'She's a bit of a rascal': Irish actor Brian F O'Byrne on starring with Sigourney Weaver
Brian F O'Byrne and Sigourney Weaver, stars of My New York Year.
Screen legend Sigourney Weaver leads a powerhouse cast in My New York Year, an adaptation of Joanna Rakoff’s beloved memoir, My Salinger Year. Set in New York in 1996, it recounts one heady summer in the city when a wannabe writer is hired as an assistant to JD Salinger’s decidedly old-school literary agent. The movie will screen virtually as part of this year’s Virgin Media Dublin International Film Festival, which continues until March 14.
For actor Brían F O’Byrne, who himself spent decades of summers in the city, it was a story worth telling. “It's a beautiful memoir, it’s a great read, and was actually what drew me to come into the project because I lived in New York for over 20 years. I was there in the 90s. So even her references to bars in the East Village and the characters, I knew them all. I was running around the same time.”
Even though many of the interior scenes for the Irish/Canadian co-production were actually shot in Vancouver, it still feels like a New York story. This is partly because of the presence of native New Yorker Weaver as the sassy, curt Margaret, one of the most powerful literary agents in the city. O’Byrne was impressed with his experience of working with the Aliens star.
“She's very warm, and very witty, and very funny. She's a bit of a rascal. And so I like that about her, you know, because she can't help but be regal in so many ways. It's really interesting to see when you bump into people who've got such extraordinary careers, that you find them still working really hard in a scene and just trying to figure stuff out. She's fun to be around.”
The cast also includes rising Irish star Seána Kerslake, currently starring in RTÉ drama Smother.
O’Byrne spent 20 years living in New York as he established himself as an actor. An impressive stage career followed. The Cavan-born star got the first of five Tony Award nominations for his work on Martin McDonagh’s Beauty Queen of Leenane in 1996, and he won the Tony for Bryony Lavery’s Frozen in 2004. By then his screen career was also flourishing and his credits include Million Dollar Baby, Love/Hate and Little Boy Blue, which won him a BAFTA.
But after three decades in New York and LA, in 2018 he and his wife, fellow actor Heather Goldenhersh decided to move to the west of Ireland with their children. They’re loving their new home, he said. “We were in Los Angeles, and she doesn't like constant sunshine. She kind of likes grey, wet weather. And I was like: ‘Well, do I have the place for you!’ She didn't really want the kids to grow up in Los Angeles during teenage years.
“At the time, I'd come back a couple of times to work on Love/Hate. And I had noticed that Ireland had changed.
“It was no longer this homogenous society which would have been incredibly dull for me to witness. Certainly, it wasn't like the theocracy that I grew up in. The crews were nice, Ireland seemed pretty cool.”
The family had been considering a move within the US, when a summer holiday with family in Donegal convinced them to make the leap. Since then, they have embraced their new life.
“The jackdaws are nesting and the starlings are starting to nest and there's a rhythm of country life. In some ways the country life can lead you on to the next season. We are moving along, I know now I have to get out to the garden and start digging and I'll have to plant my seeds fairly soon.”
Though they have been many career highlights, the experience of working on Million Dollar Baby must have been a special one for O’Byrne. Clint Eastwood’s boxing drama won him best picture and best director Oscars as well as acting nods for Hilary Swank and Morgan Freeman. As Clint’s character Frankie’s confidante priest, the Irish actor shared all his scenes with the Hollywood icon.
Off a Broadway show for just a couple of days to film his scenes, O’Byrne never had the opportunity to meet Eastwood before his first day of filming. “I was wearing priest's gear and I'd gone through makeup and everything. In the back of my mind I thought I was going to meet him and he's gonna go: ‘Oh, shit. You're not the guy I wanted. I wanted this other guy’.
“But I met him and he was really nice, really down to earth. The first thing he said to me was: ‘I've got a bad reputation for only doing one take. That's not true, you can do as many as you want’.” Ever the professional, O’Byrne nevertheless remembers one scene where Clint’s character glared at his and thinking:
“‘Oh my god, Clint Eastwood has given me a dirty look’. He's such an iconic guy. He was very giving in the whole thing.”
- My New York Year screens as part of DIFF on Thursday, March 11 Because this year’s festival is taking place online and remotely, you can rent and view new Irish movies, world cinema and documentaries from anywhere in Ireland.
The Virgin Media Dublin International Film Festival, continues until Sunday, March 14th and upcoming titles drawing DIFF buzz include:
This year’s closing-night film is attracting strong early word of mouth and is the feature debut from writer/director Rachel Carey. The story centres on a group of inner-city Dublin hairdressers who become accidental vigilantes when their community comes under threat from a criminal gang. “I made this film because I’d felt for a long time that a Dublin comedy was well overdue - especially one that features the style, wit and occasional murderous urges of the Dublin young one,” said Carey of her film.
Generating a lot of buzz on the international festival circuit, this Greek black comedy is set during a pandemic that causes amnesia in the city of Athens. One man who is affected is offered the change to make a new identity for himself through a state-sponsored initiative. Director Christos Nikou previously worked as assistant director on Yorgos Lanthimos’s breakout film, Dogtooth.
Neurologist Phil Kennedy made history when he connected the brain of a paralysed man to a computer in the 1990s. But his research didn’t end there - in 2014, he agreed to have his own brain implanted to continue his work. This Irish documentary follows his experience.
Set in a housing project in Paris, Yuri is named after the first man in space, as is the area where he lives. When authorities reveal plans to demolish the project, Yuri is determined to save the place he calls home in this festival-circuit hit.
Naoki Higashida’s book about living with non-verbal autism was a bestseller. Now he and others with autism share their experiences of the condition in Jerry Rothwell’s documentary. The film won both audience and jury awards at Sundance.
