Most of us thought it was very random and strange that Colin Farrell would be reading a poem at Elizabeth Taylor’s funeral. But the two had been friends for the last year and a half of the Hollywood icons life.

Colin told Access Hollywood how he and the Dame met – and grew close in the latter part of her life.

“How did we become friends? You know, the old story of boy meets girl, and boy pesters girl with too many phone calls at inappropriate hours of the night,” Colin told Access Hollywood at CinemaCon 2011 in Las Vegas on Tuesday, recalling his memories of meeting the two-time Oscar winner, who died last week at the age of 79 of congestive heart failure.

“I was just lucky enough to become her friend in the last year and a half,” he said. “I adore her… still.”

As previously reported on AccessHollywood.com, Colin recited Gerard Manley Hopkins’ poem, “The Leaden Echo and the Golden Echo” at her funeral and he revealed it was the actress herself who picked out the material.

“Elizabeth chose it. It was a tricky poem as well,” Colin laughed. “Even in passing she had me under the thumb, sweating bricks. She asked someone else to ask me [to read it],” Colin explained, adding he felt, “sad and honored” when he got the call. “I just miss her; I just miss her; I just miss her,” he added.

Elizabeth first revealed the pair’s friendship earlier this year in an interview for the March issue of Harper’s Bazaar magazine, conducted by Kim Kardashian. At the time Dame Elizabeth told the young celebutante, “I love Johnny Depp, and I love Colin Farrell – both brilliant, nuanced actors with great range.”

Former Irish bad boy Colin Farrell says getting sober saved his dying career. I can remember seeing him on a late night night talk show drunk as a skunk and looking like he hadn’t bathed in two days…that was the last time I can recall thinking he was hot.

But that Colin Farrell is gone. The former party animal turned devoted dad reveals that he gave up drinking so that he could focus on his acting career.

“I just wanted to stop. I was done with it, I was tired of it, I wanted to get off the treadmill,” Colin tells Total Film magazine. “Giving up alcohol has put more focus on my career. I’m a lot more appreciative over what I have,” he admits.

Former Hollywood bad boy Colin Farrell used to be out hound-dogging every hot actress/model he could get his hands on..but these days he’s more into the chill life and just being a daddy to his special needs five year old son with model Kim Bordenave.

The fact that he may have knocked up yet another unknown model/actress is just about the only crazy thing we’ve heard of CF doing in ages.

Recently Colin’s girlfriend, Polish actress Alicja Bachleda, has been seen wearing flowy tops and dress and on Sunday night she was photographed at LAX wearing a loose-fitting black dress that was very obviously covering a baby bump.

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I’m starting to crush on Colin Farrell again. I loved him back in the Minority Report/Phone Booth/SWAT days but then he started chasing every skirt in town and looking like he never took a bath. So that ended.

But then he got sober, cut his greasy hair, started being a good dad and I started to think he might be eligible for my Top Five list again someday..and today is that day. How sweet is this story?

Former bad boy Colin is preparing to walk his gay brother down the aisle when he gets married abroad later this year.

The actor will be best man when Eamon Farrell ties the knot with his partner Steven in a European ceremony. And Eamon has blasted the British government for forcing him to travel abroad to marry. Gay couples can make their relationships legal in the U.K. with same sex civil unions, but still cannot marry in the same way as a man and woman.

Eamon says, “We have to get married abroad. It’s absolutely terrible. We have to go somewhere legal, which narrows it down to about five countries. I want to be able to get married. The Government’s paper on civil unions is only for gay people. If you’re straight, you can’t have one. So that’s not fair either. If you want a civil union you should be able to do it, if I want to get married I should be able to do it.”

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It’s unusual for a celebrity to hit rock bottom, go to rehab, make a full recovery and come out ok on the other side without us reading about it every step of the way. But somehow Colin Farrell managed to keep his mental and spiritual collapse after filming Miami Vice his personal business. Until now. Last week he opened up on a BBC talk show about being “fairly drunk and high for 16 years.”

“So much of the work that I did I was struggling so hard to keep my shit together. A lot of my energy was going into trying not to have a complete meltdown. By the end of Miami Vice I was just done. I had created an environment for myself, a way of living for myself which, on the outside, seemed incredibly gregarious and vivacious. I don’t believe I have any chemical predisposition towards depression, but let’s just say I was suffering from a spiritual malady for years and I indulged it.”

Discussion about his addiction begins around 3:30 …

This indulgent time also included the filming of Colin’s now infamous sex tape with then girlfriend Nicole Narain. “An expensive 14 minutes, that one… It seemed like a good idea at the time.The man in charge said I hope you’ve learned your lesson Mr Farrell and I said ‘absolutely, next time I’ll take the tape with me’. I think I was high.”

And here Colin dishes on the sex tape…