Martin Macdonagh Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

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.

is going to arrive in force, isn’t it?Please?That’s the feeling in the community I like to think of as Hollywood’s Kudo-Industrial Complex. That community limped through one year, 2020, in which theaters were closed, film festivals were canceled or moved online and almost all the shows were virtual; and a second year, 2021, that started out to be a cautiously muted season but was then blindsided by a COVID resurgence that forced a return to streaming and virtual events.Now, as the Venice Film Festival begins on Wednesday, followed by the three-day Telluride Film Festival on Friday and then the mammoth Toronto International Film Festival next Thursday, there’s a palpable yearning for things to return to normal.

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.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media ReporterFantastic Fest, a weeklong celebration of genre filmmaking, has announced the full lineup for its 2022 festival.This year’s event, taking place in Austin, Texas, from Sept. 22 through Sept. 29, will open with the world premiere of Paramount’s unsettling thriller “The Smile,” starring Sosie Bacon as a doctor whose mind begins to turn on her after she witnesses a traumatic experience involving a patient.

The Zurich Film Festival (ZFF) has unveiled the seven titles in its Gala Premieres section showcasing auteur features with broad audience appeal and awards season potential.

Leo Barraclough International Features EditorThe Zurich Film Festival has unveiled the first seven titles from its Gala Premieres section, a showcase of some of the year’s hottest auteur films. The films include the star-studded drama “The Banshees of Inisherin” by Oscar-winning director Martin McDonagh, the European premiere of the German film adaptation “All Quiet on the Western Front,” directed by Edward Berger, and the world premieres of Sönke Wortmann’s “Der Nachname” and “Die Goldenen Jahre” by Barbara Kulcsar.Artistic director Christian Jungen said: “In recent years, the Zurich Film Festival has established itself as a springboard into the awards season.

The trailer for the upcoming movie The Banshees of Inisherin has been released!

“In Bruges” stars Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson are reteaming with Oscar-winning writer-director Martin McDonagh (“Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”) for a new pitch-black comedy: “The Banshees of Inisherin.”Per the logline from Fox Searchlight: “Set on a remote island off the west coast of Ireland, THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN follows lifelong friends Padraic (Colin Farrell) and Colm (Brendan Gleeson), who find themselves at an impasse when Colm unexpectedly puts an end to their friendship. A stunned Padraic, aided by his sister Siobhan (Kerry Condon) and troubled young islander Dominic (Barry Keoghan), endeavours to repair the relationship, refusing to take no for an answer.

“In Bruges” stars Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson reunite with writer-director Martin McDonagh for their latest project, “The Banshees Of Inisherin”.

Some modern artists only need their names said aloud, and heads turn to attention. A successful playwright even before he broke into the world of cinema with consistent critical acclaim, Martin McDonagh is that type of head-turning talent.

EJ Panaligan editorColin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson play lifelong friends, Pádraic and Colm, whose relationship reaches an abrupt impasse in the trailer for director Martin McDonagh’s “The Banshees of Inisherin.”Set during the Irish Civil War in 1923 on the fictional island of Inisherin, the events of the film begin when Gleeson’s Colm seemingly cuts off Farrell’s Pádraic with minimal explanation, setting off an interpersonal dance between the two former friends.The upcoming film will mark the reunion of the three Irish creatives, who first worked together on the 2008 black comedy “In Bruges.” That film chronicled Farrell and Gleeson as two hitmen forced to go into hiding in Bruges, Belgium, away from their enraged boss, played by English actor Ralph Fiennes. Outside of 2017’s “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,” McDonagh’s film efforts have included either Gleeson or Farrell, but “The Banshees of Inisherin” is the trio’s second collective collaboration.

The Toronto International Film Festival is ready to roll out the carpet in a big way, revealing a list of new titles featuring some big stars.

It’s almost half a decade since Irish director Martin McDonagh had his breakout with 2017’s “Three Billboards Outside Ebbings, Missouri.” “In Bruges” and “Seven Psychopaths” are cult films, to be sure, but ‘Billboards’ was the director’s first critical sensation. The film pulled in $160 million at the global box office, nearly five times as much as “In Bruges.” And the movie also won Oscars for Frances McDormand and Sam Rockwell’s performances, along with a Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay nomination for McDonagh.

The Venice Film Festival kicks off next month on August 31, and it already looks like a killer year. And Netflix has a monopoly on big world premieres at the festival, as Noah Baumbach’s “White Noise” was announced as the festival’s opening night film this morning.

It’s almost half a decade since Irish director Martin McDonagh had his breakout with 2017’s “Three Billboards Outside Ebbings, Missouri.” “In Bruges” and “Seven Psychopaths” are cult films, to be sure, but “Billboards” was the director’s first critical sensation. The film pulled in $160 million at the global box office, nearly five times as much as “In Bruges.” And the movie also won Oscars for Frances McDormand and Sam Rockwell’s performances, along with a Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay nomination for McDonagh.

EXCLUSIVE: Anna Baryshnikov (Dickinson) will join Oscar nominee Kristen Stewart in A24’s romantic thriller Love Lies Bleeding from double BAFTA Award-nominated director Rose Glass (Saint Maud).

Apple TV+ series Sugar, from creator Mark Protosevich (I Am Legend, Thor).The actor will star and executive produce the series alongside Protosevich, Simon Kinberg (Deadpool), Audrey Chon (Invasion), Scott Greenberg and Chip Vucelich. Fernando Meirelles (City Of God, Two Popes) will serve as director and executive producer.According to Variety, the show is described as a “genre-bending contemporary take on the private detective story” and is set in Los Angeles.

In one of this Broadway season’s most startling on-stage moments, Martin McDonagh’s Hangmen takes a swift and no-turning back move, a Psycho-like turn shortly after the start of the play that re-directs everything. A character we might have initially believed to be the center of the story is done away with, dispatched by one the executioners who give Hangmen its title. Only slightly less startling: That doomed character will, in fact, be the story’s center, both by his subsequent absence and by the questions left hanging with him: Was he guilty of the murder that brought him to the gallows? And does murder ever justify murder?

Marilyn Stasio Theater CriticIn the theatrical annals of wild and wicked stage plays, there are black comedies, blacker comedies, and blacker-than-the-dead-of-night comedies like “Hangmen.“  Prolific playwright Martin McDonagh hasn’t written all of them, to be sure; but he’s created some of the best of this deadly lot, including “The Beauty Queen of Leenane,” “The Cripple of Inishmaan” and “The Pillowman,” not to mention such beautifully bleak films as “Seven Psychopaths,” “In Bruges” and “Three Billboards Outside of Ebbing, Missouri.”Still, there is something special about “Hangmen,” which, were it a song, would be the perfect little ditty to play as you were cutting your wrists. Happily (if such a word would apply to any of his work), this Broadway production is a deadly beauty, flawlessly cast and directed in the mordant style of an executioner’s song by Matthew Dunster.

Bryan Cranston had a busy week on Broadway!

You’re absolutely wracked with guilt at “Hangmen” — from laughing so hard at the many, many inappropriate jokes. A crude sight gag near the end had me practically dry heaving. That nonstop naughtiness is what makes Martin McDonagh’s killer satire the best new play on Broadway by a green mile. Two and a half hours, with one intermission.

EXCLUSIVE: Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri and Better Call Saul actress Kerry Condon is joining Liam Neeson and Ciarán Hinds in thriller In The Land Of Saints And Sinners, according to sources.

Irish actor Barry Keoghan has quickly become a rising star after appearing in “The Green Knight,” “Eternals,” and having a brief cameo as the newest incarnation of DC Comics villain The Joker in Matt Reeves‘ “The Batman.” The young actor isn’t slowing down as he’s reuniting with Colin Farrell for “The Banshees of Inisherin” from writer-director Martin McDonagh and has now dished two more projects on the horizon.

Broadway’s total box office tally held steady last week, with new shows and strong ongoing performers making up for the money lost when some productions canceled performances due to Covid outbreaks.

Disney has dated Haunted Mansion for a theatrical release on March 10, 2023. The studio already had the date on hold for untitled event movie. No other major studio releases are dated for that weekend currently, however, the movie opens the weekend after Paramount’s Dungeons & Dragons which is scheduled for March 3.

Alissa Simon Film CriticThe exhilarating, Bible-inspired, pitch-black comedy “Redemption of a Rogue” centers on a prodigal son returning to his rural Ireland hometown to seek redemption for his sins. Based on this ambitious, sardonic feature debut, writer-director Philip Doherty (who is also a playwright and theater director) scores as a promising talent, one who might be the spiritual heir of Anglo-Irish filmmaking brothers Martin and John Michael McDonagh or even the Coen brothers.

Hangmen, Martin McDonagh’s Olivier Award-winning comedy that became (seemingly) an early casualty of Broadway’s 2020 Covid shutdown, has gotten a reprieve: The play will begin previews at Broadway’s Golden Theatre on Friday, April 8, with an opening night set for Thursday, April 21.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and MediaMartin McDonagh’s “Hangmen,” an early casualty of the COVID-19 pandemic, will at long last have its Broadway premiere.The show will begin performances Friday, April 8 and open Thursday, April 21 for a limited 10-week engagement. “Hangmen” was in previews in 2020 when coronavirus upended life, forcing Broadway theaters to close for over a year and bringing the live events business to its knees.

Over the course of nearly 15 years, filmmaker Martin McDonagh has only released three features. But when your debut film is “In Bruges” and your most recent feature, “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” was nominated for a ton of Oscars, people tend to get excited about each release, even if there is a big gap between films.

EXCLUSIVE: This is turning into an AFM unlike any we can recall, with multiple prestige scripts in the offing in addition to the more traditional brawny fare.

As Ireland continues to become a hotspot for Hollywood filmmaking, the latest star sighting was one of the country’s own, as actor Colin Farrell was snapped buying something every Irish person had in their freezer in the 80s and 90s on Achill Island.