It didn’t take much for acclaimed actor Gabriel Byrne to accept the role of a widower with two sons in the 2016 film “Louder than Bombs.”
Norwegian director Joachim Trier had seen Byrne’s films, knew his capabilities and wrote the script with Byrne in mind.
About two years ago, they sat and discussed the film and the role of Gene, the father.
“I had seen (Trier’s) other two films, ‘Reprise’ and ‘Oslo, August 31,’ and I thought he was a really interesting young filmmaker,” Byrne said in a phone interview Wednesday. “He is a very kind of fastidious director, but within that, there’s a tremendous freedom.”
Byrne knew the role was an important one. He plays the father of sons who avoid talking about the subject of their mother’s suicide, and struggles to draw them out. The movie, released this year, was filmed last year in New York.
“The characters, in my opinion, in relation to this film, are subservient to the themes – themes of loss and grief and alienation which roam throughout the film,” Byrne said. “The idea of family and the ghost of their mother, in a way, kind of haunting all three of them. Those themes are very important. It was important that the character wasn’t a melodramatic, angry, sad person. Yes, he has grief, but he carries it, really, inside himself.”
It is with similar insight, intelligence and skill that Byrne has immersed himself in many roles for both stage and screen over the past four decades, earning him accolades and awards and a reputation worldwide as an artist whose acting abilities are wide-ranging.
Byrne, now 66, will be honored Friday with the 19th annual Mid-Life Achievement Award as part of the Maine International Film Festival in Waterville. He will receive the prestigious award after the 6:30 p.m. showing at the Waterville Opera House of one of his best-known films, “The Usual Suspects,” a 1995 movie directed by Bryan Singer that also starred Kevin Spacey.
“He makes it seem so effortless, and I think that’s true of a lot of the great actors in history,” said Ken Eisen, program director for the film festival and a founder of Railroad Square Cinema.
Other recipients of the award over the past 19 years include Sissy Spacek, Ed Harris, Glenn Close, Jonathan Demme, Keith Carradine, Peter Fonda, Terrence Malick, Jos Stelling, Walter Hill, John Turturro, Karen Black, Thelma Schoonmaker, Lili Taylor, Malcolm McDowell, Bud Cort and Arthur Penn.
Byrne said it is nice to be recognized and acknowledged for his work.
“I never thought I’d end up in America, making films, so for me, it’s a lovely honor to receive,” he said.
Being recognized by MIFF is especially touching for Byrne, who is a champion of independent films. He said it makes him happy, coming to MIFF and helping in some small way to help shine a light on independent film.
“For me, small film festivals and film festivals that have integrity are important because they bring people together and they provoke ideas, and they’re struggling, usually,” he said.
MANY FILMS, ROLES
On Thursday, Byrne’s film “Louder than Bombs” will be screened at 6:30 p.m. at Railroad Square Cinema. He will take part in a question-and-answer session afterward.
A native of Dublin, Ireland, Byrne came to the U.S. when he was 37. “Miller’s Crossing,” to be shown at 9:30 p.m. Friday at Railroad Square, was the first film he did in the U.S. The movie, released in 1990, is directed by brothers Ethan and Joel Coen.
“I was quite happy working in England and Ireland, in film and theater,” Byrne recalled. “I was over here visiting somebody and my agent said these two guys are making this film. They’d done a couple of ones before – ‘Blood Simple’ and ‘Raising Arizona.’ I hadn’t seen either picture. I went to meet with them and (actress) Marcia Gay Harden and we clicked together.”
In the film, Byrne plays Tom, right-hand man to a political boss played by Albert Finney. They both fall for the same woman, played by Harden.
“I enjoyed making it, for sure,” Byrne said of the movie. “They’re very disciplined filmmakers. Everything about the film was – to the last detail. I like to improvise in films if I can. There was nothing like that here.”
Being cast as criminal Dean Keaton in “The Usual Suspects” came about as a result of his role in “Miller’s Crossing,” Byrne said.
He heard about “The Usual Suspects” while attending a party in Los Angeles. Spacey, whom he did not know at the time, came up to him and told him about a script that the director and writer would love to get Byrne to read.
“I said, ‘OK, I’d be happy to,’ ” he recalled.
Byrne said after reading the script, he thought the film could be really awful or really great. It won the Academy Award for Best Writing (Original Screenplay), and Spacey won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. Plus the surprise ending created a buzz.
“The interesting thing about ‘Miller’s Crossing’ and ‘The Usual Suspects’ is that they are not dated,” he said.
People still approach Byrne to ask when they were made. Young people, particularly, tell each other about “The Usual Suspects,” so it has kept its life and has become somewhat of a cult film, he said.
“It’s so long ago since I made both those pictures, but the thing is, it’s always great when people find those things and they say, ‘I had no idea that film was out there.’ I love the process of discovery,” Byrne said.
He said a couple of incidents are etched in his mind, including one a couple of years ago when he was making a film in New York and a man asked if he could introduce a friend to him. “They came over and the guy was blind. The guy started quoting ‘The Usual Suspects’ from beginning to end,” Byrne said.
Surprised, Byrne asked him how he came to memorize so much of the movie. “He said it was the last film he saw before he went blind,” Byrne said. “You just never know what people’s relationship with film is.”
Another time, a man approached him to talk about one of Byrne’s films, “Into the West,” which he describes as a beautiful children’s movie.
“The man said, ‘I have a fondness for that film. My mother had dementia and I took her to that film because she was a fan of yours. She didn’t respond to it at all, but for two seconds she came out and pointed to the screen and said, ‘Gabriel.’ ”
INDEPENDENT AND COMMERCIAL
During his long career, Byrne has done both commercial and independent films, as well as live performances, including a revival of Eugene O’Neill’s “Long Day’s Journey into Night,” for which he was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Actor. From 2008 to 2011 he played the lead role of Dr. Paul Weston in the HBO television series “In Treatment,” for which he was nominated for an Emmy Award two years in a row.
Byrne recently completed the filming of “Mad to be Normal,” in which he plays 1960s revolutionary psychiatrist R.D. Laing. It is expected to be released next year.
Meanwhile, Byrne and his wife, Hannah Beth, who live in New York, look forward to coming to Waterville on Thursday.
“I’ve been to Maine several times,” he said. “I’m very fond of the place and it’s, physically, not a great leap from where I’m from in Ireland. It’s got the same turn of topography and terrain. At times, you look up and you could be in Ireland.
“It’s such a beautiful state to move through. We just take random journeys to various places and stay in bed-and-breakfasts.”