Colin Farrell reacted like half the nation would when Brendan Gleeson started speaking fluent Irish

An Irish language version of this article is available here.

"Shame on me!"

Sunday night at the BAFTA awards was another triumphant occasion for Irish actors, many involved in the arts from this country and for the Irish language. Colin Farrell only managed a cúpla focail but they summed up his thoughts perfectly. Movies and shorts like The Banshees of Inisherin, An Cailín Ciúin and An Irish Goodbye were all up for, or took home, awards and there were individual wins for Kerry Condon and Barry Keoghan. As we near the Oscars, the momentum remains strong for a big Irish night in Los Angeles, early next month. The presence of TG4 at the BAFTAs also brought us some lovely, uplifting interviews, as Gaeilge, from Brendan Gleeson and Paul Mescal. Gleeson, a former teacher, was sharp as a tack in his chat with the Irish broadcaster. https://twitter.com/TG4TV/status/1627579864059457538

Colin Farrell reaction to Brendan Gleeson interview

While Brendan Gleeson was chatting away, in Irish, to TG4, Clodagh Griffin from The News Movement managed to catch Colin Farrell for an interview on the BAFTA red carpet. "Would you be happy to chat to us while [Brendan] chats to them?" Griffin asked.

"As bearla [in English]?" Farrell asked. "Shame on me!"

In fairness to the Dubliner, his reaction as Gleeson was speaking fluently in his mother tongue would be like half the nation if we were in a similar situation. Many of us would give it a go, but there might be the odd 'fear an phoist' or 'milsean' thrown out there as we struggled to string a decent sentence together. Colin Farrell then went on to speak eloquently about the influence of British cinema across the globe and the experience of recording The Banshees of Inisherin on the islands of Inishmore and Achill. The reaction of Clodagh Griffin t the end of her chat is worth watching the entire clip for, as well as the Farrell remark at the start. The Banshees of Inisherin ended up capturing four awards on the night, with All Quiet on the Western Front and Elvis also taking home a few big accolades. Our very own Hugh Carr wrote a great piece, which you can read here, about the Irish language being cool again and getting a big BAFTAs bump.

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