It’s been a good couple of months for acclaimed playwright, screenwriter, and director Martin McDonagh. His latest film, “The Banshees of Inisherin,” won both Best Actor (Colin Farrell) and Best Screenplay at the Venice Film Festival in September. And, at publication, his follow-up to the Oscar-winning “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri” is about to hit theaters with not only a stellar 89 on Metacritic but 100% on Rotten Tomatoes with over 80 reviews so far. It seems the long-awaited “In Bruges” reunion of Farrell, McDonagh, and Brendan Gleeson was worth the wait.
READ MORE: “The Banshees of Inisherin” review: Civility dies and friends go to war in Martin McDonagh’s thought-provoking tragicomedy [Venice]
Set on a fictional island off the coast of Ireland in the 1920s, “Banshees” centers on Pádraic (Farrell) and Colm (Gleeson), two longtime pals whose relationship is about to come to an end. Out of the blue, Colm decides he no longer wants to speak or socialize with Pádraic, leaving the latter shellshocked over losing his “best friend.” While his sister (Kerry Condon), tries to temper his reaction, Pádraic refuses to adhere to the new status quo which causes Colm to take increasingly drastic measures.
McDonagh says he wrote the script with Farrell, Gleeson, Condon, and Barry Keoghan, who plays the troubled but good-hearted Dominic, in mind. And the project has actually been a long time coming. The London-based McDonagh says he sent a complete script to both Farrell and Gleeson “maybe seven years ago” but he personally thought it was “crap” at the time.
“I think they were kind of on board, Colin was, but then I reread it and thought, ‘Nah. This can’t be it.”‘I think it might have been ‘Three Billboards,’ the tone of that, the sadness of that was what I thought should be in this one,” McDonagh says. “So, then I went back, three years ago, and reread that other one, and it was crap, apart from the first five pages. The first five pages are what we see in this movie, just that moment of the breakup. I got rid of all the plot, and just looked at how sad a little fact like that could be, and that’s the movie that we’ve got today.”
Over the course of our conversation, McDonagh explains why he came up with the fictional island of “Inisherin,” his specific writing process (one that will horrify some of his peers), and how a third film with Farrell and Gleeson should be, relatively, sooner rather than later.
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The Playlist: Originally, this was meant to be a play. What made you decide to turn it into a film instead?
Martin McDonagh: Well, the play, there was a version which was never finished from 15 years ago, but, apart from the title, almost [nothing is the] same. That was “The Banshees of Inisheer.” Nothing of that is similar to this story at all. It’s a brand new film-script idea that I came up with maybe four or five years ago. But it was always going to be a movie, this one.
Do you remember what your particular inspiration for this film was?
Just one guy breaking up with another guy. As simple as that. Just to mine what could come from a very simple premise like that and just to explore it truthfully and sadly, I think. That was, story-wise, what I wanted to do, but then to get Colin and Brendan back together was uppermost in my mind. It was written for them, obviously. We’d been wanting to do that since “In Bruges,” and I was just so lazy, it took 14 years to do.
It seems like an untold story is adults’ friendships falling away for unexpected reasons. Outside of the context of reality television, it’s rarely explored. I was curious, was that any of the inspiration for the film or is that just happened when you started developing these two characters?
I think that was part of it. I think the whole pandemic question of “if we get through it what are we going to do to not waste time,” all of those questions were imbued somehow into this script. It was written just before COVID hit, but I think there were revisions that probably had aspects of COVID and all those questions within it. But, yeah. I really wanted to explore the simple pain of a simple breakup, I think, but have it not be a romantic one. Have it be the simplest form of relationship that ended was what I really wanted to get at.
You mentioned wanting to have something to reunite with Colin and Brendan. Did you give them any hints you were working on this before the script was finished or was it more along the lines of, “It’s finished. I’m sending it to you guys. Are you in?”
I always like the surprise of a brand-new script, but there was a version of it maybe seven years ago, which was kind of crap actually, which I sent to them. I think they were kind of on board, Colin was, but then I reread it and thought, “Nah. This can’t be it.” I think it might have been “Three Billboards,” the tone of that, the sadness of that was what I thought should be in this one. So, then I went back, three years ago, and reread that other one, and it was crap, apart from the first five pages. The first five pages are what we see in this movie, just that moment of the breakup. I got rid of all the plot, and just looked at how sad a little fact like that could be, and that’s the movie that we’ve got today.
Kerry and Barry’s characters as so important to the story. Were you thinking of either of them while you were writing the script as well?
It was written for both those guys too. Kerry, I worked with 20 years ago. She was in the original “Lieutenant of Inishmore,” back in London, and she’s done two other of my plays. We’ve been friends throughout all those years. I’d seen how brilliant she was on-stage, but I never saw that captured as much in her movie work. She had a little part in “Three Billboards,” and she’s done brilliant work in so many other things, but I really wanted to give her a meaty role that would let her show how brilliant she is. Barry, too. I’d been a fan of his work for two or three years before writing this script. So he was utmost in my mind for the type of character that Dominic could be. It was great to get to work with him. He’s such a fun guy.
Why did you decide to make it a fictional island?
So, the original title was “Inisheer,” which is a real-life island. But, it’s a couple of things. Once we came to the location scout, I realized I wanted the beauty of a couple of different places. The kind of rugged, flat fields and old stone walls of Inishmore, where we filmed Pádraic’s house and lot of the laneways, but also the rugged, mountainous aspect of where Colm lives, and that beach, which is Achill Island. Knowing that it was going to be two very different places, to call it Inisheer, for instance, at least everyone in Ireland would know that’s absolutely not in a year. That was part of the reason. But also to make it a little bit more mythical. Not a place where you can’t quite put your finger on exactly where it is, especially in relation to the Civil War and where the battles were and all that kind of stuff. That was part of it too.
I don’t want to give away a major plot point But there is a sort of grotesque thing with a hand that is teased in the trailer. What made you go down that road?
I’m honestly not sure. But I do know I didn’t plot the movie through beforehand. I didn’t do a treatment. So, I didn’t know where it was going and I didn’t know he was going to say that until he came into the pub and said that literally. That was 20, 30 pages in. Where it came from, I don’t know. I guess, I knew he had to make some kind of threat, but I thought it was much more interesting, also in the terms of him being an artist, is that the threat wasn’t going outwards, it was going inwards. It just turned the threat on its head a little bit. It made logical sense to me, I guess, it’s weird. But once you set something like that up, and rolling, everything after that had a tension to it, and, I guess, that’s why it came up. But I literally didn’t have the idea even the day before I wrote that scene.
No outline or treatment? Is that how you traditionally work? Do you find that more freeing?
Yeah. It means this story can go anywhere. You can surprise yourself. I remember on “Three Billboards,” I didn’t know that Woody Harrison’s character was going to kill himself when he did. Again, that heightens everything that’s going to come after it. But, I think, if you don’t know what’s going to happen next, it’s pretty sure that the audience isn’t going to. That’s why I think plot twists and things like that can work really well.
When you’re writing in that context, are you thinking in your head, “O.K., I’m in the second act. I need to start moving this toward the third act?”
Somehow by about the first third, I think, things from the start keep going outwards and you add more characters. As you do, you get a sense, as I said, 30 pages in with the hand thing, the plot starts narrating itself and starts coming back in. You know you don’t need to add any more characters, you’ve got them, and everything slowly starts aiming toward the second act, the third act. I don’t know, at the start, but once I get a third in, if it’s going well, an idea for the ending might come up, or at least that the end of the second act should start coming to it.
Are Breandan and Colin already bugging you for a third film? A trilogy of films?
Yeah. We’ve been doing some interviews together and they are in the room. I think there’s such a joy when we get together that I really don’t want to leave it for 14 years again. It feels like it was two days ago that we made “In Bruges” together. But time passes so quickly. We have talked that maybe seven years would be a better next step because none of us are getting any younger. I don’t have an idea now, but just that little ticking bomb is somewhere in me. So, I do want to get them back together.
You’re both an accomplished director and writer. Which do you enjoy more? And as a director, is there one part of the process you enjoy more than the other?
I definitely like the writing more, because it’s just me and I can do it on a beach. There’s no pressure from anyone else. I definitely love the editing. I definitely love working with the actors on set. When you don’t have all the answers and there are 100 people asking you questions, that can be sometimes a little nerve-wracking. But, as you go on, and I think in the last two movies, I felt more comfortable with all of that side of the process too. Just, on-set, it was a joy as well. Apart from the four leads, I’d worked with most of those actors or knew them from before. At least two of them had done plays of mine. So, it felt like of the 10 actors in the movie, eight of them were friends. That’s a lovely part of being on on-set too. But, yeah, still the writing of it is the most simply joyous, I think.
You’ve won all sorts of awards – including an Oscar – and your actors have earned all sorts of acclaim, but did winning the screenplay award at Venice last month mean anything to you?
It was lovely. Venice is just a beautiful festival. I remember when we got the same award for Three Billboards, that was the first thing that started some kind of momentum going. But, weirdly, Colin winning Best Actor there was even more special to me, strangely. I knew that would really put the film on the map. Getting two, hand in hand, added to all that too. But, yeah. Strangely, it was Colin winning that gave me a bigger smile.
“The Banshees of Inisherin” opens in New York and Los Angeles on Friday, October 21.