Everything We Know About Netflix’s ‘The Ballad of a Small Player’ Starring Colin Farrell and Tilda Swinton

After the monumental success of All Quiet on the Western Front, director Edward Berger struck a new first-look deal with Netflix. Under this new deal, his first major project with the streamer will be The Ballad of a Small Player thriller starring Colin Farrell and Tilda Swinton, scheduled for release in 2025. Here’s the latest on the movie and everything we know so far. 

Edward Berger will direct the movie, while Rowan Joffe, whose writing credits include Tin Star, The American, The Informer, and more, will write the script. Mike Goodridge is producing through his Good Chaos banner, along with Berger for his Nine Hours banner and Matthew James Wilkinson for Stigma Films.

Berger has several other projects on Netflix following his huge success with All Quiet on the Western Front. He’s attached to The 39 Steps as an executive producer and director and is also publicly announced to be part of an adaptation of Christopher Reiche’s The Take. He was attached to a project called The Atomic Bazaar, but development on that has ceased. Last year, we also heard he was attached to a movie project called Last Adventure, about someone sailing worldwide and going after a missing ship full of equipment from the Iraq War.

Production of this film took place between June and August 2024, and the filming took place authentically in Macau and Hong Kong. 

What’s the plot of The Ballad of a Small Player?

Netflix’s The Ballad of a Small Player is based on Lawrence Osborne’s 2014 novel. Here’s the official Netflix logline for the movie:

“The story follows a high-stakes gambler who decides to lay low in Macau after his past and debts catch up with him. Along the way he encounters a kindred spirit who might just hold the key to his salvation.”

Here’s a more lengthy plot synopsis of Osborne’s novel as seen on Amazon:

As night falls on Macau and the neon signs that line the rain-slick streets come alive, Doyle – “Lord Doyle” to his fellow players – descends into his casino of choice to try his luck at the baccarat tables that are the anchor of his current existence. A corrupt English lawyer who has escaped prosecution by fleeing to the East, Doyle spends his nights drinking and gambling and his days sleeping off his excesses, continually haunted by his past. Taking refuge in a series of louche and dimly lit hotels, he watches his fortune rise and fall as the cards decide his fate.

In a moment of crisis he meets Dao-Ming, an enigmatic Chinese woman who appears to be a denizen of the casinos just like himself, and seems to offer him salvation in the form of both money and love. But as Doyle attempts to make a rare and true connection, all that he accepts as reality seems to be slipping from his grasp.

We got our very first look at the new movie in November 2024 when Vanity Fair previewed various 2025 movies coming up:

Picture: Netflix / Vanity Fair

Who is cast in The Ballad of a Small Player?

Colin Farrell has been cast as Doyle in Netflix’s The Ballad of a Small Player. His most recent credits include Banshees of Inisherin, The Batman, The Gentlemen, and more. He is coming hot off his return as the Batman villain Penguin in Max’s The Penguin.

Joining Farrell will be Tilda Swinton, whose role hasn’t been confirmed. Swinton’s recent credits include The Killer, Throusand Years of Longing, Asteroid City and more.

On May 13th, 2024 – scooper Jeff Sneider revealed that Fala Chen (Shang-chi, Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire) had landed the third lead role. Netflix later confirmed the news. Jason Tobin is also attached to the movie as a star, as is Mr Huang. He’s best known for roles in the HBO series Warrior and Fast and Furious 9.

Are you looking forward to The Ballad of a Small Player coming to Netflix? Let us know in the comments.