Every few months the lovely folks at Jameson show a special screening of a special movie in a very special place in Dublin. They call this the Jameson Cult Film Club, and only the best and cult-iest of movies have been lucky enough to have had the honour. Most recently, Danny DeVito rocked over to the city for a special screening of LA Confidential in the Mansion House. The inside was decorated to look like the inside of a 1940's Los Angeles Police Station, complete with costumed extras and beautiful waitresses handing out glasses of Jameson.
Next up they're focusing on some home-grown talent, and on Tuesday June 18th the Jameson Cult Film Club will be screening Irish-hit Intermission. To celebrate this, we've decided to look at that movie's two biggest stars - Colin Farrell and Cillian Murphy - to decide who is the Biggest Irish Star of the moment. Ready? GO!
Round One: Box Office!
If we were to take their biggest movies at face value, then Cillian would be the winner here, as The Dark Knight Rises' $1.084 billion flattens Minority Report's $398 million. But neither of these where the stars of these movies, so let's focus on the movies which focused on them. In that case, Cillian loses out, as his biggest leading role hit - Red Eye with $98 million - doesn't match up to Colin's, which is (rather inexplicably) S.W.A.T., with $209 million.
Colin - 1, Cillian - 0
Round Two: Awards!
Colin has been nominated for a metric-tonne of IFTAs, and has won a couple too. But we're focusing on the biggies today, and he managed to nab a Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actor in a Comedy or Musical for In Bruges. However, he was also nominated for a Golden Raspberry (which, if you're unaware, is pretty much the exact opposite of an Academy Award) for his role in Alexander.
Cillian was nominated for a Golden Globe in the same catagorey three years earlier for his role in Breakfast On Pluto, but didn't win. However, he has never been nominated for a Golden Raspberry either. Hmmm... this one is a toughie, but we think Colin is going to have to win out.
Colin - 2, Cillian - 0
Round Three: Critical Acclaim!
Colin's three highest critical hits are as follows: Minority Report (92%), Crazy Heart (91%) and The War Zone (84%). On the other end of the scale he has Ordinary Decent Criminals (14%), American Outlaws (14%) and Alexander (16%).
The critics favourite three of Cillian's are The Dark Knight (94%), 28 Days Later (88%) and The Wind That Shakes The Barely (88%). On the flip side, they hated Disco Pigs (20%), Red Lights (29%) and The Edge Of Love (35%). So, with a higher top score and a not-as-low lowest score, Cillian wins this one!
Colin - 2, Cillian - 1
Round Four: Quotability!
If you see your favourite actor walking down the street, more often than not you're going to want to quote a line from one of their movies at them, just to show them HOW MUCH you love them... we mean, love their work. So, if you've seen Colin and/or Cillian strolling around Dublin, which would be your choice line of dialogue to spout in an effort to impress?
Colin: "They're filming something. They're filming midgets!" (Simple, effective, hilarious)
Cillian: "Oh, great, Valium. Not only will we be able to go to sleep, if we get attacked in the middle of the night, we won't even care." (In the face of the horror in 28 Days Later, he still manages to nail the Irish wit)
This one goes to Cillian.
Colin - 2, Cillian - 2
Round Five: Cult Following!
Let's start off with comic-book characters, and both are on an equal playing field here, having both starred as bad guys in comic-book movies - Colin was Bullseye in Daredevil, and Cillian was Dr Crane / The Scarecrow in The Dark Knight Trilogy.
Cillian has been in his fair-share of cult followed movies; Sunshine, Breakfast On Pluto, Inception, Tron: Legacy and 28 Days Later, while Colin has the likes of Seven Psychopaths, Phone Booth, Fright Night, Horrible Bosses and even popped up in an episode of Scrubs.
But, let's face it, they're both in Intermission, so they both get the point this round.
Colin - 3, Cillian - 3
So there you have it! They're both awesome! You can't buy tickets to the Jameson Cult Film Club screenings, so to be in with a chance of winning a pair head register on the JCFC blog at www.jamesoncultfilmclub.ie