Why General Hux From The Last Jedi Looks So Familiar

Gleeson appeared in the 2010 dystopian romance Never Let Me Go, playing the supporting character Rodney. The story, written by future Ex Machina screenwriter Alex Garland and based on Kazuo Ishiguro's 2005 novel, followed a group of children and young adults who turn out to be clones, and were born and raised to serve as organ donors. Critics praised it as a gorgeous, poignant, sad tale about life and the connections we make along the way; along with Gleeson, it starred Keira Knightley, Andrew Garfield, Carey Mulligan and Ella Purnell. The connection with Garland would prove to be a lucrative one for Gleeson—the duo reconnected for several more projects over the next few years.

Gleeson played Moon, a soft-spoken outlaw questioned by Jeff Bridges' U.S. Marshal, in the Coen brothers' acclaimed western adaptation. The character meets a rather grisly end (and loses a few fingers) after answering some questions for Bridges' lawman. His role isn't big, but it's memorable, which is a very intentioned theme in Gleeson's career—the actor has said he'd rather spend "one day on a really cool movie than six months on something crap," noting he'll only get better if he's working on good projects. Be that a big role, or small role, it doesn't matter—it just has to be good. To land his True Grit gig, Gleeson went after the role from a cottage in Ireland, filming a camcorder audition that eventually gained the attention of the Coen brothers.

Gleeson continued his trend of small roles in good movies when he popped up in the cult hit Dredd as the Clan Techie in the Peach Trees slum block. He's the grungy tech kid running the security cameras and communications in Peach Trees, and, it's understandable if you may not have recognized the typically handsome Gleeson buried under all that grime. After filming his role, Gleeson described the film as "kinda great and pretty full-on." Though the moviegoing public didn't really agree with his assessment—the film was a box office dud—it's since found a passionate cult fanbase. Gleeson certainly knows how to pick winners, even when it takes a while for audiences to catch on.

One of Gleeson's most heart-wrenching roles came courtesy of the acclaimed sci-fi anthology series Black Mirror with the episode "Be Right Back," in which he co-starred alongside Hayley Atwell (Agent Carter). The story follows a woman grieving the sudden death of her boyfriend after he's killed suddenly in a car crash. Gleeson offers a haunting performance as the boyfriend—and then an A.I. reconstruction of the young man's personality designed to help Atwell's character grieve his passing. 

The two stars' work made the episode one of the most acclaimed in the anthology series' beloved catalog, and Gleeson said he loved the ambition of "Be Right Back," likening it to Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and noting it asks some "really interesting questions in a way that some of [his] favorite films ask really interesting questions."

It takes one heck of a strange film to cast A-lister Michael Fassbender, then hide him under an oversized bobblehead mask for most of the film, but that's basically the dark comedy Frank in a nutshell. Gleeson starred in the film as an aspiring musician who joins a band fronted by Fassbender's mask-wearing Frank. It's weird, funny and poignant—and critics loved it for its ambitious approach to its unusual story. It was an indie darling in 2014, and though it never broke through as a mainstream hit, it still solidified Gleeson as an up-and-comer. Despite the strange approach to putting one of the film's stars behind a mask for most of the running time, Gleeson said he felt it all came back to "creating something by being with other people," mask or not: "It just depends how crazy you want to be. That's the only difference I think, as far as I'm concerned."

The acclaimed period-set drama The Revenant included a small but compelling role for Gleeson, who played fur trader Andrew Henry alongside Leonardo DiCaprio's nigh un-killable Hugh Glass. Gleeson was understandably proud of how the film turned out, but did admit the shoot was exceedingly brutal. The story takes place in the dead of winter in the wilderness, and he said that when the actors were actually working and shooting, it wasn't so bad. Things went downhill during the downtime, though, "When you're out there, in and out of the river, standing around and not knowing if you're going to get to your bit that day," he admitted, "those days suck." He said he spent quite a lot of time just standing around in the river, freezing, trying to stay warm. Perhaps the incredible acclaim The Revenant ultimately earned made the experience worth the sacrifice.

Director Darren Aronofsky's ambitious psychological thriller mother! fiercely divided critics, and Gleeson had a ringside seat courtesy of his supporting role in the film. After seeing the script, he said he knew it was going to be controversial; as he later put it, he "had to stand up and take a walk every now and again to get over what I was reading." It's that creativity that inspired him to pursue the role. Reaffirming his career-long pursuit of interesting parts in great projects, Gleeson said mother! spoke to his urge to "be a part of something that shakes people to their core."