Farrell: Stone's Bluntness Works

Bad-Boy Actor Tells Harry Smith About Making 'Alexander'

(CBS)  Since making his American film debut less than five years ago, Colin Farrell has starred in a wide variety of films including "Minority Report," "Phone Booth" and "SWAT." Now, Farrell plays one of the greatest warriors of all time, in the historical epic "Alexander."

Directed by Oliver Stone, the film depicts the life of the man who'd conquered 90 percent of the known world by the age of 25.

"He achieved a lot," Farrell told The Early Show co-anchor Harry Smith. "He was born into nobility, son of a Macedonian king. And when he was 20, he received a kingship after the assassination of his father, then just built on what his father had already planned for the invasion of Persia, and took it a step further and further and further."

Angelina Jolie plays Alexander's mother. In real life, she's only 11 months older than Farrell. Yet, he says, "She is such a fine actress, it never seemed out of place. As I look at her now, it's strange."

But Farrell says working with Stone was a revelation. "You hear all sorts of stories about Oliver, and what an animal is, and he's insane, and he pushes you too hard, and all this kind of nonsense.

"But after a couple of takes, he'd come up and say. 'That was terrible, that was terrible. I can't print a word of it. It was so bad. Where do we go? OK. Let's start again.'

"He was honest. Oliver suffers from an affliction that is kind of dead in the world now. I call it an affliction because not many people seem to live under this thing, which is complete and absolute honesty. So when you're horrible, he'll tell you you're horrible. When you are fantastic, if you ever are, he'll tell you were fantastic, that was a beautiful take, or whatever.

"Some people say it's manipulation: He strokes your ego with one hand and smacks you with the next. I don't think it's that clinical. Maybe I'm being naïve. But I think he's brutally honest."

The youngest of four children born into a close-knit family in suburban Dublin, Farrell was a carouser in his youth, more prone to the diversions of drink and drugs than to disciplined work.

He drifted from job to job and, at the encouragement of his older brother Eamonn, into acting.

By the age of 21, Farrell was already landing television roles.

Soon, he'd audition for what would be his big break: the low budget Vietnam-era film "Tigerland." He was late for his audition with the film's director, Joel Schumacher.

But he stopped Schumacher on the way out the door, and something caught the director's eye.

"Tigerland" was not one of the box-office smashes of 2000. But Farrell won praise for his performance as young rebel conscript Roland Bozz.

Soon he played the introspective prisoner of war, Lt. Tommy Hart, alongside Hollywood heavyweight Bruce Willis, in "Hart's War." Only months later, he acted opposite Tom Cruise in 2002's "Minority Report."

Next came Farrell's performance as the fast-talking publicist trapped in a sniper's-crosshairs in "Phone Booth." It was one of six films he appeared in during 2003.

Farrell's high-spirited lifestyle has garnered him as much attention as his highly praised acting.

With his penchant for candid blue-streak interviews about sex and drugs, Farrell has earned a hard-drinking, chain-smoking, bad-boy reputation.

Yet he insists fame will always be a distant second to family, and Dublin -- not Hollywood -- will always be home.