From his screen debut as Pat Barry in RTE’s The Riordans in 1978, actor Gabriel Byrne has gone on to conquer Hollywood and indie films in the US, win awards for his stage work on Broadway, and return to TV screens in recent times with hit series such as HBO’s In Treatment and, on Irish TV screens, to star in Vikings and as Quirke, John Banville’s pathologist detective in 1950s Dublin. He talks to John Kelly about why it’s harder than ever to make indie films now in the US, the pull of TV (it’s where the writers are) and stage fright. He also reminisces about the early fame of Irish TV dramas, The Riordans and Bracken – ‘Surreal is a word I would use’ – and working with legends like Robert Mitchum: ‘chain-smoking and incredibly well-read and talking to me about Máirtín Ó Direáin.’ Currently working in the UK on the film Lies We Tell, which also stars Harvey Keitel and Gina McKee, Gabriel Byrne also talks about the challenges and excitement of his next major Broadway role, as James Tyrone, Eugene O’Neill’s iconic patriarch, in A Long Day’s Journey Into Night in 2016, playing opposite Jessica Lange as his morphine-addicted wife Mary.