Actor Colin Farrell still hasn’t forgotten the negative reviews against him and Oliver Stone’s Alexander the Great.
Thanks to the success of Gladiator (2000) historical epic films became fashionable and that is why they released Alexander the Great (2004), King Arthur (2004), troy (2004) o the kingdom of heaven (2005). Not all of them had the expected impact and success and now, the actor Colin Farrell reveals on The Late Late Show what he felt when he received very negative reviews.
“Expectation is a dangerous thing. There were a lot of things that happened with Alexander the Great. The biggest thing to be a part of was, you know, two or three hundred people who traveled the world for six months to tell this story and bring it to life, and it was a story that Oliver Stone had dreamed of since he was in college. As grand as it was, as global as it was, as political as it was, and as exciting as it was, and as violent as it was, and as essential as it was, it was very personal. It was very personal, and it was very personal to me. When I say “expectations”, we all have our tuxes ready. I’m not even kidding. Some of the guys, yeah, they were all like: Okay guys, we’re off to the Oscars. This is a sure thing, because we had Oliver Stone. We had a story of that magnitude. We had a script that was really moving and really, sort of brilliant and very muscular, and then it came out.”
Critics attacked the actor very harshly.
“I was in Toronto, and I think it hit me hard to be honest, which is not the same as saying I had it coming. I just want to be clear. And maybe he did, that’s not the same as saying I didn’t. I don’t want to be too metaphorical, but the reviews came out, we were in Toronto, and I remember my sister Claudine was like, Oh, gosh. Not good. And Danica, who’s here today, says, It’s really not good. As I say: What do you mean it’s not good? There Was No Shortcut, Rotten Tomatoes. What percentage are we talking about here? It wasn’t that. It was what do you mean? And they had all the reviews printed, and it went one after another, and it was packing, I found out, Alexander the Dumb, Alexander the Boring, Alexander the Inarticulate, Alexander the Weak, Alexander the… I was like: Shit. And I thought what can I do? I felt so ashamed.” Colin Farrell concluded.
The movie Alexander the Great it cost about $155 million and grossed just $167 million worldwide. While on review websites such as Rotten Tomatoes it obtained 16% from critics and 36% from the public. So it was an epic disaster, but luckily the actor Colin Farrell he was able to go on to a successful film career.
