Dublin actor Colin Farrell


Actor and Dubliner Colin Farrell recently recalled how he used to want to be a soccer player when he grew up.

RTE reports on Farrell’s initial dreams of breaking into soccer, but soon realizing he wasn’t quite cut out for the sport. Both Farrell’s father and uncle played soccer professionally with the Shamrock Rovers.

Said Farrell, “I wanted to be a footballer, but I wasn't good enough. Certainly, when I was 13 or 14, I knew for sure that I'd dropped the ball, so to speak.”

''I mean, my dad was kicking a punctured tennis ball up against the wall in his back garden from the time he was four, on his own, six hours a day.”

''So by the time he was nine, he was like that black-and-white footage of Maradona - he could make that ball speak. The knowledge of the game, it was so deep in the marrow of who he was. I just... didn't want it enough. He always used to say that to me, 'You're not hungry enough,' and he was right. But I was obviously hungry enough to get on a plane to LA.''

Despite ultimately finding great success in Hollywood, Farrell remembers his initial time in Los Angeles as a difficult time in his life. “For three weeks, I was doing six meetings a day with producers and directors; it was overwhelming, because I was only 22. When I got home, I was so disillusioned. LA can be a very very lonely town.''

Currently, Farrell’s latest project ‘Seven Psychopaths’ is in theaters. He’s in the process of filming for ‘Winter’s Tale,’ which he’ll co star in alongside Will Smith, Jennifer Connelly and Russell Crowe.