Joe Jackson’s article in the August 1 edition of the Sunday Independent takes us back to the Gabriel Byrne of 1988 and 1992, using interviews from the past to reflect on the Gabriel Byrne of today.

What is most fascinating about these interviews is the thematic thread that runs through them like a line of dark silk: the personal struggle to achieve artistically, to overcome insecurities and depression, and to become whole.

For those of us who only know the Gabriel Byrne of today, through the documentary Stories From Home or his interviews with Gay Byrne and others about his experiences growing up in Ireland, this article can be startling. Mr. Byrne has been telling us about his life, sharing his life, for a long time:

“Ten years ago I was in Dublin devoid of hope,” he muses. “Now, you and I are sitting in Beverly Hills doing this interview . . . and that to me is an indication that dreams, ambitions . . . can be realised. If someone is reading this, as I used to read interviews, I want them to say, ‘He did it, so can I’, whatever they are reaching for, tell them go for it. If you and I can get that ray of hope across to even one individual, that makes this whole exercise worthwhile. I used to do interviews where they’d ask mindless, tedious questions but now I realise that, like here today, we can . . . hopefully communicate something of worth, and importance, to somebody out there.”

Gabriel Byrne was inspirational then, and he continues to inspire today. Thanks, Joe, for the reminder.

Read the entire article, visit the Joe Jackson Journalist website, where you can pick up a PDF of the interview, and talk to Joe at his Facebook page. Some fans have rather severe opinions about Joe’s article on Mr. Byrne. Others think that it is refreshing to read an interview in which direct questions are asked and answered honestly and articulately.

What do you think?

I told you I’ve been talking about this stuff for a long time!

Well, he is making In Treatment, we know, but he is also busy doing a lot of other very interesting stuff!

Item 1: The PRNewswire (and lots of other sources now) reports:

LOS ANGELES, July 26 /PRNewswire/ — OWN: THE OPRAH WINFREY NETWORK is producing five OWN original two-hour documentaries with Julia Roberts, Forest Whitaker, Goldie Hawn, Gabriel Byrne and Mariel Hemingway, OWN announced today.

The films will be presented as part of OWN’s monthly documentary film club, along with the original acquisitions LIFE 2.0 and SONS OF PERDITION.  The documentary club will spotlight these films and the previously announced FAMILY AFFAIR, focusing on cinematic documentaries that encourage emerging creative voices to bring their stories to a mainstream television audience on OWN.

—

Executive producers Gabriel Byrne and Leora Rosenberg, producer/director Steven Cantor and Stick Figure Productions present TENT CITY, a documentary exploring homelessness in Nashville, Tenn.  With the economic recession, a growing number of people are finding themselves in a position they never imagined, homeless.  TENT CITY  explores a community of nearly 100 homeless individuals who live under a downtown bridge.  The group is self-sustained and self-governed.  They work to stay together after a devastating flood destroys their land and forces them to evacuate.  As a result of the disaster, for the first time in Nashville history, the municipally run Homeless Commission has opened one seat on its council to a resident of Tent City.  This opportunity will allow the winning Tent City individual the chance to spearhead the search for a new location.  TENT CITY will follow the four candidates as they vie for election and the process of moving the camp and keeping the community together.  “Shelter and home are the most basic human and fundamental human rights, yet increasingly in one of the world’s wealthiest societies, more and more of us are losing our homes.  How we address this social epidemic may very well determine our future.  This isn’t an abstract concept but a reality millions of Americans confront every day.  Our sons, our daughters, our fathers and mothers are the homeless,” says executive producer Gabriel Byrne.

Apologies for the incredibly long quote from the original story, but this news just had to be shared in its entirety! Kudos to Mr. Byrne for his commitment to independent and documentary film and his always keen interest in shedding light on “the human condition,” here in the United States and away in Ireland. It will be interesting to see how Oprah’s new network develops.

Gabriel Byrne: Actor/Producer/Writer/Activist. Oh, and Blogger!

Item 2: Gabriel Byrne is an official Huffington Post blogger. How cool is that!? For his first foray into the blogosphere, he has provided a review of the new book by Sam Kashner and Nancy Shoenberg, Furious Love: Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, and the Marriage of the Century.

A shorter quote this time, about the young Richard Burton on his way up:

He left soon after, in a third class carriage to join the Royal Air Force (the war had come), and then Oxford, and later The Old Vic Theater. He returned a film star in a red sports car earning more in a week than his father did in his life. He was cock of the walk, young and easy, lauded and honored, a prince of the apple towns. Drink flowed, and those sky blue days, and he wooed whomever he would with his wicked eye, and all the girls fell nine pins down, in the words of Dylan Thomas.

There was rugby, and parties and Hamlet and Winston Churchill who came back stage at interval. “May I use your lavatory my Lord Hamlet?” growled the old bulldog. But even then, Burton was beginning to question who he was.

This review actually sets the stage for the book. It is part first-hand reminiscence, part well-known Burton/Taylor history told through an Irishman’s eyes. And it is beautifully written.

Detail from the cover of Furious Love

Read the entire blog posting and a bit about the newbie blogger. You can even subscribe to his RSS feed!

The book is available at Amazon.com, of course.

Byrneholics everywhere are waiting patiently for the next installment of Mr. Byrne’s autobiography and we are wondering if perhaps we are seeing a tiny taste of it here…

Volunteers Needed for festival!! No need to BUY your tickets – just come help us out!   Film series at Tribeca Cinemas, March 11 – 13. We need Will Call peeps, money takers, and general chaos police. You are welcome to watch the film and attend the after-party on the night you help out. 21 + please ♥

26 March 2010, Somerville Theater, Boston
7.30 pm – With his ever charming presence, our busy Irishman once again graces the screening of “Stories From Home,” this time at the Irish Film Festival in Boston. A reception open to the public will follow at Orleans, Davis Square at 9 pm.

20 April 2010, Alice Tully Hall, Starr Theater, New York
6.30 pm – Back in New York, Gabriel Byrne is a special guest reader at the “Poetry & The Creative Mind Gala” at the Lincoln Center. This event, promoted by the Academy of American Poets, celebrates contemporary poetry in American culture and and kicks off National Poetry Month. Other special guests for 2010 include Meryl Streep, Jhumpa Lahiri, Matt Dillon, Alan Cumming, Rosanne Cash and Frank Bidart. Tickets can be purchased from Lincoln Center’s website. Thanks to Lozzie for the alert on this!

We also received an update on “At Swim-Two-Birds” via Colin Farrell, in a recent interview for the Irish Times:

“You’d be terrified to say it will definitely happen,” he says. “It’s very hard for films that don’t have special effects and have a literary core. Few films have more of a literary core than this. We tried to get it made in March, but the money wasn’t there. So, we’re hoping to get it together in the summer.”

Last but not least, some good news as “I, Anna” moves forward into pre-production status! Screen International at Berlin, February 14, 2010 has a nice blurb about the film, noting that it is the debut feature of Barnaby Southcombe, Charlotte Rampling’s son, and that Gabriel Byrne has also signed up to the project, which is the first from Southcombe and producer Felix Vossen’s London-based production company Embargo Films.

“Now you might expect that getting your mom to work on your first project would be an easy thing to accomplish, but Barnaby says no. “It is a risky proposition for her. She had no idea I was planning this. I just sent her the screenplay and luckily it really spoke to her.”

Lucky for us, too!

—

I’m Ready to Become a Shrink Now

The Non-Participant Observer offers “What Was Paul Thinking? Being a Psychoanalyst in the Real World presented by the Manhattan Institute for Psychoanalysis.” This is actually a blurb for a mini-course offered by the Manhattan Institute for Psychoanalysis, on Thursday evenings in April. There are four different speakers/instructors and the syllabus includes the first two Alex episodes from Season 1 of “In Treatment.” The first session asks these questions:

“How do I assess our new patient? How do I listen to Alex to take in
information on many levels? How do I engage him? How do I teach him to
“be” a patient? What makes a therapeutic relationship analytic?”

More information about this educational opportunity is here.

I’m Ready to Return to School Now

Pop Culture at San Diego State University, a blog for a psychology course, looks at “Therapy,” and uses In Treatment as its prism.

“The award winning HBO series, In Treatment, provides us with an in-depth look at many of the discourses about therapy/therapists used in popular culture. We see representations of clients with “deep” issues, struggling to communicate and understand their problems, and a therapist, who is able to “see through” his clients facades and help them identify those secrets of which they themselves have been wholly unaware (until he tells them). We see discourses that reinforce the ethical challenges faced by therapists and we see discourses that represent therapists as having their own problems.”

The exercises for class include watching all of the recaps from Season 1 on YouTube.

I’m Ready to Age Gracefully Now

At the Plasma Pool, there is a tribute to Dianne Wiest. Actually, to Dianne Wiest’s Old Face. Kevin Hilke waxes rhapsodic:

“Her enigmatic expressions initially offend Paul, whose history with Gina predisposes him to read any ambiguity in her mien as perfunctorily negative. Not sharing this pervading bias, we enjoy the virtuosic, Emmy-winning face of this gorgeous old lady whose allure and gravitas make me want to ask her to run for president.”

Read the entire rhapsody.

I’m Ready to Feel Guilty Now

FlixChatter decided to feature some films with Leonardo DiCaprio in honor of his new movie, Shutter Island. So, “The Man in the Iron Mask,” with King Leo as King Louis + his brother, was chosen as a guilty pleasure and guess what? The blog’s author, Ruth, fell for Gabriel Byrne instead!

“I gotta admit I saw this movie because of (Leo) Jack Dawson (like most girls I too fell under his spell, just briefly though, I find him too boyish looking now). But in this flick, I totally fell for Gabriel Byrne as the dashing and regal D’Artagnan. Though billed as a DiCaprio movie due to his massive popularity, Byrne’s the heart & soul of the movie, his performance as the conflicted man carrying a pivotal secret is absolutely terrific, he brings a surprising depth to this archetypal character.”

I’m Ready to Suh-WOON Now

Over at Let’s Talk Hair & Movies, the talk has moved to books and paintings and Gabriel Byrne’s apartment:

“Our cozy apartment walls are in danger of becoming massively crowded with artwork but you know, (almost) all of it is meaningful. I remember seeing a magazine photo of Gabriel Byrne’s NY apartment once, and holy shnikey, it’s floor to ceiling paintings and books. What’s good for my Ole Faithful celebrity crush should be good enough for me, right? I should say. Fuggedabout the fact that my whole apartment would probably fit in his guest bathroom. It’s all about scale, which is why I always buy my furniture at the Little People Shop.”

Check out the artwork too. This girl has a knack with black markers!

Barnaby Southcombe’s “I, Anna” shot to the top of the list at the EFM’s Co-Production Market this year.

The noir thriller, which has Charlotte Rampling and Gabriel Byrne attached, is being produced by Southcombe and Felix Vossen’s Embargo Films in London, and Paris-based Arsam Intl. The London-set pic follows a female murder suspect who falls for the detective in charge of the investigation.

Southcombe and Vossen logged some 80 meetings for the title, making it the project that attracted the most attention during the 2 1/2 days of the Co-Production Market, which ran Sunday-Tuesday.

“The response was overwhelmingly positive to the material and the cast that we presented,” Southcombe said, describing the Co-Production Market as “the Rolls Royce of these kinds of markets. It’s a super well-oiled machine.”

Read the entire article here. You may have to register, but it is free.

Well, we have been longing for an appropriate romance for our MH and now perhaps this is it. Romance. Noir. Thriller. Charlotte Rampling (one of my favorites of all time).

Yes!

These gems also deserve attention. With the new site’s capabilities, we will be bringing them out for a spin now and then in the new Press Archive page.

The first article to be showcased is this picture spread from the September 1990 issue of GQ, provided by the incomparable CorFidele, who apparently has an endless supply of these goodies.

Here you will find Gabriel Byrne at his most playful, handsome, and apparently having a great time. The bike pic is a classic. Oh, no. I feel a wallpaper may be in order!

Enjoy this and keep your eyes peeled for more!

“Paul Weston (Gabriel Byrne) is the therapist, who like many of his real-life peers, struggles to keep his professional distance from patients dead set on blurring the boundaries of the doctor-patient relationship. Feats of thespian derring-do come faster than you have time to process them all, as the patients lunge and Paul ripostes. For those who live in a town without a robust theater scene, In Treatment is the closest thing to a spectacular off-Broadway play starring name actors.”

Thespian derring-do indeed! Congratulations to In Treatment and to Gabriel Byrne for this recognition.

Read the rest here, watch the recap video, check out the other lists on the site (books, movies, etc.), and revel in all the good stuff from the past as we move on to the next decade.

Oh, and boo the Golden Globes while you are at it. Good grief. Mr. Byrne is going to have to be happy with the one he already has, I suppose….

UPDATE: Lara notes in the comments to this posting that others are acknowledging the “millennium-defining” series as well, including the UK Telegraph and the San Diego Union-Tribune. I note that Entertainment Weekly does not have much to say about In Treatment in its year-end review. My subscription to EW is up for renewal. Hmmm. What shall I do?

Here is the  Official HBO press release (with my comments following):

For Immediate Release

HBO RENEWS CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED DRAMA SERIES IN TREATMENT FOR THIRD SEASON, WITH PRODUCTION TO START IN NEW YORK NEXT YEAR; GABRIEL BYRNE STARS

LOS ANGELES, Oct. 23, 2009 – HBO has renewed the Emmy®-winning half-hour drama series IN TREATMENT, which will begin production on its third season in New York in early 2010, with debut scheduled for later in the year, it was announced today by Michael Lombardo, president, Programming Group and West Coast Operations, HBO.

“IN TREATMENT is synonymous with inspired writing and brilliant acting,” noted Lombardo. “This is the kind of show that could only flourish on HBO, and we’re proud to bring it back.”

Gabriel Byrne (Emmy® nominee and Golden Globe winner for Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Drama) stars in the series as Dr. Paul Weston, with additional cast members to be announced as they are confirmed.

The second season of IN TREATMENT inspired resounding critical praise, with the New York Times hailing the show for “powerful acting and well-wrought dialogue,” while the Los Angeles Times said the “well-drawn and compelling performances are uniformly terrific.” The Chicago Sun-Times called the series “fascinating” and Newsday termed it a “fine and absorbing show.”

Joining the show as executive producers are Anya Epstein (HBO’s “Tell Me You Love Me”) and Danny Futterman (“Capote”). Returning executive producers on the show include Stephen Levinson, Mark Wahlberg and Hagai Levi. It is expected that Paris Barclay will return as an executive producer/director.

IN TREATMENT is produced by HBO Entertainment; executive producers, Stephen Levinson, Mark Wahlberg, Hagai Levi, Anya Epstein and Danny Futterman; co-executive producers, Noa Tishby and Gabriel Byrne; producer, Sarah Lum.

IN TREATMENT is produced by HBO Entertainment in association with Leverage, Closest to the Hole Productions and Sheleg.

OK. What we need to pay attention to here:

1. Anya Epstein and Dan Futterman are related; in fact, they are husband-and-wife. Mr. Futterman was nominated for an Oscar for his screenplay of “Capote.” He is a well-known actor as well, of course. Ms. Epstein, in addition to her work on “Tell Me You Love Me,” also served in various capacities on “Homicide: Life on the Streets,” one of my favorite shows.

2. Most of the articles announcing the renewal indicate that the show will start production again after the New Year, in NYC, and will pop up on our television sets probably in Q3 or Q4 of 2010.

3. Gabriel Byrne is now listed as a co-executive producer. Wahoo!!

4. Dianne Wiest may return, despite the ending of Season Two.

5. No word on the writers yet. Let’s hope Sarah Treem returns!

6. Casting for the supporting roles will begin soon.

Check out these reports for more information:

Chicago Tribune

Alan Sepinwall’s blog

The Hollywood Reporter

Variety

Cheers, everyone! Support from fans here and elsewhere has been loyal and steadfast and I’m tempted to think our collective wishful thinking had an impact. Who knows? What we do know is: In Treatment is coming back for Season Three! And now we couldn’t be happier…

“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 [be] any more introspective!” he laughs, lightening the mood briefly.

The last bit about John Frankenheimer is priceless. Enjoy!

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