Farrell, Knightley Join Monahan's 'London Boulevard'

A bad boy actor finds redemption and new major league roles after his Golden Globe win. No, it's not Mickey Rourke (for once) but rather Colin Farrell, who won for his fantastic work in In Bruges. Now Farrell will join Keira Knightley in William Monahan's directorial debut, London Boulevard. The film will shoot in London this summer, according to Variety, and like his scripts for The Departed and Body of Lies, Monahan's screenplay is an adaptation; the Ken Bruen novel was released in 2001. Farrell will play a South London criminal named Mitchell who goes to work as a handyman for a reclusive actress (Keira), and he tries to lead a quiter, more normal life. It won't stay that way, of course, From the synopisis of Ken Bruen's website: "It isn't long before Mitchell's violent past catches up with him. When innocent people start getting killed and his eccentric sister's life is put in danger, Mitchell is forced to act..." The good news is that Farrell now has some confidence, even though I've always felt he had the talent. If he can keep it mostly on the straight and narrow, I think he has a lot of fine performances left in him. He was great three times in 2008, with In Bruges, Cassandra's Dream, and Pride and Glory. The material here seems to suit him, so we'll keep our fingers crossed.