B.L. I can't imagine that when you read this script there was even a doubt in your mind about being a part of it.
J.M. You're so right, I absolutely loved it.

B.L. What was your first reaction to the story?
J.M. The immediate reaction at first was I hadn't actually read the script, I heard that Bruce Beresford was doing this film and I was immediately interested because I had worked with him before, I love his work so much. Then I got the script and I couldn't believe that it was a true story. I really felt after everything that had happened with 9/11, there hadn't been a lot of inspiring films about family life. That Desmond Doyle had changed the laws for single fathers in the 1950s, I thought was an amazing feat and I wanted to be a part of it. I was really impressed that Pierce was doing it and producing it. There was a lot of passion behind it.

B.L. It must have been fun to play a character like Bernadette because she is so…
J.M. She's feisty and very ahead of her time for 1953. She's a pharmacist or studying to be one and not married with kids, especially in Dublin at that time, was just unheard of. She ended up living with him and taking care of the children. She never did get married because they couldn't.

B.L. Yes, I wondered about that. Because his wife left him, he never officially divorced.
J.M. She never had her own children, but they were like her own. I thought it was the woman standing behind the man, but she was a good woman.

B.L. Yes, and I think that Desmond appreciated that too.
J.M. Yes, and if you look at it, she's the one whose brother is a lawyer, Stephen Rae's character. Then she brings in Aidan Quinn who is the Yankee lawyer and from them they get Alan Bates' character involved. So she is really the one who instigates that he go to court in the first place. I don't think he would have without her because he was already defeated.

B.L You also do quite the Irish accent. How difficult was that for you?
J.M. It was difficult only in that I wanted it to be right. I spent a lot of my childhood in England and I had had an English accent for the first half of my life. So, you hear Irish and Scottish accents a lot in England, much more than in America, so for me it wasn't so difficult because I was used to switching accents but I had brilliant guys helping me on this. Brendan Gunn, who is this famous dialect coach who helps all the Yankees do Irish accents, was on the set, but I would go to the crew because they were always your pinpoint if it's right or not. Irish crews have a saying for Americans doing bad Irish accents, they call them plastic paddies. So I just kept trying to hear if I was a plastic paddy or not. That was my biggest fear, being called a plastic paddy!

B.L. I couldn't do this interview without asking you about working with Pierce Brosnan. How did you get through scenes without looking in his eyes and not melting?
J.M. I'm doing a movie where I have to choose between Aidan Quinn and Pierce Brosnan… there were two sets of gorgeous blue eyes starring at me! The beauty of Pierce is that he one of the most down-to-earth guys. He was so grateful that we were all there doing this film with him that everyday was a treat. I hate to sound like I'm ass-kissing and I'm really not, he truly was grateful that we were all there. He had worked with Bruce before so it was very much a family experience. So starring into his eyes was a ball and that I get paid to do it is only icing on the cake.

B.L. Everyone of course knows you so well from E.R. I was just wondering if you keep in touch with anybody from the show and do you miss doing the TV thing?
J.M. I don't miss doing the show, because it was such a great six years for me and it was a lot of time there. I'm lucky because I do keep in touch with a lot of the cast too. I miss the crew, but I see them too. It was a family for six years and they are all still distant cousins now because they are always working and I have much more free time. But we call each other and talk and I hear updates. It's still a really good show.