Colin Farrell Says Irish Actors Punch Above Their Weight
The actor said he’s not surprised that fellow Irishmen Cillian Murphy, Barry Keoghan, and Paul Mescal are garnering critical acclaim.
Colin Farrell is sensing a trend. The 47-year-old actor who hails from Castlerock may be on the publicity trail promoting his new Apple TV+ series Sugar, but he also made time to hype his fellow Hollywood Irishmen (including, one must assume, adoptive Irish actress Ayo Edebiri). And no, he’s not surprised audiences — much like Sabrina Carpenter — are falling for the luck of the Irish.
On Tuesday, The Batman star told Entertainment Tonight he was overjoyed to see his countrymen enjoying their well-deserved time in the spotlight. From Cillian Murphy’s Best Actor win for Oppenheimer at this year’s Academy Awards to the collective critical acclaim surrounding Barry Keoghan, Andrew Scott, and Paul Mescal, Farrell said the small country’s success in producing masterful thespians has been fun to watch.
“I mean, we punch so far above our weight, you know? We’re only a country of 5 million people,” Farrell told ET. “Irish people — just whether it’s through music, the written word, whether it’s prose, or poetry, film, theater, of course — we have a deep connection to the importance of story and to leaning into stories and meanings with which we understand ourselves and the world around us.”
Of Keoghan’s viral turn in Saltburn alongside Jacob Elordi, Farrell was particularly complimentary: “Barry’s off to the races. He’s killing it, he’s doing amazing.” The two actors previously worked together on 2022’s Oscar-nominated The Banshees of Inisherin, as well as Yorgos Lanthimos’s 2017 film The Killing of a Sacred Deer.
Hopefully for Farrell and crew, the Irish streak of dominance is only just beginning. So long as I don’t have to sit through a sequel to Irish Wish, I’m onboard.