Is Colin Farrell suddenly back to being a legit name? We’ve always liked him, but there was a period there where the guy was indisputable box office poison. While the quality of his work has only improved, we’re still hard-pressed to figure out how he managed to get in the good graces of casting directors who talk shit about how much money “Alexander” lost. We guess it was the deserved Golden Globe for “In Bruges,” but no one really saw that movie, and Golden Globes aren’t really more than paperweights for beautiful people.
Whether it was sobering up, or those charming glitter-and-note packages he sent to every talent agency, he’s gotten back in everyone’s good graces, and he’s lucked into two prime roles. First up is the lead in the remake to cult horror classic “Fright Night.” Farrell would play the role originally sired by Chris Sarandon, a debonair vampire who moves in next door to the local teen nerd (Anton Yelchin) while proceeding to seduce and vampirize the local womenfolk.
For all this talk about what a flash-in-the-pan actor Farrell used to be, the role of a seductive vampire actually seems far less substantial than what he’s used to lately, but we wonder if this influx of interesting acting talent (Toni Collette is also on board, presumably as Yelchin’s mom) suggests “Fright Night,” with direction from Craig Gillespie (“Lars and the Real Girl”) might be decidedly more high-minded than its endearing low-fi predecessor.
The other project on his plate is the comedy “Horrible Bosses,” a Black List graduate from writer Mike Markowitz currently undergoing a rewrite from John Francis Daley (who starred in “Freaks & Geeks,” “Bones”). The black comedy concerns a group of friends who decide to murder their boss, with no doubt hilarious, “Very Bad Things”-flavored hi-jinks ensuing. Seth Gordon, responsible for the sublime (“The King of Kong”) as well as the embarrassing (“Four Christmases”) will be directing the New Line project, which previously had Paul Rudd attached, though it’s unclear if he’s still on board.
The Deadline piece mentions that Farrell turned down two other projects to take these deals, the McG farce “This Means War” (enjoy your sloppy seconds, Capt. Kirk!) and the bounty-hunting Katherine Heigl comedy “One For The Money,” information that probably leaked to suggest that Farrell, who’ll next be seen in the lovely “Ondine,” is taking his work more seriously, but c’mon. How did those two projects not smell like disaster?