Colin Farrell opens up about aging ‘hips don’t lie’ approaching 50

Colin Farrell is approaching his 50th birthday in May and he’s keeping his sense of humor about it.

The Penguin star told Extra that while his spirit doesn’t feel close to half a century, his body is less forgiving.

"5-0, half a century, man! I mean, my hips feel like it… Hips don’t lie. Hips, knees, all that good stuff," Farrell said. 

"My spirit doesn’t feel, I don’t know what a 50-year-old spirit should feel like… I have no idea."

Farrell, who shares sons James, 21, and Henry, 15, from previous relationships, isn’t planning a big celebration. Instead, he joked about a low-key getaway: "I might take myself away to a motel for a few days and go on a couple of jogs."

The actor recently explored dark and complex characters in Ballad of a Small Player. Speaking with Jessie Buckley for Variety’s Actors on Actors series, Farrell said he’s drawn to roles that examine pain, which he views as a universal human experience.

"I have mad moments of joy in my life and joy in work and joy with my kids," he said. "But I’ve always felt that the common denominator in regard to experience as humans is pain… Every single act of aggression or violence has its root in pain that has become personalised."

Farrell, whose eldest son James has Angelman syndrome, reflected on the privilege of his career while acknowledging its limits. 

"I’m so f****** aware of the amount of privilege that I’ve experienced in my life and what rare air I fly in regarding what I do for a living. But at the end of the f****** day, there’s nothing I can do in acting that can make James, my oldest boy, talk or have language."