#farrelleto20

[2o3dinge]

The difference between McConaughey and Farrell. Colin’s gaze. It’s astounding.

[2o3dinge]

Unexpected sequels are the best

Thailand fling pt. 3

Who had on their bingo card that Jared Leto would spend the last days of 2024 in Thailand. Not only in Thailand, but in Krabi. Not only Krabi but at Railay Beach, at the Rayavadee resort, the place Colin Farrell stayed at right after the shooting of Alexander had ended in 2004? Of all places he wound up there... again. Not on my card, at least.

Captioned with: Hello Thailand long time no see ❤️ 2004, 2014 and now 2024. Some things change, others never do

Remember, we had this stunning trip down memory lane in 2014, showing him watching a sunset at Railay Beach:

Captioned with: #Thinking about you

Below are impressions from his much more publicized vacay that stretched over Christmas and his 53rd birthday. Just New Year's Eve he apparently jetted off to Tokyo.

Jared shared his Thailand activities (diving, climbing, sunset watching) and grown wealth extensively on Instagram and Snapchat. He chose two songs of his own (of course) as soundtrack. Life is Beautiful on Instagram, and Great Wide Open (which has all the known symptoms of a Farrelleto song) on Snapchat.

[I'm a thief; You're a liar] But we live in our wildest dreams, Into the great wide open, Across a land of blood and dreams

he croons under the Snapchat video…

… and then treats us to a sunset view across an exclusive beautiful beach, which is at a different resort in Phuket now. 

This land “of blood and dreams” where an “I” and a “you” lived their “wildest dreams”—it really looks like Mr. Leto gave us a personal 20th anniversary of Alexander after all. Why, thank you for that! There was nothing all year—no reminiscence, no word from Colin, not even from Oliver Stone. Until these posts.

You can't look at them and not make a connection to Alexander; even without an explicit mention of the movie, it's all over the messaging. The choice of location, Jared giving his sternest Hephaistion gaze like it's 2004, or 2014, for that matter, the philosophical reflection…

And with that comes the one who shall not be named.

Funny enough, I realized something when I was making this post. Jared has edited the caption. Some time after December 21, the phrase “Some things change, others never do” was extended with an 🥸 emoji.

Come on! 😅 What is that supposed to mean? Why would someone take time to do that? 

I'm spitballing here and assume, yes, this was deliberate. The caption expresses a specific sentiment in abstract terms about passing time and “things” that aren't affected by it. The curious addition of 🥸 was made to hint at what it is that he thinks is “never” changing. It's a trivial observation that some things change and others don't, insofar as his vacation destination is concerned or anything else on this planet, but the “never” does some heavy lifting here. Maybe it's kept opaque because he wants to communicate something different altogether. It pertains to the timeframe of “2004, 2014, and now 2024”. Something hasn't changed since his first time in Thailand, and he's certain it “never” changes. “Things” can mean a lot. 

And I listen, and I think everyone with a certain sensibility here will get it too. To quote an sometimes 🥸-looking-actor circa 2004 concerning the relationship between Alexander and Hephaistion in the movie:

You'll probably get the fucking vibe unless you're blind and deaf.

I don't think we are, are we, blind and deaf? The vibe is vibing.

He said Never Not Love You ...

[2o3dinge]

A Modern Myth revisited

Thirty Seconds to Mars is currently on their Seasons tour and Jared Leto has been playing “song roulette” several times during the acoustic part of the show. True to the interactive spirit of all Mars shows, he asks fans for suggestions of old songs he used to play. His memory often proves a bit rusty, though, so it’s mostly been just the choruses and some vocalises - ah-ah-ahs, oh-oh-ohs.

But refreshingly, Jared Leto can still play the twenty-year-old song “A Modern Myth” from beginning to end by heart...

“A Modern Myth” was the first song ever played live off their second album A Beautiful Lie (2005). That was long before finishing and releasing the album. In fact, it was February 2004, about a week after he had wrapped shooting Alexander (2004).

There’s a review of a gig from February 21, 2004, at the Roxy in West Hollywood with quite favorable first impressions of the song and performance. It's an interesting glimpse into the band’s biography as well - Tomo Miličević was still a newbie; Shannon Leto was energized; Matt Wachter's input elevated their sound; the guys were close with Incubus, especially Mike Einziger who contributed here on a “Where the Streets Have No Name” cover.

But “A Modern Myth”, or just “Myth” then, had a special place in the set list. It was performed by a nervous Jared and a string quartet. Clearly a labour of love.

The concept of the duality of myth and reality as a song theme was completely contingent … wait, no, kidding! It was the central theme of Alexander!

Ptolemy: Alexander once said to me that we are most alone when we are with the myths.

And thus it was Colin Farrell’s number one theme, for a certain period of time.

It begs the question: was Colin Farrell at the TSTM gig in February 2004, at the Roxy in L.A.?

Probable, he was. He was also at the show of his 2003 fling Britney Spears on March 8. Hobbling on crutches, necklace with medallion, that contained Leto’s/Hephaistion’s lock of hair dangling around his neck (which it would for several weeks more), listening to AMM - I can easily picture it. Not even made up. Pendants were worn by both actors throughout the film shooting and beyond by Colin, while on crutches. Even when most of his other clothes would mysteriously fall off or were never put on, this thing stayed put. Dedication.

So here’s some slightly out-of-character New York Post gossip story saying Colin on crutches was outside the Roxy “the other night” and in a defensive mood ...

Which other night? Here’s the schedule of bands playing the Roxy between Colin’s return from Thailand - shooting wrapped 13/02/04 after which he spent some days in Krabi at a resort - and the date given here (12/3/2004). I think it boils down to two dates - if at all: Courtney Love or TSTM.

Wouldn’t he choose his actor buddy’s concert? After all this was the guy who had been portraying his loyal friend and lover, who had been closely working with him on a daily basis from August the year before until not even a fortnight before the concert date, who had planned something very special and novel for his stage return after a long band hiatus due to the film shooting, including a cover of U2, Colin’s favourite band, almost like a surprise, whose strand of hair Colin was still carrying around his neck.

However, eventually Colin took the necklace off and jetted off to Cape Town to shoot "Ask the Dust". The necklace was deposited at his home in Dublin. "A Modern Myth" was often played, in different emotional iterations. It remains linked to Alexander and Colin Farrell.

[2o3dinge]

Emma Forrest, when promoting her wonderful memoir that featured her heartbreaking ex-boyfriend Colin Farrell, once said in an interview that “Diamonds And Rust” by Joan Baez was one of his favorite songs.

That song is famously about Bob Dylan calling from nowhere and pulling Joan back into her painful and sentimental memories of him — like his eyes being “bluer than robin’s eggs”.

A description that Colin Farrell would undoubtedly prescribe to Jared Leto’s eyes, too, for he had to take a good look into them for months and months while shooting Alexander in 2003/2004. One can only guess the impact they had on a sensitive soul like Colin.

That song has the right sentimental vibe to embed a twenty-year-old story of companionship between two men, that had people guessing — and has to this day — how deep their love for each other really was, or still is.

[2o3dinge]

Colin Farrell and Jared Leto using the same metaphors.

[2o3dinge]

This ship. Second to none.

RY X - Lençóis (Love Me) [Notre Dame Remix]

[2o3dinge]

A shared love for sharing sunsets 🌅 Coincidence?

[2o3dinge]

RY X - Lençois (Love Me) [Cassian Remix]