Colin Farrell, the Irish actor known for his past as a “hellraiser”, recently opened up about his struggles with addiction on the set of the film Miami Vice.

The 37-year-old Castleknock native revealed that he was on the brink of going on a fatal heroin binge before getting clean.

In an interview with Ryan Tubridy on the Late Late Show, Farrell spoke about how he had been off drugs for seven or eight years, but that he couldn’t remember a single frame of filming Miami Vice.

He stated, “I was at the premiere and didn’t know what was happening next. But it was strange because I was in it. The movie was Miami Vice. The second it was finished I was put on a plane and sent to rehab as everyone else was going to the wrap party.”

Farrell also talked about his harrowing relationship with drugs and how it nearly made him lock himself away and take a fatal amount of heroin.

He said, “For years I could indulge in certain things. I had high tolerance for various drugs for years. I used to go bananas for five months then take the foot off the gas for two months and clean up a bit. I was sad. I was drinking loads.”

He went on to describe how his drinking habits were different from those of his friends. He said, “When I ever drink with my mates, we’d go to a pub on Wednesday night and have six pints, everyone would go home.”

“I’d get a bag of powder, four joints and a bottle of Jack Daniel’s and drank until five in the morning.”

Farrell also talked about how his family had tried to intervene and get him into rehab.

He said, “It was already in me. My family were trying to get me into rehab. And I’d get angry with them and say, ‘Go get the men in the white coats and see if I don’t stab ’em to death’.”

He added, “I remember thinking one day that I’ll go to New York, buy €2,000 worth of smack and rent a bedsit, put black sacks on the window and shoot up until I die. The other choice was to change. I was clear about it. I chose the right one.”

During this dark period, Farrell experienced many highs and lows with the leaking of a sex tape online being one of his lowest points.

He revealed for the first time how porn bosses offered him $5 million to distribute the X-rated 14-minute video worldwide.

In 2003, he privately recorded the raunchy session with Playboy model Nicole Narain. When the tape was leaked three years later, he sued her over the unauthorised public distribution.

Even though the actor confirmed its existence and obtained a court order blocking its distribution in January 2006, copies of the tape appeared online.

But Farrell said he couldn’t bring himself to sell it.

He explained, “I was offered that amount of money to do it. It was ridiculous. I said absolutely not because it was going to be on hotel rooms on demand and stuff.

“Then I was thinking of my mam going into a hotel room and saying, ‘Ooh, there’s a film with Colin I haven’t seen’. I couldn’t have that.”