Michael Fassbender: Trespass Against Us: another British gangster movie in which crime doesn’t pay off

THE GUARDIAN
John Patterson
Monday 27 February 2017 04.59 EST

British crime movies have never been short of dysfunctional families. Think of the brothers in Get Carter, and how the survivor once impregnated his dead brother’s wife. Or the Kray twins – be they Kemps or Hardys – the mentally ill brother taking the sane one down with him, come what may, and a wife driven to suicide by their toxic relationship. Or Ray Winstone in Face, a loving dad brought to grief by his daughter’s boyfriend, a bent Met copper.

Trespass Against Us offers us the Cutlers, another screwed-up set of relations, this time a crooked father and son played by Brendan Gleeson and Michael Fassbender. But it can’t decide if it wants to be about family or about being a felon. And in a movie that sets aside a good proportion of its budget for robberies, car chases and police helicopters, this is a problem that needed resolving.

Set in rural Gloucestershire, among criminals who live in a group of caravans on waste land and call each other “jubby dim lad” and “worzel” and “ya proize div”, Trespass Against Us bets as heavily on its own milieu as Get Carter did on Newcastle upon Tyne, or Hell Is A City did with Manchester’s backstreets. But these villains are illiterate country bumpkins, and their backdrop does feel promisingly fresh. The characters go hunting and coursing, and during one getaway after robbing a posh manor, Fassbender even eludes a police chopper by hiding under a cow, something your city types like Jack Carter and Harold Shand would have balked at.

The family power struggle is about education. Fassbender’s Chad wants his son to get the schooling he never did, but his father Colby (Gleeson) constantly interferes. The movie ends up being about incompatible styles of parenting – and come on, how gangster is that? The film veers from chases and robberies back to the family conflict, which never gets out of second gear. One constantly yearns for, say, the oedipal mother fixation of White Heat or the Cain-slew-Abel dynamics of The Godfather: Part II to add an extra frisson of twisted psychological complexity.


https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/feb/27/trespass-against-us-british-gangster-movie-michael-fassbender

Watch: Domhnall and Brian Gleeson relive their childhood in music video PLUS Brian Gleeson's new film STANDBY trailer

ENTERTAINMENT



The Gleesons are, undoubtedly, Ireland's first acting family.

What with Brian Gleeson starring in romantic comedies like Standby and Domhnall Gleeson turning up in a small film called Star Wars: Episode VI, they're definitely going places.

But where they did start out? Making movies at their home in North Dublin when they were only chisellers.

The new music video for Squarehead shows the brothers Gleeson reuniting after Brian finds their home movies.

Pretty soon, they're off having a kick-around, play cops-n-robbers and generally reliving their childhood.

READ MORE HERE: http://entertainment.ie/music/news/Watch-Domhnall-and-Brian-Gleeson-relive-their-childhood-in-music-video/315032.htm

Nominations Announced for the Moët British Independent Film Awards

INDIEWIRE
By Sydney Levine | Sydneys Buzz
November 10, 2014 at 4:04PM



The nominations for the 17th annual Moët British Independent Film Awards were announced recently, at St Martins Lane, London by actor Jared Harris .

Joint Directors, The Moët British Independent Film Awards’ Johanna von Fischer & Tessa Collinson said: "This has been a record year for MBIFA with over 250 films submitted giving our dedicated members their toughest challenge to date. Hugely impressed by the quality of films and performances across all categories the shortlist demonstrates how the standard of creativity in British independent filmmaking continues to flourish year on year. The decision of who will walk away with one of the iconic MBIFA trophies* is now in the hands of our distinguished independent jury announced today. We are looking forward to seeing as many of the nominees as possible at the Awards on 7th December, to celebrate their incredible achievements. It will be a very personal celebration for us also, as the last in a wonderful 9 Award Ceremonies as Joint Directors of BIFA.”

The highest number of nominations this year goes to "‘71" with nine nominations including Best British Independent Film; Best Director and Debut Director for Yann Demange; Best Screenplay for Gregory Burke; Best Actor for Jack O’Connell and Best Supporting Actor for Sean Harris. "Pride" picked up seven nominations and "Catch me Daddy,""Frank," and "Mr Turner" picked up five nominations each.

Nominations for Best Actress go to Alicia Vikander for "Testament of Youth;" Cheng Pei Pei for "Lilting;" Gugu Mbatha-Raw for "Belle;" Keira Knightley for "The Imitation Game" and Sameena Jabeen Ahmed for "Catch Me Daddy." Leading men hoping to take home the Best Actor award include Asa Butterfield for"X+Y;" Benedict Cumberbatch for "The Imitation Game"; Brendan Gleeson for "Calvary"; Jack O’Connell for "’71" and Timothy Spall for "Mr Turner."

Best Supporting Actor nominations go to Andrew Scott and Ben Schnetzer, both for "Pride;" Michael Fassbender for "Frank;" Rafe Spall for "X+Y" and Sean Harris for"’71."

Dorothy Atkinson for "Mr Turner;" Imelda Staunton for "Pride;" Maggie Gyllenhaal for "Frank;" Sally Hawkins for "X+Y"and Sienna Guillory for "The Goob" are all nominated for the Best Supporting Actress Award.

READ MORE HERE: http://blogs.indiewire.com/sydneylevine/nominations-announced-for-the-moet-british-independent-film-awards-20141110

Fassbender, Gleeson, Scott among British indie nominees

RTE
Monday 03 Nov 2014

Gleeson and Fassbender - Nominated for their work on Calvary and Frank respectively

Michael Fassbender, Brendan Gleeson and Andrew Scott are among a number of Irish nominees for this year's British Independent Film Awards.

Gleeson is nominated in the Best Actor category for his performance in Calvary.

The film, which was an Irish and British co-production, is also nominated for Best British Independent Film, Best Director (John Michael McDonagh) and Best Screenplay (John Michael McDonagh).

Fassbender is nominated in the Best Supporting Actor category for his performance in Frank, while Scott is nominated in the same category for his work on Pride.


READ MORE HERE: http://www.rte.ie/ten/news/2014/1103/656593-british-independent-film-awards/

Michael Fassbender Will Trespass Against Us With Brendan Gleeson And Sean Harris

WE GOT THIS COVERED
By Matt Joseph
May 30, 2014



As one of the most sought-after actors in Hollywood right now, Michael Fassbender definitely has his pick of projects. From big blockbusters and franchises to more character-driven work, he continues to surprise us with where he shows up. With films like Prometheus 2, Assassin’s Creed and Derek Cianfrance’s The Light Between Oceans all on his slate, the actor is hoping to continue to keep busy and for his next outing, will shoot a heist thriller titled Trespass Against Us.

Set to begin production this summer, the Adam Smith-directed film co-stars Brendan Gleeson, Rory Kinnear, Sean Harris, Killian Scott and Lyndsey Marshal. It will tell the story of the Cutler family, “who live as outlaws, hunting hares, ram-raiding stately homes and taunting the police. As the letter of the law finally catches up with Chad (Fassbender), he is torn between the archaic principles of his father (Gleeson) and what he believes is best for his children.”

If you recall, Fassbender was actually in talks for the role back in the Fall, but now it appears that he’s officially on board and that it will be his next film. No word on a release date yet, but with production getting underway this summer, it shouldn’t be too long before we see it hit theatres.


READ MORE HERE: http://wegotthiscovered.com/movies/michael-fassbender-trespass-brendan-gleeson-sean-harris/

Domhnall Gleeson fuels rumours of reunion with father Brendan Gleeson on screen

IRISH POST
By Nemesha Balasundaram on April 28, 2014



IRISH actor Domhnall Gleeson has fuelled rumours that he may star alongside his father Brendan on the big screen, once again.

“I’ve got to keep my mouth shut for the moment, but maybe some time in the next year we might get working on something, that’d be fun,” the About Time leading-man revealed.

The pair previously worked together on Calvary, in which they both performed in front of the camera, and earlier in Noreen (2010), where Domhnall wrote and directed his father in his short film about two Gardaí.

Speaking to The Irish Post on the red carpet at London’s O2 on the first day of Sundance London, where he was promoting his new film Frank alongside Michael Fassbender and director Lenny Abrahamson, the enthusiastic star spoke of potential opportunities for his family to reunite for audiences in the near future.

“We’ll figure it out, my brother Brian is a tremendous actor also, so we’re working on it, we’ll see what we can come up with,” he added.



READ MORE HERE: http://www.irishpost.co.uk/entertainment/domhnall-gleeson-fuells-rumours-of-reunion-with-father-brendan-on-screen

Brendan Gleeson Tries to Charm The Doctor in 'The Grand Seduction' [Trailer]

CONTACT MUSIC
by Jack de Aguilar | 22 April 2014



With one darkly comic Irish film already receiving rave reviews, Brendan Gleeson is starring in a lightly comic Canadian one, which, by the looks of the trailer, will have exactly the same effect. Taylor Kitsch also stars in ‘The Grand Seduction’, which has a brand new trailer below.

The film sees Murray French (Gleeson) rally the troops of Tickle Cove, a picturesque harbour town, to convince a visiting doctor to stay permanently so the local factor can keep its business contract alive and provide the locals with work. But with such a motley and lazy crew, he’s got his work cut out.

Kitsch plays the exotic doctor; a Canadian visiting the small Irish town. French’s efforts to convince Kathleen (Liane Balaban) that a little flirtation (not intercourse, mind) could go a long way don’t really work, but romance blossoms anyway.

Of course, the comedic core of this charming story, which is based on based on the 2003 film Seducing Doctor Lewis (original French title La grande séduction), is the juxtaposition between the aged, haggard locals of the working class town and the youthful exuberance of the doctor.

Read more: Brendan Gleeson Tries to Charm The Doctor in 'The Grand Seduction' [Trailer] http://www.contactmusic.com/article/the-grand-seduction-trailer-brendan-gleeson-taylor-kitsch_4163751?track=cp

Brendan Gleeson: Film review: Calvary – essential viewing

IRISH POST

By Stephen Martin on April 17, 2014

Calvary
Director: John Michael McDonagh
Starring: Brendan Gleeson, Chris O’Dowd, Aidan Gillen, Dylan Moran, Kelly Reilly and Pat Shortt
★★★★ (out of five)

“I FIRST tasted semen when I was seven years old,” are the first words of dialogue in John Michael McDonagh’s Calvary, as uttered by a disembodied voice to a discombobulated priest in a darkened church confessional.

“Certainly a startling opening line,” the priest responds, voicing the thoughts of the audience. “Is that supposed to be irony?” the disgruntled confessor asks. “I’m sorry,” the priest says, “let’s start again.”

This introductory exchange sets up the narrative style of McDonagh’s movie, fusing serious commentary with bone-dry satire.

McDonagh –a second-generation Irishman raised in central London – draws characters that spend most of the time conventionally acting out the absorbing drama, yet periodically collapse the artifice with deflating self-references.

They offer oblique winks to camera, breaking the fourth wall and waving across to the viewer. It’s a Brechtian, Beckettian, Bunuelian cocktail of forlorn hope, mordant humour and a cold moral vacuum. Yet all-the-while, it urges us not to have sleepless nights.

It’s also excellent, a cleverly-devised story (if a little thin on plot) featuring fine performances from top Irish talent. The superb Brendan Gleeson leads the cast as the embattled Fr James, vicar to an isolated coastal community, who is informed by one of his flock that he will kill him, “a week on Sunday,” in an abused victim’s revenge upon a depraved Catholic Church.

The man who makes this threat is known to Father James, though he remains a mystery to the audience until the climax.

“I’ll give you enough time to put your house in order,” he generously promises. The rest of the movie invites viewers to guess the identity of the killer among the townsfolk they meet, as the good father tends to his “pastoral duties”.

READ MORE HERE; http://www.irishpost.co.uk/entertainment/film-entertainment/calvary-review

Michael Fassbender, Colin Farrell, Domhnall Gleeson, Allen Leech: Hollywood’s hottest A-listers are in Dublin for the IFTAs. Who gets your vote?

EVOKE.IE
April 4, 2014

The IFTAs are taking place tomorrow night in Dublin’s Doubletree Hilton Hotel, which will be brimming with hot Hollywood hunks! 

Ireland’s own Michael Fassbender, Jamie Dornan, Jack Reynor, Domhnall Gleeson and Colin Farrell will be throwing on their tuxedos for the prestigious event, while American actor Kevin Spacey is flying in especially.

Presented by MTV star Laura Whitmore, and Bachelor’s Walk actor Simon Delaney, the event will also be attended by Irish veteran actors Brendan Gleeson, Colm Meaney and Jeremy Irons, while Oscar nominated actress Saoirse Ronan will be getting out her best frock for the event.




READ MORE HERE: http://www.evoke.ie/the-hot-list-hollywoods-hottest-a-listers-arrive-in-dublin-for-tomorrow-nights-iftas-who-gets-your-vote/

Brendan Gleeson, son Domhnall, compete for IFTA's Best Actor prize

UPI
By KAREN BUTLER, United Press International   |   Feb. 27, 2014



Beloved Irish actor Brendan Gleeson and his son Domhnall were both nominated for the Irish Film and Television Award for Best Actor in a Film Thursday.

The elder Gleeson earned the nod for his work in "Calvary," while his offspring was nominated for his performance in "About Time." The actors previously co-starred in "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" and "Six Shooter."

Up for the Best Picture IFTA are "Byzantium," "Calvary," "Run & Jump," "The Sea" and "The Stag."

Four of the five best film nominees also get mentions for Best Script -- John Banville for "The Sea," Ailbhe Keogan for "Run & Jump," John Michael McDonagh for "Calvary," and the duo of John Butler and Peter McDonald for "The Stag."



Read more: http://www.upi.com/Entertainment_News/Movies/2014/02/27/Brendan-Gleeson-son-Domhnall-compete-for-IFTAs-Best-Actor-prize/UPI-25751393512155/#ixzz2udMhFTFC

Brendan Gleeson dedicates film role to Ireland’s ‘good’ priests

IRISH TIMES
Derek Scally
February 10, 2014



Actor Brendan Gleeson has dedicated his new movie role to Ireland’s good priests, the ones he said have been overlooked or even tarred by recent clerical abuse scandals.

Mr Gleeson, promoting ‘Calvary’ at the Berlin Film Festival, said he was motivated by the memory of a “particularly good Christian Brother in primary school ... Brother Pat Grogan, a beautiful man”.

‘Calvary’, already hailed by Sundance critics as Beckett-meets-Bresson, enthused Berlin audiences yesterday with one critic calling it a “wonderful, disturbing, sad movie”. It opens this year’s Jameson Dublin Film Festival.

“I think there have been a few false accusations of paedophilia, life-wrecking allegations, against good men amongst all the proper exposure of bad men,” said Mr Gleeson in Berlin yesterday. “Imagine being a good person who has given their life to doing good things, finding themselves wearing a uniform that has been besmirched. It must be horrible for anyone who commits to good to be reviled for doing so.”

‘Calvary’ tells the story of a middle-aged Irish man who becomes a priest in a hostile environment, a role Gleeson said was “the most pressurised” he’d ever experienced,

READ MORE HERE: http://www.irishtimes.com/culture/film/gleeson-dedicates-film-role-to-ireland-s-good-priests-1.1686323

Brendan Gleeson plays an innocent priest slapped with a death sentence in John Michael McDonagh's exquisitely nuanced second feature."Calvary":SUNDANCE REVIEW

THE HOLLYWOOD REVIEW
 2:42 AM PST 1/20/2014 by David Rooney

John Michael McDonagh’s 2011 debut, The Guard, provided the wonderful Brendan Gleeson with a vehicle for some of his best screen work, playing an Irish West Country cop unencumbered by diplomacy skills. But the follow-up collaboration of the writer-director and lead actor is in a whole different league. Gleeson’s performance as a man of profound integrity suffering for the sins of others is the lynchpin of this immensely powerful drama, enriched by spiky black comedy but also by its resonant contemplation of faith and forgiveness. Representing a considerable leap in thematic scope and craft for McDonagh, Calvary deserves to reach the widest possible audience.

As with the work of McDonagh's younger brother, the playwright, screenwriter and director Martin McDonagh, an inherent irreverence is essential to the work. But don’t let the gags, the ripe profanity and the wicked comic characterizations fool you. The director of Calvary appears utterly serious about exploring the uses and abuses of spirituality in a world of toxic disillusionment and cynicism.

Set along the rocky cliffs of County Sligo, the film begins in the intimacy of a Catholic Church confessional box. Father James (Gleeson) listens as the voice on the opposite side of the covered window recounts being sexually abused by a clergyman from the age of seven. The unseen parishioner informs the priest that he’s giving him a week to make his peace with God and the world, arranging a Sunday meeting on the beach where he intends to kill him. Since the man who molested him died long ago, he reasons that the death of an innocent priest will make more of a statement.

That would appear to be an irreversibly grim departure point for a film. But McDonagh and the actors navigate supple shifts between mordant humor and emotionally complex drama throughout much of Calvary.

Father James appears to have recognized the voice, and while he seeks counsel from the Bishop (David McSavage), he declines to name his prospective murderer, even later when a violent warning suggests the seriousness of the threat. Instead, in what amounts to an anticipatory whodunit that’s equal parts Agatha Christie and Stations of the Cross, he makes his regular parish rounds.

He meets with the cuckolded local butcher (Chris O’Dowd), his tarty wife (Orla O’Rourke) and her occasional lover (Isaach de Bankole). Further encounters follow with a semi-reclusive American writer (M. Emmet Walsh), a smug financier (Dylan Moran) and an atheistic, coke-snorting doctor (Aiden Gillen). There’s also the police inspector (Gary Lydon) and the cop’s regular rent boy (Owen Sharpe).

McDonagh’s crackling dialogue makes the priest’s exchanges with the townsfolk so frequently hilarious that you don’t really notice the sobering shift that has taken place. Each of the parishioners goes out of his or her way to challenge Father James’ convictions. Whether generalized or personal, their goading remarks seem designed to remind him that the Catholic Church as an institution is at best obsolete, at worst morally broken, and that his religious compassion can do little to fix anyone’s messy lives.

Absorbing the constant criticism with forbearance and only rarely rising to the bait, James is a firmly centered man, and Gleeson etches a lifetime’s worth of knowledge, experience and hard-won serenity into the ruddy face behind his snowy beard, even if he's not without acknowledged flaws. “You’re just a little too sharp for this parish,” the butcher’s wife tells him. And it’s true, his worldly intelligence and gentle philosophical bent stick out, especially next to the lightweight younger priest (David Wilmot).


READ MORE HERE: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/calvary-sundance-review-672450

Brendan Gleeson Gets Threatened For Being Too Nice In Calvary Trailer

CINEMA BLEND
Author: Nick Venable | published: December 12, 2013 8:44am PST



With his second film, director John Michael McDonagh has quite a task in trying to create something that was half as memorable as his first: 2011’s howlingly funny comedy The Guard. And it probably didn’t help that his brother, Martin, followed up In Bruges with last year’s excellent ensemble crime comedy, Seven Psychopaths. Judging from the above trailer, though, McDonagh is headed in a more introspective direction with the dark comedy Calvary, and I can’t wait to be a part of its flock.

For Calvary, Brendan Gleeson reteams with the director to play Father James Lavelle, a priest with nothing but inspiration and hope to pass to his overly troubled parishioners without appearing sanctimonious. Trouble comes to him in the oddest of ways when someone walks into the other side of the confession window and threatens to murder him for being too kind to people, giving him a week to get his affairs in line. But in order to try and get his life spared, Father Lavelle must enter the lives of his troubled churchgoers to discover their moral centers in trying to figure out the identity of his soon-to-be murderer.

Gleeson could win over audiences in a film all on his own, but he’s got a stellar cast of mostly Irish actors whose characters make the priest’s life all the more complicated. Chris O’Dowd (Thor: The Dark World) plays an oafish butcher, while Aidan Gillen (The Wire) plays a much more intense hospital worker. The middle ground is filled out by characters played by Dylan Moran (Black Books), Domnhall Gleeson (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows), David Wilmot (Ripper Street), Kelly Reilly (Sherlock Holmes), Marie-Josée Croze (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly) and Isaach De Bankolé (24).

READ MORE HERE: http://www.cinemablend.com/new/Brendan-Gleeson-Gets-Threatened-Being-Too-Nice-Calvary-Trailer-40663.html

Cillian Murphy, Brendan Gleeson and Sam Keeley Begin Filming Ron Howard's New Film ‘Heart of the Sea’

IFTN
By Julie Browne

Irish actors Cillian Murphy, Brendan Gleeson and Sam Keeley have begun filming ‘Heart of the Sea’, the new action adventure from Director Ron Howard.

Based on a novel by Nathaniel Philbrick, the film tells the true story of the whaling ship ‘Essex, which inspired Herman Melville’s ‘Moby Dick’.

Filming is currently taking place in the Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden in Herfordshire UK, and in the Canary Islands

Cillian Murphy (‘Breakfast on Pluto’, ‘Inception’, ‘Peaky Blinders’) stars in the film as second mate Matthew Joy. Brendan Gleeson (‘The Guard’, ‘In Bruges’) is set to play an older version of one of the surviving crewmembers, who is interviewed years later by Melville. Sam Keeley (‘What Richard Did’) will play one of the crew members onboard the ship.

Directed by Oscar-winer Ron Howard (‘A Beautiful Mind’, ‘Rush’), the cast also stars Chris Hemsworth (‘Thor’, ‘The Avengers’, ‘Rush’), Benjamin Walker (‘Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter’), Ben Whishaw (‘Skyfall’) and Tom Holland (‘The Impossible’).


READ MORE: http://www.iftn.ie/actors/actorsnews/?act1=record&only=1&aid=73&rid=4286455&tpl=archnews&force=1

Irish actor Brendon Gleeson defines what it means to be Canadian at TIFF

THE STAR.COM
By: Peter Howell Movie Critic, Published on Wed Sep 11 2013

Brendan Gleeson, left, seen here with Taylor Kitsch and Gordon Pinsent in a scene from "The Grand Seduction," gave an eloquent description of what the "Canadian voice" is during a Q-and-A session following a Tuesday morning screening of the film at TIFF Bell Lightbox.

Irish actor Brendan Gleeson came to the rescue Tuesday when The Grand Seduction director Don McKellar was having trouble defining Canadians.

McKellar was puzzling over an audience member’s question about “the Canadian voice” in his comic film, during a Q-and-A session following the 9 a.m. screening at TIFF Bell Lightbox.

Gleeson, the film’s main star, was standing near McKellar on the stage. He jumped in to offer his own interpretation of what it means to be Canadian, something he sounds like he’d really like to be.

“I think we have to do an Ontarian remake now, because you have two provinces with vastly different cultures, and we tell the same story from both places. And they’re each separate, but it is part of what is the Canadian voice,” Gleeson said.

“I think it’s an extraordinarily rich thing and what’s important about making films of this nature is that you express and share something that’s unique culturally. And that’s really where universality comes into play most, when you know what you’re talking about.


READ THE REST OF HIS LOVELY STATEMENT HERE: http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/tiff/2013/09/11/tiff_2013_irish_actor_brendon_gleeson_starring_in_the_grand_seduction_defines_what_it_means_to_be_canadian.html

Kate Beckinsale, Jim Sturgess, Brendan Gleeson - ELIZA GRAVES

[Movies] New Poster Released for Eliza Graves

Posted by Jeremy Thomas on 09.06.2013

Supernatural thriller stars Kate Beckinsale...

Here is a new poster (via STYD) for Eliza Graves. The film stars Kate Beckinsale, Jim Sturgess, Brendan Gleeson, Ben Kingsley and Michael Caine.

The film centers on a Harvard Medical School graduate (Sturgess) who takes a job at an insane asylum, unaware of the fact that it has been taken over by its occupants

Read more at http://www.411mania.com/movies/news/296674/[Movies]-New-Poster-Released-for-Eliza-Graves.htm#hrlwxuYlY06mpBJS.99

Brendan Gleeson: Domnhall Gleeson, a star in his own time

THE IRISH TIMES
Tara Brady
August 30, 2013

Julian Lennon. Paul Dalglish. Cameron Douglas. It’s never easy following in your father’s footsteps when dad happens to be really, really good at his job. How is it, then, that Domhnall Gleeson, son of Brendan, makes it look so damned easy? The sometime star of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and True Grit, has, aged 30, already been exposed to squillions of movie-going punters. In sheer bums-on-seats terms, he’s a huge star.

“But they’re not going for me,” he shrugs. “It doesn’t count. Even if I signed a Harry Potter thing I don’t think you’d get anything for my autograph on Ebay.”

What if Brendan added a Mad Eye Moody signature?

“Maybe two euro. At most. But by the time you add in postage and packaging. You know.”

He’s being modest. But any film-maker who has been lucky enough to direct Domhnall Gleeson will tell you that he’s as whip-smart as he is gifted. A versatile talent, the actor has effortlessly transitioned between Hollywood gigs and home turf. He’s appeared in sci-fi (Dredd), Tolstoy (Joe Wright’s Anna Karenina), alternate history (Never Let Me Go), political drama (Shadow Dancer) and one Irish sex comedy that we know of (Sensation). He has worked with the Coen Brothers, with Charlie Brooker (for the incoming Black Mirror) and with Lenny Abrahamson (on Frank). He has sidestepped with ease between media: he was nominated for a Tony for his work on the Broadway production of Martin McDonagh’s The Lieutenant of Inishmore and he took home an IFTA for playing Bob Geldof in the TV movie When Harvey Met Bob.

He has, as the varied CV attests, no plans to settle down in Tinseltown.

“I like that home is, erm, home,” he says. “I don’t really want to be too far away. And I hate driving. So LA definitely doesn’t suit me.”



The oldest of the four Gleeson brothers, Domhnall’s fate was sealed when he went to the IFTAs, aged 16, to pick up an award on behalf of his father. An agent, impressed by his amusing speech, came a-calling and, by 19, the youngster was appearing on London’s West End in The Lieutenant of Inishmore.

“I wanted to be a writer in my teens,” he says. “And when I got an agent I thought: ‘Oh great. Extra work. I might make a bit of money’. Then I read Martin McDonagh’s script and that changed everything. It was the funniest thing I had ever read. I thought it was a masterpiece. I still think so.”

Does he remember Brendan’s transition from teaching to professional acting?

“Yes and no. From early on, I remember dad coming home with strange haircuts. I remember him dyeing his hair black. I remember him doing a Garry Hynes play and looking really menacing for about a month. Which was weird. But I don’t remember the transition. And I often think about that now. Because my parents had four kids and it must have been an intensely worrying and anxious time for them. But it was completely hidden from us.”

And was it cool knowing that dad was touched by glitz and glamour?

“That never mattered to us at all. He was always still busy being a good dad and mam was always busy being a good mam. And that’s what I remember most.”

Fittingly, father and son will soon share screen time in Calvary, John Michael McDonagh’s dark good-priest-gone-bad drama.

“I haven’t got a huge amount to do in that,” explains Gleeson the Younger. “That’s my dad’s film. He is the centre of it. There are all these local people who are taking strips off him and we are all in orbit around him. I am only in it for one scene. But it did take us to different level of working together. And it’s another level for John. It feels very, very strong.”

 READ MORE AT: http://www.irishtimes.com/culture/film/domnhall-gleeson-a-star-in-his-own-time-1.1509690?page=3

Benedict Cumberbatch, Colin Firth, Alan Rickman, Michael Fassbender: One or two stars headed to Toronto International Film Festival

THE GAZETTE
Posted by:
Brendan Kelly
August 20, 2013

Benedict Cumberbatch expected to attend Toronto Intl. Film Festival. Photo shows the British actor on the red carpet as he arrives for the international premier of his latest film “Star Trek Into Darkness” in London’s Leicester Square on May 2, 2013. Photo by ANDREW COWIE/AFP/Getty Images

The Toronto International Film Festival unveiled its guest list Tuesday and we all know TIFF is a star-studded affair, but this is nuts. Let’s start with the actors.

Here’s a (very) partial list of the thespians expected to swing by TIFF. Jennifer Aniston, Fanny Ardant, Jay Baruchel, Jennifer Beals, Annette Bening, Juliette Binoche, Pierce Brosnan, Sandra Bullock, Jessica Chastain, Toni Collette, Marion Cotillard, Benedict Cumberbatch, Michael Fassbender, Colin Firth, James Franco (who’s shooting the new Wim Wenders film Every Thing Will Be Fine in Montreal right now), Brendan Gleeson, Jake Gyllenhaal, Rebecca Hall, Emily Hampshire, Isabelle Huppert, Hugh Jackman, Scarlett Johansson, Nicole Kidman, Liam Neeson, Thandie Newton, Clive Owen, Gordon Pinsent, Alan Rickman, Julia Roberts, Saoirse Ronan, Lea Seydoux, Mary Walsh, Emily Watson, Olivia Wilde, Owen Wilson, Kate Winslet, and Reese Witherspoon.

Did I mention that’s just a partial list?



READ MORE HERE: http://blogs.montrealgazette.com/2013/08/20/one-or-two-stars-headed-to-toronto-international-film-festival/

Brendan Gleeson hoping US TV role is on The Money

HERALD IE.

EIMEAR RABBITTE – 16 AUGUST 2013 02:30 PM

HE has played everything from Irish gangster Martin Cahill to a moody wizard in Harry Potter.

Now, Irish actor Brendan Gleeson is hoping to weave his magic on the US silver screen. The Dubliner will play a power-hungry media mogul in his first attempt at an American TV series.

Gleeson (58) has been handpicked by top US production company HBO to lead the cast in their brand new pilot.

The In Bruges actor will play a greedy media chief in drama The Money, which comes from Deadwood creator David Milch.

Gleeson takes on the role of American patriarch James Castman who is trying to expand his media empire and control his family.

If commissioned for a full season, The Money will mark Gleeson's first US TV series.

The move comes after Gleeson impressed HBO with his portrayal of Winston Churchill in TV movie Into the Storm, for which he won an Emmy Award in 2009.

READ MORE: http://www.herald.ie/entertainment/around-town/gleeson-hoping-us-tv-role-is-on-the-money-29504456.html

HBO Gives Pilot Order to 'The Money' Starring Brendan Gleeson

THE WRAP
By Jethro Nededog

HBO has given a pilot order to "Deadwood" and "Luck" writer David Milch's "The Money" and it has found its leading man, TheWrap has learned.

Irish actor Brendan Gleeson will play James Castman in the one-hour drama pilot about wealth and corruption among the super elite. Castman, an American mogul and his family's patriarch, wields his power and influence to expand his media empire and control his family.

Gleeson's long list of film credits include "Troy," "Gangs of New York," and "Braveheart."

READ MORE HERE: http://www.thewrap.com/tv/article/brendan-gleeson-lands-lead-hbos-money-pilot-110451