We met at a wedding: ‘I can't think of a better way to find your person'
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Irish Times
2 days ago
- Irish Times
Brendan Gleeson: ‘I can't go into a pub any more. I really miss it'
'It was an odd experience,' Brendan Gleeson says with a smile. Seated in a rehearsal space in a leafy part of Dublin, the Irish actor is reflecting on the episode he hosted in 2022 of Saturday Night Live, the US television sketch show that likes to have stars deliver questionable comedy skits to a studio audience. 'I didn't have experience of it, and I first said, 'No, absolutely not.' Then Colin Farrell said, 'You should do it,' and I know him well enough to trust him – that he's not a surfacy person, that there was something that was worth doing,' Gleeson says. 'The whole process was fascinating. They don't really want an act, and yet you're not yourself. They only make up jokes that week. You get things that half-work. It's very gruelling. And you don't know who the audience are. I didn't really want to watch it back.' It's a measure of Gleeson's popularity that, although his hosting of the show with Farrell attracted a few nitpicky reviews, for many it felt akin to watching a beloved groom give a wedding speech after a long engagement. We were on his side, willing to live through the cringy bits in the service of seeing the show acknowledge a simple truth: Gleeson is a star. READ MORE With roles in The Guard, Paddington 2, The Tragedy of Macbeth, In Bruges, Joker: Folie à Deux, Calvary and The Banshees of Inisherin , Gleeson is one of Ireland's most prominent and charismatic actors. At 70, the Malahide resident – father of his fellow performers Domhnall and Brian Gleeson – is in the remarkable position of being busier than ever. Or, as he puts it, 'I haven't time to wash my face.' We're meeting today because Gleeson is returning to the stage after a decade's absence, specifically to the 3Olympia Theatre in Dublin, followed by the Harold Pinter Theatre in London, where he will make his West End debut as Jack in The Weir, which is being directed by its writer, Conor McPherson . A tale of friends meeting for a drink in Co Leitrim when a stranger among them reveals an emotionally engulfing personal story, the play features little surface action yet delivers a remarkable punch. The Weir: Brendan Gleeson with fellow cast members Seán McGinley, Owen McDonnell, Tom Vaughan-Lawlor and Kate Phillips. Photograph: Rich Gilligan As I slip into the rehearsal space at Wesley House in Ranelagh, Gleeson and the rest of the cast are into their second week of line reads and stage preparations. They're not sweating it yet. Or not quite yet. Playing the part of the oleaginous estate agent Finbar, Tom Vaughan-Lawlor has thrown away his playbook to summon up the words from memory. So has Seán McGinley , in the role of bachelor Jim. Both have monologues to give. There are rueful chuckles as occasionally a prompt is needed or a line flubbed. Gleeson is sitting between them, on a bar stool, his white shirt and suit jacket on, hair slicked back, a spider web of lines tracing his forehead, inhabiting his role with earthy precision. Across the room, McPherson, inscrutable in a cap and glasses, is a quiet, watchful presence for all the actors, who also include Kate Phillips and Owen McDonnell. 'I'm trying to allow them to be as close to themselves as they can be,' McPherson says later. 'Brendan has a huge presence. He's very powerful, very funny, but he can give you lots of depth. It's a pleasure. It's like if you get into a very expensive car: you don't have to do very much; it's just, 'We're going.'' 'I'm bad for the planet?' the actor huffs amicably when I quote the expensive-car line back to him. But he's smiling. 'Ah, that's nice.' He enjoys collaborating with directors and has a healthy respect in particular for the Irish theatre-makers he has worked with over the years. 'In America, in a lot of TV, tailoring the dialogue is almost taken for granted. A lot of actors would take control of what they're doing themselves. But with somebody like Conor McPherson or Martin McDonagh , the rhythm of the language is so important; everything is so precise. You'd be an idiot to try and mess with it.' Gleeson loves The Weir, which was written nearly three decades ago, and is set entirely in the bar where the group meet, for how it portrays us as Irish people. The stories that are told are pithy and revealing, a simulacrum of life in Ireland in the 1990s. 'Lads would come down to the pub, and the level of conversation that used to go on in those places: underestimate these people at your peril,' Gleeson says. 'There was an incredible beauty in the way people informed themselves. In England you'd go into a pub and you didn't strike up a conversation the way you would over there. In Ireland there was too much drinking; it was no harm for that to shift. But the pub was a centre whereby people touched base. It was like the postman coming, the small community, the ties that bind.' There may be a certain irony for Gleeson in that the play is all about the quiet pint, something the actor no longer feels able to enjoy. He sighs when the subject comes up. 'I can't go into a place any more in terms of pubs, because it turns into selfie country. I really miss [it], particularly going into music sessions. You mightn't believe me, but people will do amazingly dumb things about interrupting you. I draw the line at funerals.' I wonder if it's his roles in global film franchises – in the Harry Potter series he plays Mad-Eye Moody; in the world of Paddington he appears as the winningly abrasive chef Knuckles McGinty – that have made the difference in the past decade. Not so, Gleeson says. It's the mobile phones and the likelihood of people texting their friends to let them know if Gleeson might be sitting in on a session. 'The mobile phones mean you can do nothing. I'm not an elite musician. I was always running after the bus that way. But before you'd hear of a few quiet tunes somewhere, and you could go and you'd get a couple of hours spare [playing]. Now somebody has texted, and it's rammed within half an hour.' Does he feel isolated? 'I would, certainly. It does make the world smaller. Being able to drop into a place and just do the crossword and talk to somebody, you can't do it any more.' A memory surfaces: the opening night of Enda Walsh 's Ballyturk at Galway International Arts Festival in 2015. Following the play, which starred Cillian Murphy, the Gleeson family went with other theatregoers to an after-show gathering at a nearby hotel, where they clustered fireside in the lobby. You could feel the implicit plea from them in the ether: to be allowed to enjoy a night out without being bothered. I did leave them alone, but I will admit it was hard work pretending to ignore them. Gleeson nods when I mention seeing them. 'It's only the last couple of years I've realised it's uncomfortable for everyone. It alters the equilibrium. So you just say, 'Okay, I've got this far. I'm 70 now, so I should really not be going into those places anyway.'' Gleeson has the complicating virtue of having come to acting relatively late. Formerly a teacher at Belcamp College in Balgriffin, in north Dublin, Gleeson was 34 when he was cast as Michael Collins in the RTÉ drama The Civil War. His ascent was far from assured in the early days: casting agents wanted him for character roles, but whether playing the Dublin criminal Martin Cahill in John Boorman's The General, Mel Gibson's sidekick in Braveheart or the lead in McDonagh's Oscar-winning Six Shooter, Gleeson had an ease in front of the camera that meant directors wanted to work with him. Ask the average Irish person about a Gleeson film and they might mention Hollywood big-budget affairs such as Joker: Folie à Deux or the Sundance TV series State of the Union , for which Gleeson received an Emmy nomination. But they're just as likely to wax lyrical about home-grown films such as The Guard, directed by John Michael McDonagh, or The Banshees of Inisherin, directed by Martin McDonagh, in which Gleeson riffed beautifully off Farrell as his forlorn former friend. The Banshees of Inisherin: Brendan Gleeson with Colin Farrell in Martin McDonagh's film. Photograph: Jonathan Hession/Searchlight Then there are the children's films, such as the glorious Paddington 2 , that Gleeson cherishes making. 'I grew to like movies as against films,' Gleeson says. 'Especially kids' films. Why would you underestimate children? Their little worlds, their beliefs, when you see kids watching something, their big eyes out on saucers, they're living this. It's important, so you do it properly if you can.' [ Brendan Gleeson the American is not nearly as agreeable Brendan Gleeson the Irishman Opens in new window ] When The Weir transfers to London, Gleeson will spend time with the junior members of the Gleeson tribe. 'It'll be exciting in terms of the lads are over there,' he says. 'I'll get to see my grandkids.' He doesn't talk much about his wife or four children, but it's obvious they're a tight-knit crew. That last stage performance 10 years ago was with his sons Brian and Domhnall in The Walworth Farce , another of Enda Walsh's plays. 'I find myself asking more and more questions of them and to give me an insight into things I'm blind to or things I don't quite understand,' he says about their acting skills. He sounds proud of them. 'I am.' The Walworth Farce: Brendan Gleeson with his sons Domhnall and Brian in Enda Walsh's play. Photograph: Photograph: Patrick Redmond Gleeson could big up his sons or name-drop all day if he wanted, but it's obvious he chooses his words in interviews with care. 'I'm moaning a lot,' he says at one stage before course-correcting. It makes it all the more endearing to hear the warm delight in his voice when he occasionally allows in some discussion of his career high points, such as his Academy Award nomination, for best supporting actor, for The Banshees of Inisherin in 2023. 'I was thrilled to get an Oscar nomination,' he says. 'When I walked in and saw the people that were there in one room. I mean, you've Spielberg over there, all these film-makers.' Gleeson worked with Steven Spielberg on the 2001 film AI Artificial Intelligence , a dystopian tale of robotic intelligence that has more resonance in today's bot-driven world than ever. The actor has recently been dealing with a deepfake version of himself that has been circulating on the internet, touting a cream that 'totally eliminates pain'. 'Two people sent it to me. I'm not on any of that stuff,' he says about social media. 'So I was blissfully unaware, and thought it was a joke. But then I realised, 'Jesus, are they asking people to actually press a link?' So I just wanted to say that I don't endorse anything other than support for the hospice.' [ Despair among young people 'really, really scary', Brendan Gleeson says at hospice fundraiser Opens in new window ] Gleeson is a long-time campaigner for improved resources at St Francis Hospice in Raheny, in north Dublin, where both his parents spent their final stages of life; his galvanising social conscience is an important part of his character. It has caused more than one person to question if there's a role for him in politics. Or, say, in the Áras when the presidential role comes free? [ 'I would be dead now if it hadn't been for the hospice' Opens in new window ] 'I'm quite opinionated,' Gleeson counters. 'I just think I'm not a good politician. I can't get to the place. I love Michael D Higgins for what he's done, what he's doing, his reckless energy and his positivity. Everything about what he does fills me with inspiration. I'm not good at that. I do get upset about things that are patently wrong, but I'm not the fixer of those issues. I just hope we can allow people to have a place to live. I think profit-making on homes is immoral.' If politics is partly about the exchange of ideas, art can spark similarly big conversations. The Weir comes to Dublin at the same time that The Pillowman , by his friend and collaborator McDonagh, runs across town at the Gate Theatre. It's a controversial play that tackles themes of violence against children. When I tell Gleeson that I found McDonagh's play tough to watch, his gaze sharpens. [ The Pillowman review: Anthracite-black comedy. The most appalling crimes Opens in new window ] 'I heard there were people getting upset in the audience,' Gleeson says. 'Some people in particular places in their lives may not be able to handle it. Part of art is to face the brutality of the truth. That's why we keep Auschwitz. The idea of sheltering everybody from horrible consequences, it's like, if you've never been to an abattoir, that's where you go. 'Early on with Martin, I challenged him on something. I said, 'Are you just pushing the envelope for its own sake?' I said you've got to really know what you're doing. And he said, 'Everything I write is about love.' I realised with his work you don't hate anyone; you find the humanity. 'I did the same with John Boorman with The General. You go into a place where you're saying, 'This is inhuman.' No, this is human. This is humanity, I'm afraid.' Gleeson puts himself through the wringer as an actor. In addition to his work on the forthcoming film adaptation by Emma Donoghue of H Is for Hawk and the TV series Spider-Noir, Gleeson has recently returned from Atlanta, where he was filming The Good Daughter, by the crime author Karin Slaughter. 'It was emotionally demanding and traumatising,' he says. 'I was wasted when I got back, in a head-space sense.' The Weir will represent a palate-cleanser. It's a play that contains quiet truths; that suggests more than it shows. 'At the time of life I'm at, and in the zeitgeist where there's so much apocalyptic desperation, this is a beautiful piece of work,' Gleeson says. 'It's very profound.' The play is likely to be the hottest ticket in town. Anne Clarke of Landmark Productions , its coproducer, is worried about one thing only: how to distribute the guest-list tickets on opening night. 'It's like Irish theatre royalty,' she says, laughing. 'Everybody wants to come. We're having these big meetings about how we can manage it.' [ Landmark's Anne Clarke: 'Every producer, if they're honest, is a control freak' Opens in new window ] As for Gleeson, he's fretting about his lines. Well, that and the prospect of getting a break at some point. He smiles when he hears a Leonard Cohen lyric: 'I ache in the places where I used to play.' Seventy is treating him reasonably well, he says. But the body is creaky sometimes. 'I'm wiping the slate clean. I have to take a break. This year and last year was too much. I'll take time to smell the coffee, because you can run around and not see what you're looking at.' Gleeson knows he's in the right place spiritually, in part because of the distance he has travelled in his life. 'I think I was okay as a teacher,' he says. 'When I found acting, I just knew. When I was writing down in my passport under occupation, and I wrote down 'actor', I felt: I'm home.' The Weir opens at 3Olympia Theatre, Dublin, on Wednesday, August 13th, with previews from Friday, August 8th. It runs until September 6th, then transfers to the Harold Pinter Theatre, in London, where it runs from September 12th until December 6th
Irish Examiner
3 days ago
- Irish Examiner
Christy, Steve, History Of Sound... 15 films to watch out for in the coming months
Many of Ireland's best-known talents are front and centre in the screen heavy hitters that are coming way in the months ahead. Chief among them is Steve, starring Cillian Murphy, and soon to have its European premiere in Cork, with a film that is firmly at the centre of awards-season chat. Buzz is also building for the release of Ballad of a Small Player, starring Colin Farrell and directed by Edward Berger, whose films Conclave and All Quiet on the Western Front previously went to the Oscars. Esther McCarthy looks at the movies set to become talking points in the months ahead. Christy (August 29, cinemas) Cork director Brendan Canty's film will be released in cinemas following its premiere at Mahon Point Omniplex next week. The winner of Best Irish Feature Film at the Galway Film Fleadh, it centres on the title character - a teenage boy - whose life is at a crossroads. Featuring a breakout performance from Danny Power, the film is largely set in Knocknaheeny and features members of Cork rappers from the Kabin Studio, as well as established stars Alison Oliver and Chris Walley. A Big Bold Beautiful Journey (September 19, cinemas) Colin Farrell's collaboration with US filmmaker Kogonada brought us the tender and unique After Yang in 2022. Now the two join forces again - aided and abetted by Margot Robbie - for another exploration of the power of love. Sarah (Robbie) and David (Farrell) meet at a friend's wedding, sparking an adventure where they get to relive important moments from each other's pasts. The History of Sound (September TBC, cinemas) Josh O'Connor and Paul Mescal in The History of Sound desfilm Paul Mescal stars opposite The Crown's Josh O'Connor in the story of two men who fall in love in post-WW1 America. South African filmmaker Oliver Hermanus directs the duo in a tale of two young men who endeavour to record the lives, voices and music of their American countrymen. As they do, they begin to develop feelings for each other. Steve (TBC cinemas; October 3, Netflix) Cillian Murphy reunites with his Peaky Blinders and Small Things Like These director Tim Mielants for a reimagining of Max Porter's novel, Shy. Murphy is also a producer on the drama, set in the mid-90s, which centres on a pivotal day in the career and life of a teacher and the students at a reform school where he works. Following its world premiere at the prestigious Toronto Film Festival, Murphy will host a special European premiere of Steve in Cork as part of this year's Sounds From a Safe Harbour Festival (September 11-14). The Ballad of a Small Player (cinemas, October 17; Netflix, October 29) The Ballad of a Small Player starring Colin Farrell will be screened at cinemas across Ireland from October 17 and will be released on Netflix on October 29. Adapted from the novel of the same name, the latest film from director Edward Berger (Conclave, All Quiet on the Western Front) is set in the gambling casinos of Macau. There, a high-stakes gambler (Colin Farrell) is laying low. But as his past and his debts begin to haunt him, he meets a kindred spirit who may offer salvation. Blue Moon (October 24, cinemas) Filmed on location in Ireland but set in the US, the new film from Richard Linklater (Boyhood) centres on the later life of Lorenz Hart, one of the songwriting duo Rodgers & Hart. The film is set during the opening of Oklahoma!. Andrew Scott joins a cast led by Ethan Hawke and Margaret Qualley, with Irish outfit Wild Atlantic Pictures co-producing. Bugonia (October 31, cinemas) Two conspiracy theorists kidnap the CEO of a major company, convinced that she's an alien planning to destroy Earth, in a premise that sounds wild even for Yorgos Lanthimos (The Favourite, Poor Things). Emma Stone, producing - along with Irish Lanthimos regulars Ed Guiney and Andrew Lowe of Element Pictures - also stars in what is her fifth film with the Greek director. The Running Man (November 7, cinemas) Glenn Powell in Running Man. The suddenly everywhere Glen Powell joins forces with British director Edgar Wright (Baby Driver) in a thriller adapted from the novel by Stephen King. Set in a dystopia, Powell plays a man driven by financial necessity to take part in a channel that makes violent reality-TV shows. A previous movie adaptation starred Arnold Schwarzenegger. Predator: Badlands (November 7, cinemas) With 2022's Prey, filmmaker Dan Trachtenberg gave us a gripping Predator movie and introduced audiences to a star making performance from Amber Midthunder. Now the director joins forces with leading actress Elle Fanning for a standalone movie in the series. Train Dreams (September, Safe Harbour Festival, Cork; November 21, Netflix) Felicity Jones and Robert Grainier in Train Dreams. Following her scene-stealing turn opposite Brad Pitt in F1, Tipperary actress Kerry Condon returns to our screens for this buzzy drama, co-starring with Joel Edgerton and Felicity Jones. Adapted from Denis Johnson's novella, it tells the story of a railroad man whose life unfolds during a time of huge change in early 20th century America. Sing Sing screenwriter Clint Bentley directs. Wicked: For Good (November 21, cinemas) The second part of the Wicked movie series is destined to draw back the large audiences who made its predecessor one of the biggest hits of last year. The return to the land of Oz will star Ariana Grande as Glinda and Cynthia Erivo as the Wicked Witch of the West. Jon M Chu (Crazy Rich Asians) returns to direct. Father Mother Sister Brother (December TBC) Acclaimed US filmmaker Jim Jarmusch writes and directs this Irish co-production that was filmed partly on location in Dublin. Estranged siblings are reunited after years apart and forced to reevaluate their relationships in the film. Set in the US, Dublin and Paris, the ensemble cast includes Cate Blanchett, Adam Driver and Tom Waits. Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery (December 12, Netflix) Irish actors Daryl McCormack and Andrew Scott are among a large and impressive-looking cast for Rian Johnson's third instalment in the Knives Out film series. Glenn Close, Josh Brolin and Mila Kunis also star in the murder mystery, featuring Daniel Craig's quirky sleuth, Benoit Blanc. Avatar: Fire and Ash (December 19, cinemas) Sam Worthington and Zoe Saldaña reunite with James Cameron for the latest in the Avatar series, certain to be one of the biggest movies of the year. Cameron brings audiences back to Pandora in an immersive new adventure with Marine turned Na'vi leader Jake Sully and warrior Neytiri and the Sully family. Hamnet (January 9, cinemas) Jessie Buckley. (Photo by) Chloe Zhao's adaptation of the 2020 novel by Maggie O'Farrell stars Irish actors Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal. The film fictionalises the life of William Shakespeare's son, who died as a boy, and the love story that inspired Hamlet, the play regarded as his greatest masterpiece. 'I think she's one of the greatest actors working today, categorically, hands down,' Mescal previously told this journalist of his Killarney co-star. 'I've been blown away by so many people, but no more so than her. We were friends before, but something just mad happened, making that, where I was like: 'I've met somebody now who's going to be a vital part of my life outside of the world of acting forever'.'
Irish Post
21-07-2025
- Irish Post
First look images show Colin Farrell in Netflix's Ballad of a Small Player
FIRST look images have been released showing Colin Farrell in the new Netflix film Ballad of a Small Player. The Dublin-born actor stars alongside Fala Chen and Tilda Swinton in the new production, which is directed by Edward Berger. Colin Farrell in Ballad of a Small Player Farrell stars as Lord Doyle, a high-stakes gambler lying low in Macau, China, in the adaptation of the 2014 novel by Lawrence Osborne. The Netflix film is set for release next month The dramatic thriller will open in cinemas in the US on October 15 and in cinemas in the UK and Ireland on October 17, before making its global streaming debut on Netflix on October 29. The film, written by Rowan Joffe, was shot in China last summer. See More: Ballad Of A Small Player, Colin Farrell
