'My mum helped me nab latest role', says Gillen
Aidan Gillen's mother should be his casting agent, if his latest story is anything to go by.
The Love/Hate star is currently promoting his new film, You're Ugly Too, and he got the part because his mum told the director Martin Noonan that she wanted her son to play more "humorous" characters.
The movie tells the story of Stacey, played by Lauren Kinsella, who moves with her uncle Will - Aiden Gillen - after her mother dies.
He lives in a remote region in the Irish midlands and as the pair get to know each other they must confront the past, which "brings a good dose of Irish humour".
Humour
"I was coming out of a movie premiere that Aidan made called Treacle Junior and I bumped into his mother and we where talking about how much we enjoyed Aidan's performance in that movie - it was quite humorous," Noonan said.
"His mother said 'I really wish he did more roles like that with more humour and where he's not the bad guy'.
"So I decided to write something with a little bit of humour and a little bit of drama set in the midlands to really entice him so he couldn't say no," he told the Anton Savage show on Today FM.
While Noonan wrote the script with Gillen in mind, the Love/Hate actor said he felt no pressure.
"Not if you don't know that, and especially not if you didn't know it was your mother who was the person who orchestrated it," Gillen said.
He admitted he didn't find out it was written for him until afterwards.
"I suppose I thought this was a good fit, and retrospectively I can see he's tapping into this or that," he said.
"What we're doing in the film certainly has traits, but I'm not that melancholic."
The Wire actor admitted being an actor has its ups and downs.
"Not everything turns out as great as you want it to be and that's fine - I think its important to make an effort," Gillen added.