mother! Actor Responds to Movie's 'F' CinemaScore

"I think it’s a superb piece of art."

By Jim Vejvoda

(Be advised of a very minor spoiler ahead for mother! and the length of Domhnall Gleeson's screen time in it.)

Audiences were not fans of director Darren Aronofsky's new thriller mother!, awarding the fairly well-reviewed film an "F" CinemaScore in exit polling. But mother! does have a big supporter in actor Domhnall Gleeson, who has a small role in it and championed the film during my recent phone chat with him. While he acknowledged mother! is "a very divisive film," Gleeson hailed it as "a superb piece of art" and precisely the type of film he wants to continue to appear in as an actor.

"I don’t really understand the CinemaScore thing or how they get that or how they get those scores, really. I don’t know what that’s based on necessarily," Gleeson said. "I know a lot of the people who I’ve seen and talked to who’ve seen the film -- people don’t have to lie to me about what they thought about the film, because I’m only in the thing for two minutes. And I’m incredibly proud of those two minutes, but it’s not gonna break my heart if somebody tells me, look, I really didn’t like that film, because I would understand why."

He acknowledged how mother! could provoke such strong responses from viewers. "It’s a very divisive film, it’s a very aggressive film in lots of ways. It just so happens that it is exactly the sort of film that I like to go and see in the cinema," Gleeson said. The actor -- who will be seen onscreen over the next few months in American Made, Goodbye Christopher Robin, and Star Wars: The Last Jedi -- said his most avid film-going friends have reached out to him to tell him how much they enjoyed mother!:  "For the most part, a couple people haven’t liked it. And it was too much for them. But then lots and lots of people have really loved it."

Gleeson wanted to be clear that he was fine with people not enjoying mother! even if he himself finds much to admire about the film: "Once you pay your money, it’s absolutely your right to decide whether you like the thing or not, whether it’s for you or not. But I will say that I would do films like that for the rest of my life if I could."

"If I was lucky enough, I would be in two minutes of Darren’s films for the rest of my life. That’s the highlight of my career, and I absolutely adore the film. I think he’s got a lot to say, I think it’s incredibly affecting, I think that Jennifer Lawrence is just wondrous in it, as is Javier Bardem, and Ed [Harris] and Michelle [Pfeiffer], and everybody else. I think it’s a superb piece of art."

Look for my full interview with Domhnall Gleeson next week. In the meantime, check out what the Force Awakens actor had to tell me about J.J. Abrams returning to helm Star Wars: Episode IX.

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