Regular readers at Byrneholics might be enlightened about all of the August happenings, but chances are you missed something. And before the recap of what transpired in the World of Byrne during August, here are a couple of items to note on your calendar for this Fall:

mill valley film festival

Special tribute to Costa-Gavras, October 4, Bay Area, California

No word yet that Gabriel Byrne will attend this event. It is great to see Capital being screened in the USA, though!

Each year, the Mill Valley Film Festival recognizes acclaimed filmmakers from around the globe. This year the festival is pleased to present famed Academy Award winning filmmaker Costa-Gavras with a special tribute.

The Tribute on 4 October will include an on-stage interview, plus screening of clips from his past work and the Bay Area Premiere of his latest film Capitalstarring Gabriel Byrne, Gad Elmaleh and Natacha Régnier.

In Capital, Oscar-winning legend Costa-Gavras explores a world of economic turmoil as a young CEO (Gad Elmaleh), set up to be a patsy figurehead, finds his survival instincts as he navigates his investment bank through the treacherous international waters of money, power, sex, and vengeance.

millvalleyfilmfest-2013

third annual gold coast international film festival

October 21 -27, Long Island, New York

The line-up of films has not been announced yet, but the Gold Coast International Film Festival reports that the Third Annual Festival will present new major films and indie films, along with talks and conversations:

Other highlights include conversations with Bruce Dern, Joan Allen, Gabriel Byrne, Celeste Holm, Eli Wallach, and Robert Klein, and informative panels with renowned filmmakers, producers, and industry experts.

You can check out the festival’s website and keep up with the schedule as they publish it.

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le temps de l’aventure/just a sigh

The DVD was released in France on August 10. Many Byrneholics have been able to see the film in Europe on the big screen. The rest of us are so happy to have the DVD, which is in French with French subtitles. Fortunately for non-French speakers, the dialogue involving Mr. Byrne and Emmanuelle Devos is in English!

This movie is a knock-out. Mr. Byrne is phenomenal as the professor and Emmanuelle Devos really captured Alix, the actress who finds him. Even though I did not know exactly what she was saying, I could follow Alix’s story thanks to the great skill of Ms. Devos. The two together “burn a hole in the screen,” as someone noted on Twitter when the film opened at the Tribeca Film Festival. They definitely melted my computer screen, I can attest to that!

Although it is full of spoilers and so you should be careful about reading it, I posted an essay on Gabriel Byrne’s work in this film, Le temps de l’aventure: The Doors of Heaven.

Once the English-subtitled version is available, I will review the entire film. In the meantime, you can purchase the French version (Region 2) at Amazon.fr online, which is, of course, how I got my hands on it. And there is a lovely interview with Gabriel Byrne included in the DVD extras.

justasigh-DVD-coverRead Byrneholics articles about Le temps de l’aventure/Just A Sigh

quirke

Still no air date for Quirke. Darn you, BBC! As soon as it is announced, you will see it here. Cannot. Wait. For. Quirke.

The Daily Mail is really happy Summer is over. In this article on the return of decent TV, they outline all of the new Fall TV shows and Quirke is on the list:

Quirke
(soon on BBC1)
Gabriel Byrne (The Usual Suspects, Ghost Ship) is on terrific form in an atmospheric three-part thriller set in Fifties Dublin, based on the books by Benjamin Black (pseudonym of John Banville).
Quirke is a hard-drinking, troubled pathologist who stirs up a hornet’s nest when he asks too many questions about a suspicious death.
Scripted by Andrew Davies (whose TV adaptations include Vanity Fair and Little Dorrit) and co-starring Michael Gambon and Geraldine Somerville, it’s a classy production.

Be sure to read the review of the Quirke Preview and Panel at the Edinburgh Festivals contributed by Al from GravesDiggers, the Rupert Graves fansite. She had the opportunity to attend the panel and she did a great write-up for us.

CriminalElement.com is a very useful place to learn about new mysteries in print and on the screen. In their review of the new Benjamin Black book, Holy Orders, they mention the new BBC series as well:

The Quirke novels have become so popular that BBC One has contracted to produce three feature length episodes based on the first three books of the series. And who, you ask, will play Quirke? None other than the magnificent Gabriel Byrne. I cannot wait to see Byrne as Quirke strutting around the streets of 1950s Dublin, heading to Baggot Street to visit Phoebe at work or cabbing to the Shelburne for afternoon tea. So I am begging now for PBS or BBC America to bring these films to American television as soon as possible.

In the meantime, you can settle in with a cuppa yourself and enjoy the time and place in the tightly woven story that is Holy Orders.

“The magnificent Gabriel Byrne.” We like the sound of that!

Read Byrneholics articles about Quirke

quirke-elegyforapril-promo

Thanks to Det. Logan for this new Quirke promo pic. Next up: James Bond? Oh yes. Perfect.

vampire academy

You can view the first teaser trailer and discover Gabriel standing behind bars, smiling, for about 2 seconds. At least we now know that he really is in this film! smile And more about the film is available at IMDB, of course. Vampire Academy currently has a MovieMeter ranking of 22. This might be the most popular film Mr. Byrne has made in a long time…ironic, but true.

There have been some interviews with director Mark Waters and writer Daniel Waters, but so far no one has mentioned Victor Dashkov, Gabriel’s role in the film. Very mysterious. The film is due out February 14, 2014.

One fan decided to take Victor Dashkov into her own hands. Wait. Well, you know what I mean. Here is a fan video, featuring Gabriel Byrne as Victor, by Lise Foket. She did a great job showing us just why he will be the perfect Victor in this film.

 Read Byrneholics articles about Vampire Academy

louder than bombs

As reported earlier, this new Joachim Trier film, set to begin shooting in September, has been indefinitely postponed. Although some outlets on the web, including IndieWire and Screen Daily,  are saying that it has been “scrapped” or “shelved,” the companies involved prefer to call its status “postponed.” If funding can be arranged, they report that the film will be made. Delays like this can have an impact on casting, so we shall see what happens. Stay tuned for more news and keep your fingers crossed. This was shaping up to be a wonderful film, with cast including Mr. Byrne, Isabelle Huppert, and Jesse Eisenberg.

ScreenDaily gives us an idea of how complicated the funding for this film is–it is really an international project:

Supported by $1.7m (NOK 13.3m) production funding from the Norwegian Film Institute, Louder than Bombs would be staged by Motlys with Denmark’s Nimbus Film, France’s Memento Films, Germany’s Majade Films and Albert Berger-Ron Yerxa from Boda Fide Productions (US). Memento handles French distribution and international sales.

IndieWire does capture our disappointment pretty well:

But, alas, it’s not to be, though Motlys [the Norwegian production company] is claiming that this project could still happen at some point (provided they can get the finances together). So consider us thoroughly bummed out, and hopefully this either gets revived fast or Trier has something else the background he can turn to — we don’t want to wait too long for this next movie. And if you haven’t seen his films, track them down — they are both very much worth watching. [Oslo, August 31 and Reprise]

Read Byrneholics articles about Louder Than Bombs

louderthanbombs-posting-20130827B

esquire: the stuff that made me

It is always fun when Gabriel Byrne shares what he is thinking with us. In this brief piece at Esquire UK , he tells us a bit about his current interests in film, TV, books, and music. I particularly like what he has to say about his current reading because I really enjoy John Banville’s Quirke books.

TELEVISION
Television is a writer’s medium first. I’ll always watch EastEnders when I’m in the UK. Yeah, it’s a soap opera and there’s not a great deal of time for dramatic subtleties and complexities, but it can be extremely well written and it can be wonderful to watch terrific actors do often very complex, emotional work. My favourite characters are Alfie Moon and that fantastic actress who worked in Fish Tank (2009), Kierston Wareing.

INTERNET
I tend not to read the official kind of newspapers; I prefer to go roundabout ways to get my information. I look for people whose work I have respected for many years, like reporter John Pilger and political thinker Noam Chomsky.

FILM
The first movie that really, for me, captured the possibility of imaginative cinema was Fellini’s Amarcord (1973), a beautiful film about memory, community, politics, childhood and humour. I always go to see what Clint Eastwood is up to because he’s a bare-bones film-maker, yet sometimes very profound. More recently, for light relief, I saw Oblivion. I fell asleep. It really was oblivion.

MUSIC
Bob Dylan is the master for me. His lyrics are beautiful poems and he’s managed to remain above politics and yet comment on American life in a way that’s accessible to everybody.

SPORT
I’ve been a Manchester United fan since I was 11, before they became a brand. My heroes were Johnny Giles and Tony Dunne, who I modelled myself on [as a full back]. I’ve lived in New York since 1987 but I’ve never got into baseball or basketball. I just don’t get it.

BOOKS
Most recently, I read James Salter’s new book, All That Is. A book from James Salter is a kind of publishing event but at 88, he’s lost none of his powers of observation or storytelling. I read John Banville’s Quirke books before I agreed to do the part [in the new BBC adaptation]. It’s Banville writing under the nom de plume Benjamin Black. They’re mysteries set in Fifties Dublin but the mystery takes second place to the characters.

The other great thing about this short article is the wonderful Charlie Gray photo:

Gabriel-Bryne-the-stuff-that-made-me-43

book reviews

Gabriel made good use of his summertime reading opportunities by publishing two book reviews in the Irish Times.

The first, his review of What Fresh Lunacy Is This?: The Authorised Biography of Oliver Reed, by Robert Sellers, appeared August 3. It’s a great review, based in large part on Mr. Byrne’s knowledge of Oliver Reed and the times in which Mr. Reed was living, and it caused a bit of a stir because of this observation about how the press treats famous people who suffer with substance abuse issues, alcoholism in particular:

As a society we must begin to view this deadly illness not with condemnation but with compassion, and cease criminalising or romanticising the suffering of the addict. Let’s stop the prurient and voyeuristic media reporting of their sad travails (Lindsey Lohan, Amanda Bynes, Paul Gascoigne).

I knew and drank with many famous “hellraisers”: Oliver, Richard Harris, Jon Finch, Richard Burton, George Scott, Sterling Hayden, Nicol Williamson, and many not so famous. All of them found the world as it is intolerable. They needed something more: the moon perhaps, something demented, as Camus says. But I’m convinced that all of them were half in love with easeful death itself – the soul a battleground, as in the story of Jekyll and Hyde, for the angel and the fiend.

The second, his review of the latest Roddy Doyle book, The Guts, was published August 10 and it is equally readable, though more reflective in tone:

The Guts is also a return visit to Barrytown, Jimmy Rabbitte jnr and other well-loved characters. Part of the novel’s charm is their familiarity, and our own nostalgia for their lives, as we encountered them all those years ago. We know they must have changed, yet we want to believe, illogically, that they haven’t, and that the past has remained as we remember it.

But the shadows of mortality are lengthening. The grim reaper whistles, biding his time. Death is becoming real.

Now you have two new titles to add to your TBR (To Be Read) List, yes?

bookreviews-August2013

cookbook

The Irish Independent reports Gabriel Byrne has provided his favorite recipe–chicken tagine with simmered apricots–to a new cookbook supporting a very worthy cause.

 Sixty of Ireland’s best-known celebrities have now combined to offer their favourite recipes for a charity cookbook to raise funds for the Irish Motor Neurone Disease Association (IMNDA).

The cookbook, entitled ‘Food for Hope’, will be launched by chef Neven Maguire and Newstalk’s Jonathan Healy in Cork on September 11.

The cookbook was the brainchild of Cork woman Katie Hallissey, whose father John died from the disease in 2010.

“We are extremely grateful that so many of our well-loved Irish celebrities, from all walks of life, have lent their support,” she told the Irish Independent.

I have to say that his chicken tagine sounds like a winner and more to my taste than Taoiseach Enda Kenny’s stir-fried pork fillets or even Maeve Binchy’s potato cakes with smoked mackerel although, since this was practically the last thing she did before her death, I would definitely give her recipe a try in honor of her culinary and literary memory.

You need a new cookbook to start off the Fall season, right? Go grab this one!

vacation in Ireland: Youghal and more

You made it all the way to the end of this posting? Allright! Here is your reward: some smiling Gabriel Byrnes, captured while vacationing in Ireland this summer and shared on Twitter and Facebook by these lucky folks!

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 gb-cashel-ireland-2013In Cashel, Ireland

 gb-trevornangle-youghal-ireland-20130802

You can read more about Trevor’s interaction with Gabriel at the Youghal Online website [The Youghal Online website is no longer available]. Mr. Nangle was very nice in sharing this story with us. And it is great to see Mr. Byrne relaxing a bit after, as my husband used to say, “working like a demon” for the past many months!

And that’s all the news for August. Seems like we were busier than ever at Byrneholics. No down time here. This is good. We are already geared up for Fall. Stay tuned for more news!

5 Comments

  1. Gabriel is really a busy man, working with so many things.
    I am glad he had time to spend in Ireland, he looks so relaxed on the Ireland photos.

  2. Andy Byrne

    Well, after so many months without appearing on the site, I decided to write a small note on Mr. Byrne: He’s really is too much!
    I have not seen the film Just the sight or Le Temps de L’aventure, but I know by the images that he came again to the apex of the interpretation which fascinates us every day.
    I was a bit sad by some of the attitudes of Mr Byrne, but I can not deny that as an actor he really is flawless!

    • Andy, thanks for dropping by. Some of us struggle with Mr. Byrne’s willingness to take on difficult subjects openly. Whether or not you agree with him, though, I hope you salute his candor and his desire to talk about these things. And of course everyone here would agree with your assessment of his work on screen. Just you wait until you see Just A Sigh. :-)

  3. Andy Byrne

    Stella, it is undeniable that I am fervently fan of Mr. Byrne, because it is hard not to be, isn’t it?
    I’m waiting for the Just A Sight release in Brazil and certainly see him on screen again is a time of joy, but also anxiety.
    I know that the movie is a romance, which makes us more and more in love with his character. So I guess I’m so excited.

    • Andy, you will love “Just A Sigh” because it is a lovely and warm film. It is a romance but it is even more–a real love story. We’ve waited a long time for Gabriel to do a film like this. He and his colleague, Emmanuelle Devos, make this story sublime. The director/writer, Jérôme Bonnell, has created a film that is both real and magical. I can’t wait for you to see it! Best to you in Brazil!

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