Colin Farrell and director Ronald Donaldson chat to Jean Lynch about their latest political thriller.
Towards the start of The Recruit, the latest film from Roger Donaldson, director of No Way Out and Thirteen Days, the camera casually moves over a computer screen on which the image on a screensaver shatters into hundreds of pieces and then reassembles itself. This brief moment cryptically demonstrates the theme of the film, reinforced by its tagline: "in the CIA nothing is what it seems". The sentiment, however, does not extend to one of its stars, a man the director describes as "what you see is what you get".
Even having read countless of lurid news reports, nothing can prepare you for the onslaught that is meeting the latest favourite hellraiser, Colin Farrell. Having just seen him play yet another smooth-talking American in The Recruit, in which he co-stars with Al Pacino, it comes as a shock to hear his full, rapid Irish brogue, coloured with frequent profanities and colloquialisms, and unchecked phrases. He is very fluid, his movements and gestures punctuating his words. Unshaven, he smokes incessantly. Farrell's image is starting to become a little larger-than-life, but the man himself remains unmoved by the media attention.
"If I started mannering myself now, if I start worrying about everything I'm gonna say and trying to please everyone and fit into some ideal of what anyone bar anyone that cares about me thinks I should be, I'm screwed, you know, I will lose myself pretty fast in all this madness. So without saying anything for shock tactics, I just want to keep spilling stuff out of my mouth, off the top of my head." Media interest in his so-called 'natural' approach, particularly in The States, puzzles him. He continues, "It's kind of a statement on the business, and some people in Hollywood, that I get fucking kudos for being decent and down-to-earth and respecting people, you know what I mean? I shouldn't get kudos for it; you don't get kudos for it. People don't meet you every day and say, God, you seem like a down-to-earth fella but I get it now and again and it's whoa! Where's my medal? It's just the way I was reared, just the way I was brought up and I have a good family and I have great friends. I respect everyone else. My mom's my best friend - I'm a total mammy's boy. Everything I am and everything I hope to be I have her to thank for."
In The Recruit, Farrell plays James Clayton, one of the smartest graduating seniors in the country. He is also a man who has yet to come to terms with the loss of his parents at an early age, and Walter Burke (Al Pacino) knows just how to use this information to entice him into the CIA. However, it soon becomes clear that the CIA's maxim of "trust no-one" and "nothing is what it seems" are painfully precise. The film follows a well-trodden, formulaic path, with a maverick protagonist pitched against an older mentor, whilst also trying to overcome the obstacles in the way of his getting the girl, Layla (Bridget Moynahan). This is the Top-Gun-cum-Officer-and-a-Gentleman for the noughties. And as much as those particular films were derided in their day, they are now rightly considered classics of their era. Likewise, The Recruit deserves to be recognised for the well-written, thrill-packed drama that it is. It plays games with the audience, knowingly inviting you to join in, following twist after turn after twist. Yes, you've seen it done before but that doesn't detract from one's enjoyment of this unpretentious film.
The two leads deliver mesmerising performances, of which Donaldson says, "They are both two sides of the same coin. I sort of see in Colin a potential Al Pacino and I think Al saw in Colin what he once was and that sort of played out as we made the movie. There was an interesting dynamic that developed between these two guys, a sort of respect and reverence that they were able to make the most of each others talents."
Farrell, meanwhile, demonstrates a healthy respect for his co-star. "He's serious about his work," he says, "and is very focussed - I've never seen focus like it. He has a very acute passion for what he does, but he was just a funny bastard as well. He just had a really quirky sense of humour; he's a quirky little fella. He's fun to be around. It was amazing working with him. He was an idol of mine for as long as I can remember, from when I first started watching movies as a kid, and every bit of work that he's done that I've seen him do is just incredible - he has such a command of character and performance. I'm still a film fan and before I ever thought of being an actor I was a fan of films, so to just to be able to share some space on the set with him. it was great. There were no airs and graces about him."
Donaldson's film is yet another addition to his canon of subterfuge in high places, having tackled Department of Defence at the Pentagon with No Way Out (1987) and the Cuban Missile Crisis in Thirteen Days (2000). Why such an interest? "I grew up in Australia and American politics had a big effect on Australia. When I went to America I was interested in seeing Washington up a bit closer. I didn't make this film thinking about American foreign policy, which I have my own opinions about. What I did was to make a film about the CIA as I saw it, from the limited observation point that I had. I did briefly have a tour of Langley (CIA headquarters in Virginia) and that's about as much of it as I saw and could comment on." He considers for a moment. "What I did try and do though was to make a film that was apolitical. what I was trying to do was to make a film that was not really about jingoism, or trying to sell this information one way or the other, but to make a film that was set in the organisation as I saw it, which was not really about what their work was but what it took to be a member of this organisation."
Donaldson had some expert advice from CIA spokesperson Chase Brandon who was able to give some insight into the facilities and methods of the Agency, its complex recruitment processes, and the way in which it identifies suitable candidates and moulds them into operations officers. Brandon says "the training that goes on in the Agency is very interesting, and we do have an area where we conduct clandestine training for our operations officers. I'm aware that people think we call it 'The Farm' (the title it is given in the film). In a wonderfully classical Agency response, I can neither confirm nor deny that such a place exists, but I will say that if we were going to give our training facility an interesting name, The Farm could be an appropriate thing to call it."
Donaldson agrees that The Agency were helpful - to a point. "The nature of anyone who works at the CIA is that it's hard to get anything out of them. They were more than happy to give me the facts about what size the logos were, or where the badges were, or what you have to do to drive through the front gate but if you wanted to know too much then the facts dried up pretty quickly."
One of the most poignant scenes in the film is when James Clayton sees the date 1990 with just a star beside it on a roll of honour. It represents his father. Donaldson explains. "One of the most important things was a book that Colin gave me about the number of people who had died in the service of the CIA and their names were represented by just a star on the wall. And that for me was a really informative book. it's as much to protect them. when things go badly wrong, it's embarrassing."
Having appeared in a series of high profile roles that also includes Minority Report, Phone Booth and Daredevil, the soon-to-be-released SWAT and, still in production, Oliver Stone's take on Alexander the Great, can audiences expect to see Farrell return to his Irish roots at all? He waxes philosophical. "I'm following a path now that hopefully seems pre-ordained for me - I'm tripping over each brick on the road that I'm walking, you know? I'm just going along, and that took me back to Dublin last year in late August, to do Intermission." Directed by John Crowley and Mark O'Rowe, Farrell plays Lehiff, a loner and petty criminal who plans to do one last job which, inevitably, goes wrong. Stephen Woolley and Neil Jordan's Company of Wolves is the production outfit.
Farrell continues. "Yes, in the future I'd like to bring some work, bring some productions to Dublin and Ireland. Pierce Brosnan has been very good, and Aidan Quinn has gone back and done some work, Jim Sheridan's writing scripts. but I'm still very much trying to figure out this acting thing. I haven't sat back and planned it all. "Maybe when I grow up."
Jean Lynch
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