Martin McDonagh Confronts ‘Three Billboards’ Being Slammed as Racist and a ‘Gross Misstep’: ‘It’s Hurtful…Was It That Bad?’
variety.comZack Sharf Martin McDonagh is already the toast of awards season thanks to his latest movie “The Banshees of Inisherin,” which dazzled the Venice Film Festival with a 13-minute standing ovation and the prizes for best screenplay and best actor for Colin Farrell.
McDonagh’s last directorial outing, “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,” similarly launched at Venice to critical acclaim and a screenplay win, but the film ignited backlash as Oscar season continued due to its storyline involving a racist cop (Sam Rockwell) who finds redemption.
McDonagh recently told The Guardian that such backlash was “hurtful.” Many opponents of “Three Billboards” condemned the film for being too sympathetic towards Rockwell’s character, who uses the N-word, shares bigoted views and enacts racial violence.
That Rockwell emerged as the season’s best supporting actor frontrunner (he ultimately won the Academy Award) only intensified the backlash against the movie. “I could see where that debate could come from,” McDonagh told The Guardian. “But I thought it was not seeing what I see in the film.
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