Do you feel that? The first hint of Fall is in the air. Delicious, isn’t it?

So, let’s say goodbye to Summer and check out the doings of our favorite Irishman, shall we? As always, we have a heady mix of current news combined with the added spice of previous projects in this early Fall menu of Gabriel Goodies. You’ll find updates on War of the Worlds Season 3 shooting in Wales and retro looks at Miller’s Crossing and Excalibur, with lots of treats along the way. The Byrne-ing News is a true fusion cuisine. Speaking of food . . . tongue

It’s A Way of Life . . .

Yes, being a Byrneholic is a lifestyle, no question about it. Oh. Wait. You mean eating healthy food and taking care of oneself is a way of life? Yes, that too.

In Cardiff, where he is filming Season 3 of War of the Worlds, we find Mr. Byrne out and about, being healthy and, well, being Gabriel Byrne!

This Just In!

Corey Marr, producer for Death of a Ladies’ Man, responded to my abject plea for an update on the film coming to the USA in my lifetime:

I can’t share anything concrete but only that we are working on it to find the right home in the US. We’ll get there, and will def keep you posted. I can tell you that there are a few more US festivals lining up for the fall. smile

So! Progress is being made. Stay tuned for details as soon as Corey shares them with me. And thanks, Corey!

We’re getting there!

War of the Worlds Now Scaring Australia!

Season Two premiered in the Land Down Under on August 18. I can feel the existential angst all the way up here in Texas!

I love this description: “Downbeat in tone but epic in ambition, this version of the oft-told tale eschews spectacle for grim human drama and is all the better for it.”

Nailed it.

Gabriel says: I signed up for “grim human drama.” What about you, Daisy?

2021 Clifden Arts Festival

Clifden Arts Festival is coming up September 15 – 23.

Gabriel Byrne will be Zooming in to talk about his brilliant new book, Walking With Ghosts, and to read excerpts and chat on Wednesday, September 15, 2:00 – 3:00 PM Irish Time.

Award-winning actor Gabriel Byrne joined Des Lally to speak about his new book, Walking With Ghosts, and to read selected extracts from this highly acclaimed memoir and to have a conversation.

The longest-running community arts festival in Ireland, Clifden Community Arts Festival, now heading into its 44th year will take place from September 15-22, and yet again promises to have something to excite everyone in the 2021 programme.

You can learn more about Clifden, the largest town in the county of Connemara, on the Wild Atlantic Way in Ireland, at the Visit Clifden website.

No, this is not from the festival brochure . . . It’s a wallpaper by Stella wink


War of the Worlds Season 3 Continues Shooting in Cool Places in Wales and the UK

We have had reports that Gabriel Byrne is on set, filming Season 3, but he does not appear in any of the images being published about this on-going shoot. So far! Still, it’s always fun (for me and I hope it’s fun for you!) to see great television and film projects as they are being brought to life. Bristol is an up and coming city in the UK and you can see the lovely historical flavor in its original buildings. Newport is indeed a port and this Welsh town is another fast-growing combo of old and new. Throw in Cardiff and you’ve got a trio of amazing cities in Wales and the UK. All of this makes you want to book a trip, yes? Soon. We’ll all go soon. Post-pandemic!

Besides, if we went now, think of all those fake dead bodies lying around in Season 3. And the mechanical dogs.

UGH. Too scary! Let’s wait. heart

Filming in the City Centre of Bristol
Filming at the Civic Centre in Newport

Julianna Margulies: Shelf Portrait

Ms. Margulies has become a “Gabriel Byrne, The Writer” fan!

Marie Claire, July 23, 2021
Julianna Margulies Reveals Her Favorite Authors in ‘Shelf Portrait’

In the video, Margulies shares that two people who helped her write her book without knowing it are Mary Karr and Stephen King. The Good Wife actress loves Ann Patchett (she’s read every book she’s ever written!) and says her “dear friend Reese Witherspoon” happens to know Patchett, so she autographed a few of her books for Margulies: This Is the Story of a Happy Marriage, The Dutch House, and Bel Canto. She also loves Walter Issacson’s The Innovators (where she learned the first people to program computers were women!), art books (like this one from Marc Chagall), and memoirs (two she refuses to give away are Gabriel Byrne’s Walking with Ghosts and Toni Morrison’s Love).

One book I refuse to get rid of or give away is Gabriel Byrne’s Walking With Ghosts. Just stunning prose. Stunning. I happened to have done a film with him years ago and had no idea he was such a beautiful writer.

Julianna Margulies
You’re going to write a book about your experiences someday, aren’t you?
Gabriel Byrne and Julianna Margulies in Ghost Ship, 2002

Excalibur Redux

With the recent release of The Green Knight, people are thinking about the Arthurian Legend again.

Also, Excalibur just turned 40. Happy Birthday to Gabriel’s First Film!

Now would be a good time to watch Excalibur: Behind the Movie, don’t you think?

Gabriel Byrne as Uther in John Boorman’s EXCALIBUR

From JoeBlo.com: Fantasizing about Fantasy Films

In 1981, John Boorman released his passion project, EXCALIBUR. A bold, very adult, serious take on the Arthurian legend, the film was a modest financial success, grossing $34 million domestically. However, to many, it stands as the definitive story of King Arthur, and indeed Boorman’s film is an ambitious classic. 

From Robert Taylor/Collider: Before ‘The Green Knight’, There Was the Madness of the R-Rated ‘Excalibur’

John Boorman’s 1981 film is delightfully nuts.

Excalibur’s influence has remained steady throughout the years. You can feel it when you watch Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy, which uses light and natural settings in similar ways. (Fun facts: Boorman once planned to shoot his own version of J. R. R. Tolkein’s opus although it ultimately fell apart, and the first teaser for Jackson’s trilogy used the same movement from “Carmina Burana” that is featured so heavily in Excalibur.) And just this year, Zack Snyder recycled the same Excalibur-used pieces of “Götterdämmerung” for his zombie opus, Army of the Dead. Not a huge surprise, as Snyder has called Excalibur his favorite film.

Lowery hasn’t been as blatant in name-dropping it as he promotes The Green Knight. Although a recent Vanity Fair profile does indicate that Excalibur was one of the films on his mind as he tackled his own fantasy epic for grown-ups. Honestly? It would have to be. Excalibur looms over the genre like Merlin’s fabled, all-encompassing dragon. When fantasy films had a bit of a boom in the early 80s, a few other R-rated ones did make it to release, but you don’t really hear anyone talking about Deathstalker or Sorceress all these years later. It’s Excalibur that has stood the test of time, waiting for another film to come along and dethrone it just as the sword itself waited in the stone. Godspeed to Lowery or anyone else who dares to undertake that quest.

Defence of the Realm Blu-Ray Release

Nick Spence has the news!

Note from Stella: Network on Air has closed its doors, effective July 12, 2023.

Hello? Network on Air?

Two hard-nosed reporters encounter corruption, intrigue and murder in director David Drury’s tense political thriller – one of the last films released by British film mainstay The Rank Organisation. Starring Gabriel Byrne, Greta Scacchi, Ian Bannen and Denholm Elliott (who won a BAFTA for his performance) – and featuring cinematography from multiple-Oscar-winner Roger Deakins – Defence of the Realm is featured here as a brand-new transfer from original film elements in its original theatrical aspect ratio.

SPECIAL FEATURES:
[] Theatrical trailer
[] On Location featurette
[] Image gallery

Nobody Knows Anybody. Not That Well.

The Spectator takes a look at some memorable cinematic feuds–the on screen kind, not the behind the scenes dust-ups. Included in their list are some strange titles (W, 2008? Alexander, 2004?), but the core list is good: The Lion in Winter, 1968 (Henry II, Elinor of Aquitaine, and their sons are at each other’s throats the ENTIRE film, which is brilliant), Gangs of New York, 2002 (gangs do feud a lot, yes), Romeo + Juliet, 1996 (possibly the most famous family feud of them all), Tombstone, 1993 (good guys vs. bad guys in the shoot-out at the OK Corral) and more. Last, but certainly not least, is Miller’s Crossing, 1990.

The Spectator: Feuds on Film
Cinema’s Best On-screen Clashes
Stephen Arnell, August 2021

With the recent rumours of increasing tension between Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak, a look at feuding, fall outs and rivalries in the movies . . .

Miller’s Crossing

The Coen Brothers play it comparatively straight in their magnificent Prohibition era gangster flick.

Wheels within wheels, as Gabriel Byrne’s cerebral mob consigliere Tom Reagan finds himself on the outs with boss/pal Leo O’Bannon (Albert Finney) when he gets frisky with his dame, the duplicitous Verna Bernbaum (Marcia Gay Harden).

Between frequent brutal beatings from rival gang members and one from an understandably disgruntled Leo, Reagan pulls a Yojimbo (1961) and sets the city’s criminals against each other, eventually earning his boss’s forgiveness when he restores him to head honcho.

Note from Stella: My two favorite “feud” movies are The Big Country, from 1958, with Gregory Peck and Jean Simmons as romantic allies and Burl Ives as the worst neighbor in the world, and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966), possibly the feudiest of films, with Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor and their liquor bottles splashing and crashing and thrashing their way through the entire story. These are “real” feuds. In Miller’s Crossing, Tom Reagan was really just speculating about a hypothetical . . .

Fan Appreciation


Always lovely when someone pops up on Twitter and reminds us of the important things in life.

We appreciate him. Yes, we do.

In Treatment Inspirations

Finally, we close with a fond look back at Gabriel Byrne’s exemplary work in the HBO series In Treatment, provided here by psychiatrist and author Irvin Yalom.

According to his website, which is no longer available on the Internet unfortunately: “Irvin David Yalom is an American existential psychiatrist who is emeritus professor of psychiatry at Stanford University, as well as an author of both fiction and nonfiction.”

In the video below, he asks the question I ask myself every time I need to update this website and I’m not quite sure how I should proceed:

What Would Gabriel Byrne Do?

Thanks for reading to the end. Fall is on the way, so here is something for your desktop. heart

Paul in Autumn, a wallpaper by Stella

6 Comments

  1. “A way of life”? Funny, I was thinking the other day about my relationship to you and your merry band of Byrne-rs (*giggle*) and thought of you like one of those dignitaries you see in movies, riding in a cavalcade. All of you are in the cars and I’m like one of the bodyguards riding on the running boards: I want to know what’s going on, but not necessarily to be in it. (And because I’m subscribed, I can hear you through the “window”, haha!)

    • It’s nice to have bodyguards during these uncertain times, so thank you, Croí.

      This cavalcade changes participants all the time, so whenever you want to jump in the car, feel free to do so! <3

  2. Thank you for sharing all this Stella. Yes, to be a Byrneholic is something that gives strength and sunshine in life. I am so inspired by the work, life and personality of Gabriel Byrne!
    And I have Byrneholics to go to when I need something special and lovely in life.

    Love the photo in the top of the post, and I adore the Paul autumn wallpaper!

    Thank you from Nora in Norway

  3. Thanks for ALL the info and updates! Love all the pictures to. Can’t believe fall is here and the trees are turning.

  4. A bit late to the party, but then again anytime is a good time to indulge in the Byrneing News – Stella’s fun and engaging reporting, photos and wallpapers put a smile on my face every time. Waiting for Covid -19 test results tonight – likely just a cold as I am fully vaccinated and fortunate that I can work from home ! I don’t know how Mr. Byrne has endured daily testing during the filming of WOTW !!!!

    • It was good to learn later that you tested negative and are fine, Angelle. The idea of contracting this virus gives me the shivers! I think I try to be more humorous in some of these postings as an antidote to fear and boredom. And I’m with you: I don’t know how Gabriel Byrne stood all that testing and the regimen they have had to follow on these shoots. THAT is dedication indeed, on his part and the part of all involved! <3

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