1.  In IT3 news, Gabriel Byrne was spotted in Park Slope, a neighborhood in Brooklyn, late last week as filming for Season Three of In Treatment continues. Twitter was all a-twitter about it!

they’re filming “in treatment” in park slope right now and using GIANT lights to make the street look like daytime or late afternoon. crazy.
about 2 hours ago via web

around the corner from my house- wish i lived on this block instead RT @chickfoxgrover Shooting “In Treatment” http://yfrog.com/5ix3sgj
about 2 hours ago via web

“In Treatment’ is shooting on our block tonight. I guess our street looks like a shrink’s office.
about 3 hours ago via Twitter for iPhone

Just spotted Gabriel Byrne heading to set for In Treatment in Park Slope!
about 5 hours ago via Twitter for BlackBerry

Now In Treatment filming on my st. Maybe Gabriel Byrne will hold the door 4 me?
about 6 hours ago via txt

Thanks to Kris (USA) for providing the Twitter record!

We are desperate for Season 3 pics, aren’t we?

2. Actor Musto Pelinkovicci recently appeared in an episode of Season Three of In Treatment. He has provided several comments here at Byrneholics and we really appreciate his enthusiasm for the show and for Mr. Byrne! It is very kind of him to share his experience with us. You can read his comments at this posting.

3. Now Hear This! HBO will begin showing In Treatment Season 1 via On Demand on September 7. And HBO Signature will offer In Treatment Season 2 starting on September 16. That is all. Heck, that is enough!

4. Just in case it may have slipped your mind (not likely!), the DVD for Season 2 of In Treatment will hit the streets in the US on October 12.

Need to catch up before Season 3 begins? Here is your chance! HBO is devilish, we know.

5. Mick Lally, an actor beloved by Ireland, passed away unexpectedly this week. His death brought an outpouring of praise, appreciation, and recollection from friends and colleagues near and far. Gabriel Byrne called into the RTE One Radio show today to share his thoughts. We don’t have that for you, but we do have the sonnet he read in honor of his friend, with whom he worked in the early days, in Bracken.

The sonnet

The text of Shakespeare’s Sonnet #30 includes a line put to good use by another famous writer (it is the title of his semi-autobiographical–and long!–novel).

Mick Lally inspired many. Read more about him in one of the recent tributes published in the Irish press.

Mick Lally, actor
1945 – 2010

First, there is a lot of snow. A great deal of snow. Snow on the ground. In the air. Everywhere. And there is ice. And cold water. And icebergs. And even full-blown, life-sized glaciers. If the weather is warm where you are at the moment, it will FEEL much, much colder once the opening scene rolls by, so grab a blanket and some hot chocolate.

Secondly, it is based on Peter Hoeg’s much-admired book of the same name and there was simply no way, it turns out, to translate that highly detailed and strenuously philosophical work to the screen. But everyone tried anyway. And so we have this lovely, intricate, tonally haphazard, messily plotted, gorgeously photographed, and scrumptiously acted film, for which we thank all involved. Even if it is a bit of a failed effort, there is so much to appreciate and adore in this movie that forgiveness is easy.

About Gabriel Byrne’s role as the Mechanic, the mysterious neighbor who becomes Smilla’s knight errant in detection, Ann Biderman, the screenwriter, explains:

I was concerned that the poetic autism he had in the book, evidenced by his dyslexia and stuttering, would not come across on film, and then came to realize that although he had no great verbal acuity, a kind of dignity and gravitas would see him through.

She is correct. The gravitas that Gabriel Byrne captures for the enigmatic role of the Mechanic gently radiates through each scene. We do not trust the Mechanic much. Nor does Smilla. We do listen to him, though, with his solemn voice and his habit of beginning each sentence, as though he must have a touchstone, with the word “Smilla…” And, slowly, like Smilla, we allow him to guide us as the mystery deepens. But his motives are cloudy and his manner too mild. What is he up to? Without knowing why, we recognize him as the calm center within the increasingly peripatetic story and the balance to Smilla’s emotional and troubled journey. And, perhaps without wanting to, like Smilla, we find we have fallen in love with him.

Roger Ebert is fascinated by this, too. He sees the story going haywire and the characters disappearing into the banalities of the action and he wishes the plot could just go away:

In a better world with more curiosity, we could have had this movie without any of the Greenland scenes. It could have been about Smilla and her neighbors. In our world movies need a plot, I guess, and so this one has one. Ignore it. It’s irrelevant to the movie’s power.

And he is correct, too.

The Smilla Mega Movie Page provides evidence of the Mechanic’s power with an array of videos, including the trailer and fan vids, dialogue and quotes from the film, promotional images, an interview, reviews, additional resources, a drink recipe (a good alternative to that hot chocolate!), posters, and a stunning set of screencaps.

Many thanks to Daniela, Aragarna, Stephanie, and CorFidele for their assistance in creating this tribute to Smilla’s neighbor, friend, and savior, the Mechanic.

Here is a very silly teaser for the Third Season of In Treatment. Please accept it in the spirit in which it is meant: we are slightly over-excited (!) waiting for the new season and this is what happens when too much time elapses between fixes, um make that installments, of In Treatment!

This silliness is brought to you by Aragarna and Stella.

——————–

What’s that buzzing in your head? Well, that’s the sound of brand new In Treatment heading your way!

It is official: Season Three of In Treatment is scheduled to begin on October 25 and 26.

We wanted to celebrate the news with our very own Byrneholics Season Three Teaser, so here it is:

HBO’s The Buzz gave us our first glimpse of the new season over the weekend and followed up with a posting of the video to their Facebook page.

And the In Treatment excerpt is now available on YouTube:

Thanks to LHL and Arlene for the heads up! And a big thanks to Aragarna for posting the clip and for her work on the Byrneholics Teaser!

Let the Countdown Begin!

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!

Then I went to the Set Theatre, where a documentary about Gabriel Byrne was being screened, and even at that hour of the morning the actor’s face was mesmerizing, and I felt he was talking directly to me.

It takes generosity in an actor to refine personal agony into an art as public as theatre, and there are shades of powerful sorrow in Byrne the actor, and Byrne the man; his intense screen presence stayed with me all morning, as I idled about on High Street, Butter Slip and Pudding Lane.

He’s a fine writer, Michael Harding. Read his report and you will feel you are there, in the winding streets, the coffee shops, the lecture hall–”in a city of ordered civility.”

And be sure to read the Kilkenny Festival Blog! They are capturing so many of the activities, including Robert Fisk giving this year’s Hubert Butler Lecture. This really is the next best thing to being there.

—

UPDATED August 5: The Irish Times provides a reminder about Gabriel Byrne Film Day on August 7 AND refers readers to Byrneholics.com for more information! Now if the writer had not used the word “hysteria,” we would be most pleased…

Keep up with the Festival at the official blog, with Ken and John. You can follow them on Twitter and Facebook, too–info is at the blog.

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Updated July 29: In anticipation of Gabriel Byrne Film Day, the festival has provided “5 Great Gabriel Byrne Performances” on their blog, including video clips for each film.

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Put on your traveling shoes–another festival is on the way and it is a bit of a trek from the USA, though more easily accessible if you are in the UK/Europe.

The Kilkenny Arts Festival runs August 6 – 15 and includes an extensive array of art, music, theater, literature and–music to our ears–film! The festival offers a full day of Gabriel Byrne programming on August 7:

Introduced by Colm Tóibín, this special event celebrates the career of one of Ireland’s biggest stars and features screenings of some of Byrne’s most acclaimed roles.

On the roster:

• Stories From Home
• Into The West
• Lunch (not a GB film, but a good chance to grab a bite and talk about GB movies!)
• Miller’s Crossing
• In Treatment (2 episodes)

Here is a chance to see Stories From Home, the documentary about Gabriel Byrne, followed by two of his best films plus a glimpse of his exciting work in In
Treatment–all in one day. A Byrne Fest, to be sure. It is also pretty thrilling that the proceedings will be introduced by Colm Tóibín, author of The Master and Brooklyn and the Literature Program Curator at this year’s festival. Ah, to be there!

The Irish Independent has more information and recommendations. This Irish Times article explains the unique launch for this year’s festival–all singing, apparently! And, if you plan to visit, check out the Festival’s page about Kilkenny.

Mr. Tóibín would have been right at home in Miller’s Crossing, yes?

Fans (those who have given it a chance, that is) adore it because it brought Gabriel Byrne and his future wife, Ellen Barkin, together for the first time. “Siesta” may indeed mean “nap time.” However, these two do everything but nap in this film.  And there is something about Mr. Byrne appearing as a trapeze artist–dark, he is, and blue-eyed to the point of startlement– that just makes everyone swoon. The music, with Miles Davis providing his amazing sound, offers good reason to swoon as well.

As a film, though, there are problems. Or perhaps they are opportunities. A split up timeline with a narrative that jumps from past to present to future and back again, with characters who may be real or who might be spirits from another place, work to make us unsure of our narrator, the images we are seeing on the screen, and ultimately, our response.

Repeated viewings do lead to a better understanding and reveal imagery and intention that might have been missed the first time around. So, patience is rewarded, in most cases!

The Siesta Mega Movie Page is available to show you just why this film is worth a (re)viewing, with trailers, interviews, posters, reviews from the New York Times and Roger Ebert, trivia, music info, and, of course, tons of pictures and screencaps. A certain segment from the film is not included, however, so you must locate the DVD to enjoy that, but much of the rest of film is represented in official promotional shots and in screencaps provided by Daniela, to whom we give our thanks!

Enjoy a little Siesta. Go on. We dare you!

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…

UPDATED with additional info and pictures from last year’s Irish American Writers and Artists event. Thanks to Lara for the pics and to Kris (USA) for the reminder!

It’s Byrne-ing hot this summer!

In Treatment Season 3

Costumes: it appears that Dr. Paul Weston may be cutting a somewhat more dashing figure than usual in the new season of In Treatment. Famed designer Domenico Vacca is the new fashion expert on the set and we can expect the good doctor to benefit from Mr. Vacca’s great sense of style. You can see examples of his work here and, as soon as anything becomes available picture-wise from the new season, you will see that here ASAP!

Bravo, Domenico! Remember: we love the white shirt…

Awards: an episode from Season 2 of In Treatment is a finalist for The Humanitas Prize.

The HUMANITAS Prize was created in 1974 to celebrate television programs which affirm the dignity of the human person, explore the meaning of life, enlighten the use of human freedom and reveal to each person our common humanity.

In the “60 Minute Category,” In Treatment is a finalist for “Walter-Week Six,” written by Warren Leight. The awards luncheon is scheduled for September 16 in Beverly Hills.

Thank you! No, thank YOU!

A Touch of O’Neill–More News August 3!

UPDATE: A new press release at PRLog.org, August 3, 2010:

The two preeminent modern-day interpreters of the work of Eugene O’Neill – actors Brian Dennehy and Gabriel Byrne – will make an unprecedented appearance together to honor the memory of the only American playwright to ever win the Nobel Prize. The occasion is the presenting of the Eugene O’Neill Lifetime Achievement Award to Dennehy by the non-profit group Irish American Writers & Artists, Inc. (IAW&A).

Among his many accomplishments, Dennehy won a Tony Award for his performance in O’Neill’s Long Days Journey into Night.

Byrne, who has starred on Broadway in the O’Neill plays A Moon for the Misbegotten and A Touch of the Poet, will be a featured speaker at the event in honor of Dennehy. He will also pay tribute to the enduring legacy of O’Neill, whose plays are still staged in theaters around the globe and in many languages fifty-seven years after his death…

As noted below, the big night is October 18. For information on tickets for the event visit www.oneillaward.org, the IAW&A website, or call 646-320-5595.

Kudos to both gentlemen!

——————–

Where will Gabriel Byrne be in October, while we are all glued to our screens taking in the third season of In Treatment? Well, one place we know he will be is the annual celebration of the Irish American Writers and Artists , which will be gifting Brian Dennehy with its Eugene O’Neill Lifetime Achievement Award this year. According to their website:

The award will be presented Monday, October 18, 2010 at a reception and ceremony to be held in New York City at Rosie O’Grady’s in Times Square, just two blocks from where Eugene O’Neill was born.

Read more about Brian Dennehy and the award. One of his great films from the past is The Belly of an Architect, directed by Peter Greenaway. His work on stage for the past decade or so has been highly praised and one of his most recent excursions on the boards was in Krapp’s Last Tape, by Samuel Beckett.

An actor in the O’Neill tradition

Honoree William Kennedy and his wife Dana, with Gabriel smiling
over their shoulders, at the 2009 festivities

Gabriel Byrne and author/organization co-director Mary Pat Kelly,
who is smiling for both of them

Visit the IAW&A Facebook page for more information!

The Movies

Reviews are coming in for Gabriel’s latest film, Perrier’s Bounty. Mr. Byrne provides the voice of the Grim Reaper and, by all accounts, he is both grim and funny! The film is making the festival rounds now. The cast includes the usual Irish suspects: Brendan Gleeson, Cillian Murphy, Liam Cunningham, and GB, with Jim Broadbent thrown in for good (actually great) measure. Check out the trailer!

“In case you hadn’t noticed, we’re in deepest peril!”

Stuff to Read

A PDF transcript of Gabriel Byrne’s speech at the Gateway Ireland event in May is now available. This is an unofficial transcript provided by Stella. And tough work it was, too, having to listen to that great voice for hours and hours, trying to catch every word and nuance of this remarkable speech. Um, not really very tough at all. Enjoy and don’t forget to watch the video as well!

Irrfan Khan is stressed out!

Irrfan Khan who is currently shooting Season 3 of the hugely-applauded American series In Treatment in New York with legendary Irish actor Gabriel Byrne, is going through the most stressful characterisation of his life.

Playing psychiatrist Bryne’s patient with a past, Irrfan has to reconstruct the man’s trauma on the couch. Speaking from New York, the discernibly stressed method actor says, “I’m not allowed to speak about my role at all. But the character I play has lost his wife. And I need to reconstruct my character’s trauma on the couch without moving out. There’s just me and my therapist, played by Byrne.”

Read more at the Times of India. Seems the two actors are bonding on and off the set and talking about Miller’s Crossing. Too cool!

We would be stressed out too, Mr. Khan, but for a very different reason…

Samrat Chakrabarti is excited!

Thank goodness for The Times of India. In this interview with Samrat, who plays Irrfan Khan’s son in the new season of In Treatment, we learn:

Do you play an Indian character?
The show itself is about the complexities of psychological therapy sessions between a doctor and his patients. In this season, I play Arun Sanyal. He is a Bengali man whose mother has recently passed away and whose father is going through some sort of an emotional crisis. Arun brings his father from Kolkata to live with him and his wife, Julia. Subsequently, there is some family friction. That’s the reason why Arun and his father go to see a therapist.

Weren’t you surprised that a television show abroad is now penning a Bengali character rather than a generic Indian one?
Yes, I was surprised and excited that there is so much specificity and research going into the characters. It’s nice that the makers are being specific and not just having ‘general’ Indian characters. Irrfan and I will have some Bengali dialogues too.

Gabriel Byrne has also won a Golden Globe for his performance in In Treatment in 2008. What are your expectations in terms of learning as an actor when you are part of a project that has him in the cast?
I’ve seen the show and he is unbelievably good in it. He brings a mysterious yet vulnerable quality to his character. I have been a fan of his acting since the Coen Brother’s Hollywood film, Miller’s Crossing. I feel honoured to be a part of such an esteemed cast. I’m sure I’ll learn a lot from the experience. I’ll soon meet Irrfan and Gabriel for our first rehearsal.

Apparently Gabriel Byrne, who is also executive producer of In Treatment this year, was very committed to having one story center on an immigrant to the United States. And so we have the genesis of this patient’s story line, a nice segue with the work Mr. Byrne is doing as the Cultural Ambassador for Ireland, which is also about going away from one’s home and starting a new life in a foreign world.

Samrat Chakrabarti

Alex Wolff is the latest!

The latest cast member to join In Treatment, that is. And the youngest, too. According to Deadline, Alex is set to play Paul Weston’s son, Max. Deadline calls his appearance an “arc,” so we expect to see a lot of this young man. You can read more about Alex and his brother Nat at their official website and their Wikipedia page (!).

A chip off the old block? Alex Wolff in 2007

Adam Bradshaw is the luckiest guy in America!

Well, we think so, anyway. Adam is a radio/television/film senior at Rowan University in New Jersey. This summer, he is interning at the HBO studios in Brooklyn, on the set of In Treatment. Adam says:

I think the best experience so far was getting to shadow one of the best television directors out there, Paris Barclay, on set and sitting in a director’s chair behind him watching him at work as he directed an episode of the show…

OMG, Adam! You are a lucky, lucky guy. And what? You don’t take bribes? Aw, that’s too bad.

Read more at the Rowan U website.

A tiny Adam at the soundstage door

Exergian is Iconic. And Ironic!

Albert Exergian is a graphic designer and artist who also loves television. He must, because he has created an extensive collection of minimalist posters that capture, in 2-3 colors and very simple images, the essence of each show. His In Treatment poster is a great example. You can see more of these (and buy them, if you like!) at Blanka, the online gallery. And you can read more about the artist and see other works at his website.

Favorites? Kojak. Monk. The Closer. Miami Vice. 24. This man is wicked. Enjoy!

Dr. Weston: I don’t know why, but I am the bright pink conversation balloon.
You must fill in the plain white one. Go on. I’m listening.

Thanks to Aragarna, Iamyuneek, and TwoMoons for the heads up on all this news!

Here’s a great way to celebrate the Fourth of July (if you are in the US, of course)!  We should not be too surprised to learn that the DVD set for Season Two of In Treatment is now slated for release in the US in October. After all, Season Three starts in October and viewers will want to sit down with Gabriel Byrne/Dr. Weston for a review before getting immersed in the new patient stories. You can pre-order Season Two at Amazon for a reasonable price, but do not expect any extras. That’s okay, though. Don’t be depressed. The real content is enough to make us very happy, yes? Happy and well-adjusted, but still needing In Treatment!

Read the report at TV Shows on DVD.

Is the waiting making you anxious? Need a Byrne fix? Well, we are here for you. Several of Gabriel’s early films now have their own mega movie pages (as “mega” as they can be, considering the dearth of information available for some of them!). Take a look at these for a reminder of Gabriel’s first work on the screen. These may take the sting out of waiting for more recent Byrne:

Hanna K (1983)
The Keep (1983)
Guilia e Guilia/Julia and Julia (1987)
The Courier (1988)
A Solder’s Tale (1988)

Um, okay. But stop looking at me like that!