Colin Farrell lends his voice to animated character in 'Epic'

NEW YORK, May 24 (UPI) -- Irish actor Colin Farrell, who is best known for his roles in R-rated action movies and comedies, confessed it was nice to make a movie like the animated "Epic," which he could share with his two young sons.

Directed by "Ice Age" and "Robots" filmmaker Chris Wedge and featuring the voice talents of Chris O'Dowd, Amanda Seyfried, Aziz Ansari, Beyonce and Josh Hutcherson, the Blue Sky Studios movie is about a teenage girl transported to a magical world where a battle is being fought between creatures sworn to protect the natural world and evil forces trying to destroy it. Farrell plays Ronin, the leader of the community-minded, heroic eco-warriors known as Leafmen.

"It's lovely to be able to do something the kids can go see, for sure," the single father of 10-year-old James and 3-year-old Henry told United Press International at a press conference in New York last weekend.

"I have two sons. It would be nice if they liked ['Epic.'] They don't have to, of course. If they don't like it the first time, I'll tell them it gets better on the second viewing. They do like 'Ice Age,' but it would be typical the first film I did, I say, 'Look what I did!' And it's shite and they say, 'Can we watch 'Ice Age,' please?'" quipped Farrell, whose films include "In Bruges," "Fright Night," "Horrible Bosses," "Seven Psychopaths" and "Total Recall."

"I hate kids, so doing something they're going to see was very pleasant," O'Dowd joked at the press conference.

"But just to keep up the tradition, I will be at every screening, cursing in the background," added the actor who is famous for his scene-stealing roles in the raunchy comedies "Bridesmaids" and "This is 40."

So, now that he has had a taste of working in family-friendly fare, does it mean Farrell intends to scale back on the edgier projects?

"It's all going to be animated from here on," he told the gathered journalists.

"I got bored carrying guns, I think," Farrell went on to say of his decision to try something new. "I've carried a lot of guns, shot a lot of guns. I don't even like them. I hate the things. I think I just want to do different things."

"Epic" is in theaters now.