Ranking Colin Farrell's 10 Best Movie Performances

Farrell’s work with supremely weird director Yorgos Lanthimos has proved to be one of his most profitable partnerships of recent years. He’s great fun in The Lobster, but better still in The Killing of A Sacred Deer, perhaps the closest the actor has come to full-fledged horror.

Here he plays Steven Murphy, a successful but somewhat naïve surgeon. Like any good sawbones, Lanthimos spends the runtime of the film gradually peeling away layers to get to the underbelly of his character’s ostensibly perfect life; the result being a distressing, spooky bit of cinema that cuts deep.

For his part, Farrell is eager to let the story do the talking, offering a measured, reserved performance. He’s paired for much of the movie with his Banshees co-star Barry Keoghan. It’s Keoghan who gets the show role as Martin, a deeply disturbed teenager who drags the trusting Murphy further into his web until it’s far too late.

A film that’s decidedly not for everyone, Farrell’s confident but quiet turn is idea for purpose, building Steven as a man who seems totally in control - until it becomes all too clear that he isn’t.