A Byrne Survivor: Gabriel Byrne

Gabriel Byrne cuts a very solemn figure, as he walks in to the Waldorf Astoria in Manhattan to talk to HQ. It’s just two weeks since he received the prestigious Emmy nomination for his role as the troubled psychotherapist Paul Weston, in the HBO series “In Treatment” and although naturally delighted with the nomination, he seems more preoccupied with the negative economic news from Ireland.

“ I just got in from Dublin last night,” he tells me. “I was over doing some work with the Irish Hospice Foundation and I’m so angry at the state of the health service and how many people are suffering because of it.”

He looks tired and pale and seems to have lost weight, but is mentally alert and agile.

Since moving the US over 30 years ago, carving out a considerable and distinguished film and television career here, he has actively sought a role as a cultural bridge between Ireland and the US. So, he is also troubled by the many proposed cuts to Ireland’s cultural bodies in the McCarthy report, including the abolition of the Irish Film Board and Culture Ireland. But he is wary of being drawn on the topic, sensitive that many people at home will be more concerned by cuts to health, education and welfare, that they will be to the arts.

“ Government funding of the arts is a complicated area and I don’t want to be seen to be advocating money for this field over that of areas like schools and hospitals,” is as much as he is prepared to say on the record.

But when asked to talk about his much praised interpretation of the complicated analyst on “In Treatment”, Byrne is an eloquent and thoughtful subject, eager to give detailed and considered answers to every question, and not reticent in drawing on his own life experience and mistakes.

“ When I started, I was a bit resistant of the whole notion of therapy. You know how in Europe, there’s this idea that therapy is some kind of New Agey American thing, even though it originated in Europe with Freud and Jung in the 19th century,” he says.

“ But now when I look over the narrative of my life, I begin to understand how deeply affected I was by my culture, my religion, my upbringing and by my immigration into this country.”

On paper, the notion of a tv show set in a therapists office with just two people interacting, listening and speaking, may not have sounded that promising, but Byrne infuses the show with his rich theatrical experience, making it compelling viewing.

“ To truly listen and be listened to is a form of prayer. What is it that makes one thing compelling to listen to and another thing boring? Therapists I’ve talked to have told me how listening to someone in real time really tests the therapist and I am aware that listening in a dramatic situation is a really different thing. But of course doing this kind of work as an actor, recording this show over five months does make you think about yourself. Not that I needed to any more introspective!” he laughs, lightening the mood briefly.

In spite of his great professional success in myriad movies such as the Cohn Brother’s “Millers Crossing” and “The Usual Suspects”, there is a haunted, melancholy quality to Gabriel Byrne. The divorced father of two teenage children which he had while married to Ellen Barkin, he seems to be in the midst of two worlds, straddling but not occupying either. He has recently spoken of his experience of clerical sexual abuse as a young boy in Dublin and it is as though at 52, he is taking stock of his life so far, with bitter-sweet feelings.

“ When you get to a certain age, you get to appreciate who your father and mother were, not just the bad things, but the good. I remember when my mother died and I was standing with my brother,, and my father had been dead five years and my brother, who’s 53 turned to me and said, “ we’re orphans now.”"

Being a parent has challenged him, but he mocks how his children, Jack Daniel (20) and Romy Marion (17) roll their eyes at him and say “whatever, Dad”

“ I think they think I’m a bit of an eejit, like all teenagers are entitled to think of their parents. I know it sounds corny, but they’ve taught me far more than I’ve taught them and I’ve learned an awful lot about myself by being a father. But I’m very proud to be their father. “

“ I wish I was further along the road of self-knowledge, but I’m trying. Surviving is a thing to be proud of. I’m still hopeful about life, about myself and I’m no longer seeking to be constantly happy, because I don’t believe in such a thing. I think it’s delusional.

“ I remember an interview with the director John Frankenheimer, where he said he had a better second half of his life than the first half, that he lived better. I’m kind of on that road and it’s about facing up to and accepting who you are. I’m not there 100%.

Gabriel Byrne has ploughed his own furrow, but has always been to be a generous and encouraging supporter of other Irish artists and film makers, showing up at screening and events and adding the heft of his Hollywood name to projects.

When he won the Golden Globe for his role in “In Treatment” earlier this year, he wasn’t able to be in LA for the event, because he had pneumonia. Jim Sheridan who was there was over the moon for him.

“ Gabriel is such a talent in his own right but he never misses a chance to help other artists, especially fellow Irishmen,” he said.