a surprise ending, but its pretty damned pure.FLAUNT MAGAZINE 113THATS SO DEROGATORY. A SIMPLE LIFE. WHAT THE FUCK DOES THAT EVEN MEAN?142FLAUNT MAGAZINEVESTBYJOHN VARVATOS, BUTTONDOWN PLEATEDFRONT SHIRT BYSPURR, ANDWOOLPANTSBYRALPHLAUREN PURPLELABEL.STYLIST: LAURYSMITHGROOMER: BARBARAGUILLAUMEGROOMINGNOTES: HYDRIXMICRONUTRIENTMOISTURIZING BALMBY SKINCAREFOR MEN BYLANCME, DUO MATPOWDERFOUNDATION BYMAKEUPFOREVER, ANDCRMEOLORELAXSLIM BY KRASTASEPARIS.