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

See Full Page