Interview Domhnall Gleeson
Irish guys are made about our mums but I’d take mine over any other. She’s the business
SUCCESS, though not fame, really becomes Domhnall Gleeson. The 34-year-old Dubliner, who is booking bigger and bigger movie roles every year, working with the most famous names in the industry, was a reluctant actor at the beginning of his career.
The not inconsiderable shadow cast by his father Brendan was only one factor that made him hesitate about embarking on a career as uncertain and full of rejection as acting
A graduate of DIT where he studied Media, Domhnall was always more drawn to writing than to being in front of the camera. But gradually he began responding to the proverbial smell of the greasepaint and roar of the crowd.
Less intense and considerably more relaxed in interviews these days than he used to be, it seems that Domhnall has finally found his groove and embraced the profession which he has most decidedly made his own.
‘Being well known in public is still not my favourite thing, but I understand how it goes and I want to work. And thankfully I’m getting to work with some of the best people in the world, whom I love and who are my heroes and there’s always going to be a price for that,’ he tells me at the Langham Hotel in London last week. People are generally nice, so you say “ok, if this means I get to meet Darren Aronofsky and act in one of his movies, then I’m happy to do that.’
He’s starring in three huge movies which are out between now and the end of this year: Aronofsky’s Mother!, Goodbye Christopher Robin, which sees him reteaming with Simon Curtis, and The Last Jedi, some of which has been filmed in Kerry.
It’s a formidable resumé he has, growing more so every year since Harry Potter in 2010. It was on this franchise where he first worked publicly with his father, of whom he could not be more loving or proud. He opens up today to talk about his close family like never before, as though realising that all the success he is enjoying now is the product of coming from such a united and creative family.
‘I’m lucky that my father is a complicated, amazing man. He’s just the best dad in the world, so all of my memories of being a child are closely wound up with him. I really didn’t start acting until I was about 19 and I wasn’t out in the world as an actor until I was 22.
‘The first time I experienced fame was as a teenager, out with my father and seeing how people reacted to him differently. And I remember being very protective of him. When we would go out people would come up to him looking for autographs – it wasn’t pictures in those days – and everybody wanted a word, even though we’d be trying to have a family dinner.
‘I used to notice myself and my three brothers angling around him to try to keep him guarded from the points of view of other people, because he’s your dad first, before he’s an actor that people know.
‘It was weird. I was coming at it from the point of view [of just] a teenager. I’ve been the one saying “leave him alone! He’s ours!” And of course, I’ve experienced a little bit of that myself because of Star Wars and Harry Potter. You want your time to be your own, but it’s part of the deal you make I suppose. Thinking about it, for a child, is terrifying.’
It was reading Martin McDonagh that made him rethink becoming an actor and which eventually resulted in him winning a Tony award for The Lieutenant of Inishmore’.
‘I resisted it a certain amount, just because my father was my father and you want to plough your own furrow, you want to do your own thing and I was also scared of not being able to make a living in a profession where there are so few guarantees.
‘But then reading Martin McDonagh’s script felt like it would be worth anything to be able to say those lines,’ he says.
‘My brother Brian always seemed like he would be more naturally drawn to acting. He’s always been fantastic and he’s on at the West End right now, doing brilliant work. I felt like I was more drawn to writing and directing.’
Of course not everyone in the Gleeson household is an actor. Mary Gleeson is a social worker and the rock around which her four sons and husband revolve.
‘My mother is every bit as important to our family as my father. Both of them are fantastic parents. Keeping a family together is pretty artistic too and takes a lot of creativity, I would think. My mom’s just a brilliant woman. She’s her own person — there’s no way to describe her quickly. She’s amazing. I couldn’t have a better mum.
‘You know Irish guys and their mothers is a thing – we’re all mad about our mums, but I’d take mine over any other one. She’s the business, and very supportive and realistic at the same time. It’s a good combination and I love that. But when it comes to acting, we don’t talk about it all the time at the dinner table, because she would get annoyed.
‘In a way, we all manage the family collectively, because if something matters, you have to be careful with it, so everybody plays their part. But certainly mum keeps things together as everyone else flies away.
‘My dad was away for five months doing Mr. Mercedes, Brian is over here on the West End and two of my brothers were living in Canada for a while, and I was here in London for a good bit. So at times, it’s just her and Seámus, the cocker spaniel.’
The work Domhnall has chosen is diverse to say the very least. From Anna Karenina to The Revenant, from Never Let Me Go to About Time to Ex Machina, he has shown a unique range that seems rare by any acting standards.
Oscar-winning directors from the Coen Brothers to JJ Abrams sing his praises and the seriousness and preparedness he brings to each set. I’ve never heard a negative word about his work ethic or focus.
‘I think you want to be a bit scared of the work in a sense to do it jus-