Gleeson Is Defining America’s Hilarious Movie Genre
You might remember him from such films as “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” and “Calvary,” but Irish actor Brendan Gleeson is also making his mark in a lesser known genre of filmmaking: hilarious movies.
He’s not the only one. There’s a long tradition of comedians making us laugh in film and television, from Peter Sellers to Jim Carrey to Tina Fey. But few actors have managed to work so successfully in this category. In fact, he may be the only one who has ever done it.
In an article for The Atlantic, writer Michael Schulman describes how Gleeson went from being a serious actor to one of the most highly regarded comedy stars in Hollywood today. From his early days as an aspiring actor at Trinity College Dublin to his recent role as President Donald Trump on NBC’s “Saturday Night Live,” Gleeson has made a name for himself as one of America’s funniest actors. “The New Yorker” described him as “a great comedian.”
In recent years, Gleeson has been nominated for Academy Awards three times and won an Emmy for playing Gleeson on the HBO series “Boardwalk Empire.” He also
There is a post on Medium from 2015 that says a lot and says it so well that, frankly, I’m not sure I should even be writing this, but I feel like I can’t help myself.
It’s by Kate Preyor and it’s about Rian Johnson — more specifically about how he, for her, represents an important new kind of American filmmaking. It’s called “Rian Johnson Is Defining America’s Hilarious Movie Genre.”
I agree with most of what she says, but most of all I love the way she makes her case — the way she sees connections between movies as diverse as The Last Jedi (which she admires) and Knives Out (which she loves) and The Brothers Bloom (which to me seems almost perfectly wrongheaded). She sees them as linked in a way that’s both obvious and meaningful. And the link is their very conscious desire to tell their stories in a funny way, even if they are telling stories about people in terrible situations. As she puts it:
In Johnson’s world no one is “just fine.” They aren’t rolling with the punches or “keeping their chin
There are many actors in Hollywood, but only a handful define a movie genre. It’s a rare thing to do, but it’s what defines an actor’s career.
It’s been done before. It was done by Tom Hanks in the 90’s with comedy-dramas like Philadelphia and Sleepless in Seattle. And it was done by Robin Williams with screwball comedy like Mrs. Doubtfire and Jumanji.
Today, the genre that’s on the rise is the comedy-drama. Rian Johnson is defining this genre and making it mainstream.
What is a Comedy-Drama?
A comedy-drama is a blend of two genres: comedy and drama. It features elements of both to produce something that’s funny, but also emotionally compelling or serious.
Have you noticed? There is a new movie genre. It’s not quite comedy, but it has a lot of laughs. It’s not quite drama, but it has real emotion. The movies feel fresh, and yet they are also nostalgic.
None of them have made more than $150 million in the U.S., but they’re big hits with critics and fans alike, and many are getting Oscar nominations. They are the kind of movies that get lost in the hype around blockbusters and prestige pictures, but they stand out when you look back at the year and try to think what you really enjoyed watching. You probably never thought about it this way, but chances are you’ve seen a few or even many of these films: “About Time,” “The Skeleton Twins,” “The Kings of Summer,” “Safety Not Guaranteed.”
These movies all have one thing in common: the actor Bill Hader (or Billy Crudup if he is not available). They also have one other thing in common: Rian Johnson, who wrote and directed “Brick” and “Looper” and did an uncredited rewrite on “The Brothers Bloom.” He also directed three episodes of the most recent season of “Breaking Bad,” including
Brendan Gleeson is an Irish actor who has been acting in movies and on stage since the mid-1980s. He first gained international attention when he played Mad Eye Moody in the Harry Potter films. After that, he had roles in several mainstream films including Edge of Tomorrow, Calvary, and The Grand Seduction.
In 2019’s Knives Out (directed by Rian Johnson), Gleeson plays Richard Drysdale-Thrombey, the patriarch of a family who are suspects in a murder investigation following his death. The movie also stars Chris Evans, Daniel Craig, Ana de Armas, Jamie Lee Curtis, Michael Shannon, Don Johnson, Toni Collette, Lakeith Stanfield, Katherine Langford and Jaeden Martell.
