Jim Sheridan on Jim Sheridan

Brothers, starring Jake Gyllenhall and Tobey Maguire is the latest film from multiple Oscar-nominated Irish director Jim Sheridan. Here, Jim Sheridan reviews the movies of... Jim Sheridan. Interview by Catherine Bray

Brothers (2009)
I'd say it's a strong family drama. What a genius this director is! [laughs] No, a strong drama with good performances and an appearance by the great playwright Sam Shepard, who does well. It's an American version of a Danish movie, it probably emphasises the family more than the original which was more kind of a love story. The kids are very good I think. It's hard to review myself. God.

Get Rich Or Die Tryin' (2005)
Get Rich is an odd movie in that the silent black man doesn't work as well for an American audience as the silent white man. There's not the same empathy especially if he's a rap star, you know? You could say "Sheridan thought 50 Cent was great and did very well, but not all the critics agreed with him." I think it' a great movie, it's loved by ordinary cinemagoers in America. I don't know if it'll be remembered as much as My Left Foot or the others in America but I think it's a nice movie.


In America (2003)
In America is a strange movie. It was supposed to come out in 2002 after 9/11, but it was delayed a year until the Iraq war so it came out in the middle of a war. America had changed from being kind of a victim to more of an aggressor, and it changed the context in which the movie was released but it did really well in America. For reasons I don't want to go into it didn't do so well in England, but I'd love to someday have that discussion as to why. I think it's a warm hearted movie, it's one of my favourite three of my movies, I love the kids in it.

The Boxer (1997)
The Boxer is actually a very good movie, I think Daniel [Day Lewis] is great in it. We made that on the hoof, we originally had a different story and we changed it. I felt after In The Name of the Father, people thought I gave a lash to the English or British. I didn't feel that, I think I gave equally the lash to the IRA. The Boxer was kind of about the peace process, at the start of the peace process. I just wanted to make a statement about that.  I've always been fascinated by the fact that John Ford in The Quiet Man has a guy who's a killer who fights within the rules of boxing. In a movie it's hard to have that dichotomy, you have to have clear heroes. When you fight within the Marquess of Queensbury rules, you fight within the rules. Even if Queensbury was an arsehole. I like The Boxer a lot, I think it'll stand up


The Field (1990)
I like The Field an awful lot. Myself and Richard Harris disagreed over a lot of things, but they were kind of high-end disagreements, that probably other people wouldn't understand. Despite the fact that I had wanted him to do it the fact we fought so much produced an amazing movie. One day on the set he said to me 'any argument you're having with me, you're having with your own father.' I think there was truth in that.  I think it was an engagement with my own dad, even though my dad wasn't violent, he was more like Giuseppe in In The Name Of The Father, still that's was what was going on. It's a good story about nationalism buried under the field.


My Left Foot (1989)
My Left Foot is one of those unique things that just comes out of nowhere with a blinding performance from Daniel, an era defining performance, rather than the winner of the Oscar, you know? I think it was the moment at which the British actor moved out of the stage tradition and into the movie tradition. Not that there hadn't been great movie actors like Charles Laughton, but Daniel was the first to bring a kind of Brando/De Niro sensibility to British cinema, I think. He's an adorable human being. You can see all of that in My Left Foot and everything he does. I'm always in awe of that performance you know. I was on the set, I still am. I think it's a great movie and it has its faults but just the faults of a first time filmmaker you know. It has that knockout power that punk rock has.


Brothers is released 22 January 2010