A little too much of Colin Farrell

“A Home at the End of the World” boasts a terrific pedigree -- and a bit of fodder for gossip and speculation. It’s based on the novel by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Michael Cunningham, who penned this adaptation. The last film culled from a Cunningham novel was 2002’s multi-Oscar nominee “The Hours,” for which Nicole Kidman received the Academy Award.

The drama, which opens Friday, revolves around two childhood friends, Bobby and Jonathan, who reunite as adults in New York, where they create with a free-spirited woman a kind of romantically triangular family unit.

The film also marks the feature film debut of theatrical director Michael Mayer, who has become one of Broadway’s brightest lights in the last six years and is a three-time Tony nominee for “A View From the Bridge,” “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown” and “Thoroughly Modern Millie.”

The cast includes Oscar-winner Sissy Spacek, Robin Wright Penn, Dallas Roberts as Jonathan and Irish bad boy Colin Farrell as Bobby.

The R-rated film, however, received a bit of unexpected attention recently. During test screenings, audiences allegedly became distracted at the sight of full frontal Farrell. Although he had a nude scene in Joel Schumacher’s “Tigerland,” this film marked the first time the 28-year-old actor, who counts Britney Spears among his many conquests, appeared in the full Monty.

Because the test audience was paying more attention to Farrell au naturel instead of what was going on in the scene, the sequence was, um, clipped. Initial press reports indicated Farrell was angry that his nude scene was left on the cutting room floor and demanded it be included on the DVD. But Farrell, interviewed in the July 23 issue of Entertainment Weekly, said the scene wasn’t anything to “write home about.” Be that as it may, considering that DVDs of controversial films generally offer deleted scenes, there is a good chance the shot with Farrell in the altogether will be included.