Domhnall Gleeson has told RTÉ Entertainment that Guy Ritchie had a surprise for him when he cast the Dubliner in his new adventure Fountain of Youth.
The movie sees John Krasinski and Natalie Portman play adventurer Luke and art historian Charlotte, estranged siblings who reunite to find "the most important archaeological discovery in history". Gleeson's character Owen is the Irish billionaire bankrolling the search, and Eiza González plays Esme, the mysterious agent out to stop them.
When Gleeson was asked by RTÉ Entertainment whether his character Owen was originally Irish in the script or if it was something that he suggested to Ritchie, he replied: "No, it was something Guy Ritchie said to me! It was the other way round! I was talking to a dialect coach, I was going to do American, and I heard, 'Guy wants you to play it Irish'. And I was like, 'Can I talk to Guy about it?', and they were like, 'Not really! Guy is off doing something else!' So he just turned up on set and was like, 'No, I like Irish'. And actually, I'm really happy. It was a good call from him, I thought."
Fountain of Youth has plenty of twists and turns, but both Gleeson and co-star Eiza González laughed off the suggestion that they read the last couple of pages first to make sure they were still alive at the end of the film.
"No, I think you read it in order - but you're definitely paying a lot of attention for the last few pages, for sure!" smiled Gleeson. "'Is this a one-picture deal or a three-picture deal? What are we looking at?!'"
Fountain of Youth is out now on Apple TV+.
