Things are hopping already, so buckle up and plan on a new year chock full of news, movies, TV series, and books (!). Gabriel Byrne has always been the busiest man on the planet and nothing has changed that I can see!

Lost Girls premieres January 28!

Just ahead of the premiere, Women and Hollywood has an interview with director Liz Garbus:

W&H: Describe the film for us in your own words.

LG: Based on the nonfiction bestseller “Lost Girls” by Bob Kolker, the film tells the true story of Mari Gilbert, whose 24-year-old daughter Shannan goes missing one night in May of 2010.When Mari tries to get the authorities to help in her search, she is met with indifference. Shannan made a living as a sex worker, and thus her disappearance seemed not to matter to the police.

Mari and her surviving daughters — Sherre and Sarra — embark on a journey to find Shannan, and in the process are forced to confront their own fractured and complex relationships in order to move forward.

W&H: What drew you to this story?

LG: The mystery of it. My desire to tell stories of unusual and forgotten heroes and to shed light in a case that can and must be solved.

W&H: What do you want people to think about when they are leaving the theater?

LG: I want them to be inspired by the strength of Mari and the group of female survivors who had to take matters into their own hands, and to reflect on the importance of community. But, also, I want them to feel mad that justice has been so long denied, and to demand the truth.

Rolling Stone is as eager as we are to see this new film!

Who likes a good true-crime yarn? The answer: Filmmaker Liz Garbus (What Happened, Miss Simone?) and an all-star cast — Amy Ryan, Jojo Rabbit’s Thomasin McKenzie, Lola Kirke, Gabriel Byrne, Kevin Corrigan — she’s enlisted to adapt Robert Kolker’s novel about a series of young women murdered by a figure known as “the Long Island serial killer.” Tackling her first narrative feature, the longtime documentarian puts the focus on the mother (Ryan) of one of the victims, and how her determination to investigate her daughter’s death connects the dots between class structures, Craigslist, a prostitution ring, and the sex workers that the killer targeted.

Also, Refinery29 has a slideshow of movies by women directors premiering at Sundance 2020 that they are anticipating with glee–and so are we!

Netflix screens Lost Girls beginning March 13. Check out the trailer and the incredible poster and stay tuned for reviews!

And shout out to Gabriel for continuing to support women directors! heart

Gabriel Byrne, currently a detective with no name, in LOST GIRLS.

Gabriel’s new book Walking With Ghosts

All things come to those who wait, as the saying goes.

I would add: And work really, really hard.

It can’t be easy, making movies and TV shows and starring in stage plays and traveling all over the place to do this stuff, plus supporting causes that you care about, and trying to have a family and a normal (Normal? What’s that?!) life. Imagine doing all that AND writing a book.

Our favorite Irishman remains undaunted, it seems. And his book is coming out in November. Read more about it in this posting.

Please note: This is not the official book cover. I just could not wait…

War of the Worlds renewed for Season 2

I know. I know. Some of us have not even seen this new series, which stars Elizabeth McGovern, Gabriel Byrne, Léa Drucker, and a great international cast. And now here is the news that it has been renewed for a second season already!

So, this means, we hope, that some folks made it out alive.

We find out in the USA beginning February 16 when it becomes available on EPIX. And UK fans will begin seeing it March 5 on FOX, with a double header episode.

I’m still looking for a way for those of us in Canada to enjoy this new show, because EPIX is geo-blocked outside the United States and its territories, from what I can tell. I have found a few tech tips. If you have any information, please speak up! Thanks.

They obviously did not hear the good news…

ZeroZeroZero arrives February 14–for some of us

Just in time for Valentine’s Day! heart

Irish Central tells us:

Stay tuned for release dates for other countries as soon as they become available. In the meantime, here’s the trailer:

Maniac Soundtrack now available on digital and vinyl

This Netflix series stars Jonah Hill, Emma Stone, Gabriel Byrne, Sally Fields, and Justin Theroux. It is a wild ride through pharmaceutical trials, fantasies, and real-life problems and you don’t want to miss it! Plus Gabriel has a scene with a drill that will go down in the Byrne-ing History of Film, no question about it. surprised

And now the soundtrack for the series has been released. Amazon has the MP4 digital version with all of the tracks available for sampling so you can get a sense of what this music is like and that’s really nice. I enjoyed this score very much while watching the show.

But Waxwork Records has gone all out crazy with a brilliant vinyl release, for all you audiophiles out there:

The soundtrack by Oscar nominated composer Dan Romer is an orchestral and electronic hybrid with incredible production and diverging sounds. Playful electronics alternate between fast moving and ambient synth work. Chasing percussion transitions seamlessly with dramatic, lush strings. The soundtrack to MANIAC is a textural playground that caters to any listener. Like the series, the soundtrack is cerebral, emotionally provoking, and hypnotic.

Waxwork Records had the pleasure of creating a deluxe 2xLP soundtrack package to MANIAC featuring 180 gram neon yellow and pink vinyl, old style gatefold jackets with overall UV gloss coating, printed inserts, and design by Aesthetic Apparatus.

I know the holidays are over, but you can always gift yourself with this aural gem. Go ahead. You know you want to…

Irrfan Khan: The Man, The Dreamer, The Star

There is another book of note for 2020, a biography of one of our other favorite actors, Irrfan Khan, who worked with Gabriel on the HBO series In Treatment.

An excerpt from the book about Irrfan’s experience working on In Treatment is provided by NDTV:

Irrfan gives a devastating performance in the show, first presented as a disheveled-looking, depressed man who is also rather quiet. Although, as time progresses, he gets more comfortable with the therapist, Dr Paul Weston (Gabriel Byrne).

Irrfan has gone on record to say this was the toughest role he has played. Speaking to The New York Times, he said, ‘An emotional input into the part was needed, and from the beginning I was feeling, “I’ll fall short. Where will I draw on these things from my life? I don’t have any experience in them.” And they were intense.’

Also, the show had long takes, nearly 14 minutes each, and so, for the first time since Irrfan had graduated from NSD, he had to memorize long passages of the script. It reminded him of the time he was studying for his exams. It became such a challenge for him that one night he called Naseeruddin Shah in India for his advice.

The advice? Memorize everything. Don’t sleep. Just read the pages.

And it worked, didn’t it?!

Read the entire article and enjoy this little window into the making of the unique television series we all treasure so much.

Mad To Be Normal: Mega Movie Page

This film may not be everyone’s cup of psychtropic tea, but I loved it. And I dearly loved Gabriel’s performance in it.

So, the Mega Movie Page for Mad To Be Normal is my way of celebrating the film, the creative people who worked to make it a reality, and my favorite actor, who played a central role in the story. Read my introduction and then check out the page if you would like to learn more about this rare look at a time in history when everything changed–for a while, anyway.

Gabriel Byrne as Jim, Michael Gambon as Sydney, and David Tennant as R. D. Laing
in a scene from MAD TO BE NORMAL.

Surprise!

You made it to the end of another Byrne-ing News, so here’s a goodie. Or two.

Gabriel’s colleague, the writer/producer Sarah Treem (The Affair), with whom he worked on In Treatment, was having dinner in LA with a friend this month when guess who popped in to say Hi!? Reunions like this are so lovely, aren’t they? heart

Sarah Treem and her pal, Gabriel

And in honor of Gabriel’s new book, a wallpaper from the past:

But sometimes they are…

8 Comments

  1. Verónica

    As always, your work Stella is wonderful and instructive, but the great news are the Second Season of “War of the Worlds”.
    No doubt it has to be because the First Season had an open end and needed to be continued.
    Very interesting the news and trailers of ZeroZeroZero and Lost Girls and Gabriel’s new book, which title is like a magnet.
    Also it is a surprise to know about the book of Irrfan Khan, whose character we loved in In Treatment.
    There are so many news in your January 2020, written with your characteristic way of writing, so interesting and entertaining.
    Thank you <3

    • Thanks, Verónica! I can’t wait to see War of the Worlds! So glad it’s got a second season now.

      And you are right about the title of his new book. It is indeed a magnet! <3

  2. Hello Stella, what wonderful news! So this year is going to be a great year for all who love that charming Irishman. Thank you very much for the nice summary.

  3. Thank you for sharing all this interesting information about Gabriels work with us.

    I wish he had hired you to design the cover for his new book Stella. You are so creative and talented!

  4. ❤❤

  5. 2020 is going to be epic, just epic.

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