Netflix has dropped the first trailer for Edward Berger’s Ballad of a Small Player, and Colin Farrell looks like a man circling the drain one hand of baccarat at a time. The psychological thriller, adapted from Lawrence Osborne’s novel, casts Farrell as Lord Doyle, a gambling addict whose nights blur into the neon haze of Macau’s casinos.
As Doyle scrambles to stay afloat, he encounters Dao Ming (Fala Chen), a casino worker who might just be his unlikely lifeline. But salvation won’t come easy—Tilda Swinton steps in as Cynthia Blithe, a private investigator determined to dig up Doyle’s past and drag it into the light. The whole thing has the sweaty, high-stakes paranoia of a man who knows every spin of the roulette wheel could be his last.
The film marks Berger’s follow-up to Conclave and reteams him with his Oscar-winning collaborators, including cinematographer James Friend, production designer Jonathan Houlding, costume designer Lisy Christl, editor Nick Emerson, and composer Volker Bertelmann. Rowan Joffe (28 Weeks Later) penned the screenplay.
Berger’s been on a hot streak since his German-language adaptation of All Quiet on the Western Front racked up four Oscars and seven BAFTAs, and Farrell is also riding high after an Emmy nomination for his turn as Oz Cobb in Max’s The Penguin. Throw Tilda Swinton into the mix and you’ve got a recipe for one of Netflix’s most intriguing prestige thrillers of the year.
Ballad of a Small Player will roll the dice this fall: it opens in U.S. theaters on October 15, expands to U.K. and Ireland cinemas on October 17, and hits Netflix globally on October 29. Before that, it will make the festival rounds, including TIFF and the Zurich Film Festival, where Farrell will be honored with the Golden Icon Award.
Netflix, Colin Farrell, Edward Berger, Ballad of a Small Player, Tilda Swinton, TIFF 2025, psychological thriller
