Jordan Karlesson
‘Tis the season for festivities galore. And, for most people, celebrating holidays involves at least a moderate amount of drinking. It’s all the more reason Colin Farrell and Jamie Lee Curtis are talking about why, at least for them, life is all the better without it.
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Taking it a step further, the actors attested in a conversation that Variety published last week that they probably wouldn’t even be alive were it not for recovery from alcoholism.
The two appear on the cover of a Variety issue headlined “Actors on Actors,” in a loving embrace. Pairing them also made sense because they acted in two films from 2022 that are drawing loads of consideration for awards season.
Curtis played an unrecognizable IRS inspector in Everything Everywhere All at Once. Farrell reunited with his In Bruges co-star Brendan Gleeson for its sequel, The Banshees of Inisherin. (Farrell is also a strong award contender this year due to his performance in After Yang.)
Monday brought the announcement of the nominees for January’s Golden Globe Awards. Curtis is up for a best-supporting actress Prize, while Farrell is in the running for best actor in a musical or comedy film.
Colin Farrell and Jamie Lee Curtis Go Deep
Farrell and Curtis’ conversation led to some surprisingly provocative and candid exchanges. Beyond talking about their battles with the bottle, they waxed existential and bonded over their gratitude for every day they get to live — an essential element of recovery.
Curtis, who is 24 years sober. Farrell got sober roughly 16 years ago (after leading a very public life as a Hollywood “bad boy”).
The interview makes it evident that both actors gained “clarity,” another word often used in recovery. They seemed to agree that their newly acquired ability to view the world — and their roles in it — through a sober lens benefited themselves and all those around them.
Thanks to recovery, Farrell said, “The only two things I know as certainties are: We’re going to die, and we’re going to make serious mistakes.”
He also said, “Whether we atone for our mistakes,” suggesting that it’s up to alcoholics to make amends with those they wronged. That doesn’t make life easier, per se, but it can at least reduce the self-loathing that often propels alcoholics to dig themselves into even deeper holes.
Curtis asked Farrell if he had that perspective before attaining sobriety, that life is indeed hard. Alcoholics often abuse the substance as way to escape from that harsh reality.
Farrell said that, indeed, he didn’t understand life itself before he sought help.
“I had suspicions, before I got sober, of how painful life could be,” Farrell admitted. “But I had no ability to hold that without being self-destructive and without living in it. I don’t live in it that now.”
Turning the tables — and furthering the deep conversation — Farrell asked Curtis whether she considers the legacy she will eventually leave.
“I think about it a lot,” she confessed. “Being sober is going to be a legacy, for sure. Because I’m stopping what has been a generational issue in my biological family. It’ll be the single greatest thing I do, if I can stay sober. Because generations of people have had their lives ruled and ruined by alcoholism and drug addiction. For me, sobriety first. Always.”
