Colin Farrell Reveals the Film That Made Him Rethink His Career

Colin Farrell once opened up about a turning point in his career during The Hollywood Reporter’s Actors Roundtable. Reflecting on his early years in Hollywood, Farrell singled out Oliver Stone’s 2004 epic Alexander as the film that forced him to rethink how he approached acting. At the time, he was just 23 and still learning his craft.

Farrell described the experience of making Alexander as both exhilarating and overwhelming. “Expectation is a dangerous thing,” he told the panel.

“There was a load of things that went on with Alexander. The most significant thing to be a part of was, you know, two or three hundred people who travelled the world over six months to tell this story and bring it to life. And it was a story that Oliver Stone had dreamed of since he was in college. So as grand as it was, and as loaded as it was, and as political as it was, and as thrilling as it was, and as violent as it was, and as sensual as it was, it was really personal. And it was really personal to Oliver, and it was really personal to me.”

The actor explained that he and the cast were filled with hope and ambition. “When I say expectations, we all had our tuxedos ready. I’m not even joking. There was some of the lads, yeah, we were all like, ‘Right lads, we’re off to the Oscars,’ this is a sure thing,” he said.

The combination of Stone’s reputation, the grandeur of the story, and a moving script had made Farrell confident that the film would be a success. But when the reviews came in, his confidence took a hit.

“But the reviews came out, we were up in Toronto, and I remember my sister Claudine going, ‘Oh god, it’s not good,’ and Danica – who was here today, my publicist – going, ‘It’s really not good’. And I was like, ‘What do you mean not good?’” Farrell recalled.

The critical backlash, including headlines like “Alexander the Boring” and “Alexander the Weak,” made him question his abilities. “Everyone I met, I wanted to say, ‘Have you seen Alexander? If you have, I’m really sorry,’” he admitted. The film’s reception, coupled with its mixed commercial performance in the U.S., left him reevaluating his career.

At the time, Alexander was criticized for feeling more like a history lecture than a gripping drama. On Rotten Tomatoes, it holds a 15% approval rating, and Metacritic gave it a score of 40 out of 100.

Critics said the movie was talky and emotionally distant, with Roger Ebert noting that the endless narration made it feel more like a documentary. Despite this, Farrell saw the experience as an opportunity for growth.

“Alexander made me really go, ‘I don’t know’. What I had to do was plug back into the Colin that went into an acting class when he was 17,” he explained.

He realized that he needed to reconnect with the basics: curiosity, simplicity, and a love for the craft itself. This mindset shift led him to take on roles in Terrence Malick’s The New World and Michael Mann’s Miami Vice, which marked the start of one of the most successful phases of his career.

Farrell’s reflection on Alexander highlights how even a high-profile setback can reshape an actor’s approach. “I was given the opportunity to just reconnect with the simplicity that should never leave the core of what we do. And that is curiosity,” he said. For Farrell, the experience transformed a career disappointment into a defining lesson.

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