So many of us are away on vacation now, relaxing in exotic locales, hanging out with family for a summer break, or just getting our feet wet at the beach. Taking it easy. It was a very busy Spring! And now we can kick back a bit.

But not Mr. Gabriel Byrne! No sir! He is not kicking back. At all. In fact, he is Action Verb Man this summer and there is no sign of a slow-down.

So, check out the latest news and then you can take that nap you’ve been putting off. It’s summer. For you and me, anyway. wink

PS. I realize some of you do NOT live in the Northern Hemisphere, so I apologize for all my “summer” talk. Please enjoy whatever season you are experiencing at this time, ok?

Filming: Death of a Ladies’ Man in Ireland

Original Instagram from Jade G. Goodfellow, costume designer

Jade G. Goodfellow, costume designer, shared this wonderful pic on Instagram. Her message: “Had such a fab time working with this absolute gent. Hashtags: #filming #gabrielbyrne #gent #crewlife #costume #ireland #galway #connemara” I’ve visited Galway and I can’t think of a better place to be working in the summertime. It is a great town. I am full of envy, but also very happy because I know that being home in Ireland is lovely for our favorite Irishman.

Ra, our fellow Byrneholic, also shared some pics she discovered on Instagram. While browsing for books in Clifden, the largest of the small towns of Connemara, Ireland, it was discovered that Gabriel always wanted to work in a bookshop! Of course. As a librarian (retired), this makes me very happy. heart

A virtuoso on the keyboard!

It appears the film is wrapping up in Ireland already, so we should be hearing more news soon. Update: And indeed, here’s a pic of Gabriel at Shannon Airport on June 10, probably heading home. Thanks to Kate McLoughney for sharing on Facebook!

Streaming: Quirke

C. J. Bunce over at Borg.com has a very nice review of the series which, as you know, is streaming on Britbox now:

The three 90-minute episode television series is one of those staples of the BBC that is both refreshing and infuriating.  It’s refreshing because it avoids all the padding that is so commonplace among those direct-to-binge, 10-episode shows premiering regularly now on Netflix and other streaming providers.  But it’s infuriating to find a series that is so well written and produced, you love the characters and wish there was more… in BBC’s Quirke, Gabriel Byrne inhabits his lead character in one of his best performances, leaving viewers wishing the series would have continued for a few more seasons. 

You can also catch the three episodes of Quirke on Amazon Prime and VUDU.

Quirke is also available from AmazonUK on DVD and you can find it on eBay as well.

Producing: Yes! Reflections of Molly Bloom Off Broadway

Putting on his producing hat and working with his friend and colleague, the writer Colum McCann, Gabriel brings something new to the stage, with the official opening night set for June 13. Playbill has the details:

Irish Rep expands its summer programming with the world premiere of Yes! Reflections of Molly Bloom, an adaptation of James Joyce’s Ulysses co-written by Aedín Moloney (The Dead, 1904) and Colum McCann (Let the Great World Spin). Moloney will perform in the limited engagement, scheduled to run June 7–July 7.

Yes! Reflections of Molly Bloom will be directed by Kira Simring (Crackskull Row), and will feature music by Paddy Moloney (The Chieftains).

The monologue play takes us into the mind of Molly Bloom, wife to the wandering, philandering Leopold “Poldy” Bloom, Joyce’s hero and protagonist in Ulysses. In the early hours of the morning in 1904, Molly Bloom faces an empty nest, an unfulfilling affair and a marriage long past its prime. As she patrols the pathways of her wild and leaping consciousness, she must find a way back to the rock-bed of love that she once knew.

Performances will be in Irish Rep’s W. Scott McLucas Studio Stage, with an opening night set for June 13. The production is presented in association with Gabriel Byrne (Long Day’s Journey into Night).

Ranking: HBO Shows

In Treatment is always being discovered by new viewers. HBO still provides access to it, of course, and Amazon offers it for streaming as well. Original fans might have the complete DVD set. The point is: people are watching it constantly, talking about it, arguing about it. And that is the sign of great drama and fantastic acting. In this recent ranking, out of 74 shows, In Treatment ranked #34, which is not as high as it deserves, but is acceptable considering it might have been eclipsed by newer, flashier, stranger fare. It is a milestone of television drama and will always rank as one of Gabriel Byrne’s greatest screen achievements. That’s what I say. What do you say?

Every HBO Show, Ranked: Taking stock of the premium network’s formidable catalogue, by Noel Murray and Scott Tobias, for Vulture

34. In Treatment (2008–10)
Based on an Israeli series called BeTipul, In Treatment produced an astonishing 106 episodes over three seasons, each airing on successive weeknights, and each about single characters discussing their problems with a therapist, played by Gabriel Byrne. Want to watch a fighter pilot (Blair Underwood) talk through his PTSD? Or an architecture student diagnosed with lymphoma? You could tune into their sessions on the same days every week. Even at 30 minutes or less per session, the time commitment was a big ask, and skipping episodes meant losing some breakthrough moment, or missing Byrne’s own psychological slippage. But In Treatment remains an absorbing experiment and as thoughtful a window into therapy as TV has produced.

So, exactly how does one rate 74 shows spanning over three decades of cable television programming? To find out how these two guys did it and what they discovered along the way, read What We Learned From Watching Every HBO Show Ever.

Co-Starring: War of the Worlds

If you have not yet tried Good Omens on Amazon, you are missing a great summer treat. Michael Sheen (left) and David Tennant are wickedly funny one moment, creepily odd the next, and they bounce off each other on screen just like the angel and the demon they play. Great stuff by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman, with Frances McDormand as the voice of God. Bold and literary. Watch it!

In addition to providing you with a fun summertime viewing recommendation, I mention Good Omens because there IS a Gabriel connection. You will recall that Gabriel and David Tennant starred in Mad To Be Normal, the story of R. D. Laing and his work at Kingsley Hall in the late 1960’s. As it happens, David Tennant (Dr. Who himself!) has a son: Ty Tennant. Ty is an actor. Who is a supporting cast member. On War of the Worlds! It will be fun to see this young newcomer on screen, along with Gabriel and Elizabeth McGovern, as they try to survive an alien invasion.

Yikes!

Ty made his acting debut on the BBC series Casualty.

From BBC America/Anglophenia:

Though Casualty marks Ty’s TV debut, it isn’t his only screen appearance this month. He has a small role as Young Christopher Wiseman in Tolkien, the biographical drama starring Nicholas Hoult which opens in theaters Friday.

And he’s also been cast opposite Gabriel Byrne and Downton Abbey‘s Elizabeth McGovern in the new War of the Worlds TV series, which is in production now.

The Tennants, father and son

Blasting from the Past: Cannes 1995

Twitter. Instagram. Facebook. Social media makes it possible to share ideas and opinions faster and better than ever. More importantly for us, however, social media makes news and images available that, not so long ago, we would have been desperately poring over print to discover.

Sometimes the images we are hunting are from current films or other projects. Social media fills that need, but it also makes the past available to us in ways unimaginable before the advent of the interwebs.

Thus, thanks to a lead on Twitter, we have these new (to me, at least) shots of Gabriel Byrne attending the Cannes Film Festival in 1995, in support of his latest film, The Usual Suspects.

Next time you rail against the craziness that is Twitter, or the political nightmare that Facebook can be, or the selfie-heaven that is Instagram, remember: there is good stuff out there, too. smile

Coming Soon: Lies We Tell Mega Movie Page

As the saying goes, progress is being made! Here’s a teaser:

Decorating: Summertime Wallpaper

What? You’ve nothing summery to dress up your desktop? Now you do. Enjoy and stay tuned for more Byrne-ing News as it happens!

Painted Wallpaper by Stella

8 Comments

  1. Thank you for all of the work and effort you do to keep us fans informed! There are probably so many more of us out there who check in regularly but never write our appreciation!

  2. Thank you Stella for all this news and for the lovely photos. I read the Vulture.com articles on the HBO rankings and profoundly disagree with the In Treatment ranking of #34. The description of the program does not do the series justice (the writers probably didn’t even watch it) . I would have placed it in the top ten for its ground-breaking approach in lifting the curtain on therapy while packing a huge emotional wallop with its excellent writing and award-winning cast. The originality of the nightly segments with patients culminating in the climatic episode between Gabriel Byrne and Dianne Wiest (and Amy Ryan in season 3) at the end of each week was dramatic risk -taking at its best. If the program aired today in our binge- watching world, it would be hailed as pure genius.
    Gabriel Byrne’s incredibly nuanced and heroic performance ( he was in every scene for over 100 episodes over 3 seasons) is testament to the man’s brilliance. The good doctor conveyed benign understanding to his patients , while his eyes, face and body told a whole different story to the audience. A tour de force .

    • Eloquently stated, Angelle. I agree with you whole-heartedly. You should post this comment at Vulture. I notice a lot of disagreement from readers in the comment section on this ranking article, with some noting that series such as In Treatment, Rome, Big Love, and others deserve much higher rankings than they received. I expect you are correct about the writers not watching some of these shows. Plus, if you did not watch In Treatment when it first came out, then you cannot possibly place it properly in the pantheon of HBO series–you would not have experienced the first reactions and the critical response and all of those recaps! People were enthralled with the show and the extraordinary acting and story-telling craft that it brought to our screens. If you missed that zeitgeist, then you missed the show’s stunning impact. I would think that research for a ranking article involves more than just watching a series and having your own opinions.

      Vulture is not my first stop for culture. This is just another reason why that is so.

  3. Verónica

    Thanks Stella for all the information but there is something I cannot wait to comment and this is: “A virtuoso on the keyboard!” I almost fall on the floor while I was laughing.
    Gabriel can be a virtuoso in many things but this, this is too much to believe, unless when he is writing some speech to say for some occasion. And you know why do I say this. But, the pic is very nice and I will keep it. The other pics are very good too.

    Sorry if I don’t comment about other topics. I think it is not necessary after reading what Angelle wrote about In Treatment. People who put it in #34 position need to use those glasses which you are showing above and I like very much.

    Without Gabriel, In Treatment wouldn’t be what it was. He was the basis of the show and the generator of its success, despite his 34 position.

    • I know you want him to write us on Facebook, Verónica, and maybe someday he will, but what I hope is that he is writing Volume Two of his Memoirs! Now THAT would be something to behold!

      Even today people are mentioning In Treatment on Twitter. Everyone has such good things to say about the series and such warm memories of it. So we know how good it is. And it is up to us and other fans to keep it alive–and we will!
      <3

  4. DORA BARALIA

    Es maravilloso poder ver a NUESTRO querido Irlandes en cada uno de los episodios de la serie En tratamiento ,,, no me canso de ver los dvd ojala pueda ver todas las nuevas peliculas que esta filmando, gracias por la informacion de la serie Quirke , sera un placer disfrutarla en YouTube, y gracias por tan excelentes fotografias , mi galeria esta a full ,,, tengo gran espectativa por la nueva serie ,y todo lo que nuestro Gabriel esta filmando actualmente , siempre toca situaciones de profundos conflictos , y en todas ellas hay un profundo alegato a tener en cuenta . Gracias Estela por tu gran trabajo , todo lo mejor en tus merecidas vacaciones …

    With Dora’s permission, Verónica made the English translation:

    It is wonderful to see OUR beloved Irishman in each of the episodes of the series In Treatment. I do not get tired of watching the DVD. I hope you can see all the new movies that are filming. Thanks for the information of the Quirke series. It will be a pleasure to enjoy it on YouTube. And thanks for such excellent photos, my gallery is full. I have great expectations for the new series, and everything that our Gabriel is currently filming, which always touches situations of deep conflicts, and in all of them there is a deep plea to take into account. Thank you Stella for your great work, all the best in your well-deserved vacation…

  5. DORA BARALIA

    THANKS STELLA FOR YOUR TRANSLATION. MY PAGE WAS IN SPANISH I FORGOT THIS. EVER WAITING FOR NEWS … THE BEST FOR YOU AND OUR IRISH MAN … MY BEST FEELINGS

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