Martin Macdonagh: Last News

best actor prize at Venice Film Festival for Martin McDonagh’s The Banshees of Inisherin, Colin Farrell was spotted pounding the pavement on a run in California.The Irish star looked to be powering through West Hollywood on Wednesday afternoon as he ran shirtless in the sunshine as part of his exercise regime.Running in dark shorts, turquoise trainers and a grey baseball cap, the 46-year-old was in fine form as he got his sweat on in the heat.The Lobster star also kept things practical with a slimline black bumbag in which to hold his essentials.Colin is currently in production on new Apple TV Plus series Sugar, in which he stars and executive produces, and has been joined by The Sandman star Kirby Howell-Baptiste.With details scant at the moment, Variety has described the show as ‘a genre-bending contemporary take on the private detective story’.The actor described himself as ‘shocked and thrilled’ top scoop one of the industry’s top prizes for his turn as Pádraic Súilleabháin in The Banshees of Inisherin.Reuniting with his In Bruges co-star Brendan Gleeson, the pair play lifelong friends who find themselves at an impasse when one abruptly ends their relationship while the Civil War rumbles on the mainland.‘I’m shocked to get this and thrilled,’ the 46-year-old said in a live video message broadcast at the festival Saturday night. He couldn’t be there to attend in person, however, director McDonagh was on site to collect the prize.‘I can’t imagine ever passing on anything he writes because he’s such an extraordinary writer,’ the actor said of the writer-director earlier in the festival. From Ed Sheeran to Lewis Hamilton: 9 celebrities who broke 'royal protocol'Jodie Comer given bodyguard by co-star Benedict Cumberbatch

Toronto Film Festival returned in spectacular fashion after two years of virtual premieres or limited capacity screenings. The parties were packed (which may lead to COVID outbreaks down the road, but… that’s showbiz?), the red carpets were glittering and the atmosphere was electric, bordering on euphoric, as director Rian Johnson’s acclaimed sequel “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Story,” Steven Spielberg’s semi-autobiographical “The Fabelmans” and the Harry Styles-led romantic drama “My Policeman” debuted to blockbuster-starved audiences in Canada. Hollywood seemed eager to make up for lost time. So, as the curtain comes down on TIFF, here’s a look back at the major trends and takeaways from the 10-day festival.

The Venice Film Festival audience were enraptured with “The Banshees of Inisherin”.

Colin Farrell received a 13-minute standing ovation at the Venice Film Festival following the premiere of his new film The Banshees Of Inisherin.The actor reunited with his In Bruges co-star Brendan Gleeson and director Martin McDonagh for the upcoming drama about two Irish men whose life-long friendship is brought to an abrupt end.According to Variety, Farrell, Gleeson and McDonagh received the “longest and loudest reception” of any film yet to show at this year’s festival.However, the publication speculated that this was in response to Farrell, “who broke with tradition by wading into the crowd to take selfies with fans and sign autographs, which only made the cheering grow louder and more sustained”.Earlier at the festival, Brendan Fraser was moved to tears after receiving a six-minute standing ovation following the premiere of his new film The Whale.Directed by Darren Aronofsky, the film sees Fraser play a reclusive English teacher who lives with severe obesity. Stranger Things‘ Sadie Sink also stars, playing Fraser’s estranged teenager daughter.Following the film’s premiere over the weekend, footage emerged of the audience giving Fraser a rapturous reception.

Colin Farrell wants real conversation.

As the 49th Annual Telluride Film Festival comes to a close on this Labor Day holiday, it once again could be a fest that ignites the Oscar chances of a number of films that have either had their World Premieres or North American Premieres this weekend. As part of the so-called Fall Festival Trifecta of Venice/Telluride/Toronto (the latter beginning this Thursday), this is where the six month+ awards season officially starts, even if the even longer Emmy season doesn’t conclude until a week from today.

The Banshees of Inisherin, Martin McDonagh’s return to the Venice Film Festival after 2017’s triumphant Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, had its world premiere Monday night, getting the biggest response from fest audience so far this year with a 15-minute standing ovation.

The Banshees of Inisherin.” The darkly comic fable from Martin McDonagh has a sensational debut on Monday at the Venice Film Festival where it earned a 13-minute standing ovation. That the longest and loudest reception for any film to debut on the Lido this season, at least based on the applause meter. McDonagh and stars Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson and Kerry Condon hugged each other throughout the ovation and walked up and down the mezzanine to the orchestra. To be fair, the ovation may have been unfairly supersized. That’s because Farrell broke with tradition by wading into the crowd to take selfies with fans and sign autographs, which only made the clapping grow louder and more sustained. At one point, actress and writer Phoebe Waller-Bridge, McDonagh’s partner, leaned over her chair and kissed her boyfriend as he basked in the love. The love for “The Banshees of Inisherin” was so intense, with the crowd leaping to its feet with such passion, that the film started to bleed into the red carpet debut of Olivia Wilde’s psychological thriller “Don’t Worry Darling.” Ushers at Venice had to scurry about trying to get audience members to leave the theater so the next film premiere could start.

Colin Farrell suits up sharp for the premiere of his new movie, The Banshees of Inisherin, during the 2022 Venice International Film Festival on Monday (September 5) in Venice, Italy.

Phoebe Waller-Bridge stands next to partner Martin McDonagh during the premiere of his new film, The Banshees of Inisherin, during the 2022 Venice International Film Festival on Monday (September 5) in Venice, Italy.

Playwright and filmmaker Martin McDonagh is up to more deliciously fiendish tricks in The Banshees of Inisherin, a simple and diabolical tale of a friendship’s end shot through with bristling humor and sudden moments of startling violence. It world premieres in competition at the Venice Film Festival Monday. Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson and the small handful of supporting players make the most of the author’s vibrant prose in McDonagh’s first film since Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri five years ago.

The mordantly comedic assault on the politics of revenge used to be the province of English/Irish playwright turned filmmaker Martin McDonagh. In more recent years, the writer/director has turned his probing eye towards compassion, forgiveness, and redemption and the unanswerable question of whether his problematic protagonists are worthy of either.

Guy Lodge Film Critic Friendships can be as changeable and temperamental and outright dramatic as grand romances, though they tend to get a bland rap on screen — with friends, for most screenwriters, merely convenient constants, there to support protagonists through matters of supposedly more consequence. If substantial platonic relationship studies are rare, ones about men are rarer still. And if that comes down to a social convention rather than a cinematic one, that’s integral to the power and poignancy of Martin McDonagh’s searing “The Banshees of Inisherin,” a film that traces the tortured breakup between two best pals in remote rural Ireland with all the anguish and gravity of the most charged romantic melodrama — its high, unleashed emotions all the more startling in a world where men don’t speak their feelings.

Martin McDonagh is back on the Lido where he’s set to debut his latest film The Banshees of Inisherin, the first film he’s produced in his home country Ireland.

Peter Debruge Chief Film Critic By Peter Debruge It’s been nearly three decades since “In Bruges” writer-director Martin McDonagh decided to try his hand at writing for the theater, knocking out the first drafts of “The Lieutenant of Inishmore” — a dark comedy so violent that the actors find them slipping in all the fake blood on stage — and “The Cripple of Inishmaan,” as well as five other plays, during an unthinkably prolific nine-month span.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and Media Brendan Gleeson, currently generating Oscar buzz for his work in “The Banshees of Inisherin,” is about to move from the west coast of Ireland to the seedy streets of Gotham City. The veteran character actor is set to appear in “Joker: Folie à Deux,” Variety has confirmed, alongside Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga, who play the clown prince of chaos and his main squeeze, Harley Quinn. Todd Phillips, who directed Phoenix to an Oscar in 2019’s “Joker,” returns as director. But whereas the first film played like a comic book riff on Martin Scorsese’s “Taxi Driver,” the follow-up is a musical, albeit more in the vein of “A Star is Born” than “West Side Story” or “Singing in the Rain.”

EXCLUSIVE: Brendan Gleeson is set to join Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga in Todd Phillips’ Joker sequel, Joker: Folie à Deux for Warner Bros. and DC Films. Deadline recently broke the news that Zazie Beetz would be returning to reprise her role. Warner Bros. also recently announced that the film would bow on Oct. 4, 2024. Production is expected to get under way this December.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and Media Katie Sinclair has been named the new head of development at Riff Raff Entertainment, the development and production company co-founded by Oscar-nominated actor Jude Law and creative partner Ben Jackson.   She joins from Blueprint Pictures, where her credits as a development executive include Martin McDonagh’s upcoming “Banshees of Inisherin,” which is seen as a major awards season player and will screen at both the Venice and Toronto International Film Festivals; “The Beautiful Game,” directed by Thea Sharrock; and Andrew Haigh’s “Strangers,” which stars Andrew Scott,  Paul Mescal, Claire Foy, and Jamie Bell. Sinclair has worked on “Lady Chatterley’s Lover” for Sony 3000 and Netflix. She has been heavily involved in sourcing and shepherding Blueprint’s slate of feature film projects. 

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent There aren’t many filmmakers like Florian Zeller. He’s the rare playwright given a chance to direct the big-screen adaptations of his work. John Patrick Shanley pulled that off with “Doubt,” Aaron Sorkin eventually made the transition from writing “A Few Good Men” to overseeing “Trial of the Chicago 7” and Martin McDonagh has successfully toggled between stage and screen. After that, the list gets thin.    Following the Oscar-winning success of “The Father,” Zeller has found himself in that elite company, and he’s used his newfound clout to bring another play, “The Son,” to the screen. It debuts in Venice before moving to other fall festivals and an eventual U.S. run courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics. And the stories that Zeller is choosing to spin first on stage and now on film are interconnected in many ways. They explore illness and trauma — and the resilient bonds that link families together — with emotional brutality. But Zeller believes that his work has a kind of cathartic effect.    

Clayton Davis It’s late summer, so it’s time to start talking about awards season. Cannes issued the first slate of contenders in the international feature Oscar race, and now Venice and Toronto are ready to screen another batch, which begs the question: What looks like the breakout pics from the festival circuit that should contend for kudos? More than 90 countries have been submitting films for Academy consideration for the past few years, in order to walk away with the coveted best international feature Oscar. Coming off the Cinderella story of Japan’s “Drive My Car” from Ryûsuke Hamaguchi, which was also nominated for three other Oscars including best picture, it became the tenth film to be recognized for both best picture and international feature.

While film festivals always try to have the most star-studded lineup of films that cross all major genres, Fantastic Fest does things a bit differently. Sure, the Austin event strives to have major films debut, but the focus of the festival is always on genre filmmaking.