Brogue warrior

Pesky paparazzi get Gabriel Byrne's Irish up. The star of A Moon for the Misbegotten defends his honor.

Gabriel Byrne could use a day of peace. And it's easy to understand why. As James Tyrone Jr. in A Moon for the Misbegotten, Eugene O'Neill's 1945 benediction to his booze-addled brother, the Irish actor draws from so deep in the gut that his superlative Broadway performance sends the audience into sobs. And he's dealing with more than a daily bout of onstage alcoholism. He's also suffered some unsettling press moments lately— namely, encounters with the New York Post, which called him out for his truancy from a Drama League awards lunch (he was photographed with a "mystery" woman outside a chi-chi Madison Avenue eatery that afternoon) and later printed a transcript of a flirtatious cell-phone call he made from the Russian Tea Room. But even though the paparazzi are putting their big noses in the actor/producer/writer's business, Byrne still has cause to celebrate. The sexy star, who made his big-screen mark in 1990's Miller's Crossing and cemented his coolness with The Usual Suspects in 1995, has just been nominated for a Tony Award (along with his Moon costars, Cherry Jones and Roy Dotrice). Though he declined to comment on future projects, word is that he's just signed on to star as a recently divorced and learning-to-date architect in an ABC TV series that will air this fall. And he rang in his 50th birthday on May 12. TONY caught up with Byrne in his dressing room at the Walter Kerr Theatre, post half-century bash, to talk about the play and pests from the local press who plague him.

Time Out New York: A Moon for the Misbegotten is quite a soul-wrenching play. What have you learned from it?

Gabriel Byrne: That nobody's love can save anybody else. There are people who want to die, and nothing or nobody will stop them. The only one who can save you is yourself.

TONY: Did you really call up Kevin Spacey—who got a 1999 Tony nomination for his performance in O'Neill's The Iceman Cometh—and ask him how to pull off this role?

GB: I called Kevin Spacey one day about something else, but he didn't say to me "calm down," like The New York Times said. Because I was not deranged. He said, "Fall back, and let O'Neill catch you." I said, "What do you mean?" And he said, "I can't talk to you now, I've got to go see Denzel Washington in The Hurricane." And he hung up. [Smiles]

TONY: I heard that Nine Inch Nails came to your show the other night. Did you see them?

GB: Somebody said, "Oh, Nine Inch Nails are out there," and I had this image of these nails sitting there. But I don't know how many Nine Inch Nails there are. Billy Corgan. Doesn't he play with them?

TONY: Billy Corgan is one of the Smashing Pumpkins.

GB: Okay. Nine Inch Nails—[Sheepishly] I don't know who Nine Inch Nails are. Billy Corgan did the music for a movie I did, Stigmata…don't write that I thought he played with Nine Inch Nails, or he'll never speak to me again.

TONY: You played a priest in Stigmata. And in End of Days, your other movie of last year, you played the devil. Which did you identify with more?

GB: I think there's a bit of the devil in everybody. There's a bit of a priest in everybody, too, but I enjoyed playing the devil more. He was more fun.

TONY: You grew up Catholic, and once planned to join the priesthood. Did you pay respects to the late John Cardinal O'Connor?

GB: I thought to myself, there's a man who gave up his life to serve others—to touch people in that way is probably the greatest thing you can do as a human being. I went by the church and I just… [Salutes]

TONY: Time for confession. Have you done anything in the past few weeks that you feel guilty about?

GB: Guilt is the most meaningless of emotions. It means nothing. As Barbra Streisand says, [Sotto voce] "I got nothing to be guilty of…."

TONY: Do you read the New York Post?

GB: No.

TONY: Not ever?

GB: No.

TONY: Oh. Because there were a couple of stories about you in there recently….

GB: That was bullshit. A completely disrespectful photographer was asked to stop taking photographs, and then said, "I've got what I want. What are you going to do about it?" How would you feel if somebody walked up and started taking your photograph? I don't think you'd be very happy. The whole [story] was invented. I was not supposed to be at an awards luncheon.

TONY: You were lunching with a "hot babe…mystery brunette."

GB: The person I was with was organizing my birthday party, and also happens to be a good friend of mine, who is a married woman. If you don't mind, drop the Post. What they indicated was a complete concoction of bullshit.

TONY: You've got a degree in archaeology. What's the best thing you've ever dug up?

GB: The most exciting thing I ever found on a dig, in Dublin, was a child's shoe from the 10th century. One little tiny child's shoe. I was the first one to touch it. And the excitement of that—the impulse to put it in my pocket and keep it forever for myself—was strong. But it would have been terribly unfair of me to do that.

TONY: Are you reading anything good right now?

GB: The Book of Revelation. It's about a dancer in Amsterdam who's kidnapped by three women. They sexually victimize him—basically, they treat him like [men treat] women. Rupert Thomson is the author; he's an English guy.

TONY: Tell me about the novel that you are writing.

GB: I'm still rewriting it. When it's finished, I'll put it out there.

TONY: Are you going to show up to the Tony Awards?

GB: Yeah. I'll go. Whether I'll win, I don't know. [Sighs] How the hell can you compare one actor to another? It's ridiculous. You just can't.

TONY: The play ends on June 18. What will you do on the 19th?

GB: Collapse, I think.

TONY: Well, you are 50 now.

GB: What is that song that Willie Nelson sang? "Oh, the days dwindle down to a precious few." I think of that. No big deal. I've reached a stage in my life where I am content.

TONY: So you had a happy birthday?

GB: I had one of the best days of my life. I spent the afternoon with my two kids and my ex-wife [Ellen Barkin], at Serendipity. Then I came to the theater, and you know, I think I did the play the best I've ever done it. I never dreamed that on my 50th birthday I'd be standing on a Broadway stage, in a play by Eugene O'Neill, receiving a standing ovation. And then I went to my party, which was at Circus, and everywhere I turned, there were people I really liked. It was a beautiful day.

TONY: What was your best gift?

GB: Presents don't really mean much to me. I don't want to sound mawkish, but—it was the realization that I have a great many people in my life who really love me, and who I really love.

TONY: Did you go with a hot mystery date?

GB: No. I went by myself…[Grins] and all of the dates met me there.

A Moon for the Misbegotten is at the Walter Kerr Theatre. The 2000 Tony Awards airs June 4 at 9pm on CBS.