From Mad-Eye Moody to just plain mad... it's a natural initial reaction to Brendan Gleeson's character, world-weary Garda man Gerry Boyle, in The Guard. After all, his first act is to blankly observe a fatal car crash and his second is to relieve the corpses of their stash of drugs - all for 'consumption' not 'confiscation' purposes, you understand. But as Gleeson explained when Empire met him, Boyle is no holy fool in John Michael McDonagh's black comedy.

It's one of those parts actors will gladly maim to get. Happily, he didn't need to do, thanks partly to a handy introduction from the director's brother, In Bruges director Martin McDonagh. Comparisons between the two films are unavoidable but, as Gleeson stressed, "you couldn't see Gerry Boyle in In Bruges". Too far, too much of an arse to get to... http://www.empireonline.com/interviews/interview.asp?IID=1331