The man who for years was always described as a 'brooding Irish actor' lives on his own in Beverly Hills. From the outside it looks like any Los Angeles house, but inside it's definitely the home of an expatriate. There are masses of Irish poetry books, paintings of Irish landscapes, family accordions (which he plays) and even the shoes he wore as a schoolboy. Much more than an actor - he also develops projects, writes scripts and novels, and produces films - Byrne goes back home every summer 'to do movies about Ireland'. His two children, from his marriage to actress Ellen Barkin, go with him. "It's so easy to get caught up in mass culture here. It's important my children know they have another tradition and a heritage that's a gift to them". Now 48, Byrne's aquiline features are more craggy, but his sex appeal is as strong as ever. Madonna made no secret that she's a big admirer. "He's as talented as he is beautiful", she once declared. "Madonna was definitely after him", says a friend. "He found it amusing".
Actor Gabriel Byrne has entered into a new production deal with Sony Pictures because word-of-mouth on their first association, Mad about Mambo, is extremely hot. Mel (Bean) Smith will direct The Lying Laird, a comedy based on the true story of an official who embezzled a large sum of money in order to buy a Scottish noble title. The other project on the boil is Early Bird about a B-17 bomber crew who crash-land in Ireland during the Second World War to be directed by Simon (Free Willy) Wincer.
(Film Preview January 1999)
June 9, 1998
Sun-Herald
By: Rachel Browne
Hollywood star Gabriel Byrne has revealed that he is searching for a movie project to work on in Australia. Already, the champion of the blossoming Irish film industry, the Dublin-born actor believes the Australian industry is producing similarly inventive films, also on small budgets and battling to break the US and UK strangleholds over the global market.
"There are so many Irish people, and particularly from the theatre, who have gone to work in Australia" said Byrne who has appeared in films such as Miller's Crossing, the Usual Suspects and The Man in the Iron Mask.
"There are strong links there. And you have so many good directors in Australia and some really good actors. I would really love to go and do a film there. It's on the top of my list."
Byrne's involvement as an actor, producer or director in any local product would be seen as an enormous asset, particularly since he is viewed as one of Hollywood's most bankable stars.
The dark-haired all-rounder with the soft Irish brogue- "But please don't call me brooding, that's something that hens do," he said- has rarely chosen the most high-profile roles, preferring to work on projects he feels are intrinsically worthwhile.
He's just finished work on the film Enemy of the State- tipped to become one of the biggest US movies of 1998.
In the press, [Gabriel] Byrne has been linked romantically to Julia Ormond, his co-star in the forthcoming Smilla's Sense of Snow, adapted from the bestselling novel by Peter Hxeg. (When I ask Ormond about this, she laughs and says, "Why don't you ask him?") "He's very wise and he's very balanced," Julia Ormond says, "and he's very witty. He gets cast in serious roles because of his looks. But he's incredibly funny. Part of his humor lies in his self-deprecating manner. It's not an act with Gabriel. He has a genuine disbelief in his attributes." [about the film, Byrne said] "It was tough going to work with fifteen dogs pulling your sled up to the tops of mountains. Excruciatingly cold. We were flying in small planes between Denmark, Sweden, Iceland, Greenland, Lapland. I didn't see my kids for three months."
