Colin Farrell relished 'beautiful' Ballad of a Small Player

Colin Farrell finds it "really fun" to explore new challenges.

The 49-year-old actor plays a gambling addict in Ballad of a Small Player, the new psychological thriller film, and Colin has revealed what drew him to the Edward Berger-directed project.

Speaking at the Zurich Film Festival, Colin explained: "The script was beautiful.

"It was so dynamic and it was so singular and like nothing I’d ever read.

"I find as an actor, reading things and having a certain degree of choice I’m fortunate enough to have, you either lean into something as you’re reading it or you don’t. Inevitably I end up leaning into things that I feel I haven’t explored before just because it’s fun. It’s just really fun."

Colin considers making the new movie to have been a unique career challenge. And the actor is keen to continue to test himself in the coming years.

Colin shared: "It doesn’t take much for me to feel like I’m repeating myself, you know, and that can feel kind of sticky in an unfortunate way.

"So this was very singular. It was very unique. I’d never read anything like it. I flew through it. But I kind of felt nauseous reading it as well, because the film is, if you ever see it, it’s incredibly loud. The colors are very brash. It’s very bombastic.

"I mean, there’s nothing subtle about it — I will say that now. And it was the same in reading it. It was kind of an assault on the senses in reading as well."

Colin also relished the experience of working with the film's director, who previously helmed All Quiet on the Western Front and Conclave.

He said: "Ed and I were talking about doing The Ballad of the Small Player before All Quiet on the Western Front came out. And then it just took off for him, just globally, internationally. He’s been an extraordinary storyteller for years.

"For decades he’s been working in his chosen field as an artist and writer and director."

Meanwhile, Colin recently confessed that he feels "excited" by the resurgence of "original" movies.

The actor has relished watching films such as Sinners, Bring Her Back and Weapons over the last year, and Colin confessed to feeling "really, really excited" by the resurgence of original stories.

He told The Hollywood Reporter: "I know there’s a lot of sequels and there’s talk about a lot of sequels and IPs that have been used before and reimaginings and revisitings of worlds. This year I saw Bring Her Back, and then I saw obviously Sinners and the other day I saw Weapons.

"I get really excited when I see original stuff - really, really excited. So there’s always going to be original stories and there’s always going to be rehashes and there’s room for both."