AIDAN QUINN SOUNDS distracted, that American voice with its Irish intonation seems far away. Eventually, near the end of the interview, the reason becomes clear when he says with a trace of irritation: "Are you hearing that clicking? It’s just this phone, it’s just click, click, click. It’s very annoying."

But we continue. Quinn is on the phone from Cobh, where he’s shooting a movie called The Eclipse, which is "directed and written by Conor McPherson, co-written by Billy Roche and it’s a lovely script and starring Ciarán Hinds. It’s kind of about a literary festival and some of the characters surrounding a literary festival in a small town in Ireland."

He says he loves making films in Ireland, and, unbelievably, or just incredibly luckily, that he likes "every Irish film I've ever done. And I've been very lucky with the material I've gotten to work on in this country and characters, so I'm very grateful for that opportunity."

Ordinarily, Quinn lives with his wife, Elizabeth Bracco, sister of The Sopranos' Lorraine (Elizabeth herself was in the show for the last two years, playing the "wife of the gay gangster" and Quinn says he's a big fan) and their two kids in New York State. He's filming one movie here and promoting another -- 32A, a coming-of-age drama set in Dublin written and directed by his sister, Marian Quinn. His character, Frank Brennan, is the bemused father of a teenage girl, Maeve, who is on the cusp of womanhood.

"Yeah, Frank. Yeah, you know, he's kind of a Dublin, Seventies father, hiding behind the newspaper -- 'Will you shut up and give me peace and quiet?' and all that. And loves his kids but doesn't know how to deal with them, particularly women when they get to be in their teenage years. Roars at the kids and you know, but it's a lovely, lovely story -- I think Marian gave it to me I think about 10 years ago and I'm just unbelievably shocked -- and chuffed -- now that it's been made and getting such a great response because it took 10 years to get the money to do it.

"They're distributing it themselves, her and her husband, because they just got fed up with distributors, despite winning the war and getting great critical response and audiences loved it but no Irish distributor wanted it -- because it's about women. I don't know what their problem is. But per screen average it's doing extremely well, so we're all very chuffed."

And why does he think a film about women would take so long to get a distributor?

"I don't know how else to put it down to anything else -- men control the funding, men control the distribution, men control what's made and what's not made -- you know, something like 90 per cent of all executives are men -- it's just, I don't know what else to put it down to."

Perhaps it's because it's about the Seventies, which was a depressing time in Irish history.

"No, I don't think that had anything to do with it," he says vehemently. "And the Irish Film Board, thank God, came in. And without them, it wouldn't have been made. So we were supported and Marian was supported. When I say 'we', I had so little to do with it and I have a very small part, but Marian was supported by the Irish Film Board, and so was my brother and his film 10 years ago. But I'm just talking about the other sources of funding, where they come from, and distribution and all that stuff."

As 32A is a coming-of-age drama, I have to ask, was adolescence difficult for the young Aidan Quinn, growing up in Illinois, as well as Ireland?

"It's always going to be a bit turbulent, isn't it? Hormones are going wild, your parents are looking and acting like people from another planet, they just don't understand you -- the usual. But I think this is particularly Dublin and particularly late 1970s, northside Dublin, in and around Raheny and that area where me and Marian spent quite a bit of time."

He describes working with his sister as "lovely" and says, "She's very calm, she's got a great sense of humour, she knows what she wants and gets on with the job and she was great to work with. She did a great job." But did they get on when they were kids? "Yeah, we did, absolutely. She's the youngest, the only girl, with four boys, but we got on very well, we're pretty close."

32A (yes, it does refer to the bra size) is chock full of homegrown talent, from newcomer Ailish McCarthy, who plays the young Maeve Brennan, to Orla Brady (last seen in the BBC's Mistresses), who plays Quinn's wife.

And is there any director that Quinn would like to work with? "Oh yeah, there's a host of them. Most great directors that I'd love to work with that I haven't worked with. I'd love to do something with Jim Sheridan, Martin Scorsese ... it goes on and on." Jim Sheridan and Aidan Quinn? A match made in directorial heaven. HQ

32A is in cinemas from September 5th

- Clare Coughlan