Of the many attributes assigned to the Irish, the one that most clearly fits the distinct charms of The Usual Suspects and star Gabriel Byrne is that of the lyrical storyteller. While discussing the fantastical elements of his latest movie, Death of a Ladies’ Man, so named after the Leonard Cohen album, our shared Celtic inheritance (I’m Scottish) prompts a mythical interlude. There’s a reason, he says, that the fabled Scottish giants of old didn’t fee-fi-fo-fum over the water and take control of the Emerald Isle.
A young Byrne listened rapt as his teacher relayed the story of seven-foot Fionn mac Cumhaill, the man who saw off the planned invasion single-handedly. “The king sent out a request for the tallest man in Ireland and he said, ‘get him up to the court here’. He introduced him to the sailmaker and said, ‘make him a big diaper, and put him on the beach’.”
Apparently, the sight of this strapping Irishman laid out in a nappy on the sand was enough to avert disaster. “When the Scottish giants got halfway through the water, they looked over on the beach and they said, ‘fuck me, if that’s what the babies look like, can you imagine the adults? Let’s go home’.”
Gabriel Byrne as Samuel in Matt Bissonnette’s ‘Death of a Ladies’ Man’. Source: Transmission Films
It’s fitting, then, that his major breakthrough was playing Uther Pendragon, father of King Arthur, in John Boorman’s trippy Excalibur (1981). There’s a surreal element, too, to Death of a Ladies’ Man, written and directed by Canadian filmmaker Matt Bissonnette, a friend of the late Cohen. Byrne plays Samuel, an Irishman lost at sea in Cohen’s birthplace of Montreal. When he discovers his second wife in bed with a young spunk, Samuel spirals into a boozy ‘ghosts of Christmas past’ reckoning with his mistakes. The discovery of a large tumour in his brain is most likely responsible for the visitations from a young version of his dead father (played by fellow Dubliner Brian Gleeson) and various other apparitions including, but not limited to, the Grim Reaper, Frankenstein’s Monster, and a bodybuilding tigress.
Bissonnette’s sing-song style is further amplified by musical interludes drawing on Cohen’s storied back catalogue. As a teen, Cohen spoke to Byrne in a similarly affecting way. “That was at a time, you know, a very different way of listening to music,” he remembers. “Nobody had much money, so somebody bought an album, and then everybody went around to that guy’s house. And you sat around, and you listened to every track. And if you were lucky enough, somebody had a bit of a joint that they’d pass around. Even though nobody understood what the hell the songs were about, we were mesmerised.”
Gabriel Byrne. Source: Transmission Films
Bissonnette understands how to deploy Cohen’s songs. “They reflect the storyline, rather than just being overlaid,” Byrne says. “Matt combined what Leonard was trying to say, with what he was trying to say about this particular kind of man.”
Samuel may have lived a scoundrel’s life, but the film sees him reconnect with family. Xavier Dolan fans will relish the cinematic reunion of Mommy stars Suzanne Clément, as Samuel’s first wife, and Antoine Olivier Pilon as their son. There’s a beautifully low-key scene with the latter (have your tissues at the ready), as are the meals shared with Samuel’s ghostly father, layered as they are with Hamlet allusions. “One thing that’s looked at, in the film, is the changing role of the father, and what is expected of a father in modern society,” Byrne suggests. “Samuel belongs to the old, traditional, ‘I’m a man, I can do what I want’. But I think that, underneath everything, he is a loving father. He just doesn’t know how to do it properly.”
Antoine Olivier Pilon. Source: Transmission Films
A large chunk of the film was shot in Ireland, inspiring Byrne’s musings on the meaning of home (he’s lived in New York City for decades now). “I think that a great many people don’t understand the turmoil of the emigrant, or the exile. And it’s a big battle for many, many people. ‘Where do I belong? Where am I from? Here, or am I from over there?’”
Jessica Paré with Gabriel Byrne. Source: Transmission Films
He shot the first series of War of the Worlds before everything fell down last year. When I say I watched it, gripped, during Melbourne lockdown, where cold, empty streets fell silent after 8pm, he recalls a conversation about what the show means. “I remember saying it’s metaphorical. It could be anything, and I remember specifically saying, ‘it could be a pandemic’. And that’s why I think the series has found such resonance.”
As busy as ever, Byrne also popped up on drug trade drama ZeroZeroZero, and he’s about to film a contemporary take on the Bard alongside Connie Nielsen and Ian McKellen in Hamlet Revenant. He can’t quite believe his luck. “I started off 45 years ago and I didn’t think I’d last a month,” he laughs. “I’m just gonna keep going until two security guys come into the room and throw me out. And I’d say, ‘You know what, I had a good few drinks. I talked to a few nice people, and I’m happy to go on my way’.”
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Death of a Ladies' Man
This interview took place ahead of the cinema release of Death of a Ladies’ Man.
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