8 Signs Colin Farrell Is The New Matthew McConaughey

The much-discussed ‘McConaissance’ was a perfect storm that sprung from an underused actor finally showing off all of his potential in a string of hit films and television. But Matthew McConaughey wasn’t the first actor to have a career revival, and nor will he be the last.

Enter Colin Farrell, the wild Irish heartthrob who showed flashes of brilliance before becoming relegated to an unending lineup of terrible movies. Yet, in recent years, his choice of roles have mirrored those of McConaughey’s right before he exploded, making it apparent that Farrell could be in line for a revival of his own. The 'Farrelurrection', or something. 

Though he never really went away, Farrell has struggled to remain relevant, and in many ways he’s not mounting a comeback so much as he’s following the very specific path that Matthew McConaughey carved out before him. It’s impossible to say if he’ll be as successful as McConaughey, but his creative choices lead one to suspect that he’s at least taking a step back to becoming the actor we saw in In Bruges.

In following Matthew McConaughey’s path, failure and all, Colin Farrell’s timeline could soon become a phenomenon. The hope is that Farrell can replicate McConaughey’s success, and the similarities in both their recent lives and throughout their entire careers as actors make it apparent why that’s a realistic possibility.

After a standout performance as the stoner David Wooderson in Dazed and Confused, Matthew McConaughey cemented himself as a talent to watch with the legal thriller A Time To Kill. Before he could fulfil the promise of the talent behind these roles, he quickly became bogged down in romantic comedies and action blockbusters. But many never forgot those few acclaimed performances from the beginning of his career.

Following an identical path was Colin Farrell, who broke onto the scene in Joel Schumacher’s war drama Tigerland. He followed that up by throwing down with Tom Cruise in Minority Report and, like McConaughey before him, proved himself to be an actor on the rise. His subsequent starring role in Phone Booth, however, was almost a tease, since it would take him years to once again prove that he could lead a good film.

It’s not that Farrell and McConaughey both started off their careers with acclaimed performances and failed to live up to them afterwards that makes them similar, plenty of actors disappear off the face of the Earth after a few good roles. What makes them similar is that they both stayed in the public eye with huge movies, yet never showed this promise again. At least for a while...