Hollywood Irish

"O’Toole is Ireland’s best interviewer."—Irish Mail on Sunday As Matt Damon’s character said in Martin Scorsese’s "The Departed", "What Freud said about the Irish is, ‘We’re the only people who are impervious to psychoanalysis!’" But they’re also a remarkably candid race, as is evident in this major anthology of over 20 in-depth interviews with some Hollywood icons and character actors, including: Gabriel Byrne, Saoirse Ronan, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Brenda Fricker, Patrick Bergin, David Kelly, and those with strong Irish roots such as Martin Sheen, and John Boorman. It also includes a rare exchange with Peter O’Toole’s daughter, Kate, about her legendary father, and the last major print interview with Maureen O’Hara, which is published here for the first time as a Q&A in its entirety. None of these deeply personal interviews were conducted at press junkets, but instead were set-up with the actors directly without any interference from publicists or movie studios. With such unique access, O’Toole found himself hanging out for an entire weekend with Martin Sheen, exchanging emails with the likes of Gabriel Byrne, and enjoying lengthy phone conversations with the reclusive Brenda Fricker, who is the only Irish actress to win an Oscar. "O’Toole specializes in in-your-face interviews."—Sunday Independent