In recent years, Edward Berger has emerged as a major cinematic player. The Swiss-Austrian filmmaker hit huge at the Oscars with his 2022 adaptation
In recent years, Edward Berger has emerged as a major cinematic player. The Swiss-Austrian filmmaker hit huge at the Oscars with his 2022 adaptation of All Quiet On The Western Front, and last year made waves with his Papal thriller Conclave, a film that found renewed relevance earlier in 2025 in the wake of the real-life conclave that unfolded in the Vatican. Now, he’s already back with another thriller, Ballad Of A Small Player, one that seemingly takes him into a recent milieu – the gaudy casinos of Macau – but that shares a thematic resonance with his last film.
“The casino is like our new church,” laughs Berger, speaking to Empire in the Avatar: Fire And Ash issue. “It’s the epitome of capitalism. But it’s an ‘opposite’ church — a spiritually empty place that leaves you devoid of hope. Perhaps that’s what drew me to this story — I was flocking from one church to another.” Into that world comes Colin Farrell’s ‘Lord’ Doyle, putting on a facade of royalty as he throws his embezzled money into Macau’s casinos. The film is “an explosion of the senses, like Macau itself,” says Berger, “but it goes to a dark place of the soul, too. It’s an addiction tale”.
To anchor such a story, you need a figure like Farrell. “Colin has this incredible warmth and likeability,” says Berger. “Doyle does heinous things, but we still need to like him. Colin can take the audience by the hand and make us like [a character], even in awful moments.” Get ready for the Conclave director to take you on a much more sinful journey.
Read Empire’s full Ballad Of A Small Player story in the Avatar: Fire And Ash issue, on sale Thursday 31 July. Pre-order a copy online here. Ballad Of A Small Player is in cinemas on 17 October, and comes to Netflix on 29 October.
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