Domhnall Gleeson showed up recently with a grin, a microphone, and a roast ready to go. The occasion was Rachel McAdams receiving her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, the kind of career moment most actors dream about. Gleeson decided to celebrate by explaining why she absolutely should not be getting one.
“Life, and more importantly Hollywood, has taught me that you are not supposed to have it all,” he said, already enjoying himself. He kept going, listing McAdams’ supposed offences with a straight face and perfect timing. “It is not fair to be everyone’s favorite person on-set and the best actor in the room. It is selfish of you to be a devoted mother of two, putting family above all else, and a huge movie star continually knocking it out of the park commercially and artistically.”
You can picture the crowd clocking the joke in real time. Gleeson wasn’t tearing her down. He was pointing out the thing Hollywood pretends doesn’t exist. Someone who’s good at the work, liked by everyone, and still manages to show up for life outside the set.
Then he twisted the knife, lovingly. “It’s not OK to be a Hollywood star and a character actor, to be gifted at comedy and drama, to be unrestricted by genre or expectation and to be the loveliest person I’ve ever met in my life ― that’s not how we do things,” he said, laughing. “So, yeah, I don’t think you deserve it.”
McAdams got the joke. They hugged moments later, the kind of hug that tells you this came from respect, not ego. Their history helps. The two worked together on About Time back in 2013, a film that quietly built a loyal following and still pops up in late-night rewatches.
Gleeson, who many still recognize as Bill Weasley from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, is riding his own busy stretch. He’s heading to Sundance this week with the comedy The Incomer. McAdams isn’t slowing down either. Later this month, she returns to theaters in Send Help, directed by Sam Raimi. She plays Linda Liddle, a corporate employee stranded on a deserted island with her sexist boss, played by Dylan O’Brien. Survival, tension, no escape.
Raimi and O’Brien were there for the ceremony too, along with McAdams’ longtime partner Jamie Linden, making a rare public appearance. You watch moments like this and realize why Gleeson’s roast landed. Some careers look messy from the outside. This one looks earned.
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