Gabriel Byrne has said that he was “really happy” when he read the script for biopic Dance First, which explores the life of literary great Samuel Beckett.
Influential Irish playwright Beckett won the Nobel Prize For Literature in 1969 and was known for writing works such as Endgame, Happy Days and Waiting For Godot.
Speaking to The Guardian about the upcoming Sky Original film, The Usual Suspects star Byrne, 73, said: “I was really happy when I read the script, because it’s not trying to present a cradle-to-grave biography.
“I didn’t have to do it with wire glasses, and grey hair standing up on end, and lose maybe 30 pounds.”
Discussing what it is like to film a biopic, he asked: “How do you tell somebody’s life in an hour and a half? It’s not possible.
“A lot of these biopics depend on the likeness of the actor to the person they’re playing and it becomes about an impersonation, structured around the highlights of the person’s life.
“There’s nothing wrong with trying to do a film like that. But I think the braver course was to do something that tried to encapsulate what Beckett was as a human being.”
Speaking about the way famous playwrights such as Beckett, and also Eugene O’Neill, are considered in the literary zeitgeist, Byrne added: “People are so in awe of what they represent, that they surrender to that awestruck notion that these men are speaking from the top of a mountain.
‘Dance first, think later’ ✨ Gabriel Byrne plays iconic, Nobel Peace Prize winning playwright Samuel Beckett in Dance First. A Sky Original film, coming to UK cinemas 3 Nov.
Directed by BAFTA and Academy® Award winner James Marsh#DanceFirst pic.twitter.com/r92HSWFPMp
— Sky Cinema (@SkyCinema) September 21, 2023
“But Beckett was not speaking from the top of a mountain, but from the depths of his soul.
“And the way he expressed himself was through this pared down, essential simplicity of language, expressing the deepest and most complex of feelings and thoughts about what it means to be human.”
Dance First sees Normal People star Fionn O’Shea in the role of a younger Beckett, with English actress Maxine Peake and Game Of Thrones actor Aidan Gillen also in starring roles.
The film, directed by The Theory Of Everything’s James Marsh, takes a sweeping look into the life of the playwright, including his friendship with Irish author and Ulysses writer James Joyce.
It is set to be released in cinemas on November 3, and will become available on Sky Cinema in December and on Sky Arts and Freeview in 2024.
