Aidan Gillen plays a gangster in new crime drama 'Love/Hate' on RTÉ One. He talks to the RTÉ Guide’s John Byrne about the show, returning to Ireland and his varied acting career
The Clonsilla Inn is a typical, sprawling, suburban Dublin boozer. It’s a Friday afternoon approaching lunchtime, so business is starting to pick up as punters begin to settle around its large bars. The clientele is a mixture of those in need of a contemplative daytime pint, a carvery lunch, or a cup of something hot while scanning a newspaper or checking the form before heading to the bookies. Relaxed and extremely quiet, it’s like a library with a full licence. Out back, it’s a different story. The place is buzzing, as only a TV show set can.
Stretched across the far reaches of a sizeable car park is an incongruous group of trailers that form the temporary HQ for the on location work on RTÉ One’s new drama, 'Love/Hate'.
This four-part series revolves around Dublin’s criminal fraternity, and features an impressive cast headed by Aidan Gillen. Probably best known for his roles in Channel 4’s 'Queer as Folk' and HBO’s 'The Wire' (widely regarded as the greatest show in TV history), the Dubliner’s CV creaks with superlative performances, on stage as well as on the small and big screens.
Nothing if not understated, Gillen is the antithesis of today’s celeb culture; an ordinary bloke who puts his heart and soul into acting, often with extraordinary results. As we meet, he grins, shakes hands and guides me into his trailer.
Compact-but-comfortable, it’s a practical place to conduct an interview.
"I was sent the script and asked if I was interested in playing this part of John Boy, and I felt the script was really, really good", explaining how he became involved in Love/Hate. "And I said yes without much deliberation at all.
"Stuart Carolan has written a really, really good script. I knew that there were going to be some pretty exciting actors in it… I quite like the subject matter, and just the world of the characters in the story. I like the subtlety and the lack of moralising – I think ultimately there is a moral point but the audience will be given more than enough space to make up their own minds. They’re not being told: this is good and that is bad."
When gangster Darren Treacy (Robert Sheehan) returns to Dublin after a year on the run in Spain, a member of his gang is murdered, setting off a chain of events that involve gangland boss John Boy (Gillen). Crime, of course, is a deadly business and the death toll quickly accumulates as events spiral out of control. Killinaskully it ain’t.
"I think it’s a particularly modern Irish story", says Gillen. "It’s a crime drama, but it’s not a cops and robbers’ story. The cops are peripheral characters. It’s told totally from the inside; it’s almost like a family drama. John Boy is, within this crew, a big brother figure. I’m older than the rest of them, maybe a bit more articulate. And more considered, and more controlled."
Although he’s enjoyed quite a successful career – as well as his notable TV and film work, he’s also been nominated for a Tony, thanks to his performance in Harold Pinters’ 'The Caretaker' on Broadway, alongside Patrick Stewart and Kyle MacLachlan – Gillen’s off-screen profile is pretty low-key and he’s a very private person.
After 20 years based in London, he’s back in Ireland again, living in Kerry with his family, and he enjoys the fact that he can come and go and has avoided the celebrity lifestyle. "I’m really enjoying being back, spending more time back in Ireland, it has to be said." And while some people act because they want to be stars, Gillen does so because it’s in his DNA.
"I quite enjoy the place I’m in, which is on the edges of all of that, the mainstream", he explains. "I suppose it depends on what you define as mainstream, but I can do whatever I want." Mixing TV with the stage and movies, he feels, "keeps you fresh. It kind of keeps you out of the light of one of them, which is not a bad thing at all."
Not being the kind of guy who’s on a career path, Gillen is more a 'let’s see what happens' kind of person. The offers that come through his letterbox determine where he’s off to next. "I don’t go around thinking about it a lot, but weighing it, whenever I do, I’m pretty happy with the choices I made and don’t regret anything", he insists. "I’ve had an exciting and interesting life because of it. So I feel lucky more than anything."
Playing the ambitious politician Tommy Carcetti in 'The Wire' may well be how Aidan Gillen’s career is defined in terms of pop culture. The HBO series about the realities of life in Baltimore became a massive word-of-mouth success, as well as being critically acclaimed as the finest piece of television ever produced.
"I’m proud of my involvement, but it’s all down to [creator] David Simon and his vision and his co-writers, and his perseverance with telling the story", says Gillen. "He’s taken his time telling a complicated, huge story, and making it universal by homing in on tiny details of people’s lives." He describes David Simon as "definitely the smartest person I’ve met in television and film. He’s one of the most decent as well; and hardworking, not into the glam, and a cool bloke."
For Gillen, the plaudits aren’t as important as the show itself. A slow-burning series that saw characters come and go and even drop out for seasons, The Wire’s epic story arc almost defies typical TV standards.
As he puts it: "They were setting out to make something brilliant. So it’s good that it’s got recognition. It doesn’t matter if they say it’s the best thing ever, as long as people get to see it, and they had the chance to make it the way they wanted to make it, and they got an audience. The rest of it", he insists, "doesn’t matter."
Reflecting on the advice he got at the start of his career from Robin Lefevre, who directed him in Billy Roche’s 'A Handful of Stars', Gillen smiles. "He said, ‘don’t be in any hurry trying to get the top or trying to be famous, just enjoy the ride’. It was good advice."
John Byrne
