What’s new in your life?

What's new pussycat, what do you want to know? So go ahead...

So how does it feel to be a daddy?

Great, amazing. I thought I'd be a lot more freaked than I've been told I should've been. But it's been fantastic.

Did kim (bordenave) go through morning sickness?

Yeah, she went through a period of being tired and fatigued and being nauseous, now with the baby here and healthy, she's going through a great patch. She's feeling great. Great girl.

You're becoming the hardest-working man in showbiz.

Becoming? I am! No, I'm not. It's all good fun. I've got a job I like.

"S.w.a.t." is a big ensemble movie. Is it much different than doing a smaller pic like "phone booth"?

I don't know how different it is, you know... you're sharing the story with everyone, it's a collective obviously, and that's what it was about and should have been about, and it was great fun. We had a laugh. And I was around a great bunch of actors; from Michelle [Rodriguez] to LL [Cool J] to Josh [Charles], Brian Van Holt, Jeremy Renner, Olivier [Martinez] and obviously the big man Samuel L. Jackson.

What did you learn from working with sam?

Sam Jackson. What did I learn about him? I learned that he's one of the quickest-witted f**kers I've ever heard in my life, man. I learned that if you're gonna have a verbal with him, you'd better bring your tongue to the f**king table 'cause he's fast.

Is that right?

Yeah. And he's as cool as they say. He's cooler than they say.

All right, what about michelle rodriguez?

Sweetheart. Yet the obvious is true - tough as nails, kick your head in, you know? Ripped my head off. Easy enough for her I'd say, but a sweetheart, man. Great heart. Generous, generous human being.

And, ll.

LL ... got the best pair of abs and body, it's disgusting. He's got abs like a cheese grater. Again, good guy, man. I mean, you have perceptions of people. You see these people, you hear their music, you see their movies or whatever, and then you meet them and Sam is still as cool as I ever thought he was. Cooler. LL is as cool, all this. Michelle is still as tough. But you get to know them a bit, which is cool. You don't get inside their heads and you don't become close personal friends in four months or three months, but you get to know them and you find out about them. LL is a sweetheart, man.

Right on. Well, did you get into ripped shape for the movie?

Ah, are you kidding me? No, not at all.

Did you drink during workouts?

No, that would defeat the purpose. No, after. You gotta earn it.

How do you feel about playing so many americans? Is the accent easy for you or would you rather use your own natural voice?

Well, having worked on 'S.W.A. T.' Using an American accent, well, it's part of the job, and you know. I'm a S.W.A.T. team member and so, you pretend. In various aspects of telling the story, you pretend, and the accent is one thing, and one of the things that I use to pretend. It's one of the materials, something that I have to do, and it's fine. I have a dialect coach that I've had for five or six films, the same guy, and I work with him for about three weeks to a month before we start shooting and then, he's on the set everyday, pissing me off, in my ear between takes, and I like him very much. So, it's part of the job. I don't feel like that I'm good at it or particularly perfect at it at all. It's always something that I have to stay on top of especially if you go off.

Between scenes in 's.w.a.t' -- did you stay in the american accent?

No, not in 'S.W.A.T.' And that's because the character I played wasn't as intense as other characters I've played. Particularly the characters that I played in the last few movies I did, and more than anything, stayed in character on that job because it was just so f**king intense and I had to stay there. I had to kind of stay there, but on these ones, no. The characters are, this character is quite similar in nature, there are certain things that are similar to myself and so no, not in between takes. If I start talking in American accent between takes, and if I don't speak the right way, it will become habitual that way and it'll become wrong. So, it's better if I keep on top of it. If I start talking in an American accent and it's not right, that'll become habit and then, I'll take that in front of the camera and then, I'm f**ked [Laughs].

You're definitely heading to the $20 million a picture stratosphere -- don't you think so?

Who knows? I sure as hell f**king don't. It would be nice though. I'd be lying to you if I said I didn't give a rat's ass. Those actors in Hollywood are incredibly talented but also incredibly lucky. I've been fortunate that I've been able to work as much as I do. I get very impatient and very bored when I'm not working. I'm always looking at the job in front of me and trying to figure it out. The best way to figure it out is to do it. Acting classes aren't for me. It's very much like art. It's not so much about technique, but rather about being in the real world as much as I can. That's probably why I work so much, and not because I'm trying to accumulate as much money as I can before I'm 30.

Earlier this year, you starred in intermission. Are we going to see you perform as a popular music artist as you did in this film, yes? Is this the next phase of your career?

Yeah, Thirty Odd Yards of Grunt - what's the name of Russell Crowe's band? - Thirty Odd Foot of... I can't play an instrument, I'm fairly tone deaf - man they wouldn't even have me in Boyzone!

Do you lose your confidence when you're not working?

You question things, yeah. When you do three press junkets in the space of two months and all you seem to be doing is talking about the s**t you've done a year and a half ago, yeah you get nervous. Your head starts to go, a couple times, "I'm actually a publicist like I did three years ago when I played Stu Shepard in "Phone Booth" or am I an actor?" Yeah, an actor that's what I do for a living, because when you're as lucky as me you have to treasure these days and that's why I can't wait to get back to it.

Is there ever any pressure by agencies and press managers and people to not say the things that you say in interviews like the one you did earlier this year with vanity fair?

No, I mean, I really don't say anything for shock tactics, ever. I don't, I just want to maintain my ability to say what I want to say. I've been okay with it because fortunately, it's worked out for me. So, anyone that has a vested interest in me or my career, per say, hasn't particularly... I mean, yeah okay, my agent and f**king the publicist guy... I got a note from my anal agent one day that one of my quotes, there was a quote of mine on a picture and he faxed it to the hotel with a note saying, 'If this is how you want to come off... some important industry insiders have already commented on this quote. If this is how you want to be perceived... ' [Laughs]. So, I got that once, but I just called him and told him to f**k off [Laughs]. You know, I mean, I said it in that way. It wasn't like, 'Listen, you f**k off.' Do you know what, it's a different thing.

Do you remember the quote?

[Laughs] It's there, find it.

Is this it? 'I come into town and bang whomever i can?'

[Laughs] But I get banged back, you know. It's not a one way street.

As an actor, have you ever had any encounter with a publicist like the one you played in "phone booth?"

No, because you base it, not specifically, but you meet people in your life whether they work at Burger King, they drive a taxi, clean the streets, they are successful banker, they are an actor, they are an agent, a publicist, they are a producer, or a f**king hairdresser, you meet people in every sector, both public and private that are assholes and they are full of their own importance, and just by proxy, living in the world, you got models. I've been in Los Angeles, I've seen some f**king dick heads in my time, at the end of the day you just got to take it from the page, more importantly. I've got some good people working for me, I've never been raped or pillaged.

What is different about you and the characters you play in movies?

What's very much like me? I know I seem on the outside like a bit of a tough guy and all of that. I don't necessarily think that I am, but sometimes, from the outside, people think that I'm a tough guy. I'm just a pretty straightforward fellow who has a certain amount of confusion in my life, as we all do, trying to figure things out and what it's all about and what is happiness. Do you equate it to money? Do you equate happiness to health? So those are things that we all commonly share, those questions that we all have. What the f**k is true happiness???

What about computers? Are you into that at all?

[Laughs] No, I'm terrible. I tried to f**king... I had a month to try and f**king... so, I can't type for s**t, man. It would take me the hour and a half that the film lasts to type one of those things.

What does your mom think when she reads all this stuff about you? There's not a day goes by that you're making headlines somewhere. Like what are you doing with britney spears?

I think she knew what I was doing there (chuckling softly). Let's not say another word. She's (his mom) an amazing woman. She has the patience of a saint and she knows her little fella, her little boy (referring to himself). She knows I'm a messer. I should smoke less, or whatever the rest.

Yeah, but i think you have a good heart...

Yeah, I think I do. I'm very attached to her. No, she reads and her eyes roll to heaven and she goes "Oh God." But then she takes the paper rips it out and puts it in the scrapbook.

She must have a lot of scrapbooks?

Yeah, figure every time I go home.

How do the irish at home think of your success in the states?

Well you know, in Ireland, if you're too big for your boots or you think that your Jack be nimble, Jack be quick, and your s**t doesn't stink, you'd be cut down regardless of whether you're an actor or not. You'd be cut down to size quickly, and I go home and to be honest, most of the time on the streets, I get, 'Hey man, I saw you on the TV, I'm watching your career and you're doing great over there in America,' and that's mostly what I get in Ireland. I'm sure that someone will give me a dig one of these days, just for fun, 'Watch this.' What are you going to do.

What other misconceptions do we have about you based upon items we read in the press?

There is a misconception of myself when I'm thought of as a bar brawling, bad boy. That's bulls**t.

Where did that come from then?

I have no idea, not from me.

You think you're a target of the u.s. tabloids?

[Laughs] What the f**k do you think?? You can see my 'National Enquirer' badge. [Laughs.]

How often do you get home?

After every gig. As soon as I finish I go there. When I finished "S.W.A.T." I was on the plane the next day and went straight home for three weeks. Then when I start working this (End of the World), I do this for two months and go home again. Every two, four months.

So you get together with all your mates?

Yeah, they come in and visit me as well when I'm working. The world is such as small place now.

I heard you're quite a party giver?

A lot of buddies came over that was a big five days. It was in L.A.

It must have been like, ‘lock up all your daughters... '

Not!!!

Does it break your train of concentration when you're working and all your friends and relatives show up?

No, no, no, they never come when I'm working, except for my mother. They know, they very much do their own thing. They know Los Angeles and Santa Monica, they know the Promenade. My mom goes and gets her nails done. My sisters might go shopping. Premieres are when they all come over. Premieres can be kind of tiresome experiences at times. So they're "Premiere, red carpet, flashbulbs, and all that s**t, so then to the left they see 20 relatives mulling over there. So it kinda brings an air of ridiculous reality to it all. It's very real because they are all there, but it makes a mockery of all the other s**t. It's great because they are my friends and family and they are enjoying it for what it is - one night, one premiere, one screening, and one free bar. To have too much love, or familiarity around when you're working would be distracting.

When you go on location then you just take yourself and go off?

I admit, I don't sleep much.

You don't normally sleep?

No, ever since I can remember maybe 10, 12. I remember my dad saying, "You're going to be a night watchman when you grow up." I'm always going to be an insomniac. Nobody bothers me between 12 o'clock at night and 3 in the morning.

What do you do?

Listen to music, read, read the script, think, might cook a steak at half two or three, a baked potato, have a couple of beers, think of the work day past, day's work to come, just being in the space wherever.

Do you watch your own films?

I'm not good at it all, but I'm not good at watching it, I'm not good at assessing my own performance. I'm f**king beating the s**t out of myself.

Have you seen them all?

I do, I have seen them all. I've seen every single one of them. Sometimes I have to wait till I go to the premiere. I'm not good at it. It's not the most comfortable thing.

Do you watch the dailies?

No way, you're joking. It's not a golf swing for me, it's not a technique. There are actors who like to watch the monitor and the playback of the dailies because they see it as more of a baseball swing. Some actors will say, 'I'm doing a little too much of this, a little too much of that. I want to try and just figure it out here.' I'm too paranoid for that kind of crap.

Tell the truth now colin... Did you ever hold up an airline flight?

No! I have held airline flights, years ago, and it's so funny, and I could imagine that I would do something now like, if I arrived to my airline, and I'd had a few drinks and I was out the night before and I was tired and I lay down on the f**king path which I've done before, but if I did that now, it'd be a mess. No, but I've always kind of been a mess, but a functioning mess all my life, but no, I didn't. That was on my way to Vietnam. It said that I held up my flight for an hour. My bags would be off the f**king plane.

How are things on the "alexander the great" project?'

Oliver's been shooting. I'm not quite sure where he is. But it'll be great, I'm sure.

When you see that there are two or three other projects with the same theme what do you take from that?

Stone has 12 years of his life invested in this. Here's a story that's 2,300 years old, what are the chances or two being announced in the same week. But he wrote an amazing, amazing script. I'll be there on the day and give it the best shot I can.

If you weren't acting what would you be doing?

I don't know because I didn't finish school. I was never really very academic. I wish I had listened more in history class and in Irish class. I have no regrets.

So now that you're going to be a dad have you cleaned up your act?

My life is not dirty.

No, now you start drinking at 4 instead?

This to me is a day's work, but when I'm not acting on a set, of course, I'm going to have a beer, don't you have a glass of wine with lunch?

Do you find it a necessary part of the business doing junkets?

Of course, yes.

This is another part of the job that they don't teach you?

And if they did I wouldn't turn up for class. It's a necessary evil, evil being too strong of a word. It's part of it, you do a film, a big film, and you take a large sum of money and you've got to do this so people come and see the film. When I became an actor, I never thought about this. One day, for "Hart's War," I did 88 interviews. You need to get out there. It's not the theatre. It's not people that want to go and be entertained by live theatre and packed houses, word of mouth will do it if you run for two or three months. Film is so much more of a business, and theatre has been so much more about the art.