Brendan Gleeson has shared how how he almost lost his breakthrough role in the historical epic Braveheart, starring Mel Gibson.
The Irish actor starred as the highlands bruiser Hamish in the 1995 epic, which became one of the biggest film productions to be mounted in Ireland.
“nearly lost the part”
Gleeson, an Oscar nominated, Emmy Award winner, revealed that he was discovered by Mel Gibson who saw him appear in Juno and The Paycock the the Gaiety Theatre, Dublin.
“And then I nearly lost the part,” Gleeson said. “We had a run-through of Juno first in Dublin and then we were supposed to go to Chicago and Mel said, `do you think you can still do Braveheart and I said, `I might, yeah”.
Gleeson continued: “He rang the theatre and told them but I said, `I have two weeks to go here and they won’t let me go . . . ‘ and I thought, I could just go anyway and do the movie but that would be a really dumb thing to do and also really unethical in my hometown, I’d never work again”.
“So, I lost the part in Braveheart but then they decided to switch some things around and I got to do it in the end”.
The Non-Sportsperson’s Sportsperson
Brendan Gleeson also spoke about how he broke into acting while originally working as a teacher, as well as his love of sport.
Gleeson was working in the classroom, while appearing Roddy Doyle and Paul Mercer plays with Passion Machine, before getting a break.
He discussed one of his more recent roles, starring as Knuckles McGinty, the hot headed prison cook in Paddington 2.
“When I first heard about the role, I thought I like the sound of this”, he said. “Then I read the script and thought this is kind of funny and then I watched the first one, which I hadn’t seen, and I thought this is brilliant, these guys are absolutely brilliant. Knuckles for me was great craic”.
On his love of sports, Brendan Gleeson explained how supporting the Dublin football team was a big part of his childhood.
“My brother Barry ended up playing with Parnells and he was a big Gaelic fan and he brought me to Croker, I think around 1958”, stated Gleeson.
The actor also added that he was an early supporter of Aston Villa.
“I had a bit of a history with Villa because I started when I was 14, I’d picked Villa out of an FA Cup draw, they had all this cool gear, they had all these little stripes so I thought I’ll jump in with those”, he said.
“They became my team and then the following season they were relegated so when ‘94 came around and we did win silverware, I did kinda lose the run of myself”.
Brendan Gleeson is renowned for staring in several movies including In Bruges, as well as the Harry Potter movies, and the Banshees of Inisherin alongside Barry Keoghan and Colin Farrell.
