BACK in Dublin, Brendan’s relationship with Gerry Browne improved, although it wasn’t quite what it had been before they had taken The Course to Toronto. Brendan had become closer to Jenny Gibney, though. It seemed she had now become much less of a gobshite in his eyes and more of a friend and a confidante. Their time on the road together had taught them that they had more in common than they’d first thought.
Meanwhile, the third in the trilogy of Agnes Browne books was released. The Granny went straight to Number One in the Irish bestseller list and the first print-run sold out immediately.
It was darker than the first two. With all the Browne children now grown up and leaving home to go their own ways, Agnes Browne becomes a granny at 47 when Mark and Betty have their first child. Some of the children have gone on to lead very successful lives, but Cathy is stuck in a bad marriage, and Dermot ends up in prison for manslaughter along with his best mate, Buster. Agnes finds the break-up of the family hard to deal with, but with her lover Pierre by her side, she copes.
Brendan’s writing was believable because he had drawn from his own childhood. And the work was described by the Sunday Independent as ‘a brilliant book’ and by the Irish World as having ‘language as rich as oxtail soup’.
The sales would help to make a little dent in Brendan and Gerry’s personal overdraft, but Brendan knew the books should be more successful. He didn’t feel his Mammy adventures were being promoted in the way they deserved. It was all very well doing great box office in Ireland, but he wanted to conquer the world. And he saw a chance to push Agnes Browne into the international spotlight one afternoon in a Dublin restaurant while having coffee with film director and producer Jim Sheridan (director of the 1989 Oscar-winning film My Left Foot, starring Daniel Day Lewis).
The pair had become friendly in recent months and were joined by literary agent, Darley Anderson.
‘We got talking to Darley, who had managed to secure a book deal and film rights for Jim’s brother, Peter, who was writing his first book. Jim pointed out I’d done three books but sales were contained in Ireland. Anyway, Darley asked me about the foreign rights and I told him nothing was happening on that front. He was astounded and said he wanted to become involved.
‘Later that day, Darley rang Michael O’Brien, who then called me and told me the “great news”.
‘“Darley Anderson’s been on to me, Brendan.”
‘“I know. I’ve been talking to him.”
‘“We really need to push sales abroad.”
‘Now, I’m thinking, “It’s about time, Michael!”’
The result of the meeting with Darley meant that Brendan’s work was showcased at the Frankfurt Book Fair.
Some weeks passed and the plan to promote The Mammy and her two offspring paid off.
‘The result of going to Frankfurt was that it caught the eye of Penguin in America. And they wanted to release the three Mrs Browne books in America under a licensing agreement with O’Brien. Fantastic.’
Brendan went on a promotional tour of America, covering 22 cities in 30 days. And his books sold in their thousands. After that, he returned to his screenplay about boxing, Sparrow’s Trap. His Dublin publisher, Michael O’Brien wanted another O’Carroll book, and when he read the film script of Sparrow’s Trap he was convinced the story could be rewritten as a terrific novel. Brendan protested, rather incredibly given his success, that he wasn’t a prolific writer, certainly not someone who could turn a screenplay format into novel form. And it wasn’t a case of false modesty.
‘I’m not a writer in a structured sense. I just sit down and have a go when the mood, or the idea, takes me. But in the end I agreed to try, to keep Michael happy. Yet it was such hard work.’
He slugged it out with Sparrow’s Trap and won with a knockout. The book would become an Irish bestseller. And, out of the blue, during the writing process, Brendan found himself volunteering to step back into the boxing ring.
Jim Sheridan, coincidentally, was working on a boxing script for a movie, based on the life of Irish World Champion flyweight Barry McGuigan. And he wanted to make sure that there was no overlap. So the writer/director tentatively asked Brendan if he might be able to look at his script. When Brendan readily agreed, Jim Sheridan was surprised.
‘People don’t let you read their scripts normally,’ he said. ‘For all you know, I could steal some of your ideas.’
‘Well, if you did I’d just write some more.’
What confidence.
When Brendan read the McGuigan story, he loved it. But not just because of Sheridan’s clever structure and storytelling skills. He was struck by a thought. ‘This is me. I’m the guy in this story.’
He had a point. Brendan had boxed as a teenager. He even looked like Barry McGuigan.
Then Brendan had a call from Jim Sheridan, who asked him to come up to Dublin as he was keen to talk to him. It all made sense. Brendan knew, instinctively, that Jim wanted him to play the Barry McGuigan role.
So they met back in Dublin and Brendan went up to Jim Sheridan’s house. However, Brendan walked in to a surprise. Daniel Day Lewis was there. Rather taken aback, Brendan said to Jim Sheridan, in the nicest possible way, ‘What the feck’s he doing here?’
Jim Sheridan’s reply threw Brendan onto the ropes. ‘He’s playing the lead in the Barry movie.’
‘You must be joking!’
‘I was stunned. There are only two boxing weights that translate into movie terms, that’s stories about heavyweights and lightweights. This was a great lightweight story.
‘I desperately wanted to play this part. And this was one of those great roles. So I said to Jim, “Look, you can’t cast Daniel. I’m perfect to play this part. I even look like McGuigan. And I can box.”
‘“Yeh, well, I’ve done some boxing in my time too,” said Daniel.
‘I turned to Daniel and said, “Listen, Daniel. I’ll tell you how we’ll decide who’s the best man for the part. We’ll go down to Foley’s gym and get in the ring and we’ll put on the gloves and go at it for three rounds. The winner gets to play Barry McGuigan.”
‘At this point Daniel looked stunned, turned to Jim Sheridan and said, “I’m not fighting him!”
‘Now, I know I would have knocked the shite out of him – and he knew it too. He wouldn’t fight me. But he still got the role in The Boxer!’
Meantime, Brendan wanted some answers.
‘“Look, Jim. If you didn’t want me to play the lead in this movie, why did you call me over here?”
‘“Endings, Brendan. I can tell from your books you write great endings. I wanted you to write the ending for my movie.”
‘So I took the positive from the experience. Jim Sheridan needed me to finish his picture. He needed me. That was a great compliment.’
Jim Sheridan’s comment about Brendan coming up with great endings would prove to be ironic. Later on, the pair would argue over one of Brendan’s film endings – to the point, says Brendan, of coming close to blows.
Brendan never did write the ending for this particular film. The Boxer ceased to be about Barry McGuigan, and instead became the story of an IRA man, a former boxer, who comes out of prison and refuses to return to the ring. Daniel Day Lewis played the lead role of Danny Flynn, and, it has to be said, did a typically brilliant job.
As Brendan got more and more involved in the film world and international book deals, he looked for support from those closest to him. But it wasn’t Doreen he was turning to instinctively for support any more, it was Jenny. ‘I guess we were on the same page, whereas Doreen wasn’t overly interested in that world. She was making sure the family were all fine.’
The strain on Brendan’s marriage would develop as he headed deep into the film world.