Movies

The many conquests of Colin Farrell

The movie “Winter’s Tale” is out Friday, and who better to star in the swoony love story than Colin Farrell, the man who’s experienced countless romantic dramas (and a few comedies) in real life? The 37-year-old actor claims a reputation as one of Hollywood’s great womanizers. But he wields his Irish charm so deftly that most of his conquests (and attempted conquests) seem to have nothing but nice things to say about him. Here, a look back at some of Farrell’s most notorious hookups:

Elizabeth Taylor

In an interview with Ellen DeGeneres late last year, Farrell told her how he’d wanted to be Taylor’s eighth husband, “but we ran out of road.” (Taylor passed away in 2011.) He met the actress when she was 75 and he was 34, after a chance encounter in the hospital, when his son was being born and she was having a heart operation. The two forged a friendship that involved heart-to-hearts on the phone. “It was like the last . . . romantic relationship I had [at the time], which was never consummated,” he told DeGeneres.

Emma Forrest

The British author wrote about an anonymous actor love — “my gypsy husband” — in her 2011 memoir, “Your Voice in My Head.” Pretty much every review of the book, though, pegged the man as Farrell. The two met in LA as he was promoting his 2008 film “In Bruges,” and fell quickly in love. Six months in, she wrote, Farrell told her: “When I get back from this film, let’s have a miniature human that grows. I would rather die than not knock you up.” But the relationship cooled not long after that, when Farrell stopped returning Forrest’s calls and texts.

Angelina Jolie

Angelina Jolie and Colin FarrellGetty Images

The two starred — as mother and son, no less — in the 2004 Oliver Stone movie “Alexander,” which filmed in Morocco. Rumors (“whispers around Tinseltown,” said Perez Hilton) held that Jolie was obsessed with the hell-raising Farrell and shacked up with him during shooting. And that she only settled for Brad Pitt when Farrell wasn’t interested in a relationship.

Britney Spears

The two made a splashy appearance in early 2003 at the premiere of Farrell’s film “The Recruit,” and were spotted canoodling at the Chateau Marmont later that night. The romance didn’t last long, however, with Farrell claiming, “We’re just mates.” Spears was reportedly offended when, later that year, the actor sent her a gag gift of a shirt bearing the slogan “I slept with Colin Farrell and all I got was this lousy T-shirt.”

Nicole Narain

In July 2002, Farrell met Narain, Playboy’s Miss January of that year, at a party at Hugh Hefner’s fabled mansion. They had a hot-and-heavy relationship — one they documented on video — for six months, then things fell apart. Shortly thereafter, the sex tape was leaked online, leading to a lawsuit in which Farrell accused Narain of complicity in its being made public. But Farrell’s charm is strong: Narain told People magazine that if he apologized, “maybe we’d make another tape. A longer version.”

Dame Eileen Atkins

In 2005, Farrell was filming the drama “Ask the Dust” with co-star Dame Eileen Atkins, then nearly 70. In an interview with British talk-show host Jonathan Ross, Atkins told how Farrell had appeared at her hotel room after the two had a friendly drink. “I said, ‘Look, I want to read my book,’ ” she told Ross, “and he said, ‘I’ll read it to you.’ ” That wasn’t all he did: Every so often, she said, “he’d lift up the covers and try to get into the bed . . . I enjoyed getting him out of the room for about an hour.” But there were no hard feelings about being turned down, apparently: “He came to see me on Broadway. He really is a smashing chap.”

Farrell met the American model in 2002; their son, James, was born in 2003 (Farrell reportedly said the pregnancy was the result of a one-night stand). Farrell has opened up about James’ condition, Angelman syndrome, telling InStyle in 2012 that “it was at the Special Olympics in Shanghai in 2007 that I decided, after consulting with James’ mother, that I wanted to talk publicly about the pride and joy I had in our son.”

Alicja Bachleda-Curuś

In 2009, the Polish actress and singer starred with Farrell in Neil Jordan’s romance “Ondine,” and the two got close while filming the movie in Ireland. They were an official item for a year, during which Bachleda-Curus moved into Farrell’s LA mansion. She gave birth to the actor’s second son, Henry, in October 2009 — but they split shortly thereafter.