Macao-shot film The Ballad of a Small Player, starring Golden Globe-winning Irish actor Colin Farrell, Hong Kong-American actress Fala Chen and Oscar winning actress Tilda Swinton, will release on Netflix on 29 October. Director Edward Berger, who won an Oscar for his 2022 film All Quiet on the Western Front, announced the date on his Instagram account.
The movie will also open in US theatres on 15 October and in the UK and Ireland on 17 October. No dates have been announced as of yet for the film’s premiere in Macao or Hong Kong.
The psychological thriller is based on an eponymous book by British novelist Lawrence Osborne and tells the story of a self-proclaimed “Lord” Doyle, played by Colin Farrell, who is an ex-lawyer and gambling addict from England currently hiding out in Macao after swindling a large amount of money from his clients.
[See more: ‘The Ballad of a Small Player’: Oscar winner Edward Berger talks exclusively to Macao News]
In Macao he meets Dao-Ming, a Chinese call girl played by Fala Chan who forms a meaningful connection with him.
The Ballad of a Small Player was shot at the Londoner and other prominent hotels in Macao last summer, with a local casting call sent out to recruit extras to play dealers, croupiers, hotel guests, gamblers and bellmen. Many well-known locations in Macao are mentioned in the novel, such as Avenida de Almeida Ribeiro (San Ma Lo), Rua da Felicidade, Clube Militar, Fernando’s, Hac Sa Beach and the A-Ma Temple.
In an exclusive interview with Macao News last year, Berger described Macao as “mysterious”, “colourful” and smelling “of adventure.” He said he hoped to capture that feeling and share that with a global audience through The Ballad of a Small Player.
