Domhnall Gleeson talks about working with Michael Fassbender and Angelina Jolie
It’s been a busy week for Domhnall Gleeson (Bill Weasley) – his casting in the new Star Wars film was announced last week, and his new film, Frank, premiered in London. Domhnall was interviewed at the premiere, and he spoke about working with both Michael Fassbender and Angelina Jolie and filming in Ireland.
On working with Michael Fassbender, who wears a giant fake head throughout Frank, Domhnall said,
I won’t say it too loudly, otherwise he’ll hear, but Michael’s an extraordinary actor; I think we all know that.
He lets you know what you need to know; it all comes through. Any way he moved, the pitch of his voice, the way he enunciated and just the vibe coming off him let us know what we needed to know, the same as if you’re talking to [me].
And then when he chose not to talk or not to let you know what he was thinking it was extra interesting. You panic and think, ‘what the hell is going on inside the head’!
It’s a really good way to work, and it was an amazing performance, one of his best, which I think is saying something.
Domhnall plays an aspiring musician in the film, and on recording the music scenes he said,
It was kind of dribs and drabs for a while before I met up with Francois, Carla and Steve. I had a lot of time just me and Steve, who wrote all the music, and did an incredible job. And then Lenny joined, and then Michael joined.
We ended up doing a week or two weeks, something like that, but we all knew what we needed to do before that, anyway. So there’s a lot of rehearsal by yourself, and then once you get into the room, Steve had to write the songs around us. Once we get into the room the energy was great, you know.
Michael would put on the head for rehearsals sometimes, and it was like, what a way to go to work in the morning, you know? ‘Hi, I’m going to band practice with Michael!’ It was great.
But I’m just the keyboardist, so that kind of sucks. Who knows the name of the keyboardist? I’m pretty good at the stuff I have to play and pretty crap at everything else!
Domhnall also spoke about filming in Ireland and how ending up in Ireland for many of his films is an utter coincidence:
There’s nothing that draws me to filming in Ireland at all, apart from the fact that they were really good stories with really good people attached that I was desperate to work with.
The fact that they’re Irish is coincidental.
I’m playing Irish in Brooklyn, but I’m not playing Irish in Frank, and I was only in for a day on Calvary. But good projects are what I want to work on, and we’re very lucky in Ireland that there are lots of good projects happening.
Finally, Domhnall spoke about filming with Angelina Jolie on his upcoming project, Unbroken:
I think that she is a wonderful director, a wonderful human being, I was very lucky to spend time with her, and I think she’s done a great job.
I don’t think it would be a surprise to people that she’s done a great job because she’s so dedicated and so talented.
And the fact that she’s well known for acting has nothing to do with it; she’s just incredible at directing in her own right.
Check out the full interview here. Frank is in UK theaters now and will be in US theaters at the end of August. Are you planning on seeing the film when it comes out? Let us know your thoughts!
