Farrell Lines Them Up

He may swear like a trooper and have a less than politically correct attitude to the female race, but no-one one could accuse Colin Farrell of being less than hard-working. With his delayed sniper thriller Phone Booth, the Al Pacino-starring The Recruit, the Dublin-set Intermission and cartoon crazy Daredevil still to hit our screens, Farrell's managed to line up not one but two new projects while simultaneously shooting S.W.A.T. with Samuel L. Jackson and L.L. Cool J. What a man. The Busiest Man in Hollywood is expected to launch himself straight into another big bucks production in March, namely the intriguing tale from Training Day director Antoine Fucqua called The Jacket. Farrell will play the central character imprisoned for a murder he did not commit. While being tortured for this injustice, the unlucky fellow also forsees when and how he will be killed and has to figure out a way to prolong his life so he can solve his own murder. Now there's a dark and labyrinthine a plot to make any Matrix fan happy. It's then another major change of tack for Farrell as he's agreed to cut back his now usual $8 million asking price for indie film A Home at the End of the World. Directed by theatre veteran Michael Mayer and based on the first novel by Michael Cunningham – whose book also inspired Stephen Daldrey's new effort with Nicole Kidman The Hours - the film follows two boyhood friends who reunite after college and form a, shall we say, rather unusual relationship with an older woman. Farrell's character, Bobby, falls in love with the mature lady which subsequently puts a kaibosh on his gay mate's plan to father her child. Well, we did say it was an indie flick. All of this frantic thespian activity for Farrell depends, however, on when Oliver Stone's Alexander the Great epic gets going. All but set to star as the war-hungry general in the $150 million project - which will rival Baz Luhrman's own version with Leonardo DiCaprio as the big Greek – Farrell's future indie projects might well be put on the back burner until Alexander duty is done. We know we've said it before, but the Ballykissangel kid really has made it big.