John C Reilly yesterday gushed about his ancestral home and said “good things happen in Ireland” as he geared up for today’s St Patrick’s Day parade.
The Step Brothers star flew into to “spread joy” as the international guest of honour at the parade in Dublin.
Speaking at a press conference at the Guinness Storehouse, Reilly, 55, from Chicago, said it was an “honour” to be part of the celebrations.
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He added: “This is a big honour for me, actually. It might seem like a goof to just appear at a parade but to me, it has deep meaning as an Irish-American. I know that my father who is watching somewhere right now couldn’t be more proud.
“I’ve always been a big supporter of Ireland. I’ve worked here many, many times over the years. I’ve vacationed here. It feels especially important to come here now to let people know that Ireland is open for business again.
“We’ve all been through so much, when this opportunity came along, I thought, ‘What a great opportunity to spread some joy’.
“Obviously it’s a very difficult time in the world in many different ways for many different people, but we can’t let that stop us from expressing our joy. Joy is a great way to dispel darkness in all its forms.
“It feels especially important to come here now to let people know that Ireland is open for business again. We’ve all been through so much.
“Good things happen in Ireland one after the other if you stay open to it.
“It’s a special place for that reason. When you come here, people are just so welcoming. It’s good craic, as they say. Right now, I’m focused on this week and I’m so excited to meet Michael Higgins, I can’t even contain myself. I’m looking forward to the parade tomorrow and all the music.”
Reilly plans to stay in Ireland for a few weeks and has plans to go west after he’s done with his parade duties before he returns back to Chicago.
He said: “I’ll here for a few weeks this time. I’m going to go out travelling around the west a little bit.”
Reilly was last here in 2019 and had nothing but admiration for actors Colin Farrell and Saoirse Ronan. He worked with Farrell on The Lobster but has yet to find the perfect project to work on with the Co Carlow actress.
He said: “The great Saoirse Ronan would be the one I’d be most excited to work with in the future somehow. I met her one time when I was The Late Late Show, which I’ll be doing again on Thursday night.
“The last time I was on it I ran into Saoirse backstage and I thought, ‘Man that’s a special person’. I hope somehow we cross paths.”
Speaking yesterday on his RTE Radio One show, host Ryan Tubridy told his listeners when he was last on that he went for pints with Reilly afterwards in Mary Macs in Ballsbridge in Dublin.
He said: “He’s good fun, I must say. I had a nice couple of pints with him down in Mary Macs not too far away after the show one night and he sang and he is craic.
“And he did not ask at any point, ‘When is this pint going to be ready?’”
Reilly also opened up about our pub culture, jokingly admitting he wants to try all the pubs in Dublin while he’s in town.
He added: “As far as favourite pubs, I’ll only get myself in trouble by naming any particular pub, I plan on visiting all of them if I can. Pub life here is one of the great joys. That’s something Americans really crave, the sense of community.
“In the traditional pub scene in a rural area in Ireland where it’s a generation of family and the dog running through, that sense of being part of a community.
“Not just the drinking… what we Americans really crave is that sense of belonging.
“Even the TV show Cheers is about that, yes it’s a bar but coming to a place where you belong and people know your name.”
More than 400,000 people are expected to descend onto the streets of Dublin for the parade, which kicks off at 12 noon until 2pm.
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