Colin Farrell has opened up about his character in the second season of True Detective.
The actor plays corrupt cop Ray Velcoro in the crime drama, who he describes as "a bit of burnout, really".
Speaking at the Maui Film Festival yesterday (June 4), Farrell joked that he had "dug deep into... [his] not-so-distant past" to embody the role.
"He's somebody who like many of us in life is wrestling with events that took place in his past, and is trying to move forward from them, but trapped in this continual cycle of behaviour he can't get out of," he explained (via Variety).
"I think fundamentally he's a good man that made some very bad choices."
The 39-year-old also admitted that he was such a fan of the original run (starring Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson) that he was unsure about the producers' decision to make a follow-up.
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"When I heard they were doing a second season, I thought, 'Ooh, good luck to the actors that are doing that'," he said.
However, upon reading the script, his opinion changed: "Oh, God, it was such good writing… it's extraordinary stuff.
"Aesthetically, it's very different," Farrell continued. "There are four main characters, as opposed to the two-character structure that's in the first piece.
"But it's a lot of the same sensibilities, and a lot of the characters are struggling with the same kind of existential quandaries and questions that are related to meaning and purpose and the burying of the darkness that may be in your past."
True Detective season 2 also stars Rachel McAdams and Vince Vaughn.
Sky Atlantic has announced plans to simulcast new episodes of the HBO show alongside its US transmission from Monday, June 22 at 2am.
