NEIL JORDAN may struggle to raise funding for his next film after Colin Farrell, who was set to star in it, was admitted to rehab last week for addiction to painkillers.

The Oscar-winning director revealed this weekend that the financial backing for Borgia, the epic drama he plans to shoot next year, has yet to be fully secured and could be affected by doubts about the leading man.

“They’re still talking about finance for the Borgia movie,” Jordan confirmed. “It probably won’t help with Colin going into rehab, but I’ll look into it after Christmas.”

Farrell is due to begin filming his role as Cesare Borgia opposite Hollywood starlet Scarlett Johansson, as his sister Lucrezia, in Romania in April.

The story of the corrupt Renaissance Italian family has been a passion of Jordan’s for years. Two previous attempts have fallen through when funding collapsed. Filming was scheduled to start in Germany in 2002 with Ewan McGregor and Christina Ricci in the lead roles, but had to be abandoned when the financing fell through.

The film is about the power struggle that ensues when Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia ascends the papal throne in the Vatican. The plot is described as “filled with betrayal, back-stabbing and murder within a family that aspired to be the most powerful clan in the Renaissance”.

Any delay in the scheduled start to filming could have considerable knock-on effects. Johansson, one of the hottest properties in Hollywood, has a series of projects lined up in quick succession after Borgia. She is due to play an avenging warrior from 200BC in Amazon; an English girl in Napoleon and Betsy; and she will star in The Nanny Diaries.

Borgia’s producers are unlikely to want to lose such a hot box-office draw from their project.

Before Borgia, Farrell is due to star in Pride and Glory, a drama about three generations of police officers who are torn apart by a corruption scandal. Featuring Edward Norton, Nick Nolte and Samantha Morton, the film is due to begin shooting in New York in February.

Little is known of the severity of Farrell’s condition or how long he is likely to be in rehab. He is said to have become addicted to painkillers he was taking for an injured back.

This weekend the Dubliner missed the Los Angeles premiere of his film The New World and the round of press interviews every star must undertake to publicise a movie. Farrell plays Captain John Smith in the adventure that was directed by Terence Malick and is tipped for Oscar nominations.

The 29-year-old was not at the funeral of his grandmother, Lil Monaghan, in Dublin two weeks ago and had the service recorded on video.

Farrell recently admitted he wanted to take a break from the strain of Hollywood after back-to-back film roles over the past few years.

The Castleknock actor has admitted taking drugs in the past. “I ended up on a shrink’s couch and he told me to write down how much I did in a week,” he said. “Twenty Es, four grams of coke, six of speed, half an ounce of hash, three bottles of Jack Daniels, 12 bottles of red wine, 60 pints and 280 cigarettes.”

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