Actor in wrong Gangs

AN Irish actor obviously belongs to the wrong Hollywood gang.

When the organisers of the the Irish premiere of Gangs of New York sent out their invites, they forgot to include the thespian - who actually appears in the movie.

Last night, Dubliner Brendan Dempsey, who plays a draft registrar in Martin Scorcese's blockbuster, told of his surprise when he wasn't invited to the January 9 bash - which included Leonardo DiCaprio and Daniel Day-Lewis.

"I suppose they forget about me," Brendan told the Irish Sunday Mirror.

"These things happen and I'm sure it wasn't done on purpose."

The comedian, best known to Irish audiences for his role as a lottery man in Waking Ned, spent a week in Rome on the set of Gangs Of New York last March after being cast for the film at Irish auditions.

"The casting director thought I sounded more American than Irish so I ended up playing an American conscription man in the film," he said.

Fellow Dubliner Brendan Gleeson also appears in the epic tale of immigrant workers in New York.

"I remember Brendan telling me there was a touch of Apocalypse Now about the whole Gangs Of New York shoot. Nobody except Scorsese seemed to know what was going on."

But Brendan decided to steer clear of another Gangs co-star, British method actor Daniel Day Lewis.

"You could see from the way Daniel was walking and talking around the set, he was in the character of Bill The Butcher.

"Seeing that, I decided that maybe it wasn't the best idea to start chatting with someone who spent his time sharpening a knife.

I don't think his character would have liked me at all."

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