Colin Farrell walked around the ‘Dumbo’ sets in awe after everyone else had left.
The 42-year-old actor – who plays the part of amputee circus performer-turned-soldier Holt Farrier – admitted he wasn’t quite ready for the scale of Tim Burton’s imagination and "the degree of elaborateness" that would be present on set.
Speaking to CinemaBlend, he said: "I expected… My mind is not potent enough to have expected the degree of elaborateness that was present on the sets of this film.
"But I knew that it would be elaborate, and I knew that it would be big, and I knew that it would be beautiful, and colorful, and noisy. But I had no idea.
"And when I saw some of the sets, I mean they were just the most beautiful, you know? I’d find myself walking on to the sets when there was nobody there and just looking around."
Farrell revealed while he didn’t have an attachment to the original 1941 animated ‘Dumbo’ movie – or even to circuses as a whole – he still felt "a lot of gratitude" for the experience of making the film.
He added: "And talk about moments of nostalgia! Even though I didn’t have relationship with Dumbo or circuses, it’s just honestly a lot of gratitude, actually, for living in such a beautiful world, and being a part of telling a story, albeit for a finite moment in time."
Meanwhile, the actor has also admitted he even spent a lot of his breaks sitting on the set and watching his director in action because he was so "engaged" with the filmmaking process.
He recently said: "Tim Burton is lovely. I loved working with him, I really did. I could watch him on a film set all day.
"I would often sit by Craft Services eating snacks and watch him work on the set, because he’s really engaged with the whole process of shooting a film. The way he moves is frenetic. He is a very magical dude."
Colin Farrell loved exploring Dumbo sets once everyone else had left
