Casinos are, by their very nature, overstimulating environments. Flashing lights, slot machine sound effects, the buzz of the big winners, the palpable despair of those down on their luck. And so, with his high-rolling thriller Ballad Of A Small Player, Conclave director Edward Berger is piling on the razzle-dazzle – plunging Colin Farrell’s Lord Doyle into escalating heights of danger as his debts pile high.
As he tells Empire, Farrell was drawn to the material’s thematic resonances, one that he could relate to in a very particular context. “The story is about the power of reinvention,” he explains. “In a cheesy way, I could apply that to myself, talking about sobriety. But there are many ways to reinvent yourself.” It seems, in Ballad Of A Small Player, that attempt at reinvention doesn’t go to plan. “Doyle comes to Macau looking for redemption. But ultimately he ends up in Hell.”
The whole thing represents a change of pace from Conclave, which itself was a change of pace from Berger’s previous film, the ferociously unflinching war film remake, All Quiet On The Western Front. But the filmmaker sees a particular throughline across the projects. “It’s good that they’re all quite different,” he says. “You want to burst new boundaries each time. But if you look closely, there are similarities. All Quiet, Conclave and Ballad are all stories told from a singular perspective, about people looking for liberation. A small haven of peace.” Doyle is going to need real luck on his side to find peace in Macau’s casinos.
Read Empire’s full Ballad Of A Small Player feature in the Wicked: For Good issue, on sale Thursday 25 September. Pre-order a copy online here. Ballad Of A Small Player is in UK cinemas from 17 October, and on Netflix from 29 October.
