Martin McDonagh says he wrote The Banshees of Inisherin so Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson could work together again

Filmmaker Martin McDonagh said he wrote The Banshees of Inisherin so that Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson could work together again.

The duo starred in In Bruges 14 years ago - and are now appearing in the black comedy.

McDonagh He said: "I always wanted to get Colin and Brendan back together to do something, but to do something quite different to 'In Bruges'.

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"Something a little stranger, maybe a little sadder, hopefully equally funny."

Set and filmed on an island off the west coast of Ireland, The Banshees of Inisherin" tells the story of great friends Padraic (Farrell) and Colm (Gleeson). However Colm unexpectedly ends their friendship, delivering an ultimatum should he bother him.

McDonagh added: "To show Ireland and the west coast, especially as a character, was very important, to make it really beautiful, too, was very important. I think maybe as the film goes on, it' s a little less beautiful and a little more claustrophobic.

"But there's a beauty in that too... A lot of people after 'In Bruges' went to Bruges afterwards. I hope maybe people will go to the west coast after this."

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - OCTOBER 10: Colin Farrell (L) and Brendan Gleeson attend the after party of Searchlight Pictures' "The Banshees Of Inisherin" at DGA Theater on October 10, 2022 in New York City (Dominik Bindl/Getty Images)

Gleeson said he couldn't believe the role of Colm was written for him when he first read the script.

He said: "First time I ever saw the first iteration, I said 'what have I done?' It's like, why do you want me to be this is cruel, what have I done to you?"

And Farrell said the film is about break-ups rather than friendships.

He said: "It's not so much the friendship, it's the break-up, the severity of the break-up and the consequences of the break-up and lives in ruination.

"The confusion of it and the inability to accept it."

Gleeson added: "It's the emotional consequences of being dumped and of having to dump something that was central to who you were."

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