Colin Farrell cast in The Ballad of a Small Player

Colin Farrell is to star in 'The Ballad of a Small Player'.

The 47-year-old actor has boarded the cast of the Netflix picture based on the novel by Lawrence Osborne.

Edward Berger is directing the film with Rowan Joffe adapting the script based on Osborne's story.

The plot centres on a high-stakes gambler who chooses to lay low in Macau when both his past and debts catch up with him. Along the way, he encounters a kindred spirit who could hold the key to his salvation.

Production is set to begin later this year with Berger producing for his Nine Hours banner alongside Mike Goodridge for Good Chaos.

The movie marks the first project under Berger's creative partnership with Netflix via his Nine Hours company.

Colin previously explained that his main aim as an actor is to "entertain", although he does admit to making some of his movies purely for financial reward.

The 'Banshees of Inisherin' star told Collider: "You just wanna do good stuff. Sometimes you’re going to work for entertainment and the money might be a bit better. Sometimes you’re going to work to satisfy your own curiosity. Whatever the reason, you have an understanding.

"Whatever the gig is, if it’s made for purely entertainment purposes, or for some greater intellectual or social provocation, you just wanna make something where people don’t waste an hour and a half, or two hours, of their lives, as simple as that sounds.

"If you do that, and if you live as authentically as you can in your life and in your art, then the legacy thing will take care of itself."