Colin Farrell, 50, Loves Getting Older

Colin Farrell has reached a midlife milestone with gratitude, not dread.

“I love getting older,” Farrell said on the June 24 episode of The View. “I love being 50.”

Farrell turned 50 on May 31. When cohost Joy Behar asked how he felt about the milestone, the Irish actor did not pause long.

In their teens, 20s and 30s, Farrell said, people often spend years trying to figure out who they are “in relation to the world around” them, whether their lives have meaning and whether they are worthy of having a life.

“As you get older, that stuff fades away,” he said. “Life is so short.”

Farrell was recently included in AARP’s Movies for Grownups list of the 25 hottest Gen X actors, alongside Matt Damon, Taye Diggs and Ethan Hawke. Farrell earned a best actor Oscar nomination in 2022 for The Banshees of Inisherin, received two Emmy nominations in 2025 for The Penguin (as lead actor and executive producer) and has won three Golden Globes (for Banshees, The Penguin and In Bruges.)

On The View, he sounded grateful to be older, aware of how fast time moves and not ready for it to speed by.

“I want life to slow down,” said Farrell, father of two sons: James, 22, and Henry, 16. “I love getting older, but I’d love to tap the brakes a little bit. It all seems to be going too fast.”

That led him to a subject he thinks people avoid.

“We don’t talk about death enough,” Farrell said. “I honestly don’t think we talk about death.”

Behar joked that she was “not going!”

“That grim reaper is coming for you as well, sister,” Farrell replied.

He did not try to make himself sound fearless.

“Don’t get me wrong, I’m not OK with this,” Farrell said. “If I’m in an airplane that hits turbulence, I … don’t want to die.”

Farrell was on the show to promote Season 2 of Sugar, which premiered June 19 on Apple TV. He plays John Sugar, a private investigator in Los Angeles. He also talked about his recent reunion with Tom Cruise, his Minority Report costar: The two appeared together at a recent screening of Steven Spielberg’s Disclosure Day.

On The View, Farrell recalled working with Cruise on Minority Report, Spielberg’s 2002 sci-fi thriller. Cruise played John Anderton, a Washington, D.C., detective in a futuristic “precrime” police unit. Farrell was Danny Witwer, a government agent sent to investigate the system.

Farrell praised Cruise’s attitude.

“He just brings positive energy everywhere he goes, and he’s really kind,” Farrell said. “He’ll stay here for two hours, until the last person leaves the building, and signs autographs.”

Farrell’s current work includes big franchise roles. He is set to return as Oz Cobb, also known as the Penguin, in The Batman: Part II. Asked about the character’s unique walk, Farrell joked that the limp did not take long to catch up with him physically.

“To go back to the old days, middle age, me hips were kind of going after day two,” he said.