Gabriel Byrne

Gabriel James Byrne (born 12 May 1950) is an Irish actor, film director, film producer, screenwriter, cultural ambassador and audiobook narrator.

Quotes

 * Nothing much will change under Biden because his thing is: let’s return America to what it was. Well, what America was caused Trump. The Democrats rolled out the red carpet.
 * On Joe Biden’s presidential win in 2020 in “Gabriel Byrne: 'There’s a shame about men speaking out. A sense that if you were abused, it was your fault'” in The Guardian (2020 Nov 8)


 * When I found out that the Pentagon has a film department, a lot of things made sense to me. America reveals itself to the world through film. We absorb the American dream because they own the means of production... Reagan and Bush essentially appealed to American cinema mythology; the good guys out on their farms in cowboy hats. America is Gary Cooper. The terrorists are the Indians on horseback. Trump appeals as much to our cinematic language as to our politics: he works through the old reliables of fear and lies.
 * On how film shapes the American consciousness in “Gabriel Byrne: 'There’s a shame about men speaking out. A sense that if you were abused, it was your fault'” in The Guardian (2020 Nov 8)


 * We now prefer the fantasy…We find comfort in the lies. I was the victim of that for so long. I imbibed everything. It led to a place where I became extremely unhappy. And now I question everything. I believe it’s a responsibility to do it.
 * On how people forgo truthful living for lies in “Gabriel Byrne: 'There’s a shame about men speaking out. A sense that if you were abused, it was your fault'” in The Guardian (2020 Nov 8)


 * The priest’s breath was sour and hot as he moved towards me…Then there was blackness...I remembered every single moment up to a point…Then it’s concreted over. What’s buried there? Is it something worth exhuming?..Yes. Maybe if I say it, it will lose its power over me.
 * On confronting the memories of his sexual abuse by a priest in “Gabriel Byrne: 'There’s a shame about men speaking out. A sense that if you were abused, it was your fault'” in The Guardian (2020 Nov 8)


 * There’s a kind of an unspoken acceptance of the idea that sex against girls is kind of the real assault. The violation of women is what you should pay attention to. There’s a shame about men speaking out. A sense that if you were abused, it was your own fault. Men are not supposed to talk about their feelings. Men have to be strong and men don’t cry.
 * On how male sexual abuse is often glossed over in “Gabriel Byrne: 'There’s a shame about men speaking out. A sense that if you were abused, it was your fault'” in The Guardian (2020 Nov 8)


 * It still makes me angry. The church still controls education in Ireland. And it’s an obscenity to tell innocent children they’re going to go to hell for taking sixpence out of their mother’s purse…[in America] It’s regarded as important not to put money into it, because if you put money into it, you start people thinking, and then they start to question the system and that’s dangerous…I want to go on that journey with my child trying to expand their vision of the world. I’m not going to leave it to them to take over her brain.
 * On his views of the Irish and American educational systems in “Gabriel Byrne: 'There’s a shame about men speaking out. A sense that if you were abused, it was your fault'” in The Guardian (2020 Nov 8)