Colin Farrell is a guy in bad need of a good dramatic role. Ever since the disastrous Alexander and the little-seen The New World, Farrell's been starring in decent movies that no one has really seen-- In Bruges-- or a continuing string of disasters-- Miami Vice, Cassandra's Dream, Ask the Dust. He showed such promise in Minority Report and directors clearly still love him, but dude needs a break.

His next project, though, sounds like it might be just the break he needs. Variety reports that he's set to star with Paz Vega (Spanglish, Talk to Her in Triage, from the Bosnian director Danis Tanovic. Tanovic, who has made his films mostly in languages other than English, won the foreign language film Oscar in 2001 for No Man's Land. The new film apparently follows a photojournalist who loses his best friend and colleague on a dangerous assignment. Christopher Lee (Saruman from Lord of the Rings also stars.

It's hard to judge a movie like this at this point-- it could be some flashy international production, or it could be the kind of small movie that stars a handful of American stars but mostly has appeal in Europe. With this and In Bruges, though, it at least seems like Farrell is making a solid effort at keeping up a career as a serious actor, when he so easily could have gone on to being an action star and kept his name in the papers. Even if this isn't a super-hit, it's still an A for effort.