Every celebrity has to weather a scandal or two, but Colin Farrell weathered the perfect storm.
Five years ago, the hunky Irish actor was starring in blockbusters such as “Alexander” and “Miami Vice.”
But the real drama was offscreen. The infamous party boy was stalked, caught having sex on tape, went to court over the tape, went to court over the stalking and went to rehab for exhaustion, drinking and drugs.
“It was a long time coming,” he said of his rough period, “but I had my arse handed to me on a plate.” Then, instead of disappearing into the wasteland of forgotten actors, he used offbeat projects to ease back into the spotlight.
In his latest film, “Ondine,” which opened Friday, he plays a County Cork fisherman who drags a beautiful woman from the sea in his net.
The modern-day fairy tale did the international festival circuit before landing at the Tribeca Film Festival in April. It’s a thoughtful indie that one critic hailed as part of Farrell’s “ongoing, mid-career, self-renovation project.”
In other words, while some bad boys find a way to bounce back, this one – who turned 34 on May 31 — underwent a full overhaul. Think back to summer 2005. Farrell had just starred in Oliver Stone‘s “Alexander,” playing the legendary soldier-king Alexander the Great.
Not everyone loved the film, but it rocketed Farrell to leading-man status opposite superstar Angelina Jolie. Not only that, but it played to his rakish reputation.
The film courted controversy by showing Alexander’s conquests of both women and men.
Meanwhile, co-stars such as Val Kilmer raved about Farrell’s party prowess.
“He’s a lot of fun,” Kilmer said. “I’m still hurting from last night in Madrid. And I like Madrid! But I don’t remember any of it.”
Farrell was positioned to be the next Russell Crowe or Brad Pitt, the kind of guy who can carry an epic.
And then, suddenly, a grainy video became his most famous performance. It showed him getting frisky with Playboy model Nicole Narain.
She denied she had leaked the 14-minute tape, and Farrell’s legal efforts couldn’t quash it. It popped up online in January 2006.
Farrell had acted in risqué roles, but now his personal privacy had been stripped away. He checked into rehab – for exhaustion and a dependency on prescription medication, according to his rep.
“I was burning the candle at both ends and the flames met in the middle,” Farrell admitted about that time in his life. But he couldn’t slow down because his next blockbuster was on the way to theaters.
He and Jamie Foxx starred in the remake of “Miami Vice,” and by summer 2006, they were in full publicity mode. That’s when Farrell came face to face with another disaster.
He went on “The Tonight Show With Jay Leno” to plug the film, and was confronted by Dessarae Bradford, a phone sex operator who he called his “first stalker.”
She ran from the audience onto the stage, screamed about a harassment lawsuit she’d filed against him, and Farrell had to escort her off the set. In the months that followed, the two fought a public battle.
Farrell said that he feared for his safety, and for the safety of his then-2-year-old son James and James’ mother, model Kim Bordenave.
Bradford said she’d been maligned. She said she wasn’t stalking Farrell – he was stalking her. She hawked her self-published book, “Colin Farrell: A Dark Twisted Puppy,” and recorded a song titled “Colin Farrell Is My Bitch.”
A judge ordered her to stay 150 yards from the actor. “Miami Vice” was a box-office success – especially overseas, but Farrell had become better known as a party animal than as a serious Hollywood star. Little did his fans know that behind the scenes, Farrell’s life was changing.
First, he decided to stop drinking. For years, he had been outspoken about his love of the sauce, but as he focused on fatherhood, he realized enough was enough.
“I’d been on such a mad trip for about six or seven years that I just had to step back and have a look at my life,” he said. “And having my son was the primary reason. I just wanted to be there for him, wanted to be clear, be around him, remember being with him.”
Meanwhile, his son James had been diagnosed with the neuro-genetic disorder Angelman syndrome, which causes speech impairment, motor skills problems, excessive smiling and laughter, and even seizures. For a time, Farrell kept the diagnosis to himself.
But when he became one of the celebrity spokespeople for the Special Olympics, he had to field questions about why he had chosen to become involved. He telephoned ex-girlfriend -Bordenave, and they decided to go public.
“I didn’t talk about my son, [but] I felt like I was betraying him, like it could be misconstrued as shame,” Farrell said of his decision to open up, “which would be terrible, because he’s such a celebration. … As far as I’m concerned, he’s exactly the way he should be.”
At work, he sought out acclaimed directors such as Woody Allen, who directed him in “Cassandra’s Dream.” He dropped 44 pounds to play a war photographer in “Triage,” living on coffee and Diet Coke and two cans of tuna a day.
When Heath Ledger died of an accidental drug overdose, leaving unfinished his role in “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus,” Farrell was one of the actors to step in.
His eccentric roles paid off. In 2008, his movie “In Bruges” opened the Sundance Film Festival.
Though the film was not a runaway success, his portrayal of a hit man won him a Golden Globe for best actor.
Farrell was so shocked by the win that he described his moments at the podium as his “first sober blackout.”
When a red-carpet reporter asked what he would do to celebrate, his answer was dry: “As little as possible.”
He had become a go-to guy again. Farrell popped up alongside Jeff Bridges in last year’s critically hailed “Crazy Heart.”
Next, he’ll grace screens in “London Boulevard” with Keira Knightley and in the war drama “The Way Back.”
He just lined up “Cosmopolis” with Marion Cotillard, the black comedy “Horrible Bosses” with Jennifer Aniston and Jason Bateman, and a remake of the campy vampire flick “Fright Night” with Toni Collette.
If anyone can best “Twilight” bloodsucker Edward Cullen‘s bedroom eyes, it might be Farrell. His second son, Henry, was born last October in Los Angeles. Last month, Farrell went public with his girlfriend, Henry’s mother.
She is Polish actress Alicja Bachleda, 26, the stunning star of “Ondine.”
They met on the set. Asked what it was like to fall in love both onscreen and off, Bachleda stays coy. “We were very professional,” she has said, “and focused on our parts and our jobs.”
But when asked about their new baby boy, both parents light up. “He’s sitting up already and all smiles,” said Bachleda.
Farrell talks enthusiastically about caring for his boys, reading picture books to James and changing Henry’s diapers. Was his climb back to the top a calculated choice?
According to Farrell, he just followed his gut.
“I really believe it wasn’t conscious,” he has said. “I’d love to mix up bigger stuff and smaller stuff, not have a continuous beat in my career.”
And what about that crazy period when he got hit with almost every celebrity pitfall at the same time?
“At the end of the day, of course, the smallest violin in the world wouldn’t nor should it play for me,” he has said. “Because I had a lot of fun and a lot of good times.”
