On a humid morning in Macau, a blue-and-orange phoenix adorned with over 60,000 flowers emerges from a giant pink Fabergé egg in the lobby of the Wynn Palace hotel. The proud bird soaks up the attention of the crowd as it turns on a diamond-studded perch to the sound of triumphant trumpets, then retreats back into its shell. If you happen to catch this display, you might think, “How lucky that I arrived at just the right time!” But stay a little longer, and you’ll realize your luck isn’t so special—the hatching happens every 15 minutes without fail.
It’s the summer of 2024, and Colin Farrell and Tilda Swinton are staying at the hotel while filming Ballad of a Small Player, directed by Edward Berger (Conclave) and based on Lawrence Osborne’s eerie 2014 novel about ghosts, guilt, and gambling. Farrell plays Brendan Reilly, an Irish thief who puts on an English accent, calls himself Lord Doyle, and hides out at the Wynn Palace, clinging to a fragile life of weary luxury. After fleeing to Macau with stolen money, he spends his nights playing baccarat, a high-stakes game of chance as simple as flipping a coin. Swinton plays an awkward investigator, also juggling dual identities (one moment she’s Betty, the next Cynthia), hired to track down Reilly and recover the stolen cash.
“The place is a bit of a headfuck,” says Farrell. “Kind of like living inside that giant Fabergé egg.” He’s talking about the hotel, which reserves a whole section of elite rooms for its casino’s high rollers. When I’m given a tour of one of these lavish villas—featured in the film and complete with its own private hair salon, massage room, outdoor pool, and butlers’ quarters—I feel like I’m being overwhelmed with luxury, as if drenched in Dom Pérignon.
But that “headfuck” comment could just as well describe Macau itself. After 400 years as a Portuguese colony, this port city south of Guangzhou became a special administrative region of China in 1999. Like Las Vegas, its gambling center has a heady, kitschy vibe. The Cotai Strip is lined with towering replicas of the Rialto Bridge, the Eiffel Tower, and Big Ben. Parked outside the fake Houses of Parliament is a Routemaster bus where David Beckham—or rather, his digital double—waves from the top deck as the ambassador of the Londoner hotel. “Have you been inside?” Swinton asks excitedly. “There are beefeaters doing jazz hands!”
Despite appearances, Macau, which hasn’t been featured much in Western films, is a more serious place than Vegas. Flashy stage shows never really caught on here, and the gamblers are too focused to get drunk. Waiters carry trays of tea or milk across the casino floors instead of cocktails. Yet spirits of another kind are deeply woven into the culture, as Ballad of a Small Player shows. In one scene, Reilly is turned away after casino management reviews CCTV footage of his latest win and spots a ghost standing behind him.
The novel describes one casino as a “Hans Christian Andersen fairy palace imagined by a small child with a high fever.” That feeling is captured in today’s filming location: the Rio, an abandoned former hotel and casino next to a shop selling “coffee, plants, and lifestyle.” Production designer Jonathan Houlding (Poor Things) has dressed the set to highlight its shabby-chic grandeur, with gaudy chandeliers, mirrored pillars decorated with floral patterns, archways framed by tasseled cherry-red curtains, and potted plants.
For his first day on set, the book’s author, Lawrence Osborne, wears a brimless cap perched on the back of his head and hobbles along on crutches after a motorcycle accident in Bangkok.He has lived there since 2012. The novelist settles into a canvas chair and admires the Rio’s interior, where gaming tables are surrounded by extras. Berger is busy stirring them into a frenzy before the next take. A near-constant hiss fills the room as a smoke machine breathes its hazy mist.
The deception suits a film where most characters are pretending to be someone else. “Guys I used to meet in Macau would call themselves barons and counts,” says Osborne. “No one questioned it. Like Lord Stow, who sold his egg tarts here. Was he even a lord?” He wasn’t: Macau’s famous baker, who died in 2006, was actually a Boots pharmacist from Ilford in Essex.
We watch several takes of Farrell riding the escalator down to the casino and weaving through baccarat tables as extras cheer around him. He wears high-waisted cream trousers, a striped shirt with braces, and a sharp tomato-red jacket. The alternating red and green lighting creates a conflicting effect, as if warning him to stop while urging him on. The colors also add a sci-fi touch to the ornate setting, recalling that Wong Kar-wai filmed parts of In the Mood for Love and its futuristic semi-sequel 2046 here in Macau.
Farrell’s Brylcreemed hair and pencil moustache give him a roguish, retro charm, inspired by gentleman stars like Clark Gable, Errol Flynn, and David Niven, says Berger. When asked if they influenced his performance, Farrell replies, “No, but I’m aware that everything I’ve seen, read, or heard ends up in my work. People ask me about The Penguin and if I was inspired by Jimmy Gandolfini in The Sopranos. I still haven’t seen it! But every gangster I’ve ever seen has found its way into what I did in The Penguin. The same with Reilly, whether it’s characters with addictions or people living lives of total artifice.”
Farrell’s past addictions are well-known, though gambling wasn’t one of them. He gained insights into Reilly’s psychology by talking to casino managers. “One told me the house made $24 million the previous night from two gentlemen. I said, ‘I imagine they were pretty depressed.’ He said, ‘Yeah, but when they win, they feel just as bad.'”
The next scene shows Betty spotting Reilly for the first time as he dashes among the tables. She watches from the casino’s jade-green smoking room, which looks like a recording studio booth. Pale and still behind the glass, she resembles a mannequin waiting to be freed from a shop window.
The character doesn’t appear in the novel. “We needed to add more pressure,” says Berger. “So Colin is being pursued in a not-entirely-serious way by Tilda. She fits with Macau’s ridiculousness and over-the-topness, as you can see from her look.”
Indeed: patterned stockings, a pink raincoat, and quirky glasses. “Ed was clear he wanted Betty to be part of the visual madness,” says Swinton. “We started by creating a silhouette that would stand out in the casino chase scenes.” Her frizzy wedge haircut was inspired by the 1970s cartoon Crystal Tipps and Alistair, while Swinton and costume designer Lisy Christl designed the nerdy outfit. “We had fun imagining what this suburban office worker might wear to blend into Macau and all the ways she gets it wrong.”
How does she see Betty fitting into Reilly’s world? “I think of her as, possibly, another ghost. A fabrication of his imagination.”Imagination. Who would he summon to challenge him? Someone from the ordinary world he left behind, but transformed to fit the surreal landscape of his new hunting ground. Another possibly unstable and deceitful character, part rival, part companion.
She and Farrell haven’t collaborated since one of his first films, Tim Roth’s incest drama The War Zone, back in 1999. “Tilda really plays, man,” he smiles. “She keeps you on your toes. She observes and understands you like few other actors I’ve worked with. She misses nothing. It’s wonderfully intimidating because she’s so attentive. It’s like sparring with a close friend.” Swinton responds in kind: “Colin is a marvel of endless energy and playfulness, and we both love to have fun.”
‘She needs to save herself but doesn’t know how’ … Fala Chen as Dao Ming in Ballad of a Small Player. Photograph: Netflix
If Betty is Reilly’s hunter, then Dao Ming, portrayed by Fala Chen, might be his savior. In the novel, she’s a sex worker, but here she’s reimagined as a loan shark who feels sorry for him. What could she possibly see in such a troubled man? “I think she needs to save herself but can’t figure out how,” says Chen. “Helping him allows her to express that need toward someone else. They both seek redemption. That word came up often in my talks with Edward.”
Berger reflects on their relationship: “He’s addicted to gambling and alcohol, but it’s a deeper emptiness that drives him. He’s searching for something to fill the void because he’s lost his spiritual center. Meeting Dao Ming helps him find a new direction toward a greater purpose.”
The director hopes this serious aspect will shine through the film’s chaotic comedy and extravagance. “The world is falling apart, right? Reilly embodies that, and Ballad has become a fable for what we’re all experiencing: this focus on the individual at the cost of community and basic decency.”
Farrell agrees: “It’s a hopeless quest. Reilly is searching for meaning and worth in all the wrong places. We meet him when he’s lost, but I suspect he was just as adrift when he boarded the plane from London to Macau. The turmoil was already within him.”
Later in the day, I find Berger eating potato salad from a paper plate at one of the empty baccarat tables, so it seems a good time to ask about the parallels between filmmaking and gambling. “I hadn’t thought of that,” he says, looking slightly startled. “But you’re right. It’s probably the most unpredictable, expensive venture you can undertake. You can have the best actors and script, but that still doesn’t guarantee a good movie. It’s a huge gamble.”
To the usual risks, add a history of audiences being indifferent to films on this subject. Croupier, California Split, Mississippi Grind, and Hard Eight are all excellent movies, but they haven’t been big commercial successes. However, it would take more than a little fear to stop Berger. “I don’t like making the same thing twice,” says the director who went from the intensity of All Quiet on the Western Front to the papal intrigue of Conclave. “I want to be scared. I want to be absolutely terrified.” If he ends up with egg on his face, at least it’ll be the fancy Fabergé kind. Ballad of a Small Player is in cinemas from October 15 and on Netflix from October 29.
Frequently Asked Questions
Of course Here is a list of FAQs inspired by the quote from Colin Farrell and Tilda Swinton framed around the concept of taking a creative or personal risk with someone you trust
Frequently Asked Questions
BeginnerLevel Questions
1 What does fencing with a close friend mean in this context
Its a metaphor for a deep challenging and respectful creative collaboration Like fencing it involves skillful backandforth but because its with a friend its intense in a positive and trusting way
2 Why is it terrifying in a lovely way
The terrifying part comes from the vulnerability of taking a risk and putting your talent on the line The lovely part is the unique trust and mutual respect that makes that fear feel exciting and safe
3 What kind of risk are they talking about
Theyre likely referring to the professional and artistic risk of making a new unconventional drama This could mean exploring difficult themes trying new acting techniques or simply the risk of the project not being wellreceived
4 Can you give me a simple example of this in everyday life
Yes Imagine working on a highstakes project at work or school with your best friend You push each other to do your best work you can be brutally honest and even though its stressful you know you have each others backs
Advanced Practical Questions
5 What are the benefits of taking a risk with someone you trust
The main benefits are heightened creativity a safety net that allows for greater vulnerability and the potential for a final result that is far better than what you could achieve alone The process itself can also deepen your friendship
6 What are common problems when fencing creatively with a friend
The biggest risk is that professional disagreements can strain the personal friendship It can also be challenging to give and receive honest critical feedback without taking it personally
7 How can you establish the rules for a successful creative partnership like this
Clear communication is key Before starting discuss your goals establish that all feedback is for the projects benefit and agree to separate the work from the personal relationship
8 How do you give constructive criticism without hurting your friends feelings
Frame your feedback around the work not the person Use
