Meaney, like many actors, liked to keep busy. He wasn’t content to merely be the star of a hit “Star Trek” show. He needed to ply his trade elsewhere at the same time. It should also be noted that “The Snapper” and “The Van” mentioned above, both directed by Stephen Frears, are the second and third installments in the Barrytown franchise, a series of adaptations of the novels of Roddy Doyle kicked off by Alan Parker with 1991’s “The Commitments,” which also featured Meaney. He was loyal to that series as well. Additionally, he liked Hollywood action, intense dramas, and just about anything else he could work his way into. Trekkies may ven be surprised to find how prolific Meaney truly was.
He told StarTrek.com that he was permitted to appear in as many films as he wanted, provided he talked to Rick Berman first. Berman, he recalls, was very accommodating. He said:
“I took a bit of persuading, but Rick Berman is very persuasive. He said to me, ‘If there’s something you really want to do, bring me the script.’ My concern was that I wouldn’t be able to do the movies I wanted to do. Rick basically said, ‘If it’s a script you really want to do, I’ll find a way to make it work for you.’ And he was as good as his word.”
The interviewer asked Meaney if he was ever exhausted, appearing on a hit primetime TV series while often splitting off to go shoot movies halfway around the globe. Meaney wasn’t enervated by the surplus of work, but energized. For Meaney, stepping away from “Deep Space Nine” gave him a change of scenery. He said:
“[I]t was important to do the movies because that kind of refreshed you. Rather than doing the same thing over and over again, you were doing a variety of stuff.”
