Positioned in front of Brendan Gleeson, as your intrepid interviewer entered the room, was a low table.

So low, in fact, that said interviewer didnt notice it until his leg crashed into it.

Just for good measure, he repeated the trick on the way out, too.

Photos of the bruising are available on request.

In better news, Brendan Gleeson was on fine form, and he had good reason to me.

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I dont know whether he wrote it for.

I think he did.

What does that mean?

[Laughs]

I dont know.

I was hoping you could throw some light on it!

It means he wrote it for me, but hes not going to admit it!

Were you with this one from the start of the project, then?

The script was written.

I met John onIn Brugesin person, and I knew some of his stuff before.

But I dont think he necessarily is telling a lie.

Well, maybe not equally good.

Cmon, lets face it [Laughs].

But it would have been a thing, one way or the other.

And you cant get too tied, because in this business, thats stupid.

So whats the process for you there?

How easy was it for you to find him?

I kind of felt I was very centred at the reading.

Culturally, I understood that kind of snarly persona.

Culturally, too, I understood a lot of the stuff.

I went into a backstory, which I dont always do.

So you ask yourself questions: why did he join the cops?

Was it just because he was lazy, and didnt want to bother?

But hes got too vigorous a mindset for that.

Hes not going to be reading Dostoevsky.

So why did he become a cop?

We all do it.

I kind of felt that hes quite soft, and has a great respect for women.

He almost wants to be fatherly, in terms of mentoring.

Hes a big dote in a way, with the women.

I concocted a scenario where maybe he grew up with his mam, when his dad wasnt around.

I grew up without any sisters, so I always had a rather exalted notion of women.

Because you dont have any familiarity of fighting with them as real people.

There was kind of a heroism like Gary Cooper in High Noon that was going on there.

He watched and saw and aspired, and thought I bet you Id have the mettle for that.

Then he went into a place where nothing really happens very much, and maybe he dirtied his bib.

He wants to live his own life in his own way…

I though the film felt like a western.

This just became a sardonic, wry, jaundiced view of the world.

There wasnt a great deal to get excited about anyway.

Oh, how long have you been holding that one in?

[Laughs] Thats really good, I like that, thats the best ever!

Id love to see more of him though.

Where he has to protect some Irish dignitary.

Youre turning this into a Crocodile Dundee sequel!

Its just so cool, and so funny.

So he eats himself up in terms of everything.

Very Mild Spoiler

Even when he encounters the prostitutes in the film.

They have a laugh together.

And hes so naive to imagine that hes going to get away with that.

Very Mild Spoiler Ends

Has Don Cheadles Cockney accent got better?

I bet he tried it while the camera was off…

No he didnt!

And he didnt attempt the Irish accent either!

Youve got a lovely line in the film, where Boyle talks about how he pretends to be sad.

And I dont even know what to make of that line.

Its far too honest to be rationalised.

Its just wonderful writing again.

It is interesting what various peoples take on it all is.

Your take is, I have to say, very close to the way my take on it is.

Other people are coming in saying hes a horrible man, all that race stuff.

And Im, yeah, okay…

But then you look at what Clint Eastwood did with Gran Torino?

Brendan Gleeson, thank you very much!

The Guard is out in the UK on 19th August.