STACK #221 March 2023

MOVIE FEATURE

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The mark of McDonagh

of telling a story about a break-up, and to be truthful and show the pain of that. And to juxtapose that with the Irish Civil War, of course, helps bring in interesting metaphorical angles, and to sort of show how a simple falling out can lead to horror, I guess, to the war and unforgivable acts. But the very initial impulse was to capture the sadness of the break-up.” The common thread binding Martin McDonagh's previous films – In Bruges (2008), Seven Psychopath s (2012) and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017) – to The Banshees of Inisherin (2022) is the humour hidden beneath darkness and despair. It has become his trademark, and although each of his films is unique from the other, astute moviegoers will recognise his signature. If thousands of movies have been devoted to romantic love, there are far fewer about platonic love. “The breakdown of a friendship is sometimes worse than a romantic break-up, because you can work through a romantic one,” offers McDonagh. “But for a friendship, it’s much harder, I think. It's much harder on the soul. That pain was one of the interesting things we explored in this film.” The two stars may spend most of the movie not speaking to each other, but off-screen it was a different story. “There’s a joy that I feel working with Colin and it reaffirms that there's a certain way to approach this work that’s collaborative and honest and fearless, and only about raising the bar,” says Gleeson. Farrell concurs. “When you have that trust in your fellow actor and your director, you can go anywhere. You're not afraid to fail and if you're not afraid to fail, you're in good shape. But if you're afraid of failure, you're so limited in what you can do.”

One of the most nominated films in this year’s Oscars race, The Banshees of Inisherin reunites Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, and writer-director Martin McDonagh for the first time since the trio made movie magic in 2008 with their dark comedy, In Bruges . Words Gill Pringle C ast as two hapless hitmen in In Bruges , Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson became fast friends, which

made it all the more tricky to portray a friendship gone sour in The Banshees of Inisherin – Gleeson’s Colm deciding he never wants to speak to Farrell’s Pádraic again. Co-starring Kerry Condon and Barry Keoghan, Banshees is set in 1923. As civil war rages in Ireland, the fictional island of Inisherin is largely unaffected by tensions on the mainland, although perhaps the abrupt ending of this friendship is a sign. When Martin McDonagh was writing the script, he always had Farrell and Gleeson in mind. “I love them as people. They're just the best actors around,” he says. “They’re very sensitive to sadder, dark material, but also brilliant at understanding comedy – and they're mates as well. “I didn't really know Barry beforehand but Colin, Brendan

McDonagh reveals that he couldn’t have made the movie without the two main actors already having an established friendship. “I think the fact that Colin and Brendan love each other, and they're playing the opposite of that, allowed me to go to a darker side of that

• The Banshees of Inisherin is out on Mar 8

place. It was great to have it being founded on the care and love that they have for each other – that's all palpable from the very first minute of the film. You couldn’t have got that with two actors who didn't have that affection or love for each other.” He was always clear in his goal. “I think it’s the simplicity

DYK?

Martin McDonagh’s brother is screenwriter John Michael McDonagh, who wrote The Guard (2011) and Calvary (2014), also starring Brendan Gleeson.

and Kerry go back probably from before In Bruges . So I knew they'd be brilliant; I knew they'd bring everything to it, and that hopefully we’d have fun making it too.”

30 MARCH 2023

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