Colin Farrell: "The day I told my father that I wanted to be an actor was not the happiest of his life"

• PABLO R. ROCES

  @Pavlinrodriguez

  Madrid

Updated Sunday,24July2022-15:14

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• Fly the cinema Good box office but no auteur cinema

There are two things that unite

(Castleknock, Ireland, 1976) with 13 lives, the film about the rescue of the Tham Luang cave that he stars alongside Viggo Mortensen and that Prime Video will premiere on August 5.

And none has to do with the fact that as a child he spent 17 days trapped in a cave in the province of Chiang Rai, in northern Thailand, as happened to 12 minors, members of a local soccer team, and their coach in history reality that inspires Ron Howard's film.

But it is precisely that sport, football, the first that connects the Irish actor with his new project.

Because Farrell grew up in a house in the Dublin metropolitan area where football was of vital importance.

His father

.

Without much luck.

Because the youngest of the four brothers of Eamon and Rita's marriage had chosen the interpretation before the ball and ended up studying with one of his sisters at the Gaiety School of Dramatic Art in the Irish capital.

In that house with a soccer father and uncle trying to instill that passion in them, how did they deal with the young son deciding that he was going to be an actor? We could say that my father was not thrilled.

He definitely wasn't.

It was not the happiest day of his life when I came home and told him that I wanted to be an actor.

But now he is getting along better.

This is where all the allusions that Farrell plans to make about his life or any matter outside the pure content of the movie

.

The second link between its protagonist and the project has a lot to do with it: the tabloid press.

Let's put the context on what happened in that Thai cave complex in June 2018 when that team of children between 11 and 16 years old and their 25-year-old coach entered one of them even though the signs recommended not to do so in the rainy season, It just starts at that time of year.

A downpour caught those 13 people inside and they were trapped without communication while the Army divers began the search when they discovered several bicycles at the entrance of the grotto.

They did not make contact until nine days later, on July 2.

This is where the debate about the sensational use by the press of the event begins.

The surroundings of the cave were filled with television crews and the rescue was broadcast almost live, second by second, through television and social networks.

There may be in our country who finds the similarity with the case of Julen in the well of his house in the Malaga town of Totalán in 2019. Although the endings are different in both cases, the open debate in journalism circles was the same :

That question could also be asked of Colin Farrell, who was not trapped in any cave, but suffered for several years in the late 90s and early 2000s, when he was one of Hollywood's hottest actors, broadcasting live and for everyone in your life.

All the pink magazines spoke at that time of

.

They also reported when, in 2005, he entered a detox clinic for his problems with heroin and the exact price at which he sold his house in Los Angeles.

And, of course, the sex tape that circulated online with

model Nicole Narain whom he accused of being the source of that embarrassing leak.

With the relationship that you have had with the tabloid press for years, were you ever afraid that your career would be harmed or that it would end because of those scandals? I did not have that fear.

But I'm here to talk about

.

So let's pay attention to what Colin Farrell says and talk about his latest project with Oscar winner Ron Howard, about his "great connection" with this rescue story.

"Ron's passion for what happened was like a kind of light that has guided us all."

Although the Irishman found, once within the cast, another guide to hold on to in this story.

“I got in touch with John Valentin, who is the rescuer I play, and he was incredibly generous in giving me his time.

We were talking on FaceTime and I was able to ask him what I wanted about his feelings: what was that like, what was the mood, how did they feel when they found the children, did they think the children were already dead.

».

When a film like this is made, isn't it easy to fall into the same sensationalism that is criticized? A.- You feel sensationalist because you're talking to someone who was there and experienced everything.

If someone who sees this wants to see a really extraordinary documentary, it exists and it's called

.

This is a movie, we try to be as accurate as possible, but creative license is taken.

We feel very close to those who were part of the film because of how important the story was to them.

Everything, including the team in front of and behind the cameras, we felt that there was a sincerity in the narration that justified that way of being so close. At times it seemed that the show was more important than lives. The most important thing was the need to save to these children.

When they first encountered them, I'm not sure they believed they were still alive.

So it was extraordinary.

I spent six months talking about this, and to this day, I read it on paper and am amazed at what happened.

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