Martin McDonagh’s WILD HORSE NINE is a funny, smart, brilliantly-written and moving story about two CIA agents, Chris (John Malkovich) and Lee (Sam Rockwell) taking a break from arranging a coup in Chili in 1973, on picturesque Easter Island (Rapa Nui). The older agent is becoming forgetful and losing his judgment, and their boss, played by Steve Buscemi, is becoming worried that Chris will reveal some of the big secrets he holds in his head, and is pressuring his partner Lee to deal with him.
Playwright, writer and director Martin McDonagh has made some excellent films, including THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING MISSOURI, IN BRUGES and THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN but this may be his best film yet. The writing is brilliant, the direction is excellent and the cast is impressive, besides John Malkovich and Sam Rockwell in the lead roles, the cast includes Steve Buscemi, Parker Posey and Tom Waits. Malkovich amazing in this mix of buddy comedy and political thriller, that is also a moving tale with a philosophical bent, and the best actor buzz has already started.
The story has some parallels to the writer/director’s first film, IN BRUGES, with a mentor-mentee pairing of an older man and younger one who are assassins hiding out in a tourist spot, Bruges. In the first film, it is the younger man who is struggling to cope with a job gone wrong, but it WILD HORSE NINE, it is the older man who struggles, dying of cancer, while his friend tries to help. John Malkovich is marvelous as Chris, the older CIA agent who is the former mentor and now friend of his partner Lee, played by Sam Rockwell. Chris is struggling with memory issues and a loss of judgment as he suffers from cancer, and Sam Rockwell’s Lee is protective of his long-time friend. They are visiting Easter Island (Rapa Nui) as a short break after their work to setting in motion a coup in Chili in 1973, which will topple the democratically elected left-wing president Allende and replace him with a brutal military dictatorship under Pinochet.
Despite it’s parallels with the earlier film, WILD HORSE NINE is more political thriller and set against a real history backdrop. The dying Chris (John Malkovich), a Catholic, is a bit worried about his immortal soul for his past deeds, although he rationalizes that they were “bad things done for a greater good” but mostly he is a wisecracking, sarcastic wit with a sharp tongue despite his failing, demented brain.
Long-time friend Lee fires back with equal power to Chris’ zingers. The banter, and all the dialog in fact, are a true joy, but with all the witty daggers flying, Lee is also protective of his talkative friend who is not only forgetting things but losing his judgment Chris is developing a tendency to forget that he can’t share everything and when to be silent, risking spilling secret information. Lee guides his friend away from blabbing while Chris flirts with a couple of pretty Chilean college students they met in the airport. Lee also covers up for Chris, hiding some of this from their CIA boss (Steve Buscemi). Even so, their boss is concerned about Chris’ talk about writing his memoirs, and presses Lee to deal with him.
The story deals evenly with the friendship between the two men and the unfolding political thriller events. The relationship between the two starts out more hilarious buddy comedy but becomes deeper and more meaningful, and moving as Chris’ decline progresses. The political side comes more to the fore later in the film, but paralleling Chris’s decline.
The name seems to have little meaning, or not anything obvious, but there is a horse in the story. The setting on Easter Island, as Chris insists on calling it, lends a strange, even surreal aspect to the film. Chris wanted to see them but his approach to them anything but reverent, calling the Moai “the heads” and seeming unimpressed. The island’s lush beauty of green landscapes and blue ocean rimming the island, contrasts with Chris and Lee’s dull brown-and-tan 1973 attire. and the landscape is filled with wild horses, whose long faces seem to echo the Moai’s stern long faces, but a bit quizical or serene rather than stern. The horses wander where they will, even up to the window of Chris’ hotel room, with Chris takes a liking to them.
WILD HORSE NINE is a remarkable film all around, from its splendid script and sharp dialog, its deep content and outstanding performances, and its atmospheric setting and photography. Funny and moving, it has much to say on the personal level, about friendship and mortality, and an equal amount on the political side and philosophical one, about unforeseen consequences, no matter how those actions might be rationalized, and an ultimate price that might be paid.
WILD HORSE NINE opens in theaters on Friday, Nov. 6, 2026.
In her review, Cate Marquis said THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN “is an impressive piece of cinema on all levels.”
From acclaimed filmmaker Martin McDonagh (In Bruges, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri) comes the masterful tragicomedy The Banshees of Inisherin. This immersive tale of friendship and folly has delighted cinemagoers and been celebrated by critics as “simply perfect” (Kevin Maher, The Times) and “sweepingly cinematic” (David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter). The film is Certified-Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes™ and arrives on Digital December 13 and Blu-ray and DVD on December 20, with never-before-seen bonus content featuring actors Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson and director-writer Martin McDonagh.
The film made its World Premiere in September to critical acclaim at the Venice Film Festival, where it won the Best Screenplay Award for McDonagh and the Volpi Cup for Best Actor for Farrell. It went on to release theatrically in October, earning the highest opening per screen average of the fall.
From director-writer Martin McDonagh (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri) comes a unique film starring Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson. Although Pádraic (Farrell) and Colm (Gleeson) have been lifelong friends, they find themselves at an impasse when one abruptly ends their relationship, bringing alarming consequences for both of them.
Bonus Features*
Featurette
Creating The Banshees of Inisherin – Go into the inimitable mind of director-writer Martin McDonagh as he delves into The Banshees of Inisherin, from story inception and reunion of its gifted actors, to searching the islands of Ireland for the perfect, evocative locations.
Deleted Scenes
Chasing Colm
Colm Can’t Compose
Parents’ Grave and Peadar
Siobhan Crying Too Loud
Stoic Equals Boring
*Bonus features vary by product and retailer
THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN will be released on Blu-ray and DVD on December 20, 2022 and WAMG is giving away to three of our lucky readers a BLU-RAY copy.
EMAIL michelle@wearemoviegeeks.com to enter.
YOU MUST BE A US RESIDENT. PRIZE WILL ONLY BE SHIPPED TO US ADDRESSES. NO P.O. BOXES. NO DUPLICATE ADDRESSES.
WINNER WILL BE CHOSEN FROM ALL QUALIFYING ENTRIES. NO PURCHASE NECESSARY
Music by
Carter Burwell
Product Specifications
Street Date
Digital: December 13, 2022
Physical: December 20, 2022
Product SKUs
Digital: UHD, HD, SD
Physical:Blu-ray Combo Pack (Blu-ray + Digital Code) & DVD
Feature Run Time
114 minutes
Rating
U.S. Rated R
**For language throughout, some violent content and brief graphic nudity
Aspect Ratio
Digital: 2.39:1
Physical: 2.39:1
U.S. Audio
Blu-ray: English 5.1 DTS-HDMA, English AD 2.0 Dolby Digital
DVD: English 5.1 Dolby, English AD 2.0 Dolby
Digital: English Dolby Atmos (UHD only, some platforms), English 5.1 & 2.0 Dolby Digital, English Descriptive Audio 2.0 Dolby Digital (some platforms), Spanish 5.1 & 2.0 Dolby Digital, French 5.1 & 2.0 Dolby Digital
U.S. Subtitles
Blu-ray: English SDH, Spanish, French
DVD: English SDH, Spanish, French
Digital: English SDH, French, Spanish (some platforms)
The brilliant THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN reunites IN BRUGES co-stars Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson with Martin McDonagh for the writer/playwright/director’s dark comedy about a long friendship coming apart on a tiny Irish island in shocking fashion. But in this film, the comedy is darker and with a looming threat of violence, putting it more in the vein of one of playwright McDonagh’s plays like “The Hangmen” or “The Pillowman.” If you have been lucky enough to see any of his plays on stage, you know his signature combination of dark humor with undercurrents of violence, packed with biting witty dialog and thought-provoking subject matter, usually with a distinctly Irish accent.
Like a lot of the writer/playwright/director’s work, THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN is both darkly funny, tragic, a bit violent and more than a bit mad, yet with a deep humanity beneath it all. The film is suffused with stunning photography of the natural world and set in 1923 with the Irish Civil War in the background on the distant mainland. It also is a film bursting with remarkable acting performances, particularly from Colin Farrell. THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN is a reminder of just how very good an actor Colin Farrell truly is.
On the fictional Irish island of Inisherin, a place filled with natural beauty off the western coast of Ireland, a pair of long-time friends – Padraic Suilleabhain (Colin Farrell), a young farmer everyone calls “nice” and Colm Doherty, an older fiddle player, composer and artistic soul – have the habit of going to the island’s only pub every day at 2 p.m., for pints and conversation. One day, Padraic calls on Colm promptly at 2 p.m. as usual for their walk to the pub but Colm refuses to answer the door, or even respond when Padraic speaks to him through the window. Puzzled, Padraic tells his friend he’ll meet him at the pub and heads over. At the pub, Padraic shares his friend’s strange behavior with the pub owner Jonjo (Pat Shortt). “Are you rowing?” the publican asks. “I didn’t think we were rowing,” Padraic replies. Padraic leaves the pub briefly, and returns to find Colm there. But Colm avoids him, even telling him not to sit by him.
“Are we rowing? I didn’t think we were rowing,” the confused Padraic says repeatedly, wondering if they had quarreled in some argument he had forgotten, turning the question over in his head, over and over. Everyone seems to ask the same thing, and Padraic always replies “I didn’t think we were rowing.” It sets up a comic riff but while the effect is humorous, Padraic is becoming increasingly upset by his friend’s mysterious behavior. Finally confronting Colm, Colm tells him that he no longer wants to be friends and forbids the younger man to speak to him. Eventually, it comes out that the older Colm, pondering that his life is running out and contemplating his legacy, decided he needs to spend more of it on his music, composition and teaching younger musicians, and not wasting time with Padraic.
Stunned, Padraic can’t quite wrap his head around this and keeps thinking there is something he can do to restore their friendship, until Colm makes a shocking threat of violence if Padraic doesn’t leave him alone, The threat is so absurd that all the other characters wonder aloud if it is real. However, those who familiar with McDonagh’s stage work know that such mentions of violence are rarely idle.
This is a story of a break-up, of a friendship rather than a romance, but a break-up nonetheless. These two are not “frenemies” but true friends – or were until one day when one of them decides they are not. That leaves the other one having a hard time as he struggles to accept, even comprehend, a decision he played no role in, and deciding what he, the friend left behind, must do.
McDonagh doesn’t take sides here, and individuals might sympathize more with one man or the other, but the film spends more time with Colin Farrell’s Padraic, as he is the one who had to come to grips with what to do next. On the surface, Colm and Padraic don’t seem to have much in common, although they have been friends a long time.
Padraic is a young farmer, raising cows and selling the milk, and someone known for his easy-going, likable manner and for being “nice.” The older Colm is a fiddle player and composer, a more complicated man with other artistic interests, someone given to deep thought and reading with an interest in history and literature. Colm lives alone, Padraic with his sister Siobhan (Kerry Condon), the other island’s devoted reader, who dotes on and cares for her younger brother. Colm has a border collie as a pet, Padraic has a miniature donkey. The animals play a role in the unexpected events that unfold.
It’s an island, and eventually it seems everyone is involved in the split in some way, or at least those who come in regular contact with either Colm or Padraic.
The sharply satiric dialog and story’s comedic beats always delight but the acting is so sparkling, so deep, that is a constant joy throughout. Each actor gets the very most out of every scene, whether alone or ensemble. Colin Farrell expresses volumes with the twitch of a bushy eyebrow or the shift of his posture, continually breaking our hearts with his pain and frustrating us with his mistakes. Brendan Gleeson is outstanding as always, conveying his different kind of pain, a man brooding over his legacy and finding time fleeting, embroiled in a distracting situation he somehow didn’t anticipate.
However praise must go to the actors in supporting roles as well. Barry Keoghan continues to turn in striking character performances, here playing a young man, Dominic Kearney, who is both an irritating pest and a heartbreaking portrait of loneliness. Kerry Condon is wonderful as Padraic’s sister Siobhan, often the voice of reason cutting through the island’s inward looking nonsense, as well as warm sympathetic ear for her confused, well-meaning brother. Other little, more comic roles break the tension, notably Pat Shortt as the publican Jonjo and David Pearse as the priest, who has a sidesplitting exchange with Brendan Gleeson in the confessional. Gary Lydon adds a chilling note as Peadar Kearney, the island’s brutal, cold-hearted local cop and Dominic’s abusive single father, as does Sheila Flitton as Mrs. McCormick, a creeping, creepy older woman in black whose smile and mysterious mutterings might evoke thoughts of Macbeth’s “weird sisters.”
The film opens with Director of Photography Ben Davis’ gorgeous shots of the natural world, showing the breath-taking beauty of the place and often featuring animals, wild and domesticated, in that peaceful-looking landscape. The film was shot on Inishmore and Achill Island on the west coast of Ireland, although the island where the story takes place is fictional. A spot-on perfect musical score by Carter Burwell completes the picture. We get a sense that these few people on the island are living in a place of beauty and magic, but gradually we realize that they are so consumed by their own petty personal troubles, they hardly see it.
The story is set in spring of 1923, and the Irish Civil War is raging. But the war is unfolding on the mainland, and on the island, they only hear the sounds of the guns and distant explosions. The islanders are aware of it but they are apart from it, although it might linger at the back of our minds.
There is something particularly resonant about setting this tale in Ireland in 1923, on an isolated island, during the Irish Civil Wars. The civil war creates its own madness, the closed community of the island (in pre-mass media 1923) creates its own pressure cooker, and whatever existential crisis is troubling Colm adds to the simmering pot.
As wars often do, the conflict between Colm and Padraic starts over something small but hurtful, that then escalates. Their “war” is a reminder that wars often start over something small but that absolutes, all-or-nothing decisions or ultimatums, have consequences. In this personal conflict, it is a reminder that putting ones’ work above people or doing something for selfishness reasons can have consequences too, or even lead to unintended results. The director seems to be questioning whether absolutes are the best human choice, if compromise or setting boundaries might work better, by illustrating how things get out of hand, even little things, until conflict, or even war, is inescapable.
And the banshees? We never see or hear supernatural spirits wailing in the night, although they do come up in conversation at one point. But it is hard to say there are not mad banshees howling here.
There is a lot of food for thought to mull over in this meaty film, although some viewers may be so shocked by the film’s end that those thoughts may have to wait a bit, as is often the case with McDonagh’s plays. But there are things here about humanity that are worth revisiting. THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN is a brilliantly acted and directed film that indirectly and subtly draws larger human lessons by following the break-up of a friendship. It is an impressive piece of cinema on all levels – visually, performance, acting, story-telling – with the addition of offering deeply-considered thoughts on other human conflicts, which is as worthwhile a topic as one can find at this moment in history.
THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN opens Friday, Nov. 4, in theaters.
Martin McDonagh (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri), Brendan Gleeson and Colin Farrell previously worked together in 2008’s IN BRUGES, an excellent black comedy crime film. McDonagh won the BAFTA Award for Best Original Screenplay and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay.
The three are together again for THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN.
Set on a remote island off the west coast of Ireland, THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN follows lifelong friends Pádraic (Colin Farrell) and Colm (Brendan Gleeson), who find themselves at an impasse when Colm unexpectedly puts an end to their friendship. A stunned Pádraic, aided by his sister Siobhán (Kerry Condon) and troubled young islander Dominic (Barry Keoghan), endeavours to repair the relationship, refusing to take no for an answer. But Pádraic’s repeated efforts only strengthen his former friend’s resolve and when Colm delivers a desperate ultimatum, events swiftly escalate, with shocking consequences.
Frances McDormand gives her best performance since FARGO over two decades ago in THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBIBG, MISSOURI which, despite its cumbersome title, is one of the best films of 2017. She plays Mildred Hayes, a middle-aged divorcee who, out of grief and frustration, rents three dilapidated billboards outside the sleepy burg of Ebbing, Missouri (look it up – it’s one town over from Blaine) and has them decked with incriminating messages; “RAPED WHILE DYING”,“AND STILL NO ARRESTS”, and “HOW COME, CHIEF WILLOUGHBY?” Mildred is basically declaring war on Ebbing’s Police Chief, William Willoughby (Woody Harrelson), but the locals are incensed at her, mostly because the Chief is not only widely beloved, but he’s also dying of pancreatic cancer. Mildred doesn’t care what her neighbors think or of Willoughby’s fine character and impending death. She’s just angry because several months have passed and not enough has been done to catch the culprit that’d raped and murdered her daughter Angela, and then burned her corpse. Deputy Dixon (Sam Rockwell), a short-tempered mama’s boy with a penchant for beating prisoners (or at least the black ones), is most annoyed by Mildred’s antics and nobody is safe from his violent wrath, especially young Red Welby (Caleb Landry Jones), who’d rented Mildred the billboards in the first place. Mildred’s resentful teenage son Robbie (Lucas Hedges) is forced to face the torment of his fellow high-schoolers who support Chief Willoughby while her ex-husband, Charlie (John Hawkes), shacked up with 19-year old Penelope (Samara Weaving), is also strongly opposed to her actions. Mildred’s only support comes from James (Peter Dinklage), a sweet midget with a crush on her and Denise (Amanda Warren), her co-worker at the local gift shop who ends up in jail as punishment for their friendship. The whole plot goes terribly wrong, violently and comically, and the less I tell you about THREE BILLBOARDS, the more you will enjoy it.
A comic thriller with a deadpan tone, THREE BILLBOARDS is armed with terrific performances and memorable characters written by director Martin McDonagh. Standing above it all is this most unlikely heroine portrayed beautifully by Frances McDormand. Mixing biting comedic timing with acid-tongued, rage-fueled despair, Mildred’s tough to embrace. Her general demeanor is vulgar and off-putting and there’s a terribly sad moment in flashback where she flippantly tells her doomed daughter (Kathryn Newton) that she hopes that she’s raped and murdered walking home. There’s a great scene when local priest Father Montgomery (Nick Searcy) comes to her home to urge Mildred to take the billboards down since, after all, Chief Willoughby didn’t commit the murder. She launches into an angry tirade about culpability, questioning that, since laws have been tailored to indict lawbreakers for the crimes of their accomplices, why shouldn’t police be held responsible for unsolved crimes. It’s one of several commanding speeches the actress delivers in the film. Sam Rockwell has been receiving well-deserved acclaim for his work in THREE BILLBOARDS and McDonagh does a better job of reining him in here than he did with SEVEN PSYCHOPATHS, where the actor tried way too hard to steal every scene. Deputy Dixon is a bully with a badge and a gun and he seems like someone the audience will never sympathize with…until they do. Even better is Woody Harrelson, providing a surprisingly moving mix of toughness and tenderness as Willoughby. Watch for a heartbreaking, wonderfully-acted moment where Willoughby coughs blood all over Mildred’s face while interrogating her. All of the supporting cast in THREE BILLBOARDS are at the top of their game, from Caleb Landry Jones’s goofy sign salesman to Abbie Cornish’ role as Willoughby’s loving wife to John Hawkes’s tense and wiry turn as Mildred’s ex (director McDonagh generates great tension in a scene where she delivers a wine bottle to him at a restaurant, wielding it like a club). I wish Peter Dinklage’s James had been better fleshed out as he was the one character that didn’t quite fit in, but overall this is top-notch work from an imaginatively-assembled cast. With THREE BILLBOARDS, sweet-natured cheer is combined with twisted malice, and unspeakable grief with offbeat humor, all set against a familiar mid-Missouri backdrop. The result is a modern masterpiece and highly recommended.
From the director who helmed the brilliant IN BRUGES, SEVEN PSYCHOPATHS, Martin McDonagh, comes the first trailer for Fox Searchlight Pictures’ THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI.
Full disclosure – I’m a huge fan of this McDonagh and SEVEN PSYCHOPATHS and IN BRUGES were two of the best films of 2012 and 2008. See both if you missed them in the cinemas!
In the meantime, watch the red-band preview below.
THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI is a darkly comic drama from Academy Award winning filmmaker McDonagh.
After months have passed without a culprit in her daughter’s murder case, Mildred Hayes (Academy Award winner Frances McDormand) makes a bold move, painting three signs leading into her town with a controversial message directed at William Willoughby (Academy Award nominee Woody Harrelson), the town’s revered chief of police. When his second-in-command Officer Dixon (Sam Rockwell), an immature mother’s boy with a penchant for violence, gets involved, the battle between Mildred and Ebbing’s law enforcement is only exacerbated.
The movie also features Abbie Cornish, Lucas Hedges, Željko Ivanek, Caleb Landry Jones, Clarke Peters, Samantha Weaving with John Hawkes and Peter Dinklage.
Since SEVEN PSYCHOPATHS is about to hit theaters (in a funny, bloody, and shock-tastic way), WAMG, along with a few other members of the press, had the opportunity to sit down with writer/director Martin McDonagh in a round table last week.
Written and Directed by Oscar®-winner Martin McDonagh , the comedy Seven Psychopaths follows a struggling screenwriter (Colin Farrell) who inadvertently becomesentangled in the Los Angeles criminal underworld after his oddball friends (Christopher Walken and Sam Rockwell) kidnap a gangster’s (Woody Harrelson) beloved Shih Tzu. Co-starring Abbie Cornish, Tom Waits, Olga Kurylenko and Zeljko Ivanek.
Check out our roundtable discussion here.
So, you know, what is the attraction to psychopaths, killers and rabbits?
Martin McDonagh: Ahh… Rabbits? That’s the definite one, I love them (laughs). Psychopaths and killers… not so much. I guess I share Colin Farrell’s character’s feelings towards psychopaths and violent people in the film. That I know how cinematic they are and how interesting films can be with them, but kind of question… question the morality of only having films about guys with guns. So… it’s that, playing those two ideas off each other is my interest in them. Also, I was thinking about this the other day, if you’d written a film called “Seven Accountants” you wouldn’t really get much interest. (Laughs)Christopher Walken wouldn’t be quite the same in that part. (Laughs)
As a demented IRS agent maybe…
Martin McDonagh: There you are. That could be… but they all are…
This movie operates on so many different meta levels. I’m curious, was this the story you set out to actually write from the beginning?
Martin McDonagh: Yeah, this is exactly how it kind of developed. There wasn’t a time when it was just the central story and I was looking out for it. No, I think I had the Quaker’s psychopath as a short story, and then I had the title of this, and then I was stuck with Colin’s character and didn’t know how to come up with the others, but wanted it to be about love and peace, then his two friends show up and the dog thing it just kind of snowballed and snowballed. It kind of developed naturally like that and then the meta things came. If you’re writing a film that’s about a writer in Hollywood that doesn’t want to write a film called “Seven Psychopaths” it’s going to be meta no matter what you do.
You’ve got great theatrical staging with the production itself. Did that come into play to aid you as a director stepping behind the camera?
Martin McDonagh: I saw IN BRUGES more that way. That’s basically three characters walking around a stage. The stage being Bruges. But this, I felt , I felt like I had gotten away from that a little bit. That it was broader and… you couldn’t… there were only a few scenes set in a room, you jump to the desert then… I’m not sure. There’s a lot of, it’s dialog heavy like the plays and like BRUGES, and I like that, but I think it’s more cinematic than the last one. So, I see more of the cinema of it. Also, jumping back and doing the short stories, I don’t think you could ever do that on stage.
Were you actively trying to move away from a play feel?
Martin McDonagh: Um, I think just in writing the scripts I’m trying to be as cinematic as I can on film, that you couldn’t do on stage. I think more and more you I’ve gone in that direction. I mean, I’m gonna go back to writing plays too. I think the difference between the two are becoming more and more polarized. If it’s a story and it’s going to be basically set in a room, it’s going to be a play. If there are going to be rabbits and dogs and stuff, (Laughs) then it’s going to be a film.
You’ve worked with Colin before. How much of the cast did you have in your head as you were writing this?
Martin McDonagh: As I was writing, none of them really. It was actually written seven years ago; just after I wrote the script for IN BRUGES before I made the film. I mean, I’ve loved all the actors in this from a long time ago. Maybe Sam Rockwell; sometimes I write with Sam’s voice in my head because I love him as an actor and I love the way he can go from comedy to darkness on a dime. But, no… I never dreamed I’d be in a place where I’m doing a film with Christopher Walken or Tom Waits or Harry Dean Stanton, ever. But, I did a play with Sam and Christopher about 3 years ago in New York, so I knew them. Woody I met like 10 years ago because he’s kind of a theater guy too; we almost did a play together in fact. And Tom Waits, we almost wrote a musical, a kind of fucked up musical kind of thing, which we might go back to.
So, like first day of shooting was like family, was like a little revery company of people I knew, so it wasn’t as terrifying as working with a cast this big might appear to be first.. It was fun every day on set. I think it’s kind of palpable in the film how much fun we were all having. No one was heavy or starry; there were no issues from anyone.
As a writer, when you have Christopher Walken saying the words you wrote, and he has such an interesting cadence in the way that he delivers his lines, are you constantly surprised? Like, are you “you know, I had a period there?”
Martin McDonagh: It’s the periods and the commas that you forget about. (Laughs) But question marks, it’s… But then conversely, he sticks… like I said, we did a play together, he sticks to, he memorizes the script word for word like six months beforehand. And the words never change. The intonations change. You can never dream that a line or a word even could be pounced in that way, like “hallucinogens” how he does. Where does that come from? But it’s still the words you wrote, you know, so there’s a joy and a surprise to all that kind of stuff. And now, you know, like after the play and after this, I can’t imagine any other way to say those lines. Like “hallucinogens” is not funny on the page, but he says it like that and it’s funny. It’s crazy, and he’s the only one in the world, really, that can do that I think.
Does he do something like that intentionally, or is that just how he pronounces it?
Martin McDonagh: Um, I think you’ll have to ask him, but I don’t think that’s how he… I think he knows how screwed up that stuff is. (Laughs) How can he not. Yeah, I’m pretty sure… because if it is an accidental thing, I think it would be different on each take, and it’s not. It’s always deliberately wrong on each take. So, yeah. But I’ve learned the trick. The next time if I want him to ask a question, I won’t put a question mark there because he’s going to do the opposite of everything. And if I don’t want it to be a question, I will put a question mark there. But don’t tell him that. (Laughs).
There’s quite a lot of humor throughout this. How important, because this story couldn’t have been told without this kind of humor… How important was it to interject those beats of humor throughout?
Martin McDonagh: Um, very much. Most of my work is that way. Like IN BRUGES was probably more sad and melancholic than this is, but it’s still hopefully very funny throughout. This is almost more fun than… this was always a comedy, a black comedy on the page, but I think it’s come out as more outrageously funny because of the actors. It’s the way I kind of think about the world and the way I like to tell stories. I don’t think you should get too heavy, but there’s enough out there in the world, with violence et cetera that you should question. So, I think that comedy leavens the heaviness of talking about those topics. It doesn’t feel like you’re preaching if you can say something in a joke, which is where this film is coming from.
Because you wrote this way back before you did IN BRUGES and stuff, did those experiences affect the script at all?
Martin McDonagh: Not so much in that way really. If they did it was just about tightening scenes up and feeling like you didn’t have to go on ad infinitum. I think, like, the editing process of a film is quite shocking as to how much you can easily get rid of that you never thought you could on the page. Conversely, when we started shooting I, you know, had trimmed it down, and I thought “Well, there’s not a scene that we can lose from the script.” So we shot every scene. But again, in the editing process loads and loads of scenes were cut. There’s probably like 25 minutes of material cut from the first cut of this which will probably end up in the DVD extras. But, like when they go to the desert, there’s another 20 minutes of really fun scenes but it just slowed everything down. It really was like the film was put on pause and they were just chatting in the desert. You can do that for a little bit, and we do that for a little bit, but you’ve got to get Woody back, and set him so strongly. So no, in script terms it didn’t change much after IN BRUGE but I guess I did learn how to work with actors from my experiences making that film which is ideal for something like this.
Talk a bit about the casting, and not to go into too many spoiler territories, but there are a lot of really small parts played by fantastic known actors. I’m curious about that choice and also the casting those parts.
Martin McDonagh: Ahh, yeah. Well, the… Olga and Abbie… Their parts work… there was probably more to their characters both on the page, and we shot at least four extra scenes with them. But the focus in the edit of the story became more about, um, Colin and Sam’s love affair (Laughs) Their story, being as their… and particularly with Abbie’s character being as there was more about their break up and his alcohol problems in relation to her, but it just… That wasn’t what this story was about. So it wasn’t an intentional…
But even Michael Pitt and Michael Stuhlbarg…
Martin McDonagh: That was different. That was just that first scene. I wanted to, for the audience, and we haven’t really publicised this much that they are in the film, so as an audience member you should go “Oh, fuck. I didn’t realize they were in the movie!” BANG. They’re not in the movie. Harry Dean was just a dream to get him to play that part, and we screened it in San Francisco I think, and we haven’t really advertised too much that he’s in it, and it was a first ever audience and he popped up and everyone went “Ah, Harry Dean’s in it!” and it was good, that’s what we were going for. He was ideal. I never thought in my wildest dreams I’d one day make a film with Harry, Christopher and Tom Waits. Like, when I was ten, they were icons of American cinema and music, so that was kind of joyful.
Now, working with animals always presents a challenge in and of itself, but on top of the multitude that you have, you’re also shooting out in the desert… in some protected areas out in Joshua Tree. What kind of challenges did all of those combinations present for you as a director, and for Ben Davis, your cinematographer when planning out what you were going to do?
Martin McDonagh: Um, the animals were, honestly they were a dream. Bonnie the dog was, maybe you’ll meet Bonnie later, is lovely, and quiet as a mouse. I mean, was quiet then, and there was never a peep out of her. It’s like she was on marijuana or something. (Laughs) Which would make two cast members… um… (Laughs) Kidding! Um, and the rabbits were great. And the desert was freezing cold for all of the night shoots. Like, minus 16 for half of the night shifts, and there were a lot of nights in the desert. But, we shot one day in the Joshua Tree National Park itself, because as you said, there were so many restrictions on what we could do there, that we had to find places that looked very similar where you could explode a car, or have a car chase, or um, have a gun fight. So, um Ben Davis was fantastic and I think the film looks beautiful. And that’s all due to him really. We storyboarded an awful lot before we started, I did like six months before we started prep even, but that kind of got my head around the whole desert shoot out.
You selected to shoot on film and not go digital with this. Was there a particular reason for that?
Martin McDonagh: I’m kind of old school. I just think it looks better. Until it’s proven beyond a reasonable doubt that digital looks better… I don’t think digital really speeds things up and I definitely don’t think it looks better. I don’t think it’s cheaper yet, when you add in all the extras that you need. So yeah, I just think film looks better.
There is a great scene where Sam is going on his explanation of the story, and it felt like Chris Walken and Colin were a test audience for him. It got me kind of thinking, being the writer, being the director, were there things from your own experiences that you kind of got to pepper in?
Martin McDonagh: Not so much, but that was probably one of the most fun scenes to do because it’s about a 10 minute monologue… And Sam had it off by heart. I actually went around, and we had about two weeks of rehearsal before we started, and I went around to he and his girlfriends house… and he acted out the whole thing, you know, from start to finish. He was getting down on the floor to get shot, and was coming back up. Just watching it, I was in hysterics. It had kind of been written that most of that was going to be voice over. So, we were going to film all of the actual cemetary shoot out, and you’d hear bits and pieces of it and you’d see a couple images of Sam doing that, but it was so good… you didn’t want, you could have just had the camera on him, and Colin, and Christopher’s reactions. That would have been equally valid. But, because he was so good, it’s kind of half and half now. We’re back with Sam just as much as we are in the cemetary. I think the good thing about the cemetery was continuity didn’t matter. It didn’t matter if it looked stupid, or fake, or phoney because it’s Billy’s idea of the ending. So it didn’t matter if it’s completely over the top, or bordering gratuitus, but it’s not me… it’s Billy.
Was the Walken gag coming out of the coffin in the script, or was that something you guys did on set?
Martin McDonagh: It was kind of a vague thing in the script but one of those things when I was storyboarding it I thought, “That would be a good idea.” We didn’t tell Christopher about it until the night and I was kind of dreading it. We built the coffin and it was like 1 in the morning for him to see it and I was hoping, “God I hope he thinks it’s okay.” We had the stuntman show him it was completely safe. I said, “Chris, do you think you could…?” “Yeah, cool!” We did it in one take, so he had to come up, boom, and the squibs went off perfectly. It was one of the most joyful bits. We showed it to him back at the monitor and he just smiled when he saw the bloody heads and how cool he looked. It’s one of my favorite images from the film, I think.
On the subject of the cemetery shoot, and feel free to call me crazy… I could have just been seeing things, but did I see that it said “Rourke” on one of the gravestones? (LAUGHS ALL AROUND)
Martin McDonagh: Um yeah, we just happened to be filming in a graveyard that happened to be full of Rourke’s. (Laughs)
So, should I press further bout that situation…
Martin McDonagh: You’re the first one who’s spotted it… so, um… That’s your scoop. (Laughs)
IN BRUGES received such a great critical reception and the film has found its fans throughout the years. I’m curious, was there a degree of pressure on you following that up?
Martin McDonagh: No, I’m really lazy anyway (laughs). After Bruges, I just kind of went off and traveled. I wrote a play and we did it in New York and that’s where I got to work with Sam and Christopher the first time. I remember saying to Colin, “It’s going to be three years at least before the next one.” I think he believed me, but his people were thinking “But this movie is a success; why would you do that?” But it’s going to be the same after this one, too. I’m just going to travel and write and grow up.It doesn’t feel like four years since the last one. I think it’s more so I won’t get burned out. This was an enjoyable experience to do. I can’t imagine doing them back to back… because pretty much, this has been two solid years working on this, at least a year and a half since I started checking out locations here and finalizing the script and it was exactly, i think, a year ago this month that we started shooting and the editing has been almost every day since then. So, yeah, it’s not like it’s hard work… like a coal miner or a nurse or something… but it’s concerted work, and I don’t like concerted work (laughs). So, I do have a script that’s ready to go for the next one… but I just know it won’t be ah… for a while, but I’m fine with that.
And will you direct the next one yourself?
Martin McDonagh: Yeah. Yeah. If I can be bothered. (Laughs).
Do you see yourself directing someone elses…
Martin McDonagh: No. No… because it takes so much time… I think, you’ve only got so many stories to tell and you should just stick to your own stuff. And I feel confident that I can keep coming up with stories and…
At the end of the day, what have you personally taken away from the experience of making this film.
Martin McDonagh: Well, I think after In BRUGES, like… I was really happy with how it went, but I did think it was kind of hard work… but after this, it felt more fun than, and we had an awful lot of fun on BRUGES too, but I feel like I love working with actors , coming up with… I just like working with actors and coming up with… I wouldn’t have dreamed of working with these kind of actors. And now, I know them, and they like how it’s turned out, and as far as our relationship turned out, it was good and I know they’d be happy to come back and do more stuff with me. So, that’s the main thing I think I’ve taken from it.
