19. FRIGHT NIGHT (2011)

Director: Craig Gillespie.  Writer: Marti Noxon.  Starring Anton Yelchin, Colin Farrell, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, David Tennant, Toni Collette.  

In this contemporary remake of the 1985 horror comedy featuring Chris Sarandon, Farrell stars as Jerry Dandrige, a new resident of a Las Vegas suburb whose teenage next-door neighbor Charley Brewster (Anton Yelchin) believes Jerry is a vampire, particularly after a number of Charley’s high-school friends have gone missing.  It turns out that Jerry is indeed a bloodsucker, and Farrell uses his seductive charms to woo teens over to the dark side.  Critics had a surprisingly warm reaction to the remake, with Farrell’s witty performance in particular a standout.

18. THE NEW WORLD (2005)

Writer/Director: Terence Malick.  Starring Colin Farrell, Q’orianka Kilcher, Christopher Plummer, Christian Bale, August Schellenberg.  

In Terence Malick’s “The New World” (2005), his first film in seven years, Farrell takes on the historical figure of Capt. John Smith, who in 1607 was part of the first group of Englishmen trying to establish a colony in the new world of Jamestown.  While exploring upriver, Smith is captured by a group of Native Americans and brought before their chief Powhatan (August Schellenberg) who orders Smith to be executed.  However, the chief’s daughter Pocahontas (Q’orianka Kilcher) steps in and saves the Englishman.  Smith chooses to live with the tribe and famously falls in love with Pocahontas.  Though the film’s reviews were only mildly favorable, the performances by Farrell and Kilcher were widely praised.

17. HORRIBLE BOSSES (2011)

Director: Seth Gordon.  Writers: Michael Markowitz, John Francis Daley, Jonathan Goldstein.  Starring Jason Bateman, Charlie Day, Jason Sudeikis, Kevin Spacey, Jennifer Aniston, Colin Farrell.  

An almost unrecognizable Farrell underwent a drastic physical transformation to portray horrible boss Bobby Pettit by sporting a receding hairline, a hideous comb-over and a pot belly.  The actor is clearly having a ball playing this outrageous sleazeball who has inherited his father’s company and is determined to make the life of Kurt Buckman (Jason Sudeikis) a living hell.  While there is often wit brought to his more serious films, “Horrible Bosses” is a broad comedy, a rarity in the Farrell filmography, and his outrageous performance more than rises to the occasion.

16. CRAZY HEART (2009)

Writer/Director: Scott Cooper.  Starring Jeff Bridges, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Colin Farrell, Robert Duvall.  

Farrell had the opportunity to show off his considerable singing chops in Scott Cooper’s drama set in the world of country music.  Veteran singer/songwriter Bad Owens (Jeff Bridges in his Academy Award-winning performance) is an alcoholic and has hit rock bottom when he meets journalist Jean Craddock (Oscar nominee Maggie Gyllenhaal), who inspires Bad to try to turn his life around.  That means having to reconcile with his former protégé, singer Tommy Sweet (Farrell) who offers Bad the opportunity to be his opening act on Tommy’s upcoming concert tour.  Farrell managed to convince audiences not only by his acting that he was a genuine country star but, more importantly, by his singing as well.

15. THIRTEEN LIVES (2022)

Directed by Ron Howard. Screenplay by William Nicholson. Starring Viggo Mortensen, Colin Farrell, Joel Edgerton, Tom Bateman.
 
One of Farrell’s greatest acting skills is his ability to play a member of the intellectual elite in one film, and then turn around convincingly as a working class Joe in the next. And among the heroic “regular guys” that he has played, there is arguably no greater hero than British IT worker John Volanthen, who used as skills as a weekend cave diver to aid in the celebrated rescue of thirteen members of a soccer team from a Thai cave. Farrell subverts his movie star charisma to capture this unassuming character who, while aware that he is in way over his head, knows that lives are on the line and buckles down to get a difficult job done. It’s a beautifully modulated performance that seamlessly blends into the film’s talented ensemble.

14. FANTASTIC BEASTS AND WHERE TO FIND THEM (2016)

Director: David Yates.  Writer: J.K. Rowling.  Starring Eddie Redmayne, Katherine Waterston, Dan Fogler, Colin Farrell.  

“Fantastic Beasts” was the first non-Harry Potter film to be made from screenwriter J.K. Rowling’s Wizarding World franchise.  British wizard Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) arrives in 1926 New York with a suitcase filled with fantastic beasts.  But through a mix-up, Newt loses the suitcase and must retrieve it at once.  Unfortunately, Percival Graves (Farrell) a high-ranking magic enforcer, wants the suitcase for himself and will stop at nothing to get it.  Farrell is fine in an underwritten role, but his Percival is arguably most memorable for donning a striking black duster with bright white lining that would dazzle whenever he would flair his coat, which was often.

13. THE BATMAN (2022)

Director: Matt Reeves.  Writers: Matt Reeves, Peter Craig.  Starring Robert Pattinson, Zoë Kravitz, Paul Dano, Jeffrey Wright, John Turturro, Peter Sarsgaard, Andy Serkis, Colin Farrell.
 
As the classic Batman villain The Penguin, Farrell offers a strikingly different take than the previous characterizations by Burgess Meredith and Danny DeVito. In Matt Reeves’ “The Batman,” Penguin is not yet the waddling crime lord for which he is notorious but is instead an a lowly mobster anxious to climb the chain of command and who will stop at nothing to get there. Much has been made of the elaborate makeup and prosthetics that Farrell had to undergo for the role which completely obscured his familiar facial features. But as soon as the expressive ferocity in the mobster’s voice is heard, it could only be an actor of Farrell’s caliber underneath.

12. SAVING MR. BANKS (2013)

Director: John Lee Hancock.  Writers: Kelly Marcel, Sue Smith.  Starring Emma Thompson, Tom Hanks, Paul Giamatti, Jason Schwartzman, Colin Farrell.  

Farrell’s role in this Disney film may be a small one, but for the story of author P.L. Travers (Emma Thompson), it’s key.  Seen only in Travers’ flashbacks, Farrell plays her idolized father Travers Robert Goff, during her childhood in Queensland, Australia.  Goff was delightfully imaginative, but his raging alcoholism eventually cost him his career and prompted her mother to attempt suicide.  Still, the imagination her father displayed when he was lucid fueled her desire to create, and Farrell brings the kind of love and sensitivity to the character that’s absolutely right and brings another dimension to his performance.

11. THE BEGUILED (2017)

Writer/Director: Sofia Coppola.  Starring Colin Farrell, Nicole Kidman, Kirsten Dunst, Elle Fanning.  

In Sofia Coppola’s remake of the 1971 Don Siegel film with Clint Eastwood, Union Army Cpl. John McBurney (Farrell), wounded and left for dead in Civil War-era Virginia, is rescued by a young student from a nearby girls school operated by Martha Farnsworth (Nicole Kidman) who agrees to allow the wounded man inside to heal.  When he regains consciousness, he finds the remaining female teacher (Kirsten Dunst) and students in the school showering him with affection.  When his leg is healed enough to leave, McBurney asks Miss Farnsworth if he could stay on as the school’s gardener.  As the sexual tension between the soldier and the women rachets up, so does the memorable chemistry among Farrell, Kidman and Dunst.

10. TIGERLAND (2000)

Director: Joel Schumacher.  Writers: Ross Klavan, Michael McGruther.  Starring Colin Farrell, Matthew Davis, Shea Whigham, Clifton Collins Jr.  

Farrell first made a name for himself with American audiences in this 2000 war drama directed by Joel Schumacher.  Set in 1971 at Tigerland, a U.S. Army training base in Louisiana whose muggy weather most closely resembled that of Vietnam and where all of the recruits are destined to be sent to fight in the ongoing war, the story focuses on Roland Buzz (Farrell), an anti-establishment draftee.  Bozz’s success in counseling men as how to get out of the Army has shown to his colleagues a natural leadership quality which causes Bozz to be named team leader, much to the chagrin of racist Wilson (Shea Whigham) who vows to take down Bozz.  It’s hard to gauge today the impact that this newcomer Colin Farrell had on audiences seeing him for the first time, and this performance propelled him to stardom.

9. PHONE BOOTH (2003)

Director: Joel Schumacher.  Writer: Larry Cohen.  Starring Colin Farrell, Forest Whitaker, Katie Holmes, Radha Mitchell, Kiefer Sutherland.  

Although there’s a top-flight supporting cast in Joel Schumacher’s urban thriller, the core of the Larry Cohen’s story is a two-hander.  Stuart Shepard (Farrell) is an arrogant publicist who is cheating on his wife (Radha Mitchell) with another woman (Katie Holmes).  Stuart uses the last phone booth in Times Square to call his mistress when a man (Kiefer Sutherland) gets on the line and threatens to kill Stuart on the spot unless he complies with a number of demands without Stuart ever leaving the phone booth.  Though Sutherland’s voice as the sniper is chilling, Farrell carries the bulk of the on-camera drama and pulls off a tour-de-force.  Today, however, the biggest questions some first-time viewers might ask is “What’s a phone booth?”

8. THE KILLING OF A SACRED DEER (2017)

 Director: Yorgos Lanthimos.  Writers: Yorgos Lanthimos, Efthymis Filippou.  Starring Colin Farrell, Nicole Kidman, Barry Keoghan.  

Farrell and Nicole Kidman reunite in Yorgos Lanthimos’ horror film as a suburban couple with two kids.  Steven Murphy (Farrell) is a successful surgeon who tries to comfort Martin (Barry Keoghan), a young man who is having trouble dealing with the loss of his father in a car accident.  Dr. Murphy becomes taken with the young man’s plight and introduces him to his family.  He soon learns, however, that Martin believes that Murphy’s unsuccessful attempt to save his father after the accident was what killed him.  So just as the doctor’s actions destroyed his family, Martin is setting out to destroy the Murphy family.  This is just the kind of horror film that really gets under your skin, being creepy rather than scary, and the fact that we’re rooting for the Murphys is largely due to Farrell’s sympathetic performance.

7. SEVEN PSYCHOPATHS (2012)

Writer/Director: Martin McDonagh.  Starring Colin Farrell, Woody Harrelson, Christopher Walken, Sam Rockwell, Tom Waits.  

Aspiring screenwriter Marty Farahan (Farrell) is trying to finish his latest script entitled “Seven Psychopaths” while all the while being surrounded by genuine psychopaths in his own life.  His best friend Billy (Sam Rockwell), for example, has made a career of kidnapping dogs owned by the rich. Then with his partner Hans Kieslowski (Christopher Walken), he returns the dog to its owner and pockets the reward.  It works until he kidnaps the dog of violent gangster Charlie Costello (Woody Harrelson) who is not pleased at all.  Inspired by this madness, Marty takes out a newspaper ad inviting all psychopaths to tell him their story for his script, and he gets far more than he bargained for.  Writer/director Martin McDonagh’s script as juicy as usual, and Farrell proves, as he did in “In Bruges,” that he can navigate McDonagh’s words as few actors can.

6. MINORITY REPORT (2002)

Director: Steven Spielberg.  Writers: Scott Frank, Jon Cohen.  Starring Tom Cruise, Colin Farrell, Samantha Morton, Max von Sydow.  

The heat that Farrell generated after his film breakthrough in 2000’s “Tigerland” likely helped him to nab this plum supporting role in this Steven Spielberg sci-fi epic.  It’s 2054, and Washington has developed a PreCrime unit that calculates just who is about to commit a murder and stops them before they act.  The unit, led by Capt. John Anderton (Tom Cruise) is running smoothly, but Anderton is a mess, still grieving over the murder of his son.  The PreCrime unit decides that Anderton will murder someone, but when he flees, Justice Dept. agent Danny Witwer (Farrell) must give chase.  It’s an action-driven part, but Farrell adds details to the character that makes him stand out from the complexities of the plot.

5. WIDOWS (2018)

Director: Steve McQueen.  Writers: Gillian Flynn, Steve McQueen.  Starring Viola Davis, Elizabeth Debicki, Cynthia Erivo, Colin Farrell, Robert Duvall, Daniel Kaluuya, Liam Neeson.  

The level of acting talent in Steve McQueen’s heist film is crazy good, so to get any kind of attention in this ensemble is no small feat, but Farrell does it as Jack Mulligan, a young politico running for alderman on Chicago’s South Side.  Jack is the son of Tom Mulligan (Robert Duvall), a long-time political boss who his encouraging his son to run to continue the family dynasty.  However, the target of four widows, led by Veronica Rawlings (Viola Davis) who are aiming to finish a job that their husbands started, is located inside a locked safe in Jack’s home.  Farrell effectively communicates the pressure of a candidate unsure of why he’s running — is it for the district or is it for his father?

4. AFTER YANG (2022)

Writer/Director: Kogonada.  Starring Colin Farrell, Jodie Turner-Smith, Justin H. Kim, Haley Lu Richardson.
 
In Kogonada’s sci-fi drama “After Yang,” Farrell’s Jake is a man who, much to his dismay, is slowly becoming emotionally estranged from his wife (Jodie Turner-Smith) and their adopted daughter Mika. When the family’s longtime robot/companion Yang (Justin H. Kim) malfunctions, Jake, knowing how much Yang means to Mika, makes it his mission to have the robot repaired, which would bring Yang (and hopefully himself) back into the arms of his family. Though the narrative structure of “After Yang” is simple, the complicated emotions tearing at Farrell’s Jake are anything but, and how he copes with this struggle is downright gripping. Farrell delivers a quietly subtle performance that I suspect will stand the test of time.

3. IN BRUGES (2008)

Writer/Director: Martin McDonagh.  Starring Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, Ralph Fiennes.  

Farrell won his first Golden Globe Award as rookie hitman Ray who, after a killing gone wrong is sent to Bruges, Belgium, along with his mentor Ken Daley (Brendan Gleeson) to await further instructions from their boss, Harry Waters (Ralph Fiennes).  Because Ray accidentally killed a child during his hit, Harry calls Ken and orders him to kill Ray in retribution, a task that Ken is not willing to see through.  Instead, he warns Ray to get out of town, and when a furious Harry learns of Ken’s disobedience, he shows up in Bruges as well.  And all bets are off.  Farrell, who had previously been cast as movie star leads, reveals here that he is at heart a character actor trapped in a leading man’s body, and the critics noticed.

2. THE LOBSTER (2016)

Director: Yorgos Lanthimos.  Writers: Yorgos Lanthimos, Efthymis Filippou. Starring Colin Farrell, Rachel Weisz, Olivia Colman, Jessica Barden, John C. Reilly. 

Yorgos Lanthimos’ “The Lobster” has been called an absurdist dystopian black comedy, which is a pretty accurate description of this one-of-a-kind film.  Sometime in the future, the government has decreed that all single people be rounded up and taken to a hotel where they are given 45 days to find a mate or else they will be turned into the animal of their choice.  Newly single David (Farrell) is caught up in a raid and, accompanied by his dog who was once his brother, he sets out to find a partner.  The mousy bespectacled David is a far cry from the dashing roles for which Farrell is best known, and he absolutely nails it as we cheer for David to find a mate.  For his performance as David, Farrell earned his second Best Actor Golden Globe nomination.

1. THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN (2022)

Writer/Director: Martin McDonagh.  Starring Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, Kerry Condon, Barry Keoghan.
 
In his third film working with writer/director Martin McDonagh, Farrell was handed probably the greatest acting challenge of his career. In “The Banshees of Inisherin,” Farrell’s character Pádraic, the sweetest, nicest fella on that fictional isle, is told by his best friend Colm (Brendan Gleeson) that he wants nothing more to do with him.  Stunned, Pádraic moves through an array of emotions over the next two hours, from confusion, to desperation, to anger and finally to vengefulness.It’s as if the emotions of all the characters he’s every played are all contained and brillintly displayed within this one character. For his performance as Pádraic, Farrell won the Best Actor prize at the 2022 Venice Film Festival.