Colin Farrell almost quit acting after his poor performance in 2004’s ‘Alexander’.
The Irish actor played Alexander the Great, the on-screen son of Angelina Jolie alter ego Queen Olympias, in the epic historical drama based on the life of the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon – which also starred Jared Leto and Val Kilmer – but he was so ashamed of the bad reviews it received, that he contemplated stepping away from the cameras for good.
In an interview with The I Paper, he recalled: "It was once-in-a-lifetime David Lean film-making. There was a lot of drunkenness, but a lot of people working very hard, and then a film that was slaughtered. I remember the first day the reviews came, and going, ‘Oh, s**t!’"
The ‘Minority Report’ star thinks he put too much of his own personality into his portrayal of Alexander.
He said: "You have to be careful about bringing too much of your own emotional experience to characters, and know where the boundaries are. Whereas Alexander was just, rahhh! There was no structure around it."
However, despite the movie underwhelming critics and audiences, Farrell said if he was given the chance to taken on the role again, he’d jump at the opportunity to prove himself.
He said: "For all of us – Angie, Val. It was all so mad, so bacchanalian and Dionysian. If there’s one film you said to me after 20 years of acting that you could try again, I’d go Alexander. Oliver keeps recutting it. I’ve heard his fourth version is good. But he’s still stuck with the same performance from me…"
Colin Farrell almost quit acting after Alexander
