Despite being a fine actor, Brendan Gleeson very rarely gets the chance to play the leading man roles that his talent deserves because at the end of the day, he is neither hulking supermodel nor international superstar.
The Irish comedy The Guard proves that audiences are getting a raw deal out of such narrow-minded casting. Gleeson dominates the screen in his role as the acerbic, quick-witted policeman Sergeant Gerry Boyle.
Initially, he seems to make the most unlikely copper. He has a confrontational personality, a subversive wit and a dying mother. Police work seems to be an inconvenience to his hectic life. He lives on his own but fills the time with various shenanigans. So when an international cocaine smuggling ring brings a black FBI agent (Don Cheadle) to Galway, he seems extremely nonplussed.
Indeed, at the police briefing to introduce agent Wendell Everett to the local police ranks, sergeant Boyle makes some uncouth and seemingly racist remarks.
The 56-year-old says that he feels this confrontational, almost offensive, sense of humour comes from a great tradition of Irish humour. One thing is for sure: what is emitted from his character's mouth should not be taken as gospel.
"I wonder how readily audiences from around the world will understand that people are going to tell lies just to get a rise out of somebody. People in Ireland do that all the time and used to perhaps more before than they do now," he suggests. "People tell you complete lies just to see how you will react and it is just poking fun. For the most part people around the world say something and that is what they mean. At home that is not the truth at all! I've seen reviews where people have written that this character is racist, but he is not a racist at all, he presses those buttons deliberately to fluff the pillow and see how the world will fall."
This type of prodding makes for some hilarious situations. The Guard is a cultural clash comedy, where the outside American help thinks that they know best, but it's the man with the knowledge of local traditions that can separate the wood from the trees.
The movie has been a huge hit on the film festival circuit and opened to stellar box-office numbers in Ireland, as well as winning the Best Irish Film Award at the Galway Film Fleadh last year.
Gleeson jumped at the chance to play Boyle. "The part was an absolute gift," he says. "The first time I read the script, I knew that it was something special. I got on to the set as quickly as possible. Obviously, it's funny, but I actually think there is a loneliness to the character that is quite profound. I don't think it's to be laughed at. He is a very lonely man."
The Dublin-based actor seems as busy as he has ever been in recent years. He's played Alastair "Mad Eye" Moody in three of the Harry Potter films, appeared in Paul Greengrass's Green Zone about the search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, and played Sir Winston Churchill in the TV drama Into the Storm. He's having quite a career, given that he didn't decide to become an actor until he was 34, after admitting that a career as a secondary schoolteacher was not for him.
He starred in Albert Nobbs, helmed by Rodrigo Garcia - a movie set in 19th-century Ireland, in a society dominated by men. Based on the short story by the Irish author George Moore, Glenn Close played a woman who disguises herself as a man to get a job in a hotel.
"I played a kind of alcoholic doctor who inhabits the hotel," says Gleeson. "It's one of the few real male presences in the thing and it was a beautiful role in a way to play and I just have great hopes for what is a fascinating piece of work, lots of brilliant actors and actresses."
Nonetheless, no matter how many films he does overseas (Mission Impossible II, Gangs of New York and AI Artificial Intelligence are but a few on that list), nothing beats the feeling he has when he's working in Ireland, he says.
"It's always 40 minutes into work when we film in Ireland, so of course I love it. I don't want to be living out of a hotel room and wouldn't if it wasn't for the fact that I need to do the work. It's great to be away and a privilege, but really to be there for months at a time, it's not really where you want to be."
The actor admits that he has always had a free spirit and a fascination with human behaviour. Accents are a particular penchant and source of amusement. "I remember we used to take our holidays away from Dublin down to the country. I'd always come back having spent two to three weeks where my father's from and end up speaking more like them. There is a certain thing in your ear. I've always found it really interesting and I started hitching around Ireland when I was 15 or 16 and remember being mesmerised by the different ways that people would speak, even in Ireland, which is such a tiny place. The way people express themselves has always been magical to me, it has very clear delineations and I've always enjoyed the diversity of it. The way people speak tells you an awful lot about them." Gleeson got to test out his skill for accents in his role as a CIA agent in Safe House, alongside Denzel Washington.
One of his major breakthrough roles was playing Michael Collins in The Treaty in 1992. It was an experience that reminded him of the importance of culture in the interpretation of characters, he says.
"I remember we brought the film to England, for obvious reasons because Collins fought the English and because of that, there was also a certain weight. The reason that Irish people loved him was that he was a bit of a rogue, he would jump on top of fellows and bite their ears and, at the same time, he had this fantastic brain that was able to organise the national fund. The Irish people loved the maverick side. In Britain, they didn't find him particularly heroic in the same way because they expect different things from their leaders. They don't really want their leader to be one of the lads, they want somebody to enter into leadership and have the bearing of a leader."
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
How Alia's experiment will help humans get to Mars
Alia’s winning experiment examined how genes might change under the stresses caused by being in space, such as cosmic radiation and microgravity.
Her samples were placed in a machine on board the International Space Station. called a miniPCR thermal cycler, which can copy DNA multiple times.
After the samples were examined on return to Earth, scientists were able to successfully detect changes caused by being in space in the way DNA transmits instructions through proteins and other molecules in living organisms.
Although Alia’s samples were taken from nematode worms, the results have much bigger long term applications, especially for human space flight and long term missions, such as to Mars.
It also means that the first DNA experiments using human genomes can now be carried out on the ISS.
At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
Asia Cup 2018 final
Who: India v Bangladesh
When: Friday, 3.30pm, Dubai International Stadium
Watch: Live on OSN Cricket HD
Biggest%20applause
%3Cp%3EAsked%20to%20rate%20Boris%20Johnson's%20leadership%20out%20of%2010%2C%20Mr%20Sunak%20awarded%20a%20full%2010%20for%20delivering%20Brexit%20%E2%80%94%20remarks%20that%20earned%20him%20his%20biggest%20round%20of%20applause%20of%20the%20night.%20%22My%20views%20are%20clear%2C%20when%20he%20was%20great%20he%20was%20great%20and%20it%20got%20to%20a%20point%20where%20we%20need%20to%20move%20forward.%20In%20delivering%20a%20solution%20to%20Brexit%20and%20winning%20an%20election%20that's%20a%2010%2F10%20-%20you've%20got%20to%20give%20the%20guy%20credit%20for%20that%2C%20no-one%20else%20could%20probably%20have%20done%20that.%22%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
How much sugar is in chocolate Easter eggs?
- The 169g Crunchie egg has 15.9g of sugar per 25g serving, working out at around 107g of sugar per egg
- The 190g Maltesers Teasers egg contains 58g of sugar per 100g for the egg and 19.6g of sugar in each of the two Teasers bars that come with it
- The 188g Smarties egg has 113g of sugar per egg and 22.8g in the tube of Smarties it contains
- The Milky Bar white chocolate Egg Hunt Pack contains eight eggs at 7.7g of sugar per egg
- The Cadbury Creme Egg contains 26g of sugar per 40g egg
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
Essentials
The flights
Return flights from Dubai to Windhoek, with a combination of Emirates and Air Namibia, cost from US$790 (Dh2,902) via Johannesburg.
The trip
A 10-day self-drive in Namibia staying at a combination of the safari camps mentioned – Okonjima AfriCat, Little Kulala, Desert Rhino/Damaraland, Ongava – costs from $7,000 (Dh25,711) per person, including car hire (Toyota 4x4 or similar), but excluding international flights, with The Luxury Safari Company.
When to go
The cooler winter months, from June to September, are best, especially for game viewing.
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The Beach Bum
Director: Harmony Korine
Stars: Matthew McConaughey, Isla Fisher, Snoop Dogg
Two stars
Cinco in numbers
Dh3.7 million
The estimated cost of Victoria Swarovski’s gem-encrusted Michael Cinco wedding gown
46
The number, in kilograms, that Swarovski’s wedding gown weighed.
1,000
The hours it took to create Cinco’s vermillion petal gown, as seen in his atelier [note, is the one he’s playing with in the corner of a room]
50
How many looks Cinco has created in a new collection to celebrate Ballet Philippines’ 50th birthday
3,000
The hours needed to create the butterfly gown worn by Aishwarya Rai to the 2018 Cannes Film Festival.
1.1 million
The number of followers that Michael Cinco’s Instagram account has garnered.
Day 1 results:
Open Men (bonus points in brackets)
New Zealand 125 (1) beat UAE 111 (3)
India 111 (4) beat Singapore 75 (0)
South Africa 66 (2) beat Sri Lanka 57 (2)
Australia 126 (4) beat Malaysia -16 (0)
Open Women
New Zealand 64 (2) beat South Africa 57 (2)
England 69 (3) beat UAE 63 (1)
Australia 124 (4) beat UAE 23 (0)
New Zealand 74 (2) beat England 55 (2)
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
Company profile
Company: Rent Your Wardrobe
Date started: May 2021
Founder: Mamta Arora
Based: Dubai
Sector: Clothes rental subscription
Stage: Bootstrapped, self-funded
COMPANY%20PROFILE
%3Cp%3EFounder%3A%20Hani%20Abu%20Ghazaleh%3Cbr%3EBased%3A%20Abu%20Dhabi%2C%20with%20an%20office%20in%20Montreal%3Cbr%3EFounded%3A%202018%3Cbr%3ESector%3A%20Virtual%20Reality%3Cbr%3EInvestment%20raised%3A%20%241.2%20million%2C%20and%20nearing%20close%20of%20%245%20million%20new%20funding%20round%3Cbr%3ENumber%20of%20employees%3A%2012%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
'Brazen'
Director: Monika Mitchell
Starring: Alyssa Milano, Sam Page, Colleen Wheeler
Rating: 3/5
West Asia Premiership
Dubai Hurricanes 58-10 Dubai Knights Eagles
Dubai Tigers 5-39 Bahrain
Jebel Ali Dragons 16-56 Abu Dhabi Harlequins
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cylturbo
Transmission: seven-speed DSG automatic
Power: 242bhp
Torque: 370Nm
Price: Dh136,814
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Lamsa
Founder: Badr Ward
Launched: 2014
Employees: 60
Based: Abu Dhabi
Sector: EdTech
Funding to date: $15 million
Specs
Engine: Duel electric motors
Power: 659hp
Torque: 1075Nm
On sale: Available for pre-order now
Price: On request
Moon Music
Artist: Coldplay
Label: Parlophone/Atlantic
Number of tracks: 10
Rating: 3/5
MATCH INFO
Sheffield United 2 Bournemouth 1
United: Sharp (45 2'), Lundstram (84')
Bournemouth: C Wilson (13')
Man of the Match: Jack O’Connell (Sheffield United)
