We've been treated to our first look at Martin McDonagh's upcoming film set in Ireland, 'The Banshees of Inisherin'.
The film stars Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson as Pádraic and Colm, two long-time friends who come into conflict when one of them reveals he no longer wants them to be friends.
Barry Keoghan also stars as the local policeman's son. Joining him is Kerry Condon as Siobhán, Pádraic's sister.
‘The Banshees of Inisherin’ holds many surprises—and marks a notable change of pace for the Oscar-winning writer-director.
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"I wanted to tell a breakup story," McDongh told Vanity Fair in his first interview about the new movie. "This is about things getting inexorably worse from a simple, sad starting point."
Set in 1923, during the Civil War, McDonagh's new film is his first set in his native Ireland.
"I wanted it to be as beautiful as possible," McDonagh said. "To aim for beauty and for cinema. Because if you heard of a story of two guys grumbling at each other, and you didn’t have the epic kind of beauty, it might get a little tiresome."
Fear not, the film is still singularly McDonagh: teetering between comedy and tragedy, propelled by colorful dialogue, and underscored by a subtly escalating tension. “It’s just aiming for the truth and hoping for the best,” he tells V.F.
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'The Banshees' was filmed on the west coast islands of Inishmore and Achill. The characters also speak in the western dialect of the time, something which McDonagh was aware might slip past some viewers from other countries.
"When I’m watching 'Mean Streets' or 'Goodfellas', I’m hearing 90% of it. I’ll miss some Italian or New York dialogue, every couple of lines. But it doesn't matter. I’m going with it."
The Banshees of Inisherin releases in theatres on October 21.
