The
Best of Domhnall Gleeson
Domhnall Gleeson plays Jim Farrell in
the cinematic adaptation of Colm Tôibín’s award winning novel
BROOKLYN. The story follows Eilis (Saoirse Ronan) as she
leaves her life in Ireland behind to pursue the American Dream.
Whilst in The Big Apple, Eilis falls in love with the
Italian-American Tony (Emory Cohen). Unfortunately, due to
unforeseeable events she is forced to move back to Ireland where she
falls for Jim and is left wondering whether or not to return to the
States. In celebration of John Crowley’s BAFTA-winning
and Academy Award®-nominated film arriving on
Blu-Ray, DVD, and EST from the 29th
of February courtesy of Lionsgate Home
Entertainment we take a look at some of Gleeson’s best work to
date.
The Revenant
Leonardo DiCaprio may be stealing the
spotlight in terms of performances and awards in Alejandro Inarritu’s
survival epic, The Revenant, but Domhnall’s portrayal
of Captain Andrew Henry shouldn’t be overlooked. Following a brutal
bear attack, frontiersman Hugh Glass (DiCaprio) witnesses the murder
of his son and is left for dead at the hands of John Fitzgerald
(Hardy), a member of his own expedition team. Glass literally crawls
out of his own grave and embarks on a visually stunning and
physically exhausting revenge mission to find his old team, lead by
Captain Henry, and get the man responsible for abandoning him and
killing his boy.
Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force
Awakens
Securing a part in cinema’s largest
franchise was a spectacular feat for the Irish actor. The seventh
instalment of George Lucas’ sci-fi classic takes place 30 years
after Episode VI and the destruction of the Empire. However, a new
threat comes to surface in the form of the First Order. A group of
unlikely new heroes (and a few old ones) must work together to
prevent the First Order and its mysterious leader Snoke from finding
Luke Skywalker and completely eliminating the Jedi. Gleeson plays
General Hux, a callous First Order commander on Star Killer Base
determined to shift power away from Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) and into
his own hands.
Ex-Machina
A step away from big budget
blockbusters sees Domhnall in one of his best roles to date. He plays
Caleb, a computer programmer at the biggest internet company in the
world. He gets ‘randomly’ selected as the winner of an internal
office competition to spend a week in the mountain home of the
company’s reclusive CEO, Nathan (the brilliant Oscar Isaac). Caleb
shortly finds out that he isn’t there for a holiday, but to be the
heart and centre of an incredible experiment involving the first ever
true AI, embodied in a beautiful robot (Alicia Vikander).
Unbroken
Angelina Jolie’s heroic tale of
resistance follows the life of Louis Zamperini (Jack O’Connell), a
former Olympic athlete who joins the armed forces during World War
Two. After a near fatal plane crash Louis and two of his crewmates
(Domhnall Gleeson and Finn Wittrock) are forced to spend 47 days on a
small raft in the middle of shark infested waters. Just when they
thought things couldn’t get worse, the survivors are picked up by a
Japanese warship and taken to a P.O.W camp. Louis is subjected to a
barrage of torture but never once seems to lose character and
constantly uses his strong will to inspire the other members of the
camp. Gleeson shed a considerable amount of weight for this role,
so much so that his contact lenses wouldn’t fit in his eyes
anymore!
Frank
Lenny Abrahamson’s Frank is
another indie classic for the young Gleeson. He plays a budding
musician named Jon who joins an avant-garde pop band called The
Soronprfbs. The front man of the group is Frank (Michael
Fassbender), an eccentric and mysterious man who always wears a large
papier-mâché mask. Jon tries his best to broaden the band’s
audience and share Frank’s gift with the world, resulting in a
multitude of problems which threaten to tear the group apart.
About Time
On his 21st birthday Tim
Lake (Gleeson) discovers that he has the ability to travel in time.
While his travels won’t affect the grander scheme of history he can
still manipulate what has happened and will happen in his own life.
So, of course, the first thing he does is set out to get a
girlfriend. After meeting Mary (Rachel McAdams) and repeatedly
setting back the clocks to win her heart, he finally succeeds. Tim
uses his gift as well as he can to aid all his errors and those of
his friends and relatives. However, he soon realises the dangers of
time travel and the limitations it possesses.
Sensation
This is an odd one from an earlier
stage in the Irishman’s career. While it didn’t quite reach the
international audience it may have liked to this dark comedy still
proved a pivotal point in Gleeson’s growth and journey to stardom.
He takes the lead as Donal, a young Irishman who embarks on a
relationship with a call girl. Together the two lovers devise a plan
to use Donal’s inheritance to open up a brothel. Not your typical
boy-meets-girl film but still a fascinating watch.
True Grit
Domhnall had a small part in Joel and
Ethan Coen’s western remake as Moon, an outlaw from the Ned Pepper
Gang. Rooster Cogburn (Jeff Bridges), Mattie Ross (Hailee Steinfeld),
and LaBoeuf (Matt Damon) encounter Moon whilst on their journey to
track down the man responsible for the murder of Mattie’s father.
The trio face dangerous and unexpected events on their travels
through Indian land, but their determination and grit make them an
unstoppable force that will stop at nothing to find the hired gun
responsible for the killing.
Harry Potter and the Deathly
Hallows: Part 1 & 2
Very little introduction needed here.
Domhnall Gleeson grabbed another part in a legendary franchise by
playing Bill Weasley in The Deathly Hallows. Having been cut from The
Goblet of Fire, the eldest Weasley brother finally joins the ensemble
as a member of the Order of the Phoenix. He does his best to help as
Harry and the gang search for Horcruxes and take on Lord Voldermort.
It’s just a shame it took the character so long to get involved!
***
Brooklyn
arrives on Blu-Ray, DVD and EST from the 29th
of February courtesy of Lionsgate Home Entertainment
