Director Martin McDonagh says there's no 'bulls**t or fame s**t' about Irish stars Brendan Gleeson and Colin Farrell as the trio have reunited for his new film.
It’s been 14 years since they first got together for his breakout film, In Bruges, and McDonagh admits he has wanted to find a way to get Farrell and Gleeson back together on the big screen ever since.
His new film Banshees of Inisherin sees the pair play feuding friends Pádraic (Farrell) and Colm (Gleeson).
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But unlike the plot, he insists there wasn’t ‘a cross word’ shared between him or his leading men when they reunited to film the project in the west of Ireland, last year.
He said: “It’s always a joy. There was never even a cross word during the eight weeks we made it, which is weird.
“I love them, and we get on great. There’s no bulls**t about us, there’s no fame s**t about them.”
In an interview with the Hollywood Reporter, ahead of the film's world premiere at the Venice International Film Festival on Monday 5 September,
he added: “They know I’m still a new-ish filmmaker but know I’m good at the things I’m good at — story and character. And they know I care about what they care about.”
The film, also starring Dubliner Barry Keoghan, sees Gleeson and Farrell play two lifelong friends that find themselves at an impasse when one abruptly ends their relationship, with alarming consequences for both of them.
Asked where the story idea came from, McDonagh, 52, said: “I just wanted to write a sort of simple sad breakup story between two blokes, weirdly.
“And I guess part of it was always wanting to get Colin and Brendan back together since In Bruges.
“I’ve stayed friends with them since then and was always hoping no one else would work with them as a pairing.
“It almost happened once and it fell through and I was so happy about that.
“They always wanted to get together too, so that was the germ of it, this breakup story and those guys.
The film is shot in Co. Galway, the setting for many of McDonagh’s early plays and near his parents’ house.
“They’re just outside Galway, and we filmed on one of the Aran Islands,
Inishmore, and you literally have to pass their house to get to the boat,”
he explained.
“So at weekends I could go back and see them, which was cool. And Galway is a gorgeous town to hang out in.
“And it was funny, because usually on a film set the crew know your past films, but on this one, they knew a lot of the plays as well. So that was kind of cool.”
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