Where does the next season of HBO’s “True Detective” rank among the biggest challenges of Colin Farrell’s career?
The 38-year-old Farrell didn’t have an answer for the question Thursday at the 50th Chicago International Film Festival, which kicked off at the Harris Theater with a screening of his film “Miss Julie.”
“I don’t know because I haven’t visited it with the depth I hope to visit it in time,” said Farrell, who has been cast in the second season of “True Detective” with Chicago area native Vince Vaughn. “I’ve only read half of the eight episodes. It’s phenomenal writing, strong writing. It’s all there on the page. Nic Pizzolatto has done an incredible job creating this new world that is a separate time and separate place and has a completely new array of characters than the first season.”
The protagonists in season one were played by Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson. Both actors received Outstanding Lead Actor Emmy nominations for their roles while the show earned an Outstanding Drama nomination.
According to HBO’s press release, the second season will revolve around three police officers and a career criminal who “must navigate a web of conspiracy in the aftermath of a murder.” Farrell will play “a compromised detective whose allegiances are torn between his masters in a corrupt police department and the mobster who owns him.” Vaughn will play “a career criminal in danger of losing his empire when his move into legitimate enterprise is upended by the murder of a business partner.”
Farrell said he hasn’t spoken to Vaughn to discuss the series but hopes to do so in the near future (Coincidentally, Vaughn was spotted Monday in Chicago at Tavern on Rush).
“I’ll go to see him hopefully this week,” Farrell said. “Sit down for lunch or coffee or something.”
In “Miss Julie,” Oscar nominated actress Jessica Chastain (“Zero Dark Thirty”) plays the daughter of an Irish aristocrat who seduces her father’s valet, played by Farrell. The Liv Ullmann-directed film is based on the 1888 play by August Strindberg and is set in Ireland, unlike the play, which was set in Sweden. Ullmann was on hand at the festival Thursday and said it was a phone call with Farrell that convinced her he was right for the role.
“I saw a lot of (his) movies,” Ullmann. “And I could see also he is a theater actor and for me, I like to work with theater actors because I like to make films that are film theater. But there’s one called (‘In Bruges.’) He was fantastic. What first sold me was when I talked to him on the phone and what he said. It floored me. I thought ‘This is a soulmate.’ He’s an incredible actor.”
Ullmann seemed confident Farrell will shine in his “True Detective” role, despite the high expectations.
“He’s going to bring what I think no one really will expect from him,” Ullmann said, “because he has dimensions which (you seldom see) in a film actor. … He shows you good and at the same time he shows you bad.”
The Chicago Film Fest runs through Oct. 23 and is scheduled to include appearances by directors Oliver Stone and Michael Moore. Kathleen Turner (“The War of the Roses”) is serving as the president of this year’s International Feature competition jury and was also on hand for opening night Thursday.
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