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[BlackTree TV - Los Angeles] Brendan Gleeson on Sgt. Gerry Boyle
He's the last of the independents -- according to himself -- who has seen quite a lot of life, in the sense that not an awful lot has happened to him and he's had plenty of time to think about it. He's quite erudite and well-read. He listens to music and watches films, to quite a staggering degree, but you wouldn't know it from his general conversation, as he keeps it well hidden. He's a bit of a hard-bitten man, but as with a lot of cynics, there's an idealist hidden in there somewhere. His main flaws are that he's closed-up. He's a bit of a maverick and he does take the odd illegal substance -- just to try them out. He's quite stringent about integrity. He has a ferocious honesty and that does not allow him to consort with people who are fudging issues all over the place. But, at the same time, he's not a rigid stickler for the letter of the law, if it's nonsensical and not really in the human interest. He has no real time for it, which is a little bit of a disadvantage in a guardian of the peace. Or maybe not?
BRENDAN GLEESON (Sgt. Gerry Boyle), a Dublin-born former teacher, left the profession to
pursue a career in his first love, acting and joined the Irish theatre company Passion Machine.
He landed his first starring role in I Went Down, which was followed by his much acclaimed role
in John Boorman's The General. His performance gained him awards not only for Best Actor at
the 1998 Boston Society of Film Critics Awards and Best Actor at the 1998 ALFS, but also the
Best Actor award at the 1999 Irish Film & Television Awards.
Gleeson's rise to fame began when he appeared in Jim Sheridan's The Field, followed by a
number of small roles in such films as Far and Away and Into the West. He attracted the
attention of Hollywood when he starred as Hamish in the film Braveheart, alongside Mel
Gibson. Other notable screen credits include John Woo's Mission Impossible II, Steven
Spielberg's A.I. Artificial Intelligence; John Boorman's Tailor of Panama and Country of My
Skull; Danny Boyle's 28 Days Later; and Martin Scorsese's Gangs of New York.
Over the past few years Gleeson has become a household name after appearing in a number of successful films. His film credits include August Nicholson in M. Night Shyamalan's The Village; Cold Mountain directed by Anthony Minghella; Ridley Scott's Kingdom of Heaven;Breakfast on Pluto directed by Neil Jordan; Wolfgang Petersen's Troy; Black Irish directed by Brad Gann; Studs directed by Paul Mercier; Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire directed by Mike Newell; Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix directed by David Yates; John Boorman's The Tiger's Tail; and the motion capture Beowulf directed by Robert Zemeckis.
He also appeared in In Bruges in 2009, under the direction of Martin McDonagh, alongside Colin Farrell and Ralph Fiennes. It was nominated for a Golden Globe® and a BAFTA Award for his role. His recent credits include Perrier's Bounty, directed by Ian Fitzgibbon for Parallel Films and Green Zone, a Paul Greengrass film with Matt Damon. He also returned to the role of Professor 'Mad-Eye' Moody in the seventh installment of the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1. He also won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or Movie for his portrayal of Winston Churchill in HBO's Into the Storm directed by Thaddeus O'Sullivan. The film garnered fourteen Emmy nominations in total.
He's the last of the independents -- according to himself -- who has seen quite a lot of life, in the sense that not an awful lot has happened to him and he's had plenty of time to think about it. He's quite erudite and well-read. He listens to music and watches films, to quite a staggering degree, but you wouldn't know it from his general conversation, as he keeps it well hidden. He's a bit of a hard-bitten man, but as with a lot of cynics, there's an idealist hidden in there somewhere. His main flaws are that he's closed-up. He's a bit of a maverick and he does take the odd illegal substance -- just to try them out. He's quite stringent about integrity. He has a ferocious honesty and that does not allow him to consort with people who are fudging issues all over the place. But, at the same time, he's not a rigid stickler for the letter of the law, if it's nonsensical and not really in the human interest. He has no real time for it, which is a little bit of a disadvantage in a guardian of the peace. Or maybe not?
BRENDAN GLEESON (Sgt. Gerry Boyle), a Dublin-born former teacher, left the profession to
pursue a career in his first love, acting and joined the Irish theatre company Passion Machine.
He landed his first starring role in I Went Down, which was followed by his much acclaimed role
in John Boorman's The General. His performance gained him awards not only for Best Actor at
the 1998 Boston Society of Film Critics Awards and Best Actor at the 1998 ALFS, but also the
Best Actor award at the 1999 Irish Film & Television Awards.
Gleeson's rise to fame began when he appeared in Jim Sheridan's The Field, followed by a
number of small roles in such films as Far and Away and Into the West. He attracted the
attention of Hollywood when he starred as Hamish in the film Braveheart, alongside Mel
Gibson. Other notable screen credits include John Woo's Mission Impossible II, Steven
Spielberg's A.I. Artificial Intelligence; John Boorman's Tailor of Panama and Country of My
Skull; Danny Boyle's 28 Days Later; and Martin Scorsese's Gangs of New York.
Over the past few years Gleeson has become a household name after appearing in a number of successful films. His film credits include August Nicholson in M. Night Shyamalan's The Village; Cold Mountain directed by Anthony Minghella; Ridley Scott's Kingdom of Heaven;Breakfast on Pluto directed by Neil Jordan; Wolfgang Petersen's Troy; Black Irish directed by Brad Gann; Studs directed by Paul Mercier; Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire directed by Mike Newell; Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix directed by David Yates; John Boorman's The Tiger's Tail; and the motion capture Beowulf directed by Robert Zemeckis.
He also appeared in In Bruges in 2009, under the direction of Martin McDonagh, alongside Colin Farrell and Ralph Fiennes. It was nominated for a Golden Globe® and a BAFTA Award for his role. His recent credits include Perrier's Bounty, directed by Ian Fitzgibbon for Parallel Films and Green Zone, a Paul Greengrass film with Matt Damon. He also returned to the role of Professor 'Mad-Eye' Moody in the seventh installment of the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1. He also won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or Movie for his portrayal of Winston Churchill in HBO's Into the Storm directed by Thaddeus O'Sullivan. The film garnered fourteen Emmy nominations in total.