If you've watched HBO's In Treatment, you've seen Gabriel Byrne sitting in a chair, playing therapist to Melissa George's seductive patient.
"Let's talk about what's really going on here. Mmmmm?" he says as the camera closes in on his warm blue eyes boring into hers. He raises an eyebrow. Silence. He crosses his legs. He taps his fingertips together.
Byrne's Dr. Paul Weston dominates nearly every scene in every episode of the five-night-a-week therapy drama. The action consists mostly of talking and listening, and takes place in one room - either his home office or his own therapist's home office.
As the first season of In Treatment draws to a close this week, rumors abound over the fate of the series which, like the network's The Wire, has a cult following, but relatively few viewers.
Those who like the series love Byrne's portrayal of the troubled Weston, tempted by a severe case of mutual erotic transference with Laura (George). Judging by the postings on Internet sites, they also love the 57-year-old Irish actor with a signature brogue.
There's little doubt that after a career of small independent films and stage acting, Byrne has finally found a star vehicle on TV.
"It's a delightful kind of surprise that people like it," said Byrne recently during a visit to Los Angeles.
Even the HBO-estimated 2 million viewers are more than he's used to. He admitted he was thrilled to get a congratulatory call from his favorite actress (whom he refused to name), but was also frightened by a New York woman who approached him on the street and admonished, "Don't you go with that Laura!"
A singular and intensely introspective actor who aims to reveal himself in his roles, Byrne called Weston and the 12-week shoot on a cramped set particularly challenging. His opinions on how he wanted to play it - no props, extended silences, totally engaged - eventually prevailed on set, but apparently not without creative debate.
None of that matters now, he said. "All that matters in the end is that it got done."
To Byrne, who lives in Brooklyn, Hollywood is like a small village, one he inhabits at the noncommercial edges. After making a splash with Miller's Crossing (1990), The Usual Suspects (1995) and his 1999 divorce from actress Ellen Barkin, Byrne said he moved to New York to be close to his children. To get roles in mainstream films, he said: "You have to be in a movie that makes a lot of money. That changes everything. And if you're not, you go do independent films."
