Denver Post Interview / Brendan Gleeson / 04.02.08 (fun read!)

I know this blog is also visited by people who are specifically a fan of one of the three main actors, but I advise all fans to read this interview because it's fun. I've been waiting to find a Brendan-only interview, and this one is great. He also mentions the others so it's very quotable.

FYI I've printed the first part of the interview in a font that you can barely read on this lay-out, because it's a big fat ugly spoiler!! Watch out! You don't need to read it to get the rest of the interview. I've also added a tiny comment of my own in a different colour that is random and personal and probably completely useless, but I had to mention it anyway - mind this if you plan on copying-pasting the interview!

Source: Denver Post

What happens in Bruges stays in Bruges — unless Brendan Gleeson is around.

The Irish actor and veteran storyteller has no qualms about revealing backstage tales and plot points of "In Bruges," which opens nationwide Friday. He and Colin Farrell play hired killers cooling their heels in the picturesque Belgian town.

!!! "In one scene I'm shot in the leg and then shot in the neck," he said cheerfully. "In most movies, when someone is shot in the leg, they're usually still running down a street and hopping on a horse. They're dancing in the streets. In this film, you feel the bullet wounds. They weaken a man's resolve."  !!!

In this scene, Ralph Fiennes practically had to carry the beefy Gleeson down a steep staircase atop a historic tower amid blistering gunfire.

"We were struggling down those rocky stairs," Gleeson recalled, "and I didn't give poor Ralph an easy ride. I'm a large guy, leaning my full body weight on him. But Ralph didn't mind, just grunted a bit and got on with it.

"That's acting — you just get on with it, no matter what."

There is particular interest in Gleeson these days because of two high-profile roles in 2007: Wiglaf in "Beowulf" and Alastor "Mad Eye" Moody in "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix."

In "Bruges" he is Ken, an aging hitman who, with his younger partner Ray (Farrell), is ordered by their boss, Harry (Fiennes), to hole up in Belgium after a high-profile job brings heat down on them. The two men spend their time arguing about work, life and the meaning of it all until Harry calls with a new assignment for Ken: Kill Ray, who's too much of a loose cannon to be trusted.

"I do love this movie because of the irony, which is life," Gleeson said. "You must remember that these men kill people for a living, but you still like them and want to spend time with them.

"Then I'm given a job to kill my young partner," he continued, "and this is a crucial moment in my character's life. I play a man who is certainly capable of killing — he's cold about it — but he doesn't want to kill his younger mate. . . . He feels compassion for this younger man and suddenly wants to save a life and not end it."

The film becomes a blood bath, and Gleeson admits to having had some worries when he first read the script.

"You have to be careful about pushing the envelope into places that are flippant with violence," he said. "Love is at the center of this story and not bloodshed. Yes, these men do grotesque things. But I can't remember hating any of these characters."

Call it truth in advertising: "In Bruges" was, in fact, filmed in Bruges.

"It's a very charming place," Gleeson said, "and a ready-made movie set. You don't even have to bother to dress this place up — plus it looks extraordinary at night, with all of the lights and charm of an old-world setting."

Gleeson says his low profile in years past has changed with recent projects.

"I do get recognized from 'Harry Potter' all the time," Gleeson said. "But I can get away with what I call 'my Harry Potter thing' because I play this one-eyed man in those films. I don't bring my trick eye out with me when I'm walking around.

an endless huge "thank you" to Brendan for providing and signing a Mad Eye Moody pic for my niece during the filming in Bruges

"When the movies first came out," he said, "it was the parents who would recognize me and haul their poor children over. I'm this middle-aged person with no magic at all. No eye. All of these children were inevitably disappointed."

Gleeson will be back for another go-round as Moody, if J.K. Rowling's books are any guide.

"I signed on for one 'Harry Potter' film and didn't expect a follow-up," Gleeson said. "The glory of it is that there are so many secrets involved with who is coming back and not. People on the set keep it close to the chest. But I can say that they want me to be around for the finale."

If they do, Gleeson will be happy to oblige them. "I love that this is a movie where the producers and directors really did look after the child stars," he said. "When I got the job with these kids, I wondered if I could put up with brat-ism. . . . I was a teacher for 10 years, so I have no tolerance for brats. No precocious movie kids for me. It wasn't remotely that way."

Former high school teacher

A native of Dublin, Gleeson performed with the Dublin Shakespeare Festival as a teenager and later graduated from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London. But while his classmates began auditioning, Gleeson took another path, working as a high school mathematics, English and drama teacher. He didn't become a full-time actor until he was 34, when he made his film debut as a quarryman in "The Field" (1990).

"I started acting when I was young," he said. "I just never thought about doing it full time. I thought that was some other world for other people.

"Eventually, when I did take the plunge more into acting, it was difficult to do it part time while teaching," he said. "I needed to be fully committed. The joy was, I got a second life after I jumped in with both feet."

Gleeson parleyed his Irish charm and burly physique into a series of character roles in such films as "Far and Away" (1992), "Into the West" (1992), "Braveheart" (1995), "The General" (1998), "Mission: Impossible II" (2000), "Artificial Intelligence: AI" (2001), "Gangs of New York" (2002), "Troy" (2004) and "Kingdom of Heaven" (2005).

The one that sticks with him, he says, was playing William Wallace's right-hand man, Hamish Campbell, in Mel Gibson's Oscar-winning "Braveheart."

"I will never forget shooting 'Braveheart' in Ireland," the actor said. "I'd walk over a hill in the morning and see 1,500 guys standing there ready for battle. I felt as if I was really part of something special in my own homeland."

Gleeson, who lives in Ireland with his wife, Mary, and their four sons, will play Winston Churchill in the upcoming HBO film "Churchill at War" due this year. It's a look at the former British prime minister's life at the end of World War II.

"I'm happy to say that one is in the can," he said. "It was a pretty extraordinary leap to play Churchill, and quite frightening in many ways. How it will turn out, I don't know. It has some good noise, and perhaps there will also be a theatrical release."